Energy Efficient Predictive Control for Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle Systems

Abstract--Vapor compression refrigeration cycle （VCC） system is a high dimensional coupling thermodynamic system for which the controller design is a great challenge. In this paper, a model predictive control based energy efficient control strategy which aims at maximizing the system efficiency is proposed. Firstly, according to the mass and energy conservation law, an analysis on the nonlinear relationship between superheat and cooling load is carried out, which can produce the maximal effect on the system performance. Then a model predictive control （MPC） based controller is developed for tracking the calculated setting curve of superheat degree and pressure difference based on model identified from data which can be obtained from an experimental rig. The proposed control strategy maximizes the coefficient of performance （COP） which depends on operating conditions, in the meantime, it meets the changing demands of cooling capacity. The effectiveness of the control performance is validated on the experimental rig. Index Terms--Cooling load, model predictive control （MPC）, superheat, vapor compression refrigeration cycle （VCC）.

A Review on Technologies for the Use of CO2 as a Working Fluid in Refrigeration and Power Cycles

The use of carbon dioxide as a working fluid has been the subject of extensive studies in recent years, particularly in the field of refrigeration where it is at the heart of research to replace CFC and HCFC. Its thermodynamic properties make it a fluid of choice in the efficient use of energy at low and medium temperatures in engine cycles. However, the performance of transcritical CO2 cycles weakens under high temperature and pressure conditions, especially in refrigeration systems;On the other hand, this disadvantage becomes rather interesting in engine cycles where CO2 can be used as an alternative to the organic working fluid in small and medium-sized electrical systems for low quality or waste heat sources. In order to improve the performance of systems operating with CO2 in the field of refrigeration and electricity production, research has made it possible to develop several concepts, of which this article deals with a review of the state of the art, followed by analyzes in-depth and critical of the various developments to the most recent modifications in these fields. Detailed discussions on the performance and technical characteristics of the different evolutions are also highlighted as well as the factors affecting the overall performance of the systems studied. Finally, perspectives on the future development of the use of CO2 in these different cycles are presented.

Effect of an Internal Heat Exchanger on the Performances of a Double Evaporator Ejector Refrigeration Cycle

A theoretical investigation is presented about a double evaporator ejector refrigeration cycle(DEERC).Special attention is paid to take into account the influence of the sub-cooling and superheating effects induced by an internal heat exchanger(IHX).The ejector is introduced into the baseline cycle in order to mitigate the throttling process losses and increase the compressor suction pressure.Moreover,the IHX has the structure of a concentric counter-flow type heat exchanger and is intentionally used to ensure that the fluid at the compressor inlet is vapor.To assess accurately the influence of the IHX on the DEERC performance,a mathematical model is derived in the frame of the dominant one-dimensional theory for ejectors.The model also accounts for the friction effect in the ejector mixing section.The equations of this model are solved using an Engineering Equation Solver(EES)for different fluids.These are:R134a as baseline fluid and other environment friendly refrigerants used for comparison,namely,R1234yf,R1234ze,R600,R600a,R290,R717 and R1270.The simulation results show that the DEERC with an IHX can achieve COP(the coefficient of performance)improvements from 5.2 until 10%.

Experiments on an Open-Loop Cycle Carbon Dioxide Refrigeration System

An open loop cycle carbon dioxide(CO2)refrigeration system is established,and the cooling performances of high-pressure CO2 under different storage conditions(25℃,30℃,and 35℃)are investigated.Moreover,the experimental mass flow rates of CO2 are compared with the theoretical values at different conditions and refrigeration capacities.The results indicate that the storage condition of CO2 has a significant impact on the refrigeration performance,and the mass flow rate of CO2 increases with the increasing storage temperature in a given refrigeration capacity.

