Performance enhancement of a compressive thermoelastic cooling system using multi-objective optimization and novel designs

Thermoelastic cooling is a recently proposed, novel solid-state cooling technology. It has the benefit of not using high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants which are used in vapor compression cycles (VCCs). Performance enhancements on a thermoelastic cooling prototype were investigated. A few novel design options aiming to reduce the cyclic loss were proposed. It was found that the maximum temperature lift increased from 6.6 K to 27.8 K when applying the proposed novel designs, corresponding to 0–152 W cooling capacity enhancement evaluated under 10 K water–water system temperature lift. In addition, a multi-objective optimization problem was formulated and solved using the genetic algorithm to maximize the system capacity and coefficient of performance (COP). With all the novel designs, the optimization could further enhance 31% COP, or 21% cooling capacity, corresponding to COP of 4.1 or 184 W maximum cooling capacity.     

Ejector expansion refrigeration system: Ejector design and performance evaluation

Use of a two-phase flow ejector as an expansion device in vapor compression refrigeration systems is one of the efficient ways to enhance its performance. The present work aims to design a constant-area two phase flow ejector and to evaluate performance characteristics of the ejector expansion refrigeration system working with R134a. In order to achieve these objectives, a simulation program is developed and effects of operating conditions and ejector internal efficiencies on the system performance are investigated using EES software. Comparison between present results and published experimental data revealed that the developed model can predict the system COP with a maximum error of 2.3%. The system COP increased by 87.5% as evaporation temperature changed from −10 °C to 10 °C. Finally, correlations to size ejector main diameters as a function of operating conditions, system cooling capacity and ejector internal efficiencies are reported.     

Study on high efficient heat recovery cycle for solid-state cooling

Traditional vapor compression cycles (VCCs) use mainly halogenated refrigerants such as hydrochloroflurocarbons and hydrofluorocarbons that are considered as greenhouse gases. Therefore, their regulations are imposed on a global scale. As an alternative cooling technology other than VCCs, solid-state cooling technologies, such as magnetic cooling, thermoelastic cooling and electrocaloric cooling, demonstrate its advantage of not using greenhouse gases as working fluids. However, one of the most challenging issues of these solid-state cooling technologies is the relative high parasitic internal latent heat loss, which could significantly deteriorate the system performance. In order to improve the system performance of solid-state cooling, the authors propose a novel and high-efficient heat recovery (HR) cycle for solid-state materials with high thermal conductivity. The novel heat recovery process was first compared as an analog of spatial scale counter-flow heat transfer process. A simplified ideal model was developed to quantitatively investigate the heat recovery process performance limit and the physics behind the analogy of the spatial scale counter-flow heat transfer process. Experiment was conducted and 60% HR efficiency was achieved. In addition, a detailed dynamic model validated by the experiment results was developed and used to further investigate the limiting factors together with the theoretical analysis.     

Performance analysis of the ejector-expansion refrigeration cycle using zeotropic mixtures

To evaluate the performance of the ejector-expansion refrigeration cycle (EERC) using zeotropic mixtures, a numerical study is conducted. A constant-pressure two-phase ejector model for zeotropic mixtures is established. The effects of both the fluid composition and the working conditions are investigated. Mixture R134a/R143a is selected as the working and the simulation results reveal that, the cycle COP increases first and then decreases as MF_t (the mass fraction of R134a) increases in the researched condition. The COP gets a maximum value of 4.18 with MF_t of 0.9 and yields a minimum value of 3.66 with MF_t of 0.5. With mixture 0.9/0.1, the COP improvement reaches a maximum value of 10.47%. This improvement rises at high condensing temperature or low evaporating temperature. The exergy analysis shows that the compressor and ejector contribute the most exergy destruction, and the cycle exergy efficiency achieves a maximum value with MF_t of 0.7.     

Thermodynamic performance assessment of carbon dioxide blends with low-global warming potential (GWP) working fluids for a heat pump water heater

Blends of CO₂ with ten low-global warming potential (GWP) working fluids are evaluated for use in a heat pump water heater. The effects that the discharge pressure, component ratio, hot-water outlet temperature and chilled water inlet temperature have on the coefficient of performance (COP) of heat pump are analyzed when the pinch point of the heat exchange is considered. It is found that temperature glide of zeotropic mixture has a good thermal match with the temperature change of water as two pinch points appear in the gas cooler/condenser or evaporator. The good thermal match in the heat exchangers promotes the system COP. Addition of low-GWP working fluids to pure CO₂ can reduce the high-side pressure. The results show that CO₂/R41 and CO₂/R32 are suitable candidates for heat pump water heaters because of their high COP and low high-side pressure in comparison with those of a pure CO₂ cycle.     

