Accepted Manuscript

Performance analysis of an ejector enhanced refrigeration cycle with R290/

R600a for application in domestic refrigerator/freezers

Qi Chen, Gang Yan, Jianlin Yu

PII: S1359-4311(16)34425-8
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.04.027
Reference: ATE 10175

To appear in: Applied Thermal Engineering

Received Date: 27 December 2016

Revised Date: 19 March 2017
Accepted Date: 7 April 2017

Please cite this article as: Q. Chen, G. Yan, J. Yu, Performance analysis of an ejector enhanced refrigeration cycle
with R290/R600a for application in domestic refrigerator/freezers, Applied Thermal Engineering (2017), doi: http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.04.027

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 Performance analysis of an ejector enhanced refrigeration cycle with
R290/R600a for application in domestic refrigerator/freezers
Qi Chen, Gang Yan , Jianlin Yu

Department of Refrigeration & Cryogenic Engineering, School of Energy and Power Engineering,

Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

Abstract

This study presents an ejector enhanced vapor compression refrigeration cycle

(EVRC) using zeotropic mixture R290/R600a for domestic refrigerator/freezers. An
ejector and a phase separator are adopted in EVRC to enhance the cycle performance.
Energetic and exergetic analysis methods are utilized to theoretically investigate the
system operating performance of EVRC and compared with the traditional vapor
compression refrigeration cycle (TVRC). The results demonstrate that EVRC
outperforms TVRC and exhibits higher coefficient of performance (COP), volumetric
cooling capacity and exergy efficiency. Under the given operation condition, the
system performance improvement of EVRC over TVRC in the aspect of COP,
volumetric cooling capacity and exergy efficiency can reach up to 14.2%, 37% and
17.7%, respectively. The performance characteristics of the proposed novel cycle
show its potential advantages for application in domestic refrigerator/freezers.

Keywords: Domestic refrigerator/freezers; Ejector; Performance improvement;

Exergy; Zeotropic mixture.


Corresponding author. Tel: +86-29-82668738. Fax: +86-29-82668729. Email: gyan@mail.xjtu.edu.cn
1
Nomenclature

COP coefficient of performance

Ex exergy rate of fluid( kW )

Exd exergy destruction ( kW )

h specific enthalpy ( kJ kg 1 )

m mass flow rate ( kg s 1 )

P pressure ( kPa )

Q cooling capacity ( kW )

qev volumetric cooling capacity ( kJ m3 )

rp pressure lift ratio

s specific entropy ( kJ kg 1 K 1 )

T temperature ( ℃)

T temperature difference ( ℃)

v specific volume( m3  kg -1 )

w velocity( m  s-1 )

Wc input work of compressor ( kW )