Performance analysis of ammonia-water absorption/compression combined refrigeration cycle

In view of different compressor adding ways in the ammonia-water absorption/compression combined refrigeration AWA /CCR cycle combining the Schulz state equation of the ammonia-water solution the theoretical analysis and calculations on two combination ways by adding the compressor in the high-pressure area and in the low-pressure area are conducted respectively.The effects of several factors including the evaporation temperature Te heat-source temperature Th as well as the cooling water temperature Tw on the equivalent heat consumption in compression qCW heat consumption in absorption qG and the system coefficient of performance COP are analyzed under the two combination configurations.The results show that the effect of the equivalent heat consumption in compression on the COP is less than that of the heat consumption in absorption.Besides the compressor set in the high-pressure area uses more energy than that in the low-pressure area. Moreover the compressor in the low-pressure area is superior to that in the high-pressure area with respect to the COP. Under the given intermediate pressure there is an optimum heat-source temperature corresponding to the maximum COP of the AWA/CCR cycle.

Thermodynamic design of a cascade refrigeration system of liquefied natural gas by applying mixed integer non-linear programming

Liquefied natural gas(LNG) is the most economical way of transporting natural gas(NG) over long distances. Liquefaction of NG using vapor compression refrigeration system requires high operating and capital cost. Due to lack of systematic design methods for multistage refrigeration cycles, conventional approaches to determine optimal cycle are largely trial-and-error. In this paper a novel mixed integer non-linear programming(MINLP)model is introduced to select optimal synthesis of refrigeration systems to reduce both operating and capital costs of an LNG plant. Better conceptual understanding of design improvement is illustrated on composite curve(CC) and exergetic grand composite curve(EGCC) of pinch analysis diagrams. In this method a superstructure representation of complex refrigeration system is developed to select and optimize key decision variables in refrigeration cycles(i.e. partition temperature, compression configuration, refrigeration features, refrigerant flow rate and economic trade-off). Based on this method a program(LNG-Pro) is developed which integrates VBA,Refprop and Excel MINLP Solver to automate the methodology. Design procedure is applied on a sample LNG plant to illustrate advantages of using this method which shows a 3.3% reduction in total shaft work consumption.

Performance of an irreversible quantum refrigeration cycle

A new model of a quantum refrigeration cycle composed of two adiabatic and two isomagnetic field processes is established. The working substance in the cycle consists of many non-interacting spin-1/2 systems. The performance of the cycle is investigated, based on the quantum master equation and semi-group approach. The general expressions of several important performance parameters, such as the coefficient of performance, cooling rate, and power input, are given. It is found that the coefficient of performance of this cycle is in the closest analogy to that of the classical Carnot cycle. Furthermore, at high temperatures the optimal relations of the cooling rate and the maximum cooling rate are analysed in detail. Some performance characteristic curves of the cycle are plotted, such as the cooling rate versus the maximum ratio between high and low ＂temperatures＂ of the working substances, the maximum cooling rate versus the ratio between high and low ＂magnetic fields＂ and the ＂temperature＂ ratio between high and low reservoirs. The obtained results are further generalized and discussed, so that they may be directly applied to describing the performance of the quantum refrigerator using spin-J systems as the working substance. Finally, the optimum characteristics of the quantum Carnot and Ericsson refrigeration cycles are derived by analogy.

Second Law of Thermodynamics Analysis of Transcritical Carbon Dioxide Refrigeration Cycle

In order to identify the locations of irreversible loss within the transcritical carbon dioxide refrigeration cycle with an expansion turbine, a method with respect to the second law of thermodynamics based on exergy analysis model is applied. The effects of heat rejection pressures, outlet temperatures of gas cooler and evaporating temperatures on the exergy loss, exergy efficiency and the coefficient of performance (COP) of the expansion turbine cycle are analyzed. It is found that the great percentages of exergy losses take place in the gas cooler and compressor. Moreover, heat rejection pressures, outlet temperatures of gas cooler and evaporating temperatures have strong influence on the exergy efficiency, COP and the exergy loss of each component. The analysis shows that there exists an optimal heat rejection pressure corresponding to the maximum exergy efficiency and COP, respectively. The results are of significance in providing theoretical basis for optimal design and the control of the transcritical carbon dioxide system with an expansion turbine.

