Transcritical carbon dioxide microchannel heat pump water heaters: Part I - validated component simulation modules

An experimental and analytical study on the performance of carbon dioxide heat pumps for water heating was conducted. The performance of compact, microchannel, water-coupled gas coolers, evaporator, and suction line heat exchanger (SLHX) were evaluated in an experimental facility. Analytical heat exchanger models accounting for the flow orientation and changing CO₂ thermophysical properties were developed and validated with data. Heat transfer coefficients were predicted with correlations available in the literature and local heat duty calculated using the effectiveness-NTU approach. The gas cooler, evaporator, and SLHX models predicted measured heat duties with an absolute average error of 5.5%, 1.3%, and 3.9%, respectively. Compressor isentropic and volumetric efficiency values were found to range from 56% to 67% and 62%-82%, respectively. Empirical models for compressor efficiency and power were developed from the data. The resulting component models are implemented in a system model in a companion paper (Part II).     

The performance of a transcritical CO2 cycle with an internal heat exchanger for hot water heating

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the performance of a transcritical CO₂ cycle with an internal heat exchanger for hot water heating. Performance test and simulation have been carried out for a transcritical CO₂ cycle by varying secondary heat transfer fluid temperatures at evaporator and gas-cooler inlets as well as the discharge pressure. Variations of mass flow rate of refrigerant, compressor power, heating capacity, and co-efficient of performance (COP) with respect to the length of an internal heat exchanger are presented at various operating conditions. Good quantitative agreement between model predictions and experimental results has been found; most parameters have absolute average deviations of less than 4%. As the length of the internal heat exchanger increases, COP is enhanced but heating capacity tends to decrease due to the trade-offs between the effectiveness and pressure drop in the internal heat exchanger.     

Investigation of the optimal intermediate water temperature in a combined r134a and transcritical CO2 heat pump for space heating

In this paper, the effect of intermediate water temperature on the performance of a combined R134a and transcritical CO₂ heat pump was studied theoretically and experimentally. The mathematical model was first validated using experimental data and then applied to analyze the performance of the combined system. The results show that there exists an optimal intermediate water temperature (water inlet temperature at the gas cooler) at which the combined system has the highest COP. This optimal intermediate water temperature varies with the ambient air temperature. Furthermore, the effect of intermediate water temperature on individual R134a and transcritical CO₂ subsystems was investigated. The results show that both heating capacity and power consumption in the R134a subsystem increase as the intermediate water temperature increases. However, power consumption in the CO₂ system drops slightly, and heating capacity reaches an optimal value as the intermediate water temperature increases from 15 to 32 °C under ambient air temperatures ranging from −20 to 7 °C.     

Modelling the performance of a transcritical CO2 heat pump for high temperature heating

A prototype transcritical CO₂ heat pump was constructed for heating water to temperatures greater than 65°C while providing refrigeration at less than 2°C. The heating capacity was 115 kW at an evaporation temperature of +0.3°C and a hot water temperature of 77.5°C, with a heating coefficient of performance (COP) of 3.4. Performance data is presented for each of the compressor, the gas cooler, and the recuperator as well as for the overall heat pump system. Equipment performance data was incorporated into a computer model to enable parametric investigations of heat pump performance. Model predictions showed that the hot water temperature could be increased from 65 to 120°C with a relatively small reduction in heating capacity and heating COP of 33 and 21%, respectively. Model predictions also highlight the potential for significant capacity improvements by eliminating the recuperator in favour of a larger gas cooler.     

四种跨临界CO2压缩式热泵系统的热力性能研究

CO2是具有很大潜力的天然替代工质之一,CO2跨临界循环放热过程中具有较大温度滑移,与水侧温升过程相匹配,因此适合用于热泵热水器系统。国内外学者提出了许多提高跨临界CO2循环效率的方法,其中包括引入回热器、喷射器等设备,从不同角度对比分析在常规跨临界CO2热泵系统中引入回热器、喷射器后系统的性能变化。本文在前人工作的基础上,建立相关热力学计算模型,并进一步对四种不同形式的跨临界CO2热泵系统（常规跨临界CO2热泵系统（TCHS）、带回热器的跨临界CO2热泵系统（TCHSI）、带喷射器的跨临界CO2热泵系统（TCHSE）及带喷射器与回热器的跨临界CO2热泵系统（TCHSEI））的性能进行研究,对比分析排气压力一定的情况下四种循环的热力性能;从最优排气压力的角度出发,分析对比不同系统中气冷器出口温度变化对系统最优排气压力和制热系数的影响,以及喷射器等熵效率对系统性能的影响。以上研究为CO2压缩式热泵系统的实用化进展奠定良好的理论基础。     