x3 refrigerant quality

Z mass composition

Greeks symbol

 entrainment ratio of the ejector

d isentropic efficiency of ejector diffuser

2
ex exergy efficiency

m mixing efficiency of ejector mixing chamber

n isentropic efficiency of ejector nozzle

s isentropic efficiency of compressor

Subscripts

0 reference state

1-11 state points of refrigerant

com compressor

con-I condenser-I

con-II condenser-II

cap-I capillary tube-I

cap-II capillary tube-II

d diffuser

ej ejector

ef freezer evaporator

er refrigerating evaporator

fa cooled air in the refrigerating cabinet

fe freezer evaporator outlet temperature

m mixing chamber

p primary fluid

ra cooled air in the refrigerating cabinet

3
s secondary fluid

sc refrigerant subcooling

SLHX suction line heat exchanger

tot total

1. Introduction
As one of the most common household appliances, domestic refrigerator-freezers
(RFs) contribute an appreciable part of energy consumption. Therefore, improving
their energy efficiency becomes more and more necessary. For this purpose, various
energy saving methods for RFs have been developed over the past decades [1-2].
Utilizing natural refrigerants such as hydrocarbons is one of the advances methods to
enhance the performance and reduce global warming and ozone depletion [3-5]. Many
experimental and theoretical investigations on RFs with pure or mixed HCs have been
performed [6-10]. From the published literatures, it can be found that zeotropic
mixture (R290/R600a) attracts much attention due to its environmental benign and
energy saving potential [11-15]. Lee et al. [16] carried out the experiments to study
the application of R290/R600a in domestic refrigerator. The results showed that
R290/R600a (55%/45%) could reduce the power consumption by 12.3% compared
with R134a. Jung et al. [17] examined the performance of domestic refrigerators with
R290/R600a by simulation method and actual tests. The results showed that the
propane/isobutane (0.6/0.4 by mass fraction) exhibited 3–4% higher energy efficiency
than R12. Wongwises and Chimres [18] demonstrated that the application of
R290/R600a in a domestic R134a refrigerator exhibited better heat exchange lower
energy consumption. Rasti et al. [19] presented an experimental investigation on the
application of R290/R600a (56/44 by mass ratio) in the R134a refrigerator and found
that the energy consumption and the ON time ratio and were reduced by 5.3% and
13%, respectively.
In addition, cycle modification can efficiently enhance the system performances
4
of refrigeration cycles [20-22]. Over the past years, the ejector has been widely
adopted in the vapor compression refrigeration system to recover the expansion work
lost in the capillary tube or expansion valve and give favorable performance
improvement [23-25]. What's more, the ejector can be utilized in both
single-evaporator refrigeration system [26-27] and the multi-evaporator
refrigeration system [28-30]. Li and Groll [31] theoretically investigated the
performance of an ejector expansion transcritical CO2 refrigeration cycle and found
that the COP can be improved by more than 16% compared with the basic
transcritical CO2 cycle. Yan et al. [32] conducted experimental study on a hybrid
ejector-vapor compression cycle. The results showed that the COP can by enhanced
by 19.4% on average in comparison to the vapor compression refrigeration cycle. Sag
et al. [33] adopted an ejector in the vapor compression refrigerators to achieve energy
recovery and reduce irreversibility loss. It was found that the ejector refrigeration
system showed 7.34-12.87% COP and 6.6-11.24% higher exergy efficiency in
comparison with the basic system. Liu et al. [34] proposed a modified
ejector–expansion refrigeration cycle for RFs and demonstrated that the COP can be
improved by 16.71% compared with the basic refrigeration cycle. However, low
evaporation temperature in the fresh food cabinet means large temperature difference
between the refrigerant and cooled air, which unfortunately leads to large
irreversibility. For this case, further modifying ejector layout could properly lift the
evaporation temperature of refrigerating evaporator, which leads to better temperature
match with fresh food cabinet.
In the previous study, the authors theoretically investigated a modified
R290/R600a refrigeration cycle applied in RFs [35]. In this cycle, a phase separator is
adopted to achieve partial condensation and composition shift. Thus, different
refrigerant compositions are obtained and enter refrigerating and freezer evaporators,
respectively, which achieve performance improvement. However, there are still
expansion losses existing in the throttling process of this cycle. Actually, an ejector
can be introduced to recover the expansion loss and further enhance the performance

5
improvement. In this paper, an ejector enhanced vapor compression refrigeration
cycle (EVRC) using zeotropic mixture R290/R600a for application in domestic
refrigerator/freezers is proposed. In this cycle, the ejector is introduced to the
modified refrigeration system and arranged between the two parallel
refrigeration loops. The use of an ejector can recover the expansion loss in the
throttling process and brings suction pressure lift and lower compression ratio,
which can give favorable system performance improvement. On the other hand,
the partial condensation of zeotropic refrigerant mixture R290/R600a can result
in the composition shift in the condenser. Consequently, the phase separator can
split the zeotropic refrigerant mixture into two different refrigerant compositions
(i.e., the R290-enriched and the R600a-enriched refrigerant mixtures), which
enter refrigerating and freezer refrigeration loops, respectively. The two parallel
evaporators operate at different evaporation temperatures, which achieve better
temperature match with refrigerating cabinet and freezer cabinet and reduce
irreversibility loss occurring the heat transfer process due to temperature glide.
In order to theoretically evaluate the system performance of EVRC, a thermodynamic
model based on energy and exergy analysis methods is conducted. The effects of main
operating parameters on the performance characteristics are investigated. The system
performance of EVRC is compared with the traditional vapor compression
refrigeration cycle (TVRC) to explore the energy saving potential and application
possibility in the RFs.
2. Cycle system descriptions
Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of a traditional vapor compression
refrigeration cycle i.e. single loop system applied in the domestic refrigerator/freezers.
The principal components of the TVRC system using zeot
ropic refrigerant mixture comprise a compressor, a condenser, a suction line heat
exchanger (SLHX), a capillary tube, and two serial evaporators (one for the
refrigerator compartment and the other for the freezer compartment). TVRC system
can utilize a pure refrigerant or zeotropic mixture as working fluid. However, the

