Performance limit for economized cycles with continuous refrigerant injection.

Summary

The cost of multistage compressors has traditionally limited the implementation of economization to larger-scale applications. However, the development of compressors with ports for refrigerant injection, which can be added at relatively low cost, introduces new opportunities for economizing in small-scale applications. Injecting economized refrigerant provides cooling during the compression process, and thus reduces the work required for compression and improves the cycle's COP despite a slight decrease in cooling capacity. A simple model is developed to show that increasing the number of injection ports improves COP, approaching a performance limit defined by continuous injection. In the case of continuous injection, refrigerant in the compressor remains saturated vapour throughout the compression process due to the cooling provided by the injected refrigerant. The model predicts that continuous injection will improve the COP between 18 and 51% for common air-conditioning and refrigeration applications, benefiting higher temperature lift cycles most significantly.

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Details

  • Original title: Performance limit for economized cycles with continuous refrigerant injection.
  • Record ID : 2010-1826
  • Languages: English
  • Publication date: 2010/07/12
  • Source: Source: Proc. 2010 int. Refrig. Air Cond. Conf., Purdue Univ.
    n. 2171; 8 p.; fig.; 10 ref.