Performance evaluation of a CO2 heat pump system for fuel cell vehicles considering the heat exchanger arrangements

A novel CO₂ heat pump system was provided for use in fuel cell vehicles, when considering the heat exchanger arrangements. This cycle which had an inverter-controlled, electricity-driven compressor was applied to the automotive heat pump system for both cooling and heating. The cooling and heating loops consisted of a semi-hermetic compressor, supercritical pressure microchannel heat exchangers (a gas cooler and a cabin heater), a microchannel evaporator, an internal heat exchanger, an expansion valve and an accumulator. The performance characteristics of the CO₂ heat pump system for fuel cell vehicles were analyzed by experiments. Results for steady and transient state performance were provided for various operating conditions. Furthermore, experiments to examine the arrangements of a radiator and an outdoor heat exchanger were carried out by changing their positions for both cooling and heating conditions. The arrangements of the radiator and the outdoor heat exchanger were tested to quantify cooling/heating effectiveness and mutual interference. The improvement of heating capacity and coefficient of performance (COP) of the CO₂ heat pump system was up to 54% and 22%, respectively, when using preheated air through the radiator instead of cold ambient air. However, the cooling capacity quite decreased by 40–60% and the COP fairly decreased by 43–65%, for the new radiator-front arrangement.     

A steady and quasi-steady state analysis on the CO2 hybrid ground-coupled heat pumping system

This article contains the steady and quasi-steady state analysis on a CO₂ hybrid ground-coupled heat pumping system for warm climates. The hybrid system uses a combination of ambient air and ground boreholes as a heat sink for the cooling mode, while only the ground boreholes are used as a heat source in the heating mode. The steady state analysis suggests that the optimal control strategy of gas cooler pressure for a CO₂ hybrid transcritical cycle is based on the optimal cooling COP value and the ratio of heat rejected to ambient air. This optimal control strategy is important for decreasing the annual ground thermal imbalance performance of ground boreholes. In addition, the quasi-steady state model of a CO₂ hybrid ground-coupled heat pumping system is constructed for the hourly simulation with different boundary conditions. Simulation results show the details of the system operating characteristics both for heating and cooling modes and the COP values with different operating and design conditions are presented.     

Performance evaluation and optimal design of supermarket refrigeration systems with supermarket model “SuperSim”. Part II: Model applications

As described in Part I, the supermarket simulation software “SuperSim” with its integrated refrigeration, building and HVAC system models, can be used to evaluate, compare and optimize alternative supermarket refrigeration systems. In Part II the model was used to evaluate and compare the performance of a CO₂ booster refrigeration system with that of a conventional R404A multiplex system in a supermarket application. Floating head pressure control was implemented for both systems when they were in subcritical cycles. For the CO₂ system, when the system was in transcritical cycle due to higher ambient air temperature, the head pressure was optimized through extensive thermodynamic cycle analysis as a function of ambient air temperature. The performance of the CO₂ booster system in the supermarket was then simulated during a one year period and compared with that of the R404A system. As a result, the system performance will benefit from a lower ambient temperature and a sizeable heat recovery for the CO₂ system.     

Water-side reversible CO2 heat pump for residential application

This paper presents the energy assessment of a water/water R744 chiller/heat pump, working according to a transcritical cycle, used for winter heating, summer cooling and tap water production. The different functions (heating, cooling, hot water) are managed water side. The analysis of the R744 chiller/heat pump is based on an original simplified method, which is able to predict the energy performance of the unit based only on its performance data at the nominal rating conditions. The method was validated against experimental data. A comparison with a state-of-the-art R410A unit is presented. The monthly analysis shows that the CO₂ unit is very efficient in hot water production, but penalised in heating and cooling service. The adoption of an ejector in place of the expansion valve makes the CO₂ system reach the same energy consumption as the R410A unit, despite the presence of the water loop only in the R744 lay-out.     

