Performance analysis of a novel hybrid vapor injection cycle with subcooler and flash tank for air-source heat pumps

In this paper, a novel hybrid vapor injection cycle (HVIC) with subcooler and flash tank for air-source heat pumps is proposed. In the HVIC, an ejector is applied to realize the advantages of both the subcooler and flash tank vapor injection, which can efficiently reduce the irreversible thermodynamic loss and improve the system performance, especially at low ambient temperature conditions. The performance enhancement potential of HVIC is compared with conventional subcooler vapor injection cycle (SVIC) and flash tank vapor injection cycle (FTVC) using cycle simulations. The simulation results indicated that for the HVIC using R290 as refrigerant, the coefficient of performance (COP) and the volumetric heating capacity can be increased by 2.8–3.3% and 6.4–8.8% compared to the SVIC system, 1.1–2.0% and 3.2–6.0% compared to the FTVC system, respectively. In addition, improving the ejector efficiencies and adjusting the injection pressure could also enhance the performance of HVIC. Exergy analysis indicates that the total exergy destruction for the HVIC is lower than that of SVIC and FTVC due to the application of an ejector, and therefore resulting in higher exergy efficiency. Overall, the HVIC could be more effective to enhance heating capacity and system efficiency.     

Effects of vapor injection techniques on the heating performance of a CO2 heat pump at low ambient temperatures

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of vapor injection techniques on the heating performance of a CO₂ heat pump. The performances of the flash tank vapor injection (FTVI), sub-cooler vapor injection (SCVI) and FTVI with a suction line heat exchanger (FTSX) cycles were measured and analyzed with variations of the outdoor temperature, compressor frequency, and injection mass flow rate. At the outdoor temperature of −15 °C and compressor frequency of 55 Hz, the heating capacity and COP of the optimized SCVI cycle were 12.1% and 12.7% higher than those of the optimized FTVI cycle, respectively, because the total mass flow rate in the SCVI cycle was higher than that in the FTVI cycle by the large temperature and pressure differences in the sub-cooler of the SCVI cycle. In addition, the optimum injection flow rate ratios in the vapor injection CO₂ cycles yielding the maximum COP were determined at various compressor frequencies.     

Refrigerant injection for heat pumping/air conditioning systems: Literature review and challenges discussions

This paper reviews the major research on refrigerant injection techniques in detail. Liquid and vapor refrigerant injection techniques are discussed and compared. The current research on refrigerant injection techniques falls into two categories: system level research and component level research. The system level research is focused on low ambient temperature heating, heat pump water heating, high ambient temperature cooling, cycle comparison, and control strategy development. Internal heat exchanger and flash tank cycles are the two typical cycles for refrigerant injection. These two cycles are discussed and compared in detail. The component level research is focused on employing different types of compressors, variable speed compressors, the injection process, and the flash tank. Different types of compressors employing refrigerant injection are presented. Based on the literature study, the potential future research directions are presented and discussed. The flash tank cycle control strategy and refrigerant charge management strategy are worth further research efforts. Compressor design can be improved in order to optimize the performance with refrigerant injection. The appropriate design of flash tanks plays a vital role in achieving appropriate two-phase flow patterns in the flash tank. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling can be a useful tool to facilitate the design of the flash tank.     

Optimum cycle control of a two-stage injection heat pump with a double expansion sub-cooler

The refrigerant injection technique has rapidly developed in recent years due to its outstanding performance at low ambient temperatures, and various control methods for a heat pump with injection have been presented. However, most studies on cycle control have been theoretical, and practical control methods for cycle optimization based on experimental results hardly have been presented. In this study, an optimum cycle control method was proposed for a refrigerant injection heat pump with a double expansion sub-cooler based on the intermediate pressure and the injection ratio. The optimum sub-cooler pressure ratio was proposed from 0.4 to 0.7 in view of the heating capacity, and from 0.7 to 0.8 in view of the COP. The optimum injection ratio increased from 0.1 to 0.3 with an increase in the compression ratio.     