Theoretical energy performance evaluation of different single stage vapour compression refrigeration configurations using R1234yf and R1234ze(E) as working fluids

R1234yf and R1234ze(E) have been proposed as alternatives for R134a in order to work with low GWP refrigerants, but this replacement results generally in a decrease of the performance. For this reason, it is interesting to explore ways to improve the system performance using these refrigerants. In this paper, a comparative study in terms of energy performance of different single stage vapour compression configurations using R1234yf and R1234ze(E) as working fluids has been carried out. The most efficient configuration is the one which uses an expander or an ejector as expansion device. On the other hand, using an internal heat exchanger in a cycle which replaces the expansion valve by an expander or an ejector could produce a detrimental effect on the COP. However, for all the configurations the introduction of an internal heat exchanger produces a significant increment on the cooling capacity.     

Ejector in R410A vapor compression systems with experimental quantification of two major mechanisms of performance improvement: Work recovery and liquid feeding

This paper presents experimental data and analysis comparing the performance of an R410A ejector vapor compression system to those of a liquid-fed evaporator system and a conventional expansion valve system. The objective was to quantify separately two major improvements of the ejector system: work recovery and liquid-fed evaporator. The ejector system was first compared to a system with liquid-fed evaporator at matching cooling capacities and revealed improvements from 1.9% to 8.4% solely due to the work recovery of the ejector. When compared to a conventional expansion valve system at the same cooling capacity, the ejector setup improved COP from 8.2% to 14.8% due to simultaneous benefits of liquid-fed evaporator and work recovery. Overall ejector efficiencies from 12.2% to 19.2% were achieved.     

Experimental results with a variable geometry ejector using R600a as working fluid

Experimental results with the first laboratory scale variable geometry ejector (VGE) using isobutane (R600a) are presented. Two geometrical factors, the area ratio and the nozzle exit position, can be actively controlled. The control of the area ratio is achieved by a movable spindle installed in the primary nozzle. The influence of the spindle position (SP) and condenser pressure on ejector performance are studied. The results indicate very good ejector performance for a generator and evaporator temperature of 83 °C and 9 °C, respectively. COP varied between 0.4 and 0.8, depending on operating conditions. The existence of an optimal SP, depending on the back pressure, is identified. A comparison of the benefit of applying the variable geometry design over a fixed geometry configuration is assessed. For example, for a condenser pressure of 3 bar, an 80% increase in the COP was obtained when compared to the performance of a fixed geometry ejector.     

Experimental analysis of a novel cooling system driven by liquid refrigerant pump and vapor compressor

This study introduced a novel energy saving cooling system, i.e. a combined cycle coupled with a traditional vapor compression cycle with a pumped liquid two-phase cooling cycle. The system has two operation modes, i.e. the compression cycle mode driven by compressor and the pump cycle mode driven by refrigerant pump. A multi-purpose test bench was constructed to experimentally evaluate the performance of the integrated cycle system under various operation conditions. The effects of cycle working condition and the shift temperature between the two operation modes on the overall cycle performance were investigated in detail. It is found that the novel cycle system has a higher EER compared to the traditional compressor system when the ambient temperature is relatively low. The further experimental results and comparative annual energy saving analysis also indicated that the proper shift temperature is about −5 °C from the system EER and cooling capacity point of view.     

Energy improvements of CO2 transcritical refrigeration cycles using dedicated mechanical subcooling

In this work the possibilities of enhancing the energy performance of CO₂ transcritical refrigeration systems using a dedicated mechanical subcooling cycle are analysed theoretically. Using simplified models of the cycles, the modification of the optimum operating conditions of the CO₂ transcritical cycle by the use of the mechanical subcooling are analysed and discussed. Next, for the optimum conditions, the possibilities of improving the energy performance of the transcritical cycle with the mechanical subcooling are evaluated for three evaporating levels (5, −5 and −30 °C) for environment temperatures from 20 to 35 °C using propane as refrigerant for the subcooling cycle. It has been observed that the cycle combination will allow increasing the COP up to a maximum of 20% and the cooling capacity up to a maximum of 28.8%, being both increments higher at high evaporating levels. Furthermore, the results indicate that this cycle is more convenient for environment temperatures above 25 °C. Finally, the results using different refrigerants for the mechanical subcooling cycle are presented, where no important differences are observed.     