Thermodynamic Analysis and Comparison on Low Temperature CO_2-NH_3 Cascade Refrigeration Cycle

This paper is focused on the cascade refrigeration cycle using natural refrigerant CO 2-NH 3. The properties of refrigerants CO 2 and NH 3 are introduced and analyzed.CO 2 has the advantage in low stage of cascade refrigeration cycle due to its good characteristics and properties. The thermodynamic analysis results of the CO 2-NH 3 cascade refrigeration cycle demonstrates that the cycle has an optimum condensation temperature of low stage and also has an optimum flow rate ratio.By comparing with the R13-R22 and NH 3-NH 3 cascade refrigeration cycles, the mass flow rate ratio of CO 2-NH 3 is larger than those of R13-R22 and NH 3-NH 3, the theoretical COP of CO 2-NH 3 cascade refrigeration cycle is larger than that of the R13-R22 cascade cycle and smaller than that of the NH 3-NH 3 cascade cycle. But the real COP of CO 2-NH 3 cascade cycle will be higher than those of R13-R22 and NH 3-NH 3 because the specific volume of CO 2 at low temperature does not change much and its dynamic viscosity is also small.

Cooling High Power Dissipating Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chips Using Refrigerant

High power dissipating artificial intelligence (AI) chips require significant cooling to operate at maximum performance. Current trends regarding the integration of AI, as well as the power/cooling demands of high-performing server systems pose an immense thermal challenge for cooling. The use of refrigerants as a direct-to-chip cooling method is investigated as a potential cooling solution for cooling AI chips. Using a vapor compression refrigeration system (VCRS), the coolant temperature will be sub-ambient thereby increasing the total cooling capacity. Coupled with the implementation of a direct-to-chip boiler, using refrigerants to cool AI server systems can materialize as a potential solution for current AI server cooling demands. In this study, a comparison of 8 different refrigerants: R-134a, R-153a, R-717, R-508B, R-22, R-12, R-410a, and R-1234yf is analyzed for optimal performance. A control theoretical VCRS model is created to assess variable refrigerants under the same operational conditions. From this model, the coefficient of performance (COP), required mass flow rate of refrigerant, work required by the compressor, and overall heat transfer coefficient is determined for all 8 refrigerants. Lastly, a comprehensive analysis is provided to determine the most optimal refrigerants for cooling applications. R-717, commonly known as Ammonia, was found to have the highest COP value thus proving to be the optimal refrigerant for cooling AI chips and high-performing server applications.

Refrigeration Performance Analysis and Its Applicability of a New Metal Hydride Couple in Auto Air-conditioning

With COP and dynamic characteristics in refrigeration cycle as criteria,a new metal hydride couple——LaNi 4.61 Mn 0.26 Al 0.13 /La 0.6 Y 0.4 Ni 4.8 Mn 0.2 was selected by establishing calculation procedure and metal hydride selection model.The experimental results show that the refigeration cycle of the selected couple is good in the performance.The recovered waste heat and refrigeration power from exhaust gas of several kinds of automobile are calculated by waste-heat formula,coefficient R Q and COP.Refrigeration cycle of the new couple can satisfy the air-conditioning requirement of truck and car and is not enough in passenger car,according to the respective cooling load.

Conceptual Design of 25-Barrel Pellet Injector with Cycle Refrigerator for HL-2A Tokamak

The preliminary design of a multi-barrels pellet injector with cycle refrigerator as an advanced plasma-fuelling tool for HL-2A tokamak has been proposed. The design aims at precise temperature control, easy operation with high reliability and high flexibility. GM-cycle refrigerator and pipe-gun structure have been employed to produce 25 pellets in 25 gun barrels simultaneously and the design aims. have been accomplished. Prime design principle, engineering parameters, structure and layout of the cryostat components as well as calculation of heat load for the cryostat are presented.