6
temperature glide characteristics of zeotropic mixture can be used to reduce the large
temperature difference between the refrigerant and fresh food compartment. Thus, it
could reduce the irreversible losses in heat transfer process.
Fig. 2 shows layout of the EVRC system and the corresponding working
processes in the pressure-specific enthalpy diagram. In the EVRC system, the
aforementioned condenser in TVRC is split into two condensers i.e. condenser-I and
condenser-II, and a phase separator is added between them. The phase separator can
separate the zeotropic mixture R290/R600a into two streams with different
compositions. The R290-enriched refrigerant mixture ultimately enters the freezer
evaporator, and the R600a-enriched refrigerant mixture flows into the refrigerating
evaporator. In this case, The EVRC becomes two parallel refrigerant loops with two
evaporators connected in parallel. Moreover, the ejector is added in the conjunction of
the two loops.
The refrigeration process of EVRC system operates as follows: the vapor
mixture of R290/R600a (state 1) is compressed to the superheated refrigerant vapor
(state 2) and enters the condenser-I. The refrigerant partially condenses to two phase
state (state 3) in the air-cooled condense-I by controlling the air flow rate; It
should be noted that the partial condensation of zeotropic mixture is utilized to
obtain the composition shift effect. Subsequently, The two-phase refrigerant
mixture is split into two streams with different compositions by the phase separator:
The R600a-enriched saturated refrigerant liquid (state 3b) is throttled to the two-phase
fluid (state 4) through the capillary tube-I, and then evaporates to the saturated vapor
(state 5) in the refrigerating evaporator; On the other hand, the R290-enriched
refrigerant vapor (state 3d) is totally condensed to saturated liquid (state 8) in the
air-cooled condenser-II, which is necessary for the operation of freezer
refrigeration loop. Then, the refrigerant flows into the freezer evaporator through
SLHX, and capillary tube-II (process 8-9-10). The refrigerant evaporates to the
saturated vapor (state 11) in the freezer evaporator. The ejector utilizes the saturated
vapor (state 5) from exit of the refrigerating evaporator as the primary fluid to entrain

7
the saturated vapor (state 11) from exit of the freezer evaporator as the secondary
fluid. The fluid from the ejector nozzle (state 5') mixes with saturated vapor (state 11)
in the mixing chamber of the ejector. The mixed fluid (state 6) discharges from the
ejector diffuser with a pressure rise (state 7) and flows through the SLHX to become
the superheated vapor (state 1) and then returns to the compressor. Generally, the use
of the ejector can bring suction pressure lift, reduce compression ratio and
recover the expansion loss in the throttling process, as a result, it can enhance the
system performance.
3. Mathematical model
In order to evaluate the thermodynamic performances of the EVRC system, a
mathematical model of EVRC is proposed using a one-dimensional ejector model
based on mass, momentum and energy conservation. The constant pressure mixing
model is utilized to evaluate the ejector performance [36-38].
The following assumptions are considered for the analysis of the EVRC system
[31, 39]:
(1) All components are considered as a steady-state and steady flow process;
(2) The liquid and vapor refrigerants leaving the separator are both saturated;
(3) The liquid refrigerant at condenser-II outlet is considered to be saturated;
(4) The throttling processes in capillary tubes are isenthalpic;
(5) The compressor isentropic efficiency is a function of the compression ratio and
the efficiencies of the ejector are constant;
(6) The velocities of refrigerants at the ejector inlet and outlet are neglected
(7) No Refrigerant pressure drop and heat losses in the cycle are considered;
(8) Kinetic and potential energy and exergy losses are negligible.
According to the above assumptions, the equations for the main components are
obtained on basis of mass, momentum and energy conservation.

The entrainment ratio of the ejector is defined as

ms
 (1)
mp

8
where m p , ms are the refrigerant mass flow rate of the primary and secondary fluid in

the ejector, respectively.

