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CO 2 transcritical vapor compression cycle with thermoelectric subcooler

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 18; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10789669.2012.625348

1938-5587

Jonathan Schoenfield, Yunho Hwang, Rienhard Radermacher,

Heat Transfer and Optimization

Abstract In this article, the integration of two different cooling technologies: thermoelectric (TE) cooling and the vapor compression cycle (VCC), is investigated to enhance the performance of the latter. In the integrated system, the TE cooler is utilized as a subcooler of the VCC condenser or gas cooler. In this integration, the TE subcooler is operated at a small temperature lift so that it operates at higher efficiency than that of the baseline VCC efficiency while providing the additional subcooling. These two factors result in the improved capacity and coefficient of performance (COP) of the entire system. To prove the concept, a TE subcooler was designed and fabricated to subcool the CO2 exiting the gas cooler of a transcritical VCC. A 3.3% improvement in COP with a TE subcooler was experimentally demonstrated with a corresponding 7.9% capacity increase. A 18.7% capacity increase was demonstrated at a comparable COP to the baseline system. Acknowledgements The support of this research through the Alternative Cooling Technologies and Applications Consortium of the Center for Environmental Energy Engineering at the University of Maryland is gratefully acknowledged. Jonathan Schoenfeld, Associate Member ASHRAE, is Engineer. Yunho Hwang, PhD, Member ASHRAE, is Research Associate Professor. Reinhard Radermacher, PhD, Fellow ASHRAE, is Professor and Director.