A THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF REFRIGERANTS. I. THERMODYNAMIC LIMITS OF THE VAPOR COMPRESSION CYCLE

Published

June 18, 2012

Author(s)

Piotr A. Domanski, J S. Brown, Jae H. Heo, Janusz Wojtusiak, Mark O. McLinden

Abstract

This paper explores the thermodynamic performance limits of the vapor compression cycle. In particular, we apply evolutionary algorithms to explore the performance of thousands of hypothetical refrigerants defined by their thermodynamic parameters using the extended corresponding states model. We identified optimal values of these fundamental parameters required to reach the performance limits. The study confirmed the fundamental trade-off between the coefficient of performance (COP) and volumetric capacity, and indicated refrigerant critical temperature as a single dominant parameter influencing the tradeoff. Thermodynamic performance limits depend on the operating conditions and cycle design. These limits are represented by Pareto fronts developed for the objective functions COP and volumetric capacity. As expected, performance of current refrigerants falls below the Pareto front limits. We demonstrate that for practical cycles the developed methodology and resulting Pareto fronts are more realistic benchmarks for the performance potentials of refrigerants than is COP alone, which is an efficiency only metric.

Proceedings Title

4th IIR Conference on Thermophysical Properties and Transfer Processes of Refrigerants

Conference Dates

June 17-19, 2013

Conference Location

Delft

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

coefficient of performance, refrigeration, refrigerants, vapor compression cycle

Citation

Domanski, P. , Brown, J. , Heo, J. , Wojtusiak, J. and McLinden, M. (2012), A THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF REFRIGERANTS. I. THERMODYNAMIC LIMITS OF THE VAPOR COMPRESSION CYCLE, 4th IIR Conference on Thermophysical Properties and Transfer Processes of Refrigerants, Delft, -1 (Accessed December 4, 2024)