Research Article

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

1–9
Ó The Author(s) 2015
Experimental investigation of graphite DOI: 10.1177/1687814015571011
aime.sagepub.com
nanolubricant used in a domestic
refrigerator

Jiang-feng Lou1, Hua Zhang1 and Ruixiang Wang2

Abstract
In this article, the performance of a domestic refrigerator employing isobutane and graphite nanolubricants as working
fluids is investigated experimentally. The character of graphite nanoparticles and the nanolubricant was observed through
scanning electron microscope, Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer, and dynamic light scattering. It is confirmed that
the surface-modified graphite nanoparticles steadily suspend in the form of clusters for a long period of time. The appli-
cation of the graphite nanolubricants with mass fractions of 0%, 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.5% to domestic refrigerator
was examined by a refrigerator test system according to the National Standard of China (GB/T 8059.1-4). The results
showed that graphite nanolubricants work normally and safely in the refrigerator. There were certain reductions on
pull-down time, discharge pressure, discharge temperature, suction pressure, and shell compressor temperature. In
addition, power consumption of the refrigerator decreased 4.55% using graphite nanolubricant with a mass fraction of
0.1%, while the on-time rate also decreased as well as the pressure rate. Each test lasts for 15 days; the energy saving
effect is stable.

Keywords
Nanolubricant, surface modify, graphite nanoparticles, pull-down time, energy consumption

Date received: 31 August 2014; accepted: 30 December 2014

Academic Editor: Sanjeeva Witharana

Introduction the system, and circulating with refrigerant as working

In this research, the application of different kinds of
nanoparticles as lubricant additives has been investi-
gated in many fields.1–4 Nanolubricant, which was pre-
pared by dispersing nanoparticles in lubricant,
performed better than base fluid when using in refrig-
eration compressor. Several works have applied nano-
lubricant in vapour-compression refrigeration systems
and found that it is an effective way to reduce refrigera-
tor ir-reversibility,5 enhance energy efficiency ratio of
domestic refrigerator6,7 and residential air condi-
tioners,8 as well as increase the coefficient of perfor-
mance of the refrigeration system.9 In a domestic
refrigerator, lubricant plays roles of lubricating internal
parts, cooling the compressor during working, cleaning
fluid. Therefore, there were two main causations for
the improving performance of refrigeration system
using nanolubricant.
On one hand, adding of nanoparticles should change
tribological properties of the lubricant, which could
improve the energy efficiency of refrigerating
1
School of Energy and Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for
Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
2
School of Environment and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of
Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, China
Corresponding author:
Hua Zhang, School of Energy and Power Engineering, University of
Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China.
Email: Zhanghua3000@163.com

