Performance Potential of CO2 Cycle With a Linear Compressor

This paper describes the performance potential of a transcritical CO2 cycle with a linear compressor for medium temperature refrigeration systems. Hermetic linear compressors have been previously developed for subcritical cycles especially for small capacity refrigeration systems and have demonstrated their performance potential as compared to conventional compressors. To investigate the performance of a transcritical CO2 cycle with a linear compressor for medium temperature refrigeration systems, cycle simulation was carried out. The performance of transcritical CO2 cycles was simulated for medium temperature refrigeration systems by using the compressor efficiencies measured. The simulated results show that the cooling capacity is 235 W at 40.5°C ambient temperature and the COP is 1.31 at 32.2°C ambient temperature. The heat exchangers were then designed using the heat exchanger design software. The results show that the CO2 linear compressor together with suitably designed heat exchangers can be successfully applied to medium temperature refrigeration systems.