For the ejector nozzle, the inlet velocity of the primary fluid is neglected. By

applying the energy conservation, the velocity of the primary fluid at the nozzle outlet

is expressed as,

wp  2n (hp1  hp2s ) 1000 (2)

where hp1 is the inlet specific enthalpy of primary flow; hp2s is the exit specific

enthalpy of the primary flow in the isentropic expansion process of the ejector nozzle;

 n is the nozzle isentropic efficiency.

The inlet velocity of secondary fluid is considered to be negligible. By applying

the momentum conservation in the ejector mixing chamber, the velocity of the mixed

refrigerant is obtained by

wp
wm  m (3)
1 

where  m is the mixing efficiency of the ejector mixing chamber.

According to the energy conservation equation in the mixing chamber, the

enthalpy of the mixed fluid is calculated by

hp1   h s1 wm2
hm  ( )( ) 1000 (4)
1  2

where h s1 is the inlet enthalpy of the secondary fluid.

Considering the definition of diffuser efficiency, the enthalpy of refrigerant at the

diffuser outlet is expressed as

hds  hm
hd  hm  (5)
d

9
where hds is the enthalpy at the diffuser outlet in the isentropic compression process;

d is the isentropic efficiency of the diffuser.

Thus, by combining equation (2)-(6), the entrainment ratio of the ejector is given
by

nmd (hp1  hp2s )

 1 (6)
hds  hm

The pressure lift ratio of the ejector is given by:

Pd
rp  (7)
Ps

where ps , pd are the inlet pressure of secondary fluid and the outlet pressure of

diffuser, respectively
The compressor input work is given by

h2s  h1
Wc  m(h2  h1 )  m( ) (8)
s

where m is the mass flow rate at the compressor inlet; h1 , h2 is the refrigerant

specific enthalpy at the inlet and outlet of compressor, respectively; h2s is the

refrigerant specific enthalpy of compressor outlet under the isentropic compression

process; s is the compressor isentropic efficiency, which is expressed as [40]:

P2
s  0.874  0.0135 (9)
P1

where P1 , P2 is the refrigerant pressure of compressor inlet and outlet, respectively;

The cooling capacity of refrigerating evaporator and freezer evaporator can be

calculated by

Qer  m(1  x3 )(h5  h4 ) (10)

Qef  mx3 (h11  h10 ) (11)

where x3 is the refrigerant quality at the condense-I outlet; h4 , h5 is the refrigerant

10
specific enthalpy at the inlet and outlet of refrigerating evaporator, respectively;

h10 , h11 is the refrigerant specific enthalpy of freezer evaporator inlet and outlet,

respectively;
The total cooling capacity of EVRC system is expressed as

Qe  Qer  Qef (12)

The volumetric refrigeration capacity is given as

Qe
qev  (13)
m v1

where v1 is suction specific volume at compressor inlet.

The coefficient of performance (COP) of EVRC system is given by

Qe
COP  (14)
Wc

The energy balance equation in the SLHX is determined by

m(1  x3 )(h1  h7 )  mq3 (h8  h9 ) (15)

Based on the assumption that the change of Kinetic and potential energy changes
is neglected, the exergy in any state point of the EVRC system can be written as [27]

Ex  m (h  h0 )  T0  s  s0  (16)

where h , s are specific enthalpy and entropy, respectively; h0 , s0 are the enthalpy

and entropy of the refrigerant at the reference temperature T0 (298.15K) and reference

pressure P0 (101.325KPa).

According to the equation (9), the exergy destruction of all components in the
EVRC system can be obtained as follows:

In the compressor

Exd,com  m[(h1  h2 )  T0  s1  s2   wc ]  mT0  s2  s1 

(17)
In the condenser-I:

Exd,con-I  m[(h2  h3 )  T0  s2  s3 ] (18)

11
 In the condenser-II:

Exd,con-II  mx3[(h3d  h8 )  T0  s3d  s8 ] (19)

In the SLHX

Exd,SLHX  mx3[(h8  h9 )  T0  s8  s9 ]  m[(h7  h1 )  T0  s7  s1 ] (20)

In the refrigerating evaporator and freezer evaporator

T0
Exd,er  m(1  x3 )[(h4  h5 )  T0  s4  s5 ]  mQr (1  ) (21)
Tra

T0
Exd,ef  mx3[(h10  h11 )  T0  s10  s11 ]  mQf (1  ) (22)
Tfa

where Tra , Tfa are the cooled air temperatures in the refrigerating cabinet and freezer

cabinet, respectively.
In the ejector

Exd,ej  mx3 (h11  T0 s11 )  m(1  x3 )(h5  T0 s5 )  m(h7  T0 s7 ) (23)