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openaccess.htm).
2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
compressor. Kedzierski10 found that CuO nanoparti-
cles increased the density and viscosity of base lubri-
cant (synthetic polyolester), while Kole and Dey11
discovered the same tendency by dispersing Cu nano-
particles into gear oil (IBP Haulic-68). Lee et al.12
investigated the friction and antiwear characteristics of
fullerene added nanolubricant in scroll compressors.
The result indicated that the fullerene nanoparticles
improved the lubrication property of base lubricant by
coating the friction surfaces. And higher volume con-
centration of fullerene nanoparticles resulted in the
lower friction coefficient and less wear.13 Furthermore,
the viscosity of lubricant played a major role in the
wear behavior of sliding contacting surfaces experien-
cing extreme contact pressure conditions.14 Thus, it is
necessary to measure the viscosity of nanolubricant.
Chang et al.15 observed the piston ring surface after
operation for 30 days through scanning electron micro-
scope. The result showed that there were less scraping
and lower wear rates using TiO2 nanolubricant, and the
diameter of TiO2 nanoparticles in the lubricant
remained 25 nm in average. Since domestic refrigerator
should be on service for several years, it is necessary to
observe dispersion stability of the nanolubricant.
Furthermore, performance of the refrigerator should be
tested for a period of time to ensure the reliability and
stability of the compressor when using nanolubricant.
On the other hand, the thermal behavior of the base
fluid should be improved by dispersing of nanoparti-
cles, such as effective thermal properties and their
applications under convective and boiling conditions.
For instance, Jiang et al.16 found that the thermal con-
ductivities of CNT-R113 were much higher than other
R113 nanorefrigerants mixed with spherical nanoparti-
cles. The result indicated that the influence factor
included morphological thermal properties and volume
fraction of nanoparticles, which was in agreement with
many investigations.17–19 According to these
researches, appropriate type and mass fraction of nano-
materials should be chosen to improve lubrication
effect and heat transfer characteristics. Among various
materials, nano-graphites have been selected in this
article for its easy acquisition, high thermal conductiv-
ity (about 110–190 W m21 K21),20 and excellent lubri-
cation characteristics as an additive.21 Meanwhile, a
large number of studies reported that nanofluids
showed significant enhancement on heat transfer coeffi-
cient and critical heat flux.22–25 Based on these
researches, the enhancement of boiling heat transfer by
nanofluids was related to the particle size suspended in
the liquid medium and the deposition of nanoparticles
on the heating surface. As the nanolubricant circulated
with refrigerant as working fluid in the domestic refrig-
erator, nanoparticles may migrate with refrigerant dur-
ing its evaporating-condensing cycle. Ding et al.26
found that the migration ratios of nanoparticles in the
nanorefrigerant are larger than those in the
nanorefrigerant–oil mixture in the pool boiling process.
Yang and Liu27 prepared nanofluids with surface-
functionalized nanoparticles to take boiling experiment.
They found that there was no porous sediment layer on
the heated surface after boiling process when using the
functionalized nanofluid comparing with conventional
nanofluid. Thus, preparing nanolubricant with good
dispersion stability is a potential way to prevent nano-
particles from depositing on the internal surface of eva-
porator and condenser. Moreover, few works about the
performance of domestic refrigerator using graphite
nanolubricant have been reported yet.
The objective of this investigation is to test and ver-
ify the efficiency and reliability of refrigerators using
nanolubricants under semitropic operating conditions.
First, graphite nanolubricants were prepared in differ-
ent mass fractions. Then the graphite nanoparticles and
nanolubricants were observed with scanning electron
microscope (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectro-
meter (FT-IR), and dynamic light scattering (DLS).
Finally, a domestic refrigerator using Isobutane
(R600a) as working fluid was selected to take measure-
ment in a refrigerator test system. Furthermore, the
pull-down time test, energy consumption test, and
freeze capacity test were conducted to compare the per-
formance of the refrigerator with nanolubricant and
pure lubricant.
Preparation and characterization of
nanolubricant
Surface modification of nano-graphite
Nano-graphite, silane coupling agent KH570, and ethyl
alcohol were introduced gradually into a beaker with a
mass of 0.1, 1, and 20 g, respectively. The mixture was
stirred for 30 min at room temperature with a magnetic
stirring apparatus. Then, the mixture was vibrated for
12 h at 50 °C with an ultrasonic dispersing device.
After that, a suction filtration process was taken to sep-
arate the modified nanoparticles from the mixture
employing a Buchner flask, which obtained a filter
cake. The filter cake was cleaned for several times, fol-
lowed by a vacuum drying process for 8 h at 100 °C.
Finally, the surface-modified graphite nanoparticles
were prepared by pulverizing the filter cake.
Preparation and stability of nanolubricant
The graphite nanolubricant was prepared in the follow-
ing two steps. First, modified nano-graphite was added
to base lubricant (naphthenic mineral oil) at different
mass fractions and homogenized for 60 min at 50 °C by
magnetic stirring at 2000 r/min. Then the product was
vibrated for 1 h at 50 °C every 4 h for three times with
