New compression heat pump media for medium and high temperature application

Abstract

The economy and operability of compression heat pump systems is to a great extent influenced by the working fluid. However, the choice of the appropriate medium for a given heat pump application is not straight forward, since a great number of physical and non-physical properties of the presumptive working fluids have to be accounted for. A systematic method of looking for the best medium has been developed. With the help of a commercial flowsheet program a simulation routine of the heat pump cycle has been established. This routine was used to screen all substances in the attached data bank in respect to their applicability as working media. In all, 940 substances have been investigated. From these substances 42 show favourable properties as working fluids for the application in three cases, namely with a temperature of the heat source of 2°C and of the heat sink of 70°C respectively, 60°C source temperature and 120°C at the heat sink and of 90°C source temperature and 150°C at the heat sink. A further investigation of these 42 substances with respect to toxicity and stability left four of them as the ultimate proposal for operable compression heat pump fluids. Besides the actual proposal of new media, the investigation produces a much better understanding of the influence of physical properties on the heat pump performance. From the great number of data, a reliable prediction of the applicability of a given substance as a working fluid, based on the critical data, was deduced.