Economic analysis of the application of expanders in medium scale air-conditioners with conventional refrigerants, R1234yf and CO2

Expanders have been shown to improve the energy efficiencies of refrigeration systems. The current technology is also adequate to manufacture and integrate expanders to practical air-conditioners. In this paper, an economic analysis of the installation of expanders on to existing vapor compression cooling systems, particularly medium scale air-conditioners, is presented. Various refrigerants, including the established and the newly proposed varieties, are considered. From the investigations, it was found that when the expander efficiency is 50%, the payback periods of most conventional systems are below 3 years in high temperature countries with high electricity tariffs and are above 5 years in other countries. Expanders are especially attractive for the transcritical CO2 and the R404A systems. The payback periods are shorter for systems with highly efficient expanders, high cooling loads, high ambient temperatures and for low refrigerating temperature applications.

[1]  G Lorentzen,et al.  The use of natural refrigerants: a complete solution to the CFC/HCFC predicament , 1995 .

[2]  Alison Subiantoro,et al.  Introduction of the Revolving Vane Expander , 2009 .

[3]  Masaru Matsui,et al.  Development of the High-Efficiency Technology of a CO2 Two-Stage Rotary Expander , 2009 .

[4]  M. McLinden,et al.  NIST Standard Reference Database 23: Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties-REFPROP, Version 8.0 , 2007 .

[5]  Jun Lan Yang,et al.  Exergy analysis of transcritical carbon dioxide refrigeration cycle with an expander , 2005 .

[6]  Eckhard A. Groll,et al.  Efficiencies of transcritical CO2 cycles with and without an expansion turbine , 1998 .

[7]  G. Lorentzen.  Revival of carbon dioxide as a refrigerant , 1994 .

[8]  Reinhard Radermacher,et al.  Natural RefrigerantsSubstances Such as Air, Water, Ammonia, Hydrocarbons, and Carbon Dioxide May Provide Solutions to the Problem of Finding Environmentally Acceptable Refrigerants. , 1998 .

[9]  Ahmed Kovacevic,et al.  Numerical simulation of combined screw compressor-expander machines for use in high pressure refrigeration systems , 2006, Simul. Model. Pract. Theory.

[10]  Yunho Hwang.  Editorial: Expansion Work Recovery Machine: Worth Using or Not? , 2009 .

[11]  Mitsuhiro Fukuta,et al.  Observation of CO2 Trans-Critical Expansion Process , 2008 .

[12]  Vitor A. Gonzalves,et al.  A Study on the Reduction of Throttling Losses in Automotive Air Conditioning Systems Through Expansion Work Recovery , 2008 .

[13]  Jianhong Cheng,et al.  Technical and economic analysis of energy efficiency of Chinese room air conditioners , 2001 .

[14]  J. S. Baek,et al.  Development Of A Piston-Cylinder Expansion Device For The Transcritical Carbon Dioxide Cycle , 2002 .

[15]  Wei Wang,et al.  Study on expansion power recovery in CO2 trans-critical cycle , 2010 .

[16]  J. Pettersen,et al.  A new, efficient and environmentally benign system for car air-conditioning , 1993 .

[17]  Xueyuan Peng,et al.  Development of the free piston expander for work recovery in transcritical CO2 refrigeration cycle , 2006 .

[18]  W. Tsai.  An overview of environmental hazards and exposure risk of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). , 2005, Chemosphere.

[19]  N. Kenya.  Montreal Protocol Parties: Adjustments and Amendments to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer , 1991, International Legal Materials.

[20]  Hua Tian,et al.  A Rolling Piston-Type Two-Phase Expander in the Transcritical CO2 Cycle , 2009 .

[21]  Jun Lan Yang,et al.  Performance investigation of transcritical carbon dioxide two-stage compression cycle with expander , 2007 .

[22]  W. E. Kraus,et al.  Integration of a three-stage expander into a CO2 refrigeration system , 2005 .

[23]  Wen-Tien Tsai,et al.  Environmental risk assessment of hydrofluoroethers (HFEs). , 2005, Journal of hazardous materials.

[24]  S. Alam,et al.  Framework Convention on Climate Change , 1993 .

[25]  Masayuki Kakuda,et al.  Development of a Scroll Expander for the CO2 Refrigeration Cycle , 2009 .

[26]  Kim Tiow Ooi,et al.  Analysis of the Revolving Vane (RV-0) expander, part 2: Verifications of theoretical models , 2012 .

[27]  W. Chen,et al.  A comparative study on the performance and environmental characteristics of R410A and R22 residential air conditioners , 2008 .

[28]  Neil Hewitt,et al.  An economic and technical case for a compressor/expander unit for heat pumps , 2000 .

[29]  K. Ooi,et al.  Analysis of the revolving vane (RV-0) expander, Part 1: Experimental investigations , 2012 .

[30]  Eckhard A. Groll,et al.  Piston-cylinder work producing expansion device in a transcritical carbon dioxide cycle. Part I: experimental investigation , 2005 .

[31]  Abdeen Mustafa Omer,et al.  Green energies and the environment , 2008 .

[32]  G Lorentzen,et al.  Ammonia: An Excellent Alternative , 1988 .

[33]  Mitsuhiro Fukuta,et al.  Performance of Vane-Type CO2 Expander and Characteristics of Transcritical Expansion Process , 2009 .

[34]  Eckhard A. Groll,et al.  Piston-cylinder work producing expansion device in a transcritical carbon dioxide cycle. Part II: theoretical model , 2005 .

[35]  Hyun-Jin Kim,et al.  Numerical simulation on scroll expander–compressor unit for CO2 trans-critical cycles , 2006 .

[36]  Masaru Matsui,et al.  Development of High-Efficiency Technology of Two-Stage Rotary Expander for CO2 Refrigerant , 2008 .

[37]  Kenji Tojo,et al.  Basic Operating Characteristics of CO2 Refrigeration Cycles With Expander-Compressor Unit , 2006 .

[38]  Xueyuan Peng,et al.  Study of a Rotary Vane Expander for the Transcritical CO2 Cycle—Part I: Experimental Investigation , 2009 .

[39]  Guan Haiqing,et al.  Some design features of CO2 swing piston expander , 2006 .

[40]  Akinobu Murata,et al.  Study on Electricity Consumption for Domestic Refrigerators, Air Conditioners, and Water Dispenser in Guangzhou (China) urban area based on Questionnaire Data , 2011 .

[41]  Yuanyang Zhao,et al.  An Experimental Study on Energy Recovery by a Pelton-Type Expander in a Domestic Refrigeration System , 2009 .

[42]  Bo Zhang,et al.  Improved rotary vane expander for trans-critical CO2 cycle by introducing high-pressure gas into the vane slots , 2011 .

[43]  Unfccc.  Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , 1997 .

[44]  Barbara T. Fichman.  Annual Energy Review 2009 , 2010 .