准二级压缩空气源热泵热水机的技术分析

文章对常规和过冷器准二级压缩的空气源热泵热水系统进行简要性能分析,通过实际测试不同工况下各性能参数随进水温度的变化规律,寻找过冷器准二级压缩空气源热泵热水机各工况点的最佳补气压力。结果表明,相对于常规空气源热泵热水系统,过冷器准二级压缩的空气源热泵热水系统可显著提高制热量及性能系数、降低排气温度、拓宽运行范围,可为过冷器准二级压缩热泵系统用于空气源热泵热水机的设计和应用提供参考。     

Thermodynamic analyses on an ejector enhanced CO2 transcritical heat pump cycle with vapor-injection

In this paper, an ejector enhanced vapor injection CO₂ transcritical heat pump cycle with sub-cooler (ESCVI) for heating application in cold regions is proposed. The thermodynamic analysis using energetic and exegetic methods is carried out to predict the performance characteristics of the ejector enhanced cycle, and then compared with those of the conventional vapor injection heat pump cycle with sub-cooler (SCVI). The simulation results demonstrate that the ejector enhanced cycle exhibits better performance than the conventional vapor injection cycle under the specified operating conditions. The improvements of the maximum system COP and volumetric heating capacity could reach up to 7.7% and 9.5%, respectively. Exergetic analysis indicates that the largest exergy destruction ratio is generated at the compressor followed by the evaporator and gas cooler. Additionally, the exergy efficiency of the ejector is introduced to quantify the effectiveness of the exergy recovery process, which may be a new criterion to evaluate the performance of the ejector enhanced vapor compression cycle.     

Theoretical study of a thermoelectric-assisted vapor compression cycle for air-source heat pump applications

This paper proposes a thermoelectric-assisted vapor compression cycle (TVCC) for applications in air-source heat pump systems which could enhance the heating capacity of the system. Performances of TVCC are calculated and then compared with that of basic vapor compression cycle (BVCC). The simulation results show that when coefficients of performance (COPs) of the two cycles are almost equal, the TVCC under maximum COP condition of the thermoelectric modules still performs better than BVCC by 13.0% in heating capacity through selecting the appropriate intermediate temperature. In addition, the TVCC can also achieve an improvement of 16.4%–21.7% in both the heating COP and capacity when compared with the BVCC with an assistant electric heater that is provided with the equivalent power input of thermoelectric heat exchanger. Thus, the TVCC could be beneficial to the applications in small heat pumps if there is always need for auxiliary electric heat.     

Performance evaluation of a vapor injection heat pump system for electric vehicles

Battery-powered electric vehicles (EV) need an efficient electric heating system for extending the driving mileage. An air-source heat pump system offers an economical alternative for EV because it consumes less energy than a heating system using Joule heat and it can use the same components as an air conditioning system for cooling. However, its performance degradation is inevitable at very low ambient temperatures. Although vapor refrigerant injection is known as a good technology to overcome this problem in residential heat pump systems, the number of vapor injection heat pump studies for EV applications is quite limited. In this paper, considering the characteristics of EV application, the configuration of a vapor injection heat pump system for EV is introduced, and it was modeled, using a scroll compressor geometry-based thermodynamic analysis. The performance was estimated for cold ambient regions under the EV operational conditions.     

R32经济器系统涡旋压缩机中间补气参数的分析与优化

为了优化带经济器的R32空气源热泵系统的制热性能,结合涡旋压缩机的结构以及实际运行特点,本文利用MATLAB建立了系统的数学模型,并通过实验数据验证了仿真结果,研究了在不同环境温度下系统的补气压力、准一级压缩内容积比对相对喷气量的影响.研究结果表明:经济器系统较普通热泵系统,更适宜在环境温度低于-10 ℃的工况下运行;...     