Lou et al.
an ultrasonic dispersing device (150 W and 40 Hz).
Finally, graphite nanolubricants were prepared at mass
fractions of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5 wt%. SEM photo-
graph of the nano-graphite is shown in Figure 1(a). It
is seen that the nano-graphites are spherical or analo-
gously spherical and the nominal diameter of the nano-
particles is ;50 nm. After surface modification, the
property of the modified graphite nanoparticles is
investigated by FT-IR technology, as present in Figure
1(b). Five new IR bands were observed, centering at
2964, 1163, 1091, 1029, and 804 cm21, respectively.
The bands between 2964 and 2900 cm21 are associated
with –CH3 and –CH2, while the bands at 1163 and
1028 cm21 are characteristic absorption peak of Si-O-
C group. The appearance of Si-C stretching peak
(804 cm21) for the graphite means that KH570 has
altered the surface properties of graphite nanoparticles
to easily disperse in lubricant. Cluster size of nano-
graphite in the nanolubricant (2 h after prepared),
which was determined by DLS measurements using the
Malvern ZS90 Nano S analyzer, is shown in Figure
1(c). It is observed that the nano-graphite in nanolubri-
cant contacts each other and forms some clusters. The
average diameters of nano-graphite clusters are 253.7,
315.3, 369.4, and 418.7 nm at mass fractions of 0.05%,
0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.5%, respectively. The results indi-
cate that the mass fraction may be the key factors influ-
encing the cluster size. The suspension stability of the
prepared nanofluid was observed for a period of time.
It was found that functionalized nano-graphite can
keep dispersing well after 60 days even at the mass frac-
tion of 0.5 wt%. A typical set of photo graphite nano-
lubricant (0.1 wt%) is shown in Figure 1(d). It is
important to note that some groups of silane coupling
agents KH570 can be combined with nano-graphite to
form organic chains after surface modification. The
organic chains adhere to the surface of graphite to
cause the steric hinder, which prevents nano-graphite
from continuously growing up or agglomerating.
Overall, the prepared graphite nanolubricants could
meet application needs for performance tests of the
domestic refrigerator.
Performance of domestic refrigerator
employing nanolubricant
Experimental system
The schematic diagram and photograph of performance
tests apparatus for refrigerator are shown in Figure 2(a)
and (b), respectively. It consists of a testing environ-
ment chamber, controlling system of temperature and
humidity, domestic refrigerator, and data collection
and processing system. As shown in Figure 2(a), the
refrigerator is placed on a wooden solid-top platform,
painted dull black so as to prevent direct radiation to or
3
from any equipment in the test room according to the
National Standard of China (GB/T8059.1-4-1995).28
The ambient temperature and relative humidity of envi-
ronment chamber are controlled by heater, air-condi-
tioning, and humidifier in the way of perforated ceiling
air supply on the roof. The fluctuations of ambient tem-
perature as well as relative humidity are 6 0.3 °C and
6 2%, respectively, in 24 h. The airflow velocity in the
room is less than 0.25 m/s.
The domestic refrigerator tested in this work is a
BCD-206TAS type provided by Haier Group, which is
a double-door, double-temperature, double-controlled
refrigerator. The gross volume of refrigerator is 206 L,
which is divided into two compartments (128 L for
fresh food and 78 L for frozen food). R600a is
employed as working fluid of the domestic refrigerator
with a mass charge of 44 g, while the compressor is a
hermetically sealed reciprocating one. The layout of the
domestic refrigerator and the locations of the relevant
thermocouples and pressure transducers used in the
experiments are shown in Figure 3. Among them, T1,
T2, and T3 are the temperatures of fresh food compart-
ment measured in the center of tinned copper cylinder,
while T4, T5, and T6 are the temperatures of frozen
food storage compartment. The inside cabinet tempera-
tures are very similar to each other, implying that an
average value can represent quite well the cabinet tem-
perature. Furthermore, other thermocouples are placed
on the surfaces of refrigeration system pipelines and
compressor. A pipeline with a valve was connected to
the bottom of the compressor for replacing the lubri-
cant. The volume charge of the lubricant was 150 mL
with an accuracy of 6 1 mL for each test. Table 1 sum-
marizes all characteristics of the measurement device
and sensors.
Experimental procedure
The refrigerator performance tests comprise pull-down
test, energy consumption test, which were conducted
according to the National Standard of China. In order
to obtain the base data, R600a and pure lubricant were
charged in the refrigerator to take three times of pull-
down test and 15 days of energy consumption test.
Then, R600a and nanolubricants with various mass
fractions of nano-graphite were taken for the same
tests. Each experiment period lasted for 20 days.
Results and discussion
Pull-down characteristics. Pull-down time is the time
required to reduce the air temperature inside the stor-
age compartment from ambient condition to the design
temperature, when the refrigerator takes continuous
running test. Pull-down tests were carried out at 32 °C
ambient temperature and 60% relative humidity. And
4 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 1. (a) SEM image of the graphite nanoparticles, (b) FT-IR spectrum of the modified graphite nanoparticles, (c) DLS data
obtained for graphite nanolubricants with various mass fractions, and (d) typical photographs of graphite (0.1 wt%) nanolubricant
standing for 60 days.