In the capillary tuber-I

Exd,cap-I  m(1  x3 )[(h3b  h4 )  T0  s3b  s4 ]  m(1  x3 )T0  s4  s3b  (24)

In the capillary tube-II

Exd,cap-II  mx3[(h9  h10 )  T0  s9  s10 ]  mx3T0  s10  s9  (25)

The total exergy destruction in the EVRC system can be expressed by

Exd , t ot Ex  Ex
d , c o m dEx
, c o n - I  Ex d , c o n - I I d , S LH X
(26)
 Exd , er Ex d
, eEx
f  Ex
d , e j a pI - Ex
d , c d , Ic Ia p -

The exergy efficiency of the EVRC system is obtained by

Exd , t o t
ex  1  (27)
Wc

Since the modeling for the TVRC cycle is well known, the detailed TVRC model
is not presented here for simplicity. However, the relevant simulations for TVRC are
performed to compare the system performance. What's more, the simulation program
is written in Fortran Language. The zeotropic mixture refrigerant R290/R600a is

12
selected as the working fluid, and the refrigerant thermodynamic properties are
calculated by using the property subroutines of REFPROP 8.0 [41].

4. Results and discussion

To explore the operating behaviors of the TVRC and EVRC system using
R290/R600a, the energetic and exergetic performances will be evaluated under the

following operation conditions: the evaporating temperature of freezer evaporator Tfe

(i.e., the freezer evaporator outlet temperature) ranges from -34°C to -22°C; the mass

composition ratio of R290( Z R290 ) is set from 0.3-0.55; the refrigerant subcooling in

the SLHX outlet Tsc varies from 5°C to 30°C; the refrigerant quality at the

condenser-I outlet x3 is in the range of 0.3-0.7; the refrigerant mass flow rate at the

compressor inlet m is set at 1 kg/s; the condenser-I outlet T3 is kept at 40°C; the

refrigerating evaporator outlet temperature T5 is set at -5°C;the ejector component

efficiencies are considered to be constant:n  0.95 and d  m  0.85 [31,42-43].

It is well known that the pressure-temperature corresponding relationship of

zeotropic mixture is strongly dependent on mass composition ratio of mixture
refrigerants, which could impact the refrigeration cycle performance. Thus, the

influence of propane mass friction Z R290 on the system performance should be

evaluated. Fig.3 indicates the variation tendency of COP and the volumetric

refrigeration capacity qev with R290 mass fraction Z R290 under the given operation

condition: Tfe =-32°C, x3 =0.4 Tsc =30°C. It can be observed that as Z R290

increases, COPs of both TVRC and EVRC system decrease slightly, whereas

qev shows the opposite trend. Moreover, COP and qev of EVRC are superior to that

of TVRC in the entire Z R290 range. Compared with TVRC, EVRC yields 11.8%

higher COP on average. The reason lies in that the use of the ejector lifts the

13
compressor suction pressure, leading to lower compression ratio, higher compressor
efficiency and system performance. The compression ratio of EVRC is decreased by
22.3% averagely than that of TVRC. Furthermore, EVRC shows a remarkable

increase in qev 34.5% on average than TVRC, due to the decrease of specific volume

at the compressor inlet as Z R290 rises.

Fig.4 shows the variations of the total exergy destruction Exd,tot and exergy

efficiency ex with Z R290 under the above working condition. It is observed that as

Z R290 increases, ex of both cycles reduce, which is opposite to the tendency in Exd,tot .

Compared with TVRC, ex of EVRC is improved by 12.3%, while the

corresponding Exd,tot is decreased by 23.1% on average. From these results, the

better system performance of EVRC is demonstrated.

