Performance evaluation of a vapor injection refrigeration system using mixture refrigerant R290/R600a

Abstract

This work presents a performance evaluation of a vapor injection refrigeration system using a mixture refrigerant R290/R600a, through steady-state simulations used to accomplish a parametric analysis considering the influence of the refrigerant composition over the following parameters: COP; compressor power; refrigerant mass flow rate; refrigerant temperature glide; mass flow ratio between vapor and feed streams in the flash tank; liquid and vapor composition of flash tank outlet streams and compression ratio. Two cases, denominated A and B, considering different fixed temperatures at the refrigeration system were studied and their performances were compared with the one of a basic vapor compression cycle. A maximum COP was obtained for a mixture containing 40 wt% of R290. COP of vapor injection refrigeration cycle is 16–32% greater than the one of a vapor compression cycle, depending on the composition of the mixture refrigerant and pressure drop at the cycle upper-stage expansion valve.