the refrigerator was placed in the test room for more
than 24 h to ensure every part of the refrigerator
reached 32 °C. The time variation in the air tempera-
ture within the freezer cabinet during pull-down time
test is shown in Figure 4. It cost 92 min to reach the
desired freezer air temperature (218 °C) for pure lubri-
cant as a baseline test. The pull-down time reduces
about 11.96%, 15.22%, 14.67%, and 10.87% for using
nanolubricant with a mass fractions of 0.05%, 0.1%,
0.2%, and 0.5%, respectively, compared to pure lubri-
cant. Moreover, the pull-down time of fresh food com-
partment shows the same trend that using of graphite
nanolubricant can speed up the cooling rate of the
refrigerator.
When the refrigerator works, certain lubricant will
circle with refrigerant in the system. Adding nanoparti-
cles could enhance the solubility between lubricant and
refrigerant,29,30 which leads to a decrease in the viscos-
ity of lubricant due to refrigerant solution. It could
cause a friction reduction between piston and cylinder
surface of the compressor to improve the efficiency of
the compressor. Furthermore, formation of a
transferred solid lubricant film from nanoparticles is
possibility another potential factor. Meanwhile, the
presence of nanoparticles could improve the pool boil-
ing heat transfer coefficient of lubricant/refrigerant
mixture,1,25,31 which could be another reason for a
decrease in pull-down time.
Energy consumption characteristics. The system parameters
of the energy consumption test are summarized in
Table 2. Every parameter is the mean value of five
ON–OFF cycles at the same condition (25 °C ambient
temperature and 60% relative humidity) to ensure the
repeatability. From Table 2, there were certain reduc-
tions on evaporator temperature, condenser tempera-
ture, and suction temperature. This is probably because
the graphite nanoparticles enhance the heat transfer
coefficient of R600a/lubricant mixture in the evapora-
tor and condenser. Besides, the reduction on evapora-
tor temperature was lower than condenser temperature,
which caused a reduction on the pressure rate (the ratio
between the discharge pressure and the suction pressure
Lou et al.
(a) Humidity controller
Water tank
Tap water
Refrigeration system
Temperature controller
Computer
Data
collection
system
Figure 2. Refrigeration performance tests system: (a) the schematic and (b) the photograph.
of compressor). A decrease in the pressure rate may
improve the efficiency of the compressor. When the
mass fraction of graphite nanoparticles increased, the
system parameters reduced at first and then raised.
The on-time ratio, which is the ratio of operating
time to total time of cycles, reaches the minimum at
0.1 wt% nanolubricant system, which leads to the mini-
mum energy consumption as shown in Figure 5. The
energy consumption is calculated from the measure
value for a period of 24 h. Compared with baseline test,
the energy consumption saved about 3.54%, 4.55%,
3.61%, and 0.64% for using graphite nanolubricant
with a mass fractions of 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.5%,
respectively. Each test lasted for 15 days; the refrigera-
tor worked normally and safely with stable energy
consumption.
Figure 6(a)–(d) shows the operation parameters of
the compressor for the various mass fractions of gra-
phite nanolubricant in one ON–OFF cycle. The
5
Air outlet
Ventilator
Humidifier
Refrigerator
Cooler
Heater
T T
T
Air inlet
Wooden platform
discharge pressure and temperature present a down-
ward trend as shown in Figure 6(a) and (b), respec-
tively. The decrease in discharge temperature will cause
a fall in temperature of the stator winding in compres-
sor, which improves the stability, efficiency, and dur-
ability of the compressor motor. Figure 6(c) shows the
compressor temperature obtained from the top of com-
pressor shell. It indicates that the shell temperatures are
reduced at the mass fraction of graphite below 0.1%.
When the mass fraction is more than 0.1%, the shell
temperature increased with it, even higher than the
baseline at 0.5%. This is probably because graphite
nanoparticles are spherical in shape and have a high
hardness, which play a key role in the enhancement of
lubrication between piston and cylinder in the compres-
sor. Furthermore, adding certain amount of nanoparti-
cles can reduce the friction coefficient of base
lubricant,32 which may decrease the frictional loss and
the frictional heat of compressor. On the other hand,
6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

