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Performance Analysis of an Ejector Enhanced Two-Stage Auto-Cascade Refrigeration Cycle for Low Temperature Freezer

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Abstract

In this paper, an ejector enhanced two-stage auto-cascade refrigeration cycle (EARC) using ternary mixture R600a/R32/R1150 is proposed for application of −80°C freezing. In EARC cycle, an ejector was employed to recover the expansion work in the throttling processes and lifted the suction pressure of the compressor. The performances of the ejector enhanced two-stage auto-cascade refrigeration cycle and conventional auto-cascade refrigeration cycle (CARC) were compared using thermodynamic analysis methods. The influences of the important operation parameters including mass fraction ratio of the mixture, fluid quality at the second separator inlet, condensation temperature, evaporation temperature, and expansion ratio of expansion valve on the performances of EARC cycle were discussed in detail. The results indicate that ternary mixture R600a/R32/R1150 has the optimal mass fraction ratio of 0.45/0.2/0.35 with respect to the maximum COP. The EARC cycle yields higher performance than the CARC cycle in terms of COP, exergy efficiency and volumetric refrigeration capacity. And 4.9%–36.5% improvement in COP and 6.9%–34.3% higher exergy efficiency could be obtained in EARC cycle comparing with CARC cycle. The finding of this study suggests that the EARC cycle has a promising application potential for low temperature freezing.

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Abbreviations

COP :

cooling coefficient of performance

EPR :

expansion ratio of throttle valve

ex :

specific exergy/kJ·kg−1

h :

specific enthalpy/kJ·kg−1

MFR :

mass fraction ratio of mixture components

ṁ :

mass flow rate/kg·s−1

P :

pressure/kPa

Q e :

refrigeration capacity/W

Q h :

heat capacity rejected at condenser/W

q v :

volumetric refrigeration capacity/kJ·m−3

r P :

pressure lift ratio

s :

specific entropy/kJ·kg−1·K−1

T :

temperature/°C

W COM :

compressor input power/W

x :

fluid quality

η :

efficiency

μ :

entrainment ratio

π :

compression ratio

ϕ :

exergy destruction ratio

CoM:

compressor

CON:

condenser

d:

diffuser of ejector

dis:

discharge temperature

EC:

evaporation condenser

EJE:

ejector

EV:

evaporator

EXP:

expansion valve

e:

evaporation

i:

inlet

is:

isentropic procedure

MIX:

Mixing process before ejector nozzle

m:

mixing chamber of ejector

n:

nozzle of ejector

o:

outlet

SEP:

separator

s:

secondary fluid

sys:

system

tot:

total exergy destruction

1–16:

state points of refrigerant

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Acknowledgements

The work presented in this paper is financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under the grant No. 51806160 and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (CPSF) under the grant No. 2018M640982. The authors would like to thank NSFC and CPSF for the sponsorship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Refrigeration and Cryogenic Engineering, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Tao Bai, Yu Lu, Gang Yan & Jianlin Yu

Authors
  1. Tao Bai
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  2. Yu Lu
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  3. Gang Yan
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  4. Jianlin Yu
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Correspondence to Tao Bai.

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Bai, T., Lu, Y., Yan, G. et al. Performance Analysis of an Ejector Enhanced Two-Stage Auto-Cascade Refrigeration Cycle for Low Temperature Freezer. J. Therm. Sci. 30, 2015–2026 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-020-1290-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-020-1290-6

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