Performance of Vane-Type CO2 Expander and Characteristics of Transcritical Expansion Process

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one candidate for alternatives to hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants for refrigeration or heat-pump cycles. Since the inherent COP of an air-cooled CO2 cycle is lower than that of HFCs, the use of an expander as an expansion device is recommended to improve the cycle performance of the CO2 cycle. The performance of the expander greatly influences the improvement of the cycle performance. Moreover, an expansion process is complicated, since the expansion process occurring in the expander operated under a typical condition proceeds from supercritical to subcritical. Therefore, it is important to clarify both the expander performance and the expansion process in the expander. In this study, a small vane-type expander is developed, and the performance of the expander is measured. The prototype vane expander has a large leakage loss, and the performance is improved by changing the way of supplying a vane back pressure. Additionally, the expansion process in the expander is examined experimentally and analytically. The transcritical expansion process is also investigated in detail by using a simple piston-cylinder expansion mechanism with a glass window. It is shown that an inflection point of the pressure change under the transcritical expansion process appears with a certain time delay in comparison with an ideal case when the inlet temperature is less than about 40°C. A cluster structure of a CO2 molecule remains for a long time after entering the subcritical region.