CO2-heat pump water heater: characteristics, system design and experimental results

CO₂ is one of the few non-toxic and non-flammable working fluids that do not contribute to ozone depletion or global warming, if leaked to the atmosphere. Tap water heating is one promising application for a trans-critical CO₂ process. The temperature glide at heat rejection contributes to a very good temperature adaptation when heating tap water, which inherits a large temperature glide. This, together with efficient compression and good heat transfer characteristics of CO₂, makes it possible to design very efficient systems. A heating-COP of 4.3 is achieved for the prototype when heating tap water from 9°C to 60°C, at an evaporation temperature of 0°C. The results lead to a seasonal performance factor of about 4 for an Oslo climate, using ambient air as heat source. Thus, the primary energy consumption can be reduced with more than 75% compared with electrical or gas fired systems. Another significant advantage of this system, compared with conventional heat pump water heaters, is that hot water with temperatures up to 90°C can be produced without operational difficulties.     

Heating performance enhancement of a CO2 heat pump system recovering stack exhaust thermal energy in fuel cell vehicles

A CO₂ heat pump system using recovered heat from the stack coolant was provided for use in fuel cell vehicles, where the high temperature heat source like in internal combustion engine vehicles is not available. The refrigerant loop consists of an electric drive compressor, a cabin heater, an outdoor evaporator, an internal heat exchanger, an expansion valve and an accumulator. The performance characteristics of the heat pump system were investigated and analyzed by experiments. The results of heating experiments were discussed for the purpose of the development and efficiency improvement of a CO₂ heat pump system, when recovering stack exhaust heat in fuel cell vehicles. A heater core using stack coolant was placed upstream of a cabin heater to preheat incoming air to the cabin heater. The performance of the heat pump system with heater core was compared with that of the conventional heating system with heater core and that of the heat pump system without heater core, and the heat pump system with heater core showed the best performance of the selected heating systems. Furthermore, the coolant to air heat pump system with heater core showed a significantly better performance than the air to air heat pump system with heater core.     

Investigation of R-744 Voorhees transcritical heat pump system

Using economizer in R-744 heat pump cycle is an effective way to improve the heating capacity in cold climates. In this paper, a modification construction of reciprocating compressor with economizer port, a Voorhees compressor was introduced and the heat pump cycle with Voorhees economizer was compared with the traditional screw or scroll economizer cycles. Both the R-744 transcritical heat pumps with and without Voorhees economizer were tested at the same conditions with different air mass flow rates and different evaporating temperatures. The results show that the heating capacity of the heat pump with Voorhees economizer can be two times higher than the transcritical heat pump without economizer at low evaporating temperature conditions. At the same capacity operation conditions, the efficiency of the heat pump with Voorhees economizer is higher at high refrigerant mass flow rate conditions. The optimum discharge pressure of the heat pump with Voorhees economizer is found to be higher than the heat pump without economizer at the same ambient conditions. For mobile heat pump application, CO₂ transcritical heat pump with Voorhees economizer demonstrates better performance comparing to the conventional transcritical CO₂ heat pump without economizer when the evaporating temperature is lower than −20 °C, or when the mobile is idling with low compressor RPM.     

Control optimisation of CO2 cycles for medium temperature retail food refrigeration systems

This paper describes a detailed procedure into the investigation of optimised control strategies for CO₂ cycles in medium temperature retail food refrigeration systems. To achieve this objective, an integrated model was developed composing of a detailed condenser/gas cooler model, a simplified compressor model, an isenthalpic expansion process and constant evaporating temperature and superheating. The CO₂ system can operate subcritically or transcritically depending on the ambient temperature. For a transcritical operation, a prediction can be made for optimised refrigerant discharge pressures from thermodynamic cycle calculations. When the system operates in the subcritical cycle, a floating discharge pressure control strategy is employed and the effect of different transitional ambient temperatures separating subcritical and transcritical cycles on system performance is investigated. The control strategy assumes variable compressor speed and adjustable air flow for the gas cooler/condenser to be modulated to achieve the constant cooling load requirement at different ambient conditions.     

Experimental investigation on the performance of NH3/CO2 cascade refrigeration system with twin-screw compressor

This paper describes the experiment carried out to analyze the performance of a refrigeration system in cascade with ammonia and carbon dioxide as working fluids. The effect of operation parameters, such as the evaporating temperature of the low temperature cycle, the condensing temperature of low temperature cycle, temperature difference in cascade heat exchanger and superheat degree, on the system performance was investigated. Performance of the cascade system with NH₃/CO₂ was compared with that of two-stage NH₃ system and single-stage NH₃ system with or without economizer. It was found that the COP of the cascade system is the best among all the systems, when the evaporating temperature is below −40 °C. Also, the cascade system performance is greatly affected by evaporating temperature, condensing temperature of low temperature cycle, temperature difference in cascade heat exchanger and is only slightly sensitive to superheat degree. All the experimental results indicate that the NH₃/CO₂ cascade system is very competitive in low temperature applications.     