T13 T14

Fresh food storage compartment

T1

T2

T3

T8

Capillary

Suction line heat exchanger

T4 T12

Evaporator
Condenser
T11
T5 T7 T9 P1

T10 P2
T6 Compressor
Frozen food storage compartment

Nanolubricant charge

Figure 3. Schematic diagram of domestic refrigerator experimental apparatus.

Table 1. Measured quantities and their uncertainties.

Quantity Device Range Uncertainty

Temperature CHINO type T Thermocouple 230 °C to 100 °C 6 0.15 °C

Pressure TM NS-I1 Piezoelectric 0–4 bar, 0–20 bar 6 0.25%
Power YOKOGAWA WT230 Digital Watt .5 mA 6 0.1%

40 0.72
-15
Pure lubricant
0.71
0.05% Graphite nanolubricant
Freezer air temperature / (°C)

30
Energy consumption / (kW·h)

-18
0.70 0.1% Graphite nanolubricant
20 -21 0.69 0.2% Graphite nanolubricant
80 90 0.5% Graphite nanolubricant
10 0.68
Pure lubricant
0.05% Graphite nanolubricant 0.67
0 0.1% Graphite nanolubricant
0.2% Graphite nanolubricant 0.66
-10 0.5% Graphite nanolubricant
0.65

0.64
-20
0.63
-30
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0.62
0 5 10 15
Time / (min)
Time / (day)
Figure 4. Variation in freezer cabinet temperature during pull-
down time test at 32 °C (continuous running test). Figure 5. Energy consumption of the refrigerator using
nanolubricants at different mass fractions.
the thermal conductivity of graphite nanoparticles is
much higher than the base lubricant. And nanoparticles refrigerant,8 which make the heat to escape from com-
can enhance the solubility between lubricant and pressor more easily with lubricant–refrigerant mixture.
Lou et al. 7

Table 2. Operation parameters of the refrigerator using nanolubricants with different mass fractions.

