What is refrigerant in a refrigerator?

Most of us take refrigerators for granted. We think that when we need a cold drink or a scoop of ice cream, we just open the fridge or freezer and help ourselves. However, when it comes to commercial refrigerators, you probably take it a little more seriously. You rely on them to keep food at safe temperatures to protect your customers from getting sick.

But have you ever wondered how your refrigerators and freezers actually work? They rely on something called refrigerant to manage the cooling process. Here, we'll explain how refrigerants in refrigerators and freezers work.

What is a refrigerant?

Often mistakenly referred to as Freon, refrigerant is an agent used to cool appliances, including refrigerators, portable refrigerators, air conditioners, heat pumps, and more. Freon is actually a brand name, so it doesn't necessarily apply to all refrigerants. When your refrigerator is not keeping your food cold, it's likely that the refrigerant needs to be refilled.

Refrigerants absorb heat and leave cool air through a thermodynamic process that continually changes the refrigerant from a liquid to a gas and back to a liquid. Many refrigerants that contain hydrofluorocarbons(HFC) tend to be less environmentally friendly, while refrigerants that contain hydrocarbons are considered better for the environment.

Why is it so important to keep food cold?

Cold temperatures reduce the risk of harmful bacteria growing. It slows down the rate at which bacteria reproduce, helping food stay safer longer. Refrigerators keep food cold by constantly transferring heat from the compartments. The main factor that keeps all food cold is refrigerant.

Circulation and Evaporation

Refrigerators circulate refrigerant to keep temperatures low. Since warm air is constantly introduced when the door is open, refrigerant is needed to absorb and remove the warm air. Circulation is needed to change the refrigerant from a liquid to a gas to assist with heat management through the evaporation process.When something evaporates, it causes cooling. 

For example.  This is why we sweat, When we overheat, we sweat, and the evaporation of sweat helps cool the body down. For fridges and freezers, to start this process, the pressure of the refrigerant is reduced. This is handled by an outlet called a capillary tube. If this is hard to imagine, think about what happens when you use an aerosol product like an air freshener. When you push on the spray tip, it releases its contents into the low-pressure open space, which changes it from a liquid to a gas, forcing the contents out.

Compression

Since cooling relies on this transformation from liquid to gas, your fridge has to constantly turn liquid into gas and then gas back into liquid. This requires compression so that the gas is compressed to a higher temperature and pressure. The fridge's compressor works much like a bicycle pump, generating heat as it pumps and compresses the air.

When the compressor is working properly, the gas is at high pressure and becomes hot again. So now that it's hot, the condenser needs to cool it down so it turns back into a liquid. The refrigerant can circulate back to the evaporator in liquid form so the process starts again.

Colku Products with Refrigerant

Most of colku'struck roof Ac andtruck fridge freezer use two refrigerants, R134a and R410a, which are HFC substances, so they do not damage the ozone layer and are relatively environmentally friendly refrigerants. They are environmentally friendly refrigerants recognized and recommended by most countries in the world. If you need, we can also provide relevantcertificates on the certified product models. So when you purchase colku'struck air conditioners andcar refrigerators, you don't have to worry about being sanctioned by local environmental protection organizations for using unqualified refrigerants.

If you are interested in colku's truck air conditioners and car refrigerators,click it to contact us.