Impact of the lubricating oil on energetic performances of Heat Pumps

This work deals with the effect of oil on the energy performances of refrigerating systems. To characterise this impact, two thermodynamic properties were studied: the solubility and the enthalpy. Thus, a simple measurement method was presented, allowing to study both transient and steady-state behaviour of various refrigerant/oil pairs. Thus, experimental data were validated and modelled. The suitable use of the solubility curves showed the zeotropic character of the refrigerant/oil mixture, which is directly reflected on the enthalpy calculation. For this property, a thermodynamic model was developed and experimentally validated. Its application led to a new presentation of the Mollier diagram taking into account the oil presence. It was then shown that, among all the circuit elements, the evaporator is the most penalised by the oil presence. Its performances decrease when the circulating mass fraction of oil increases, the superheat decreases and when the refrigerant-oil solubility increases. An experimental study on a reversible heat pump confirmed that if the circulation mass fraction of oil in the machine is lower than 2%, the impact of oil is reduced.