Thermodynamic performance analysis for a vapor compression refrigeration system by using refrigerant with nanoparticles

Using nanoparticles in a refrigerating cycle is associated with many difficulties, such as the cost of preparing and obtaining a stable and homogeneous mixture with less agglomeration and sedimentation. This research presents a simple, easy, and inexpensive method for the preparation process 0f nanoparticles based on distilled water, ammonia, copper nitrate, and cerium nitrate to synthesize nanoparticles as a single oxide and as a mixture. The results of nanoparticle preparation using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy prove that particles were spherical in shape, with suitable diameters of 78.95 nm, 79.9 nm, 44.15 nm, and 63.3 nm for copper oxide, cerium oxide, the first mixture, and second mixture, respectively. This study preferred the implementation of a theoretical study using Ansys Fluent software based on the real dimensions and the experimental results to simulate a simple vapor compression refrigeration system to charge nanoparticles theoretically to verify their effectiveness to improve the efficiency of the refrigerating cycle. The results confirmed that copper oxide enhanced the coefficient of performance of the refrigerating system by 25 %, and cerium oxide succeeded in improving it by a lesser value. The mixture containing a higher percentage of copper oxide yielded better results. Moreover, using the numerical equations available in the literature to calculate thermophysical properties proved an improvement in these properties with an increase in nanoparticle concentration