The history of refrigeration technology is actually the history of refrigerant development. In the early days, people used the evaporation effect of storing natural ice and water and some other methods to refrigerate. After Perkins invented the vapor compression refrigeration cycle in the 1930s, people ushered in the development period of refrigeration technology, and the invention, renewal and replacement of refrigerants throughout the whole process. At present, according to the development requirements of the new era, refrigerants will face new challenges. At present, the development of refrigerants is divided into four stages, the characteristics of each stage are shown in the left chart.
Generally speaking, the development trend of refrigerants should meet the requirements of sustainable development of ecological environment and promote its further development. According to the core requirements of coordinating economic development with resource protection and ecological environment protection in sustainable development, there are two directions for the development of refrigerants:
The first is environmental protection. It is the general trend to use green refrigerants. Green refrigerants can be synthetic or natural. Although synthetic refrigerants will not damage ozone, natural refrigerants are the best choice for the sustainable development of the earth’s ecology.
The second is energy saving. With the improvement of people’s living standard, refrigeration and air conditioning equipment are becoming more and more popular. At the same time, people pay more and more attention to the large amount of energy they consume. This summer, there is a shortage of electricity in 18 provinces and municipalities in China. A survey by the China Electricity Regulatory Commission shows that the intensification of the contradiction between supply and demand causes the shortage of electricity in this summer. The rapid increase of refrigeration load of air conditioning is an important factor. Therefore, besides improving refrigeration technology, refrigerants can also be used to reduce the energy consumption of refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment by developing new energy-saving refrigerants.
In summary, the development of refrigerants is closely related to environmental protection and sustainable development of the earth’s ecological environment. The development trend of refrigerants reflects the requirements of sustainable development of the environment.