Fig. 5 indicates the variation tendency of COP and the volumetric refrigeration

capacity qev with the freezer evaporator outlet temperature Tfe under the selected

working condition: Z R290 =0.4, x3 =0.4, Tsc =30°C. It can be seen that COP and of

qev both cycles significantly increase with rising Tfe . And EVRC exhibits better

system performance than TVRC in terms of COP and qev , especially at low freezer

evaporator outlet temperature. As Tfe ranges from -34°C to -22°C , EVRC yields

8.7% higher COP and 28.6% higher qev over TVRC on average. It attributes that the

ejector could recover expansion work and lift the back pressure i.e. compressor
suction pressure. On the other hand, for EVRC more low boiling temperature
refrigerant R290 enters the freezer evaporator due to the use of separator, thus, EVRC
shows 13.5% higher freezer evaporating pressure than TVRC. Overall, EVRC
exhibits 18.8% lower compression ratio, leading to better system performance than
TVRC.

Fig.6 shows the variations of the total exergy destruction Exd,tot and exergy

14
efficiency ex with Tfe under the above operation condition. It can be observed for the

two cycles, Exd, tot decreases significantly and ex markedly increases with

rising Tfe . Compared with TVRC, Exd,tot of EVRC is decreased by 24.5%-17.8% and

the corresponding ex is improved by14.6%-5.0% as Tfe ranges from -34°C to -22°C.

To explore the reason for the exergy efficiency ex improvement, the exergy

destruction of each component in both cycles is investigated as shown in Fig.7, where

Tfe is set at -32°C. It is found that most components of EVRC show a lower level

irreversibility than those of TVRC. The ejector lifts the compressor suction pressure
and then reduces the compressor discharge temperature of EVRC. Consequently, the
exergy destruction of compressor and condenser in EVRC is reduced by 26% and
22.4%, respectively, in comparison with TVRC. Moreover, EVRC could ensure the
better temperature match of refrigerating evaporator, leading to reduction of
irreversibility in heat transfer process and better system performance. The exergy
destruction of two evaporators in the EVRC system is totally decreased by 55.54%
due to higher evaporation pressure of two evaporators than TVRC.

For EVRC system, the refrigerant quality at the condenser-I outlet x3 could

affect the mass flow rate allocation and the refrigerant composition in the two parallel

evaporators. Therefore, the influence of x3 on the system performance is

investigated under the given operation condition: Tfe =-32°C, Z R290 =0.4, Tsc =30°C.

Both COP and the volumetric refrigeration capacity qev of EVRC decrease while

x3 varies from 0.3 to 0.7, as shown in Fig.8. The decrease of COP attributes that the

entrainment ratio increase whereas the pressure lift ratio of the ejector decreases with

rising x3 , as shown in Fig.9. It leads to lower compressor suction pressure and higher

compression ratio. The reason for qev decrease is that the specific volume at the

compressor rises due to increasing x3 . In this case, EVRC still outperforms TVRC in

15
terms of COP and qev by 8.8% and 26.5% on average, respectively. It should be

stressed that the low refrigerant quality x3 could cause insufficient cooling capacity

of the freezer evaporator due to more refrigerant entering the refrigerating evaporator.

Thus, the selection of x3 should consider both the required cooling capacities of two

evaporators and the improvement of system performance.

Fig.10 shows the effect of q3 on the total exergy destruction Exd,tot and exergy

efficiency ex under the above working condition. It can be observed that Exd,tot of

EVRC increases as x3 ranges from 0.3 to 0.7. The reason for this is that both the

pressure lift ratio and the compressor suction pressure decreases as q3 increases,

leading to higher compression ratio and larger exergy destruction in the compressor.
On the other hand, the mass flow rate entering the freezer evaporator loop increases

with rising q3 , causing the increase of exergy destruction in condenser-II, the freezer

evaporator, the capillary tube-II, the SLHX. Though Exd,tot of EVRC increases

when q3 increases, the compressor work rises more rapidly due to higher compression

ratio with the rise of x3 . As a result, ex of EVRC rises with the increasing in x3 ,

according to the equation (27). Compared with TVRC, EVRC exhibits 20.2% lower

Exd,tot and 17.7% higher ex on average, respectively. Therefore, it can be inferred

that the performance of EVRC is superior to that of TVRC.

Fig.11 illustrates the variation tendency of COP and the volumetric refrigeration

capacity qev versus the refrigerant subcooling in the SLHX Tsc under the given

working condition: Z R290 =0.4, x3 =0.4, Tfe =-30°C. It can be found that both COP

and qev of the two cycles increase as Tsc ranges from 5°C to 30°C. In addition,

EVRC always performs better than TVRC, especially when Tsc is lower. Compared

with TVRC, EVRC exhibits 16.4%-12.1% higher COP and 39.3%-37.4% higher qev

16
while Tsc varies from 5°C to 30°C. Fig. 12 shows the effect of Tsc on the cycle

performance in the aspect of total exergy destruction Exd,tot and exergy efficiency ex .

