Theoretical investigations on simultaneous operation of vapour compression refrigeration cycle and Stirling cycle in miniature Stirling cooler with two-component two-phase mixture

Abstract

The cyclic analysis of Stirling cycle working with a single gaseous fluid is modified to suit two-component two-phase mixtures. When the results were examined carefully, these showed that a substantial increase in cooling effect is obtained. In order to understand how the two-component two-phase working fluid functions in the Stirling cooler, some other processes, generally not coming into picture with a single gaseous fluid, are also considered to get good idea about the working of the cooler and then the estimates about the performance of the cooler are obtained. The processes include, simultaneous compression of gases with different ratios of C p and C v, the drop-wise condensation, isentropic expansion of liquid in presence of other gas, the entrainment process as observed in heat pipes, and saturation process as observed in air humidification process. The change in regenerator effectiveness due to condensation in the regenerator also has to be considered. How the above mentioned processes are affecting the system performance is discussed in detail. The analysis shows that the Stirling cycle and vapour compression cycle with isentropic expansion operate simultaneously. The criterion for selection of the gaseous carrier fluid and the condensable fluid, which undergoes phase change is established. For selection of carrier gas, helium and hydrogen are considered and for the condensable fluid, nitrogen, carbon mono-oxide, nitrogen-tri-fluoride and neon are compared. Using the above mentioned criterion, helium and nitrogen combination has been chosen for cold tip temperatures in liquid nitrogen temperature range. The paper discusses the analytical approach and the results indicate that the presence of vapour compression cycle with isentropic expansion, operating under a small difference between the condensation and evaporation temperatures, leads to high values of cooling effect and coefficient of performance (COP). It also shows that beyond a certain concentration, the cooling effect starts dropping and becomes zero at certain higher concentration. It can be mentioned that no changes in the hardware are necessary as the cooler can operate at pressures lower than normal working pressure and still provide large capacity with marginally higher power input.