Abstract
Household refrigerator consumes more electrical energy compared to other appliances due to the luxury life of peoples. Meanwhile, the demand for electrical energy is increasing tremendously. Hence, attention is required to decrease the utility of electrical energy in refrigerator by improving the performance of refrigerator. Thus, in this research, an attempt has been made to improve the performance of refrigerator using nano-refrigerants. Three types of nano-refrigerants like R134a/MgO, R134a/ZrO2 and R134a/MgO/ZrO2 were prepared. The performance of refrigerator was assessed using nano-refrigerants and R134a refrigerant. Results showed that the thermal conductivities of nano-refrigerants were enhanced due to the better heat transfer ability of nano-additives. The R134a/MgO refrigerant showed the high thermal conductivity of 0.0196 W/mK. Further, the refrigeration effect and the COP of the system was increased whilst operated with nano-refrigerants. Further, the compressor input was decreased significantly due to the role of nano-additives. Furthermore, R134a/MgO refrigerant showed 12.5% greater refrigeration effect compared to R134a refrigerant and the same refrigerant exhibited the maximum COP of 3.5. Hence, the R134a/MgO refrigerant could be a suitable one for the performance improvement of household refrigerator.