It can be observed that Exd,tot and ex of both cycles increase with the increasing

in Tsc . Obviously, the performance of EVRC is superior to that of TVRC in terms of

Exd,tot ex and within the whole Tsc variation range. EVRC yields 12.3% higher

ex and 19.8% lower Exd,tot averagely in comparison to TVRC, as Tsc increases

from 5°C to 30°C.

In addition, the comparative analysis of system performance is carried out
between the EVRC in this paper and the MVRC in our previous study [35].
Fig.13 indicates the variation tendency of COP and the volumetric refrigeration

capacity qev with the freezer evaporator inlet temperature Tfei under the same

operation condition in the reference [37]: Z R290 =0.4, Tsc =30°C T4 =-5°C,

x3 =0.5 T3 =44.5°C. It is observed that COP and of qev both cycles significantly

increase with rising Tfe . EVRC exhibits better system performance than MVRC

in terms of COP and qev , especially at low freezer evaporator inlet temperature.

Compared with MVRC, EVRC yields 3.4% higher COP on average since the
ejector lifts the suction pressure and leads to the 10.3% lower compression ratio.
What's more, the system performance improvement of EVRC over MVRC in the

aspect of qev can averagely reach up to 7.2%.

5. Conclusions
The EVRC system with the added ejector and phase separator is proposed for
application in domestic refrigerator/freezer using zeotropic mixture R290/R600a.
Both energetic and exergetic analysis methods are carried out to evaluate the system

17
performance of EVRC and compared with that of TVRC. The effect of key operation
parameters such as mass composition of refrigerant mixture, freezer evaporation
temperature, the refrigerant quality at the condenser-I outlet, the refrigerant
subcooling in the SLHX on the system performance are investigated. The simulation
results show that EVRC is superior to TVRC in terms of COP, volumetric
refrigeration capacity, total exergy destruction and exergy efficiency. Under the given
operation conditions, COP and volumetric refrigeration capacity could be improved
by up to 14.2% and 37% on average in comparison with that of TVRC. The exergy
efficiency could be raised by up to 17.7% whereas exergy destruction could decrease
by 23.1% on average. In general, EVRC can provide apparent advantages over TVRC
by employing an ejector and a phase separator. Although the theoretical study
demonstrates the potential performance improvement of EVRC, the product design,
cost problem and operation control must be properly considered. Thus, further
theoretical and experimental work will be necessary in next step.

Acknowledgments
This study is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation
of China (NSFC) under the grant No. 51576149. The authors would like to thank
NSFC for the sponsorship.

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Figure Captions

Fig. 1 — The schematic diagram of TVRC system.

Fig. 2 — The EVRC cycle (a) schematic diagram; (b) pressure-enthalpy diagram.

Fig. 3 — The effect of Z R290 on system COP and volumetric refrigeration capacity.

Fig. 4 — The effect of Z R290 on system exergy efficiency and exergy destruction.

Fig. 5 — The effect of Tfe on system COP and volumetric refrigeration capacity.

Fig. 6 — The effect of Tfe on system exergy efficiency and exergy destruction.

Fig. 7 — The components irreversibility of the EVRC and the TVRC system.

Fig. 8 — The effect of x3 on system COP and volumetric refrigeration capacity.

Fig. 9 —The effect of x3 on the entrainment ratio and pressure lift ratio of the ejector.

Fig. 10 — The effect of x3 on system exergy efficiency and exergy destruction.

Fig. 11 — The effect of Tsc on system COP and volumetric refrigeration capacity.

Fig. 12 —The effect of Tsc on system exergy efficiency and exergy destruction.

Fig. 13 —The system performance comparison between EVRC and MVRC.

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Highlights

 An ejector enhanced R290/R600a vapor compression refrigeration cycle is

proposed.
 Performances of both novel and traditional cycles are theoretically evaluated.
 The novel cycle outperforms traditional cycle in energetic and exergy aspects.
 The novel cycle has potential advantages in refrigerator/freezer applications.

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