Hybrid auto-cascade refrigeration system coupled with a heat-driven ejector cooling cycle

Abstract The hybrid auto-cascade refrigeration system with an integrated ejector cooling cycle (HACRS) driven by high-grade power and low-grade heat simultaneously is developed in this paper. The working fluid applied in the system is a zeotropic refrigerant mixture of R170/R600a. The heat-driven ejector cooling cycle is employed to the auto-cascade refrigeration cycle to form a novel hybrid auto-cascade refrigeration system coupled with an ejector cycle (HACRS). The ejector is applied to increase the suction pressure of the compressor, and cooling capacity from the ejector cycle is also utilized by the evaporative-condenser and dephlegmator in the HACRS. The system performance is evaluated, based on the mathematical model of the system from the principle of mass and energy conservation. The results indicate that energy consumption of the compressor in HACRS could be reduced by 50% as compared to that in the conventional auto-cascade refrigeration cycle (ACRC). The HACRS can use the heat-driven ejector cycle and the recovery of exhaust waste heat of the compressor to improve its mechanical coefficient of performance (COPme) effectively.

[1]  Yu Zhang,et al.  Performance of R170 mixtures as refrigerants for refrigeration at −80 °C temperature range , 2009 .

[2]  Bin-Juine Huang,et al.  Empirical correlation for ejector design , 1999 .

[3]  Jianlin Yu,et al.  Application of an ejector in autocascade refrigeration cycle for the performance improvement , 2008 .

[4]  Guangming Chen,et al.  A potential auto-cascade absorption refrigeration system for pre-cooling of LNG liquefaction , 2015 .

[5]  Bogdan Diaconu,et al.  Numerical assessment of steam ejector efficiencies using CFD , 2009 .

[6]  Jacek Kasperski,et al.  Performance estimation of ejector cycles using heavier hydrocarbon refrigerants , 2014 .

[7]  Fabio Inzoli,et al.  A study of working fluids for heat driven ejector refrigeration using lumped parameter models , 2015 .

[8]  Yingying Tan,et al.  Thermodynamic Analysis of a Mixed Refrigerant Ejector Refrigeration Cycle Operating with Two Vapor-liquid Separators , 2018 .

[9]  Xianglong Luo,et al.  Evaluation of the ejector refrigeration system with environmentally friendly working fluids from energy, conventional exergy and advanced exergy perspectives , 2017 .

[10]  D. Jung,et al.  Performance of heat pumps charged with R170/R290 mixture , 2009 .

[11]  G. Venkatarathnam,et al.  Relationship between composition of mixture charged and that in circulation in an auto refrigerant cascade and a J-T refrigerator operating in liquid refrigerant supply mode , 2017 .

[12]  Kunfeng Liang,et al.  Thermodynamic performance of an auto-cascade ejector refrigeration cycle with mixed refrigerant R32 + R236fa , 2015 .

[13]  Björn Palm,et al.  Screening of working fluids for the ejector refrigeration system , 2014 .

[14]  A. P. Kleemenko.  One flow cascade cycle. , 1960 .

[15]  Jianlin Yu,et al.  Performance evaluation on an internal auto-cascade refrigeration cycle with mixture refrigerant R290/R600a , 2015 .

[16]  Jianlin Yu,et al.  Advanced exergy analysis on a modified auto-cascade freezer cycle with an ejector , 2016 .

[17]  Youcai Liang,et al.  Comparative analysis of thermodynamic performance of a cascade refrigeration system for refrigerant couples R41/R404A and R23/R404A , 2016 .

[18]  Satha Aphornratana,et al.  A theoretical and experimental study of a small-scale steam jet refrigerator , 1995 .

[19]  B. Saleh,et al.  Performance analysis and working fluid selection for ejector refrigeration cycle , 2016 .

[20]  Shiming Xu,et al.  Experimental and theoretical investigation on the performance of CO2/propane auto-cascade refrigerator with a fractionation heat exchanger , 2015 .