Calculating the Refrigeration Coefficient by Using the Second Law of Thermodynamics

Refrigeration coefficient, ε, is usually calculated by using the First Law of Thermodynamics. In this paper, a new derivation process is introduced through the combination of the Second Law of Thermodynamics with the First Law of Thermodynamics. As a result, two new calculation equations for refrigeration coefficient are proposed. One equation is equivalent to the common method, but its form is a little complicated for real calculation. Another equation is the further simplification, and can be used to calculate the refrigeration coefficient instead of common method with a oermit error.

Experimental Investigation of the Ejector Refrigeration Cycle for Cascade System Application

Ejector refrigeration cycle(ERC)with advantages of simple structure and low cost holds great application potential in cascade/hybrid cycles to improve the overall system performance by removing or recovering the heat from the main cycle.In this paper,a theoretical and experimental investigation of the ERC as a part of a cascade system was carried out.The operating parameters were optimized.The experimental ERC test rig was designed,developed and investigated at high evaporating temperatures and wide ranges of operating conditions.The influence of operating conditions on the efficiency of the ejector and ERC was analyzed.Experimental results and analysis in this study can be helpful for the application and operating condition optimization of ERC in cascade/hybrid refrigeration systems.

Performance Analysis and Evaluation of a Supercritical CO2 Rankine Cycle Coupled with an Absorption Refrigeration Cycle

The utilization of sensible waste heat such as flue gas and industrial surplus heat is essential for energy saving. Supercritical CO2 power generation cycle is a promising way to be used in this field. In this paper, a new supercritical CO2 Rankine cycle coupled with an absorption refrigeration cycle is proposed, which consists of a reheating supercritical CO2 cycle, a mixed-effect Li Br-H2O absorption refrigeration cycle and solar subsystem including evacuated-tube collector and a hot water storage tank. The system has four variants according to the presence or absence of solar subsystem and net cooling energy output. The thermodynamic model of the proposed system was established and its performance was evaluated. The proposed system is able to realize cascade utilization of flue gas waste heat and efficient conversion of solar energy. It has much higher thermodynamic efficiency than the reference system(i.e., the conventional supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle). Taking combined power and cooling system driven by flue gas waste heat and solar energy as an example, its thermal efficiency and exergy efficiency are 20.37% and 54.18% respectively, compared with the 14.74% and 35.96% of the reference system. Energy Utilization Diagrams(EUD) are implemented to investigate the irreversible losses and variation of the exergy destruction in the energy conversion process. Parametric analysis in two key parameters is conducted to provide guidance for the system optimal design.

Performance Analysis of an Integrated Supercritical CO_(2) Recompression/Absorption Refrigeration/Kalina Cycle Driven by Medium-Temperature Waste Heat

A novel power and cooling cogeneration system which combines a supercritical CO_(2) recompression cycle(SCRC), an ammonia-water absorption refrigeration cycle(AARC) and a Kalina cycle(KC) is proposed and investigated for the recovery of medium-temperature waste heat. The system is based on energy cascade utilization, and the waste heat can be fully converted through the simultaneous operation of the three sub-cycles. A steady-state mathematical model is built for further performance study of the proposed system. When the exhaust temperature is 505℃, it is shown that under designed conditions the thermal efficiency and exergy efficiency reach 30.74% and 61.55%, respectively. The exergy analysis results show that the main exergy destruction is concentrated in the heat recovery vapor generator(HRVG). Parametric study shows that the compressor inlet pressure, the SCRC pressure ratio, the main compressor and the turbine I inlet temperature, and the AARC generator pressure have significant effects on thermodynamic and economic performance of the combined system. The findings in this study could provide guidance for system design to achieve an efficient utilization of medium-temperature waste heat(e.g., exhaust heat from gas turbine, high-temperature fuel cells and internal combustion engine).

