This paper presents a rigorous exergy analysis of a vapor compression refrigeration system (VCRS) for the AHRI standard cooling operating conditions assessed with a constant cooling load of 50 kW. A comprehensive mathematical model has been developed to evaluate thermodynamic variables of the major components. The analysis is carried out for widely used refrigerants, namely R12, R22, R134a, R152a, R410A; next-generation low GWP refrigerants R32, R1234yf, R1234ze(E); and two natural refrigerants R600a and R744 (CO₂). First law analysis and exergetic efficiency at cycle and component level are investigated for all the refrigerants. The results indicate that R600a is the best, followed by R152a, R1234ze(E), and R1234yf in terms of COP, total exergy destruction, and exergetic efficiency. Moreover, the total equivalent warming impact (TEWI), which is the aggregation of direct impact due to refrigerant leakage and indirect impact due to electricity usage, from each system has also been assessed. The lowest and highest amount of TEWI has been found for R600a and R12 systems, respectively. This study also indicates that CO₂ is a prospective future refrigerant for its lower emission, affordability, availability, non-toxicity, non-flammability, and system compactness when the VCRS is powered by electricity generated from nuclear/renewable sources.

本文针对 AHRI 标准冷却操作条件对蒸汽压缩制冷系统 (VCRS) 进行了严格的火用分析，该系统在 50 kW 的恒定冷却负载下进行了评估。已经开发了一个综合数学模型来评估主要成分的热力学变量。对广泛使用的制冷剂进行分析，即R12、R22、R134a、R152a、R410A；下一代低 GWP 制冷剂 R32、R1234yf、R1234ze(E)；以及两种天然制冷剂 R600a 和 R744（CO ₂）。研究了所有制冷剂在循环和组件级别的第一定律分析和火用效率。结果表明，就 COP、总火用破坏和火用效率而言，R600a 是最好的，其次是 R152a、R1234ze(E) 和 R1234yf。此外，还评估了来自每个系统的总等效变暖影响 (TEWI)，即制冷剂泄漏直接影响和电力使用间接影响的总和。分别为 R600a 和 R12 系统发现了最低和最高的 TEWI 量。该研究还表明 CO ₂ 当 VCRS 由核/可再生能源产生的电力提供动力时，由于其较低的排放、可负担性、可用性、无毒、不可燃性和系统紧凑性，因此是一种有前景的未来制冷剂。