Speed of Sound Measurements of Select Ternary Refrigerant Mixtures and Predictions Using Constituent Binary Interaction Parameters

Abstract The speeds of sound of ternary refrigerant mixtures, namely, R-444A (difluoromethane (R-32)/1,1-difluoroethane (R-152a)/ trans -1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (R-1234ze(E)) with respective mass fractions of 0.1194/0.0519/0.8287), R-457B (R-32/2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (R-1234yf)/R-152a with respective mass fractions of 0.3489/0.5495/0.1016), and R-407C (R-32/pentafluoroethane (R-125)/R-152a with respective mass fractions of 0.5178/0.2480/0.2342), were measured using a dual-path pulse-echo technique at temperatures ranging between 230 K and 345 K and pressures between 0.14 MPa and 30 MPa. The standard uncertainties in temperature and pressure were 5 mK and 0.014 MPa, respectively. The average combined expanded uncertainty for all speed of sound data was 0.07%. Greater uncertainties were encountered as the system approached the critical regions where the speed of sound is more sensitive to changes in pressure. The experimental speed of sound data was used to assess the predictive capabilities of default REFPROP v10.0 mixture models with binary interaction parameters fit using mainly vapor–liquid equilibria and/or density data. We quantify the improvements for ternary mixture predictions when using updated binary interaction parameters that included speed of sound data in the fitting procedure. Reductions of 1.64%, 1.50%, and 0.11% in the average absolute deviations for R-444A, R-457B, and a R-125/1234yf/152a (0.3521/0.5465/0.1014 mass composition) mixture, respectively, are obtained with the updated binary interaction parameters. Further improvements to the mixture models could be made by refitting both the pure component equations of state and interaction parameters of certain hydrofluorocarbon binary pairs.