Thermodynamic assessment of high-temperature heat pumps using Low-GWP HFO refrigerants for heat recovery

Reducing energy consumption by utilizing heat recovery systems has become increasingly important in industry. This paper presents an exploratory assessment of heat pump type heat recovery systems using environmentally friendly refrigerants. The coefficient of performance (COP) of 4 cycle configurations used to raise the temperature of heat media to 160 °C with a waste heat at 80 °C is calculated and compared for refrigerants R717, R365mfc, R1234ze(E), and R1234ze(Z). A multiple-stage “extraction” cycle drastically reduces the throttling loss and exergy loss in the condensers, resulting in the highest COP for R1234ze(Z). A cascade cycle using R1234ze(Z) and R365mfc has a relatively high COP and provides practical benefits. Even under adverse conditions, the primary energy efficiency is greater than 1.3 when the transmission end efficiency of the electric power generation is 0.37. The assessment demonstrated that high-temperature heat pumps are a promising approach for reducing primary energy consumption for industrial applications.     

Development of microwave assisted zeolite–water adsorption heat pump

A microwave assisted zeolite–water adsorption heat pump system was designed, manufactured and investigated experimentally. The influence of operation time of microwave oven on performance of the adsorption heat pump was studied. The performance criteria: coefficient of performance, specific cooling power and volumetric cooing power, were calculated for the designed and tested adsorption heat pump system. The regeneration of adsorbent bed was achieved very rapidly (35 min) by using microwave heating system. The poor thermal conductivity of adsorbent did not affect the periods of isosteric heating and isobaric desorption processes.     

Experimental study of a miniature vapor compression refrigeration system with two heat sink evaporators connected in series or in parallel

A miniature vapor compression refrigeration system included two heat sinks connected in series (indicated as series system) or in parallel (indicated as parallel system) was built. The performance of the series system was studied and compared with that of the parallel system. The results indicate that the largest cooling capacity of the two systems is about 160 W and the optimal refrigerant charge is about 0.6 M_total in the miniature vapor compress refrigeration (VCR) system. There is no relation between the optimal refrigerant charge and the arrangement of the heat sinks. The coefficient of performance (COP) of the series system ranged from 1.81 to 3.22, while the COP of the parallel system was in the range of 1.51–2.92 under the cooling capacity of 100 W. The cooling of the heat sink 2 lag behind that of the heat sink 1 in the serial system, while the refrigerant is difficult to equally distribute in the parallel system.     

Regenerated air cycle potentials in heat pump applications

Air (reversed Brayton) cycle has been utilized in the area of refrigeration and cryogenics for several decades, but its potentials in heat pump applications were longtime underestimated. In this paper, a thermodynamic model for the regenerated air heat pump cycle with practical compressor, expander and regenerated heat exchanger was developed. Based on the model, the relations between the system performance and the operating parameters were analyzed. The optimal heating COP (coefficient of performance) and the corresponding pressure ratio were derived. Then, air heat pump cycles (regenerated cycle and basic cycle) and vapor-compression heat pump cycles (CO₂ trans-critical cycle and R410A subcritical cycle) were numerically compared. The results indicated that the regenerated air heat pump cycle not only gets the heating capacity in line with the heating load under different operating conditions but also achieves higher COP over trans-critical CO₂ heat pump cycle in applications of large temperature difference.     

