Due to industry concerns about the successful employment of hydrofluorocarbon-immiscible hydrocarbon oils in refrigeration systems, enhanced naphthenic refrigeration oils have been developed. These products have been designed to be more dispersible with hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, such as R134a, in order to facilitate lubricant return to the compressor and to ensure proper energy efficiency of the system. Bench and system performance evaluations indicate the feasibility of these oils for use in household refrigeration applications. Results of these evaluations are compared with those obtained with polyol esters and typical naphthenic mineral oils employed in chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigeration applications.

KEYWORDS: year 1997, Refrigeration, oils, domestic, hydrocarbons, refrigerants, R134a, lubricants, performance, calculating, comparing, experiment, compatibility, testing, heat flow, compressors, viscosity, fluorocarbons, replacing, organic compounds