Performance of a Solar Ejector Refrigerant System under the Periodic Climate Condition
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 1
Abstract
An experimental system for a solar ejector refrigeration system under the periodic climate condition was designed and constructed. The influences of ambient temperature and solar radiation on the performance of the refrigeration were studied experimentally. The results show that there exists critical ambient temperature in the solar ejector refrigeration system. When the ambient temperature is higher than the critical ambient temperature, the system coefficient of performance (COP), energy efficiency ratio (EER), the ejector coefficient, and the cooling capacity will undergo a sharp decline. Furthermore, this work shows that the critical ambient temperature is proportional to the generator temperature. With the solar radiation increasing, the system COP, EER, and cooling capacity increase initially and then decrease. For given temperatures at the evaporator and the condenser, there exists an optimal generator temperature, at which COP and cooling capacity can reach the maximum. The results obtained herein provide useful guidelines for the optimal design and operation of this type of refrigerant system.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by School of Energy and Environment, Zhongyuan Institute of Technology. The support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51306214); Henan Scientific and Technological Project (Grant No. 132102210176 and 2013GGJS-114); the Research Funds of Key Laboratory of Heating and Air Conditioning; the Education Department of Henan Province (Grant No. 2013HAC202); and the Support Plan Innovation Talents of Henan Province (Grant No. 14HASTIT003) are greatly appreciated.
References
Alexis, G. K., and Karayiannis, E. K. (2005). “A solar ejector cooling system using refrigerant R134a in the Athens area.” Renewable Energy, 30(9), 1457–1469.
ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers). (1993). Fundamentals handbook (SI), Atlanta.
Brognaux, L. J., and Webb, R. L. (1997). “Single-phase heat transfer in micro-fin tubes.” Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer., 40(18), 4345–4357.
Dorantes, R., Estradat, C. A., and Pilatowskyt, I. (1996). “Mathematical simulation of a solar ejector-compression refrigeration system.” Appl. Therm. Eng., 16(8–9), 669–675.
Eames, I. W., Ablwaifa, E. A., and Petrenko, V. (2007). “Results of an experimental study of an advanced jet-pump refrigerator operating with R245fa.” Appl. Therm. Eng., 27(17–18), 2833–2840.
Eames, I. W., Aphornratana, S., and Haider, H. (1995). “A theoretical and experimental study of a small-scale steam jet refrigerator.” Int. J. Refrig., 18(6), 378–386.
Gungor, K. E., and Winterton, R. H. (1986). “A general correlation for flow boiling in tubes and annuli.” Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 29(3), 351–358.
Hassan, M. A. M. (2013). “Investigation of performance of heat pipe as heat exchanger using alternative refrigerants.” J. Energy Eng., 18–24.
Huang, B. J., and Chang, J. M. (1999). “Empirical correlation for ejector design.” Int. J. Refrig., 22(5), 379–388.
Huang, B. J., Chang, J. M., and Petrenko, V. A. (1998). “A solar ejector cooling system using refrigerant R141b.” Sol. Energy, 64(4–6), 223–226 (in Chinese).
Huang, B. J., Yen, C. W., and Wu, J. H. (2010). “Optimal control and performance test of solar-assisted cooling system.” Appl. Therm. Eng., 30(14–15), 2243–2252 (in Chinese).
Khalil, A., Fatouh, M., and Elgendy, E. (2011). “Ejector design and theoretical study of R134a ejector refrigeration cycle.” Int. J. Refrig., 34(7), 1684–1698.
Marwa, H., Beliveau, Y., and Asadi, S. (2013). “Experimental evaluation of a newly developed flat plate integrated solar collector system.” J. Energy Eng., 48–53.
Mittal, V., Kasana, K. S., and Thakur, N. S. (2009). “A computational study on evaluation of solar absorption cooling system in India.” J. Energy Inst., 82(4), 228–232.
Nahdi, E., Champoussin, J. C., and Hostache, G. (1993). “Optimal geometric parameters of a cooling ejector compressor.” Int. J. Refrig., 16(1), 67–72.
Preisegger, E., and Henrici, R. (1992). “Refrigerant 134a: The first step into a new age of refrigerants.” Int. J. Refrig., 15(6), 326–331.
REFPROP. (2010). NIST standard reference database 23, version 8.0, Technology Administration National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD.
Sankarlal, T., and Mani, A. (2006). “Experimental studies on an ammonia ejector refrigeration system international.” Commun. Heat Mass Transfer, 33(2), 224–230.
Sankarlal, T., and Mani, A. (2007). “Experimental investigations on ejector refrigeration system with ammonia.” Renewable Energy, 32(8), 1403–1413.
Selvaraju, A., and Mani, A. (2004a). “Analysis of a vapour ejector refrigeration system with environment friendly refrigerants.” Int. J. Therm. Sci., 43(9), 915–921.
Selvaraju, A., and Mani, A. (2004b). “Analysis of an ejector with environment friendly refrigerants.” Appl. Therm. Eng., 24(5–6), 827–838.
Selvaraju, A., and Mani, A. (2006). “Experimental investigation on R134a vapour ejector refrigeration system.” Int. J. Refrig., 29(7), 1160–1166.
Sun, D. W. (1999). “Comparative study of the performance of an ejector refrigeration cycle operating with various refrigerants.” Energy Convers. Manage., 40(8), 873–884 (in Chinese).
Sun, D. W., and Eames, I. W. (1996). “Performance characteristics of HCFC-123 ejector refrigeration cycles.” Int. J. Energy Res., 20(10), 871–885.
Wang, R. Z., and Dai, Y. J. (2007). Solar cooling, Chemical Industry Press, Beijing (in Chinese).
Yapıcı, R., Ersoy, H. K., Aktoprakoglu, A., Halkacı, H. S., and Yigit, O. (2008). “Experimental determination of the optimum performance of ejector refrigeration system depending on ejector area ratio.” Int. J. Refrig., 31(7), 1183–1189.
Yapıcı, R., and Yetisen, C. C. (2007). “Experimental study on ejector refrigeration system powered by low grade heat energy.” Convers. Manage., 48(5), 1560–1568.
Zhang, Y. F., Zhao, W., Tian, Q., and Sun, Y. X. (2007). “Investigation on performance of ejector and optimal refrigerants for solar ejector refrigeration system.” Acta Energiae Solaris Sin., 28(2), 130–136 (in Chinese).
Zheng, H. F. (2009). The performance research of the solar ejector/electric compression combined refrigeration system, Xi’an Univ. of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, China (in Chinese).
Zhu, Y. H., Cai, W. J., Wen, C. Y., and Li, Y. Z. (2009). “Numerical investigation of geometry parameters for design of high performance ejectors.” Appl. Therm. Eng., 29(5–6), 898–905 (in Chinese).
Zhu, Y. H., and Jiang, P. X. (2012). “Hybrid vapor compression refrigeration system with an integrated ejector cooling cycle.” Int. J. Refrig., 35(1), 68–78.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 1 • March 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 9, 2014
Accepted: Dec 22, 2014
Published online: Jan 28, 2015
Discussion open until: Jun 28, 2015
Published in print: Mar 1, 2016
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.