Mass fraction (%) On-time Operating Pressure Evaporator Condenser Suction Room
ratio (%) current (A) rate temperature (°C) temperature temperature temperature
(°C) (°C) (°C)

0 33.72 0.389 12.05 224.69 41.82 32.94 25.09

0.05 31.76 0.405 10.71 225.52 38.71 30.87 24.92
0.1 31.39 0.397 10.54 226.17 38.19 30.15 25.14
0.2 33.23 0.386 10.74 225.22 38.57 30.77 25.06
0.5 34.02 0.385 11.36 225.99 39.23 31.51 24.97

0.7 60
56

(a) 0.60
(b)

Discharge temperature / (°C)

0.6 55
Discharge pressure / (MPa)

0.56 52

0.52
0.5 50 48

0.48 4 8 12
4 8 12
0.4 Pure lubricant
45
0.05% Graphite nanolubricant
Pure lubricant
0.3 0.1% Graphite nanolubricant
0.05% Graphite nanolubricant 40
0.2% Graphite nanolubricant
0.1% Graphite nanolubricant
0.2 0.2% Graphite nanolubricant 0.5% Graphite nanolubricant
0.5% Graphite nanolubricant 35

0.1
30
0.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Time / (min) Time / (min)

56 0.10
(c) Pure lubricant
(d)
Compressor temperature / (°C)

0.05% Graphite nanolubricant 0.09

Suction pressure / (MPa)

52 0.1% Graphite nanolubricant

0.2% Graphite nanolubricant
0.5% Graphite nanolubricant 0.08
48

0.07
Pure lubricant
44 0.05% Graphite nanolubricant
0.06 0.1% Graphite nanolubricant
0.2% Graphite nanolubricant
40 0.5% Graphite nanolubricant
0.05

36 0.04
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Time / (min) Time / (min)

Figure 6. Comparison on operation parameters of the refrigerator for one ON–OFF cycle: (a) discharge pressure, (b) discharge
temperature, (c) compressor temperature, and (d) suction pressure.

However, the viscosity of nanolubricant increased with Figure 6(d) shows the suction pressure of compres-
the increase in the concentrations of nanoparticles,33 sor for graphite nanolubricants with various mass frac-
which could increase the pressure drop of the R600a– tions under steady working condition. The variation
nanolubricant mixture flowing through the evaporator tendency of suction pressure in one ON–OFF cycle is
and condenser of refrigerator. It could increase the load similar to discharge pressure, which reduces at first and
of the compressor, which may produce more heat in the then raises. This is due to the viscosity of nanolubricant
compressor. Thus, the energy consumption increased increase with the increase in mass fraction, which influ-
after the concentrations of nano-graphite higher than ences the frictional loss of compressor. Thus, these
0.1%. influencing factors lead to a significant decrease in
8 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
energy consumption of the refrigerator when graphite
nanolubricant is applied.
Conclusion
In this work, the preparation of graphite nanolubri-
cants and their character were investigated experimen-
tally. Furthermore, the performance of a domestic
refrigerator employing graphite nanolubricants with
mass fractions of 0%, 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.5%
was examined by a refrigerator test system according to
the National Standard of China. The main conclusions
are listed as follows:
1. The silane coupling agent KH570 can alter the
surface properties of graphite nanoparticles to
easily disperse in naphthenic lubricant. The
surface-modified graphite nanoparticles steadily
suspend in the form of clusters.
2. There were certain reductions on evaporator tem-
perature, condenser temperature, discharge pres-
sure, discharge temperature, suction pressure, and
compressor temperature when graphite nanolu-
bricant is applied. In addition, the pull-down time
and the energy consumption of the refrigerator
decreased 15.22% and 4.55%, respectively, at a
mass fraction of 0.1%. Meanwhile, there is a
downtrend on compressor temperature, pressure
rate, and on-time rate, which lead to a significant
decrease in energy consumption. Each test lasted
for 15 days; the refrigerator worked normally and
safely with stable energy consumption. These
results could confirm that the graphite nanolubri-
cant can improve the performance of domestic
refrigerator employing R600a as working fluid.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (51176124) and Shuguang Project of
Shanghai (10GG21).
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author declares that there is no conflict of interests
regarding the publication of this article.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding
agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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