Model Predictive Control for Vapor Compression Cycle of Refrigeration Process

A model predictive controller based on a novel structure selection criterion for the vapor compression cycle （VCC） of refrigeration process is proposed in this paper. Firstly, those system variables are analyzed which exert significant influences on the system performance. Then the structure selection criterion, a trade-off between computation complexity and model performance, is applied to different model structures, and the results are utilized to determine the optimized model structure for controller design. The controller based on multivariable model predictive control （MPC） strategy is designed, and the optimization problem for the reduced order models is formulated as a constrained minimization problem. The effectiveness of the proposed MPC controller is verified on the experimental rig.

Design and analysis of dual mixed refrigerant processes for high-ethane content natural gas liquefaction

Recovery and purification of ethane has a significant impact on economic benefit improvement of the high-ethane content natural gas.However,current LNG-NGL integrated processes mainly focus on conventional natural gas,which are not applicable to natural gas with high ethane content.To fill this gap,three dual mixed refrigerant processes are proposed for simulation study of high-ethane content natural gas liquefaction.The proposed processes are optimized by a combination method of sequence optimization and genetic algorithm.Comparatively analysis is conducted to evaluate the three processes from the energetic and exergetic points of view.The results show that the power consumption of Process 3 which compressing natural gas after distillation is the lowest.For safety or other considerations,some common compositions of the mixed refrigerant may need to be removed under certain circumstances.Considering this,case studies of mixed refrigerant involving six composition combinations are carried out to investigate the effects of refrigerant selection on the process performance.

Performance comparison of the solar-driven supercritical organic Rankine cycle coupled with the vapour-compression refrigeration cycle

In this study,a parametric analysis was performed of a supercritical organic Rankine cycle driven by solar parabolic trough collectors(PTCs)coupled with a vapour-compression refrigeration cycle simultaneously for cooling and power production.Thermal efficiency,exergy efficiency,exergy destruction and the coefficient of performance of the cogeneration system were considered to be performance parameters.A computer program was developed in engineering equation-solver software for analysis.Influences of the PTC design parameters(solar irradiation,solar-beam incidence angle and velocity of the heat-transfer fluid in the absorber tube),turbine inlet pressure,condenser and evaporator temperature on system performance were discussed.Furthermore,the performance of the cogeneration system was also compared with and without PTCs.It was concluded that it was necessary to design the PTCs carefully in order to achieve better cogeneration performance.The highest values of exergy efficiency,thermal efficiency and exergy destruction of the cogeneration system were 92.9%,51.13%and 1437 kW,respectively,at 0.95 kW/m2 of solar irradiation based on working fluid R227ea,but the highest coefficient of performance was found to be 2.278 on the basis of working fluid R134a.It was also obtained from the results that PTCs accounted for 76.32%of the total exergy destruction of the overall system and the cogeneration system performed well without considering solar performance.

Performance Analysis of an Irreversible Refrigerator with Finite Thermal Capacity Reservoirs

To explore the influence of heat reservoirs of total thermal capacity at high and low temperature side heat exchanger of an irreversible refrigeration cycle on the coefficient of performance,the cycle model is established. By using the irreversible thermodynamics,much progress had been made in the studies of thermal resistance,heat leak and irreversible factors on the cycle of the coefficient of performance. The analytical formula of coefficient of performance and the distribution ratio of total thermal capacity are derived when the total thermal capacity at high and low temperature side heat exchanger is a constant. The influences of cycle parameters and different kinds of irreversible factors on the coefficient of performance and the optimal distribution ratio are analyzed by numerical computation. The results indicate that the coefficient of performance increases with the increase of the total heat capacity,and decreases with heat leak and internal irreversible factors. Furthermore,the optimal distribution ratio of total thermal capacity,when coefficient of performance reaches the maximum value,only has a connection with the internal dissipation.