Experimental performance comparison of various expansion devices for small-capacity subcritical R744 vapour-compression refrigeration units

Abstract

The target of this study is to experimentally compare the performance of three different expansion devices for small-capacity subcritical R744 vapour-compression refrigeration units. The first considered expansion device was the conventional high-pressure expansion valve, which was selected as the baseline. The second assessed expansion device was a two-phase ejector for expansion work recovery whose refrigerant flow was modulated via the pulse-width modulation (PWM) strategy. Finally, the PWM approach was employed for controlling the refrigerant flow of the ejector motive nozzle while the refrigerant was not permitted to be drawn by the ejector suction nozzle. The results showed that the motive nozzle controlled via PWM effect offers similar effectiveness to a conventional high-pressure expansion valve in the subcritical regime. Furthermore, it was observed that the PWM ejector is able to control the high pressure effectively while increasing the coefficient of performance (COP) by up to 5.3 % without and by up to 7.9 % with overfed evaporator compared to the baseline in the transition regime. The results also showed that the installation of the conventional high-pressure expansion valve is not necessary. Finally, the yearly performance of the aforementioned expansion devices was assessed in five different locations, i.e., Athens (Greece), Phoenix (USA), New Delhi (India), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and Bangkok (Thailand). The outcomes revealed that the PWM ejector allows for a higher in yearly average COP (COP_{yearly avg}) from 4.9 % (in Athens) to 11.8 % (in Bangkok) over the baseline.