Feasibility and design studies for heat recovery from a refrigeration system with a canopus heat exchanger

Abstract This paper presents an investigation of the feasibility of heat recovery from the condenser of a vapour compression refrigeration (VCR) system through a Canopus heat exchanger (CHE) between the compressor and condenser components. The presence of the CHE makes it possible to recover the superheat of the discharged vapour and utilize it for increasing the temperature of the external fluid (water) removing heat from the condenser. The effects of the operating temperatures in the condenser and evaporator for different inlet water temperatures and mass flow rates on the heat recovery output and its distribution over the condenser and CHE (the fraction of the condenser heat available through the CHE), available outlet water temperature and heat recovery factor have all been studied and optimum operating parameters for feasible heat recovery have been ascertained. The parametric results obtained for different working fluids, such as R-22, R-12, R-717 and R-500, have been presented. It is found that, in general, a heat recovery factor of the order of 2.0 and 40% of condenser heat can be recovered through the Canopus heat exchanger for a typical set of operating conditions.