Performance of ejector refrigeration cycle based on solar energy working with various refrigerants

Abstract

The refrigerator unit based on electrically driven vapor compression technology consumes high energy, associated with high cost and loss of ecosystem. Recently, solar thermal energy emerges as a key research area and introducing it in refrigerator application has happened extremely fast. Solar thermal refrigeration systems based on ejector compression technology are thriving because of its utilization of low-grade energy sources, straight forward design, non-moving parts, lower maintenance costs, and durability. In this present work, the performance of a solar ejector refrigeration system (ERS) is calculated analytically using one-dimensional model. The performance parameters are calculated with the assumption that both the condensation and evaporation processes occur along the saturation line. Initially, the influence of the ejector area ratio, generator temperature, condenser temperature, and evaporator temperature on the performance of the ERS is analyzed in critical mode with water (R718) as the working fluid. The analysis shows that the coefficient of performance increases more than two times on increasing the ejector area ratio from 6.4 to 12.8. The results also show that a higher coefficient of performance (COP) is obtained at a higher ejector area ratio. The COP is found to be inversely related to the generator temperature, meanwhile the coefficient of performance increase more than 74% on increasing the refrigeration temperature from Tc = 8 °C to Tc = 15 °C. Then, the performance of ERS is obtained at the subcritical conditions at varying generator temperatures. At subcritical mode, COP is found to be directly proportional to the generator temperature, and the highest COP occurs at an optimum generator temperature. The performance of the ERS with various refrigerants as R717, R718, R245fa, R123, R141b, and R365fa is calculated at the critical mode. With refrigerant R717, the system shows higher performance as well as a cooling effect than other refrigerants. However, most environmental benign refrigerant R718 shows comparatively low performance, but it is found that R718 produces a significant cooling effect than other refrigerants excluding R717 refrigerant.