空气热源热泵动态结霜过程研究

建立了空气热源热泵动态结霜过程的物理模型,对热泵机组在结霜工况下的供热特性和霜在空气盘管翅片表面的集聚过程进行了动态模拟,分析了环境温湿度,翅片间距,管排数对结霜特性和机组供热性能的影响。     

On-field measurement method of vapor injection heat pump system

This paper examines air-to-air injection heat pumps (HPs) and proposes a method to determine both heating capacity and coefficient of performance (COP) in situ, allowing analyses of already-installed setups and long-term observation. Due to the uncertain nature of air enthalpy measurements, this method instead uses refrigerant enthalpies calculated from pipe contact temperatures and steady-state energy balances to determine the COP. However, these energy balances are highly dependent on the hypothesis that the working fluid remains strictly monophasic in certain locations, which is not always true in practice. A parametric variable analysis is conducted on the refrigerant vapor quality to calculate the deviation in the COP due to diphasic conditions at the compressor inlet, injection port, and condenser and flash tank outlets. A final in situ COP uncertainty is presented, due to both the measurement and vapor quality uncertainties.     

Transient and steady-state experimental investigation of flash tank vapor injection heat pump cycle control strategy

Recent research on vapor injection technique has been mostly focused on performance improvement using different system configurations. The flash tank cycle typically shows better performance than the internal heat exchanger cycle. However, the flash tank cycle control strategy is not yet clearly defined. In this study, a novel cycle control strategy is proposed for an R-410A vapor injection flash tank heat pump system and its feasibility was experimentally investigated. The proposed novel cycle control strategy utilized an electronic expansion valve (EEV) for the upper-stage expansion and a thermostatic expansion valve for the lower-stage expansion, and applied an electric heater in the vapor injection line to introduce superheat to the injected vapor by providing a control signal to the upper-stage EEV. Both transient and steady-state system behaviors were studied. The proposed cycle control strategy was found to be able to provide reliable control to the system.     

Experimental investigation on vapor injection heat pump with a newly designed twin rotary variable speed compressor for cold regions

A newly designed twin rotary variable speed compressor was adopted to improve the heating performance of a vapor injection heat pump air conditioner (HPAC) at cold regions in this study. The performances of a R410A HPAC were measured and investigated. The results showed that an optimum intermediate pressure existed to achieve the maximum heating capacity and system $\text{COP}$ for the injection cycle, and the heating capacity was enhanced effectively by increasing compressor frequency, however, at the cost of $\text{COP}$ decrease. Comparative research on system performances between injection and non-injection cycles indicated that the newly designed compressor could improve the heating performance of the HPAC at low ambient temperatures. Specifically, the system's heating capacity was enhanced by 5.6%-14.4%, and $\text{COP}$ improvement reached up to 3.5%. Vapor injection cycle was not suggested at high ambient temperatures due to its lower $\text{COP}$ compared with non-injection cycles.     

带闪蒸型经济器的风冷螺杆热泵机组性能的实验研究

研究了带闪蒸型经济器风冷螺杆热泵机组对制热性能的影响,理论分析了补气压力的变化对机组制热性能的影响。研究表明,带闪蒸型经济器热泵螺杆机组制热量随经济器的补气压力的减小而增大,压缩机功率也随经济器的补气压力的减小而增大,压缩机的COP随着经济器的补气压力的升高先升高再降低,存在最佳效率的补气压力点。实验测试了比最佳补气压力点偏高的经济器补气压力对机组性能的影响,理论计算结果和实测数据吻合良好。     

滚动转子式补气压缩机在热泵系统中的实验研究

介绍了滚动转子式补气压缩机的设计,并将其在热泵系统中进行了实验研究。分析了不同制热工况下滚动转子式补气压缩机的性能,对比了带闪发器与过冷器的经济器热泵系统、滚动转子式与涡旋式补气压缩机的性能。结果表明:随着室外环境温度的下降,滚动转子式补气压缩机补气后制热量提升比例逐步增大;滚动转子式补气压缩机制热实验中,带闪发器系统的制热量较高;在超低温制热工况下滚动转子式补气压缩机制热量提升18%左右,与涡旋式补气压缩机相比制热量相当,性能略高。     

