Explosion characteristics of mildly flammable refrigerants ignited with high-energy ignition sources in closed systems
•Ignitions with high ignition energy in a closed system were conducted.•An ignition system generating electric arcs with defined ignition energy was used.•With increasing ignition energy, the LEL of R32 decreases slightly.•To trigger R1234yf and R1234ze explosions a high ignition energy was necessar...
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| Published in: | International journal of refrigeration 2018-06, Vol.90, p.249-256 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | •Ignitions with high ignition energy in a closed system were conducted.•An ignition system generating electric arcs with defined ignition energy was used.•With increasing ignition energy, the LEL of R32 decreases slightly.•To trigger R1234yf and R1234ze explosions a high ignition energy was necessary.•R1234yf and R1234ze explosions are still very mild compared to R32 and methane.
For evaluation of explosion scenarios in closed systems involving the mildly flammable refrigerants R1234yf, R1234ze and R32 dependent on the ignition energy, ignitions were carried out in a closed autoclave. A newly developed ignition system was used, which allows generating electric arcs with defined energies in a range between 3 J and 1000 J. The lower explosion limit of R32 decreases with increasing ignition energy. R32-explosions can be more severe than explosions involving highly flammable substances. However, in case of R1234yf and R1234ze, the ignition energy had to be increased to more than 100 J and more than 500 J to detect explosions in the closed system at all, although flame propagation phenomena can already be observed if these substances are ignited with much weaker ignition sources in open glass tubes. The explosions were very mild with these substances. |
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| ISSN: | 0140-7007 1879-2081 |