跨临界CO2两相流引射制冷系统性能实验研究

对跨临界CO2两相流引射制冷系统性能进行了实验,分析了工况及引射器几何参数对系统性能的影响,结果表明:在实验工况范围内,跨临界CO2两相流引射制冷系统制冷量和COP随气体冷却器压力的升高而升高,随气体冷却器出口温度的升高而降低。对于使用不同喉部直径喷嘴的系统,在相同工况下,引射器喷嘴喉部直径较大的系统的性能较好。对于使用不同直径混合室的系统,随着气体冷却器压力的升高,使用小直径混合室的系统COP变化较大;当气体冷却器压力较低时,使用大直径混合室的系统COP较高,而当气体冷却器压力较高时,使用小混合室直径的系统性能较好。在相同工况下,与传统跨临界CO2循环进行比较,两相流引射制冷循环系统COP最大可提高14%。     

Performance improvement of adsorption cooling by heat and mass recovery operation

An adsorption cooling system was developed and tested and various operation procedures have been tried. The experimental results show that the heat recovery operation between two adsorption beds will increase the COP by about 25% if compared with one adsorber basic cycle system. It was also proved that mass recovery is very effective for heat recovery adsorption cooling operation, which may help to obtain a COP increase of more than 10%. Theoretical analyses on the COP have been completed for various heat and mass recovery cycles, such as basic intermittent adsorption cycle, continuous two-adsorber heat recovery cycle, mass recovery cycle, mass recovery with sensible heat recovery, and mass recovery with both sensible heat and heat of adsorption recovery. The theoretical results are in good agreement with experimental values. Based upon the developed theoretical model, it is possible to predict the COP for various operation procedures of a real adsorption cooling system.     

Performance simulation of multi-bed silica gel-water adsorption chillers

Adsorption chiller technology is one of effective means to convert waste thermal energy into cooling, which substantially improves energy efficiency and lowers environmental pollution. This article develops an improved lumped-parameter model for multi-bed silica gel-water adsorption chillers. It is validated by experimental results stemming from a four-bed silica gel-water adsorption chiller at various operating conditions. It is found that the performance predictions from this model compare favourably with experimental results. At all tested conditions and over a wide range of cycle times, the cooling capacity and COP can be predicted to within 10% and 12%, respectively.     

Not-in-kind cooling technologies: A quantitative comparison of refrigerants and system performance

With advances in solid-state cooling materials in the past decade, non-vapor compression technologies, or not-in-kind (NIK) cooling technologies have garnered great attention. Therefore, a universal performance index is urgently needed to compare these NIK technologies with each other and vapor compression cooling as well. In this study, a systematic method is developed to visualize the contributions to the coefficient of performance (COP) from materials (working fluids) level to the system level as a function of temperature lifts. Since the materials level COP depends solely on the materials properties under the specified cycle, it can be used for comparing refrigerants for all NIK technologies. We chose the water-cooled water chiller operating under identical conditions as the basis for the system performance comparison of all NIK cooling technologies. Upon normalizing the system COP to the Carnot COP, its variation with the system temperature lift reveals the intrinsic potential applications for each NIK cooling technology.     

Dew point refrigeration systems: Normalized sensitivity analysis and impact of fouling

Compressed natural gas is transmitted through a network of pipelines after its production from oil-gas wells. This gas is then cooled below the dew-point to remove the condensate that may accumulate in the transmission line, causing erosion and deposits. In this paper, the dew-point refrigeration system used with a gas compression system is investigated. The design conditions are obtained from the manufacturer data sheets, which are validated with a computer program to study both the design and rating of such systems. The coefficient of performance (COP) of the system at the design condition is 2.81, while the effectiveness of condenser is 0.84 and that of evaporator is 0.91. The system COP sensitivity with regard to inlet single-phase temperatures, superheat temperature and conductance of heat exchangers (UA), is examined. It is found that the system is more sensitive under design conditions as compared to performance operations. The effect of fouling that degrades the UA value of the condenser and evaporator is also studied. It is found that condenser fouling has a significant impact on the performance of the system. The impact of alternate refrigerants at optimized intermediate pressure, is also investigated.     

Hybrid vapor compression refrigeration system with an integrated ejector cooling cycle

A refrigeration system was developed which combines a basic vapor compression refrigeration cycle with an ejector cooling cycle. The ejector cooling cycle is driven by the waste heat from the condenser in the vapor compression refrigeration cycle. The additional cooling capacity from the ejector cycle is directly input into the evaporator of the vapor compression refrigeration cycle. The governing equations are derived based on energy and mass conservation in each component including the compressor, ejector, generator, booster and heat exchangers. The system performance is first analyzed for the on-design conditions. The results show that the COP is improved by 9.1% for R22 system. The system is then compared with a basic refrigeration system for variations of five important variables. The system analysis shows that this refrigeration system can effectively improve the COP by the ejector cycle with the refrigerant which has high compressor discharge temperature.