跨临界CO2蒸气压缩式制冷与热泵技术综述

CO2跨临界制冷循环模式因环境友好性、高温制热性、低环境温度适应性、全工况范围高效性等众多优势成为制冷领域中最热门的研究课题之一.本文分别讨论了跨临界CO2制冷或热泵技术在车辆空调、建筑采暖与热水供应、烘干产业、商超冷链等行业中的发展现状,总结并预测了跨临界CO2技术的未来发展趋势.CO2制冷技术在车辆热管理领域发展前...     

CO2热泵技术在供暖系统中的应用研究

针对自然工质CO2跨临界循环存在高排气温度和温度滑移等特点,论证其在热泵热水系统方面应用的优势。开发一套CO2热泵供暖系统,对供暖系统的热负荷和供热能力进行计算,同时对系统中的制冷机组、换热器、阀件、通风系统及风道进行试验分析。实际运行结果表明,该系统性能稳定、运行可靠、各项测试精度达到要求。     

A theoretical study on a novel solar based integrated system for simultaneous production of cooling and heating

An integrated system for simultaneous production of triple-effect cooling and single stage heating is proposed in this paper to harness low grade solar energy. The proposed system combines the heliostat field with a central receiver and the ejector-absorption cycle with the shaft power driven transcritical CO₂ cycle. A parametric study based on first and second laws of thermodynamics is carried out to ascertain the effect of varying the exit temperature of duratherm oil, turbine inlet pressure, and evaporators temperature on the energy and exergy output as well as on the energy and exergy efficiencies of the system. The results obtained indicate that major source of exergy destruction is the central receiver where 52.5% of the inlet solar heat exergy is lost followed by the heliostat where 25% of the inlet exergy is destroyed. The energy and exergy efficiencies of the integrated system vary from 32% to 39% and 2.5%–4.0%, respectively, with a rise in the hot oil outlet temperature from 160 °C–180 °C. It is further shown that increase in evaporator temperature of transcritical CO₂ cycle from −20 °C to 0 °C increases the energy efficiency from 27.45% to 43.27% and exergy efficiency from 2.51% to 2.97%, respectively. The results clearly show how the variation in the values of hot oil outlet temperature, turbine inlet pressure, and the evaporator temperature of transcritical CO2 cycle strongly influences the attainable performance of the integrated 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.     

Simulation of a transcritical CO2 heat pump cycle for simultaneous cooling and heating applications

A steady state simulation model has been developed to evaluate the system performance of a transcritical carbon dioxide heat pump for simultaneous heating and cooling. The simulated results are found to be in reasonable agreement with experimental results reported in the literature. Such a system is suitable, for example, in dairy plants where simultaneous cooling at 4 °C and heating at 73 °C are required. The optimal COP was found to be a function of the compressor speed, the coolant inlet temperature to the evaporator and inlet temperature of the fluid to be heated in the gas cooler and compressor discharge pressure. An optimizing study for the best allocation of the fixed total heat exchanger inventory between the evaporator and the gas cooler based on the heat exchanger area has been carried out. Effect of heat transfer in the heat exchangers on system performance has been presented as well. Finally, a novel nomogram has been developed and it is expected to offer useful guidelines for system design and its optimisation.     

Experimental investigation on the performance of a transcritical CO2 heat pump with multi-ejector expansion system

Carbon dioxide is becoming an interesting option also for HVAC heating appliances due to its eco-friendly characteristics. The incurrence of transcritical cycles makes the use of ejectors attractive to improve performance. Part load conditions and varied ambient temperatures imply the use of variable geometry systems of appropriate design to keep their efficiency high. This paper investigates experimentally a multi-ejector air-to-water CO₂ heat pump for heating needs, measuring the performance of the system and of each component under partial and full load conditions. A sensitivity analysis was run varying, separately or in a combined way, the following parameters or operating conditions: ejector area ratio in a range of 33.1–86.6%; compressor frequency in the range of 30–60 Hz; ambient temperature in the range of −15–12 °C according to the standard UNI EN 14511/2011. The results show the possibility to reach an optimum of the COP by varying the ejector area, once the other parameters are fixed, as a consequence of the ejector regulation on the pressures at the inlet and outlet of the compressor.