空气源热泵与建筑耦合的变工况分析及优化

由于目前设计人员对于空气源热泵性能的了解仅限于额定工况的制热量和COP,导致机组在夏热冬冷地区冬季工况的制热效果可能无法满足实际需求。本文建立热泵机组变工况产能输出、能效比模型及建筑冬夏季动态负荷需求模型,并将热泵产能输出和建筑负荷需求基于室内外温度和室外含湿量参数进行耦合,综合分析了室内外温度和室外含湿量等因素对热泵性能的影响,提出了空气源热泵选型的三个指标,即产能输出满足建筑负荷需求的稳定运行工况区间、最不利工况点的机组出力和能效比。该方法能够有效预测热泵选型实际性能和满足建筑负荷需求的程度,并优化风冷热泵选型方法和评价标准。     

启停过程对空气源热泵-冷柜一体机性能影响的实验研究

空气源热泵-冷柜一体机中热泵的启停过程不仅会影响系统供热性能,还会影响冷柜性能.本文实验研究了在单独运行及联合运行工况下考虑空气源热泵的启停过程的空气源热泵-冷柜一体机的性能,分析了空气源热泵的启停次数对热泵系统和冷柜系统性能的影响.实验结果表明:相比热泵单独运行工况,空气源热泵-冷柜一体机中热泵制热量的衰减开始时间延...     

Performance investigations of an R404A air-source heat pump with an internal heat exchanger for residential heating in northern China

Air-source heat pumps (ASHP) have been widely used for residential heating due to its energy-saving and high efficiency characteristics. However, the performance of an ASHP reduces as the ambient temperature decreases. In order to investigate the effect of ambient temperature on ASHP performance, an ASHP with an internal heat exchanger (IHX) using R404A as refrigerant was developed and studied at low ambient temperatures. The theoretical simulation was first performed to evaluate the performance of the ASHP with IHX and compared with three different cycles. The simulation results were validated by data available from literature and experimental data in this study. The results showed that the R404A ASHP system with IHX had a good potential for residential heating. Further investigation was performed to compare the performance of the R404A ASHP with and without IHX. The comparison results showed that the performance of the ASHP with IHX was far better than that of the ASHP without IHX. As the ambient temperature decreased from 0 °C and −26 °C, the improvement of the heating capacity of the R404A ASHP with IHX increased from 5.91% to 15.92% while the COP improvement increased from 10% to 20%. This indicated that the IHX technology became more and more effective as the ambient temperature dropped lower and lower.     

空气源热泵热水器应用于低温环境的研究

针对空气源热泵热水器在低温环境下不能稳定运行的现象,分别将闪蒸器和过冷器用于热泵系统,在一定程度上解决了传统热泵系统在低温环境下运行时存在的问题;对使用工质R22和R410A的热泵循环分别进行了理论计算,并对结果进行了分析。     

Two-stage heat pump system with vapor-injected scroll compressor using R410A as a refrigerant

Refrigerant vapor-injection technique has been well justified to improve the performance of systems in refrigeration applications. However, it has not received much attention for air conditioning applications, particularly for air conditioning in hot climates and for heat pumping in cold climates. In this study, the performance of an 11 kW R410A heat pump system with a two-stage vapor-injected scroll compressor was experimentally investigated. The vapor-injected scroll compressor was tested with the cycle options of both flash tank and internal heat exchanger configurations. A cooling capacity gain of around 14% with 4% COP improvement at the ambient temperature of 46.1 °C and about 30% heating capacity improvement with 20% COP gain at the ambient temperature of −17.8 °C were found for the vapor-injected R410A heat pump system as compared to the conventional system which has the same compressor displacement volume.