Experimental study of the inert effect of R134a and R227ea on explosion limits of the flammable refrigerants

Experimental studies of the inert effect of R134a and R227ea on explosive limits of the flammable refrigerants were carried out. The ranges of the explosive limits of the mixture of R134a, R227ea and other six flammable refrigerants of HFCs and HCs were obtained. The critical suppression explosive concentrations of these mixtures can be found from the envelopes. A model about the explosive limits of the mixtures containing nonflammable component was proposed and can be used to estimate the flammability limit of the mixtures. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.