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The performance of an irreversible Carnot refrigeration cycle

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1995 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 28 1314

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J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 28 (1895) 1314-1318. Printed in the UK

The performance of an irreversible

Carnot refrigeration cycle
J S Chiou, C J Liu and C K Chen
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan,
Taiwan,. Republic of China
Received 28 September 1994, in final form 4 April 1995

Abstract. The concept of finite-time thermodynamics is employed to investigate

the optimal heat absorbing rate for a refrigeration cycle. In this analysis, the
heat transfer between the system (internal)fluid and cooling (external) fluid takes
place at the actual heat exchanger, which has finite-sizeheat transfer area and
realistic heat transfer effectiveness.The optimal rate of refrigeration is calculated
and expressed in terms of the coefficientof performance (COP), the time ratio
of refrigeration cycle to heat transfer processes, and the effectiveness of heat
exchanger. The COP obtained in this study is more realistic than the reversible
cycle and can thus be considered as the ‘benchmaM value for a practical
refrigeration cycle.

1. Introduction I
The Carnot heat engine cycle is known from thermody-
T TI

1 4
namics as a cycle whose efficiency cannot be exceeded QH
when operating between two given temperatures. The
Carnot refrigeration cycle performs the reverse effect to
that of the heat engine and also has a coefficient of per-
formance (COP) higher than that which could be achieved
in an actual cycle. The temperature-entropy diagram of
the Camot refrigeration cycle, a cycle of 1-2-3-4 as
shown in figure 1, includes
(i) 1-2 adiabatic expansion (isentropic),
(ii) 2-3 isothermal addition of heat,
(iii) 3-4 adiabatic compression (isentropic) and
(iv) 4-1 isothermal rejection of heat.
S
AU the above processes are thermodynamically re- Figure 1. The Camot refrigeration cycle and the cycle with
versible and are different from the actual cases. finite-temperaturedifference.
Since both compression and expansion processes
usually take place in a very short time, the heat losses Irreversible thermodynamics cycles were studied by
dunkg these two periods are relatively small. From the Curzon and Ahlbom [l]. They considered a finite time,
heat transfer point of view, the deviation between the endoreversible Camot engine by introducing temperature
reversible processes and actual processes is negligibly differences at the upper and lower isotherms and
small. obtained a maximum-power efficiency
On the other hand, neither isothermal heat rejection
nor addition can actually be achieved reversibly, because
reversible heat transfer processes require thermal
energy to be transferred with infinitesimal temperature Equation (1) is different from the maximum efficiency
differences, which implies that the heat transfer time is of reversible thermodynamics, which has the form q =
infinite. For a finite heat-exchange area with a finite 1 - TL/TH.
heat-transfer coefficient and a finite transfer time, the Since Curzon and Ahlbom’s work, the study of
temperature difference between the system fluid and irreversible thermodynamic cycles has been undertaken
reservoir must be finite; the heat transfer processes are by many researchers, such as Andresen et al [2-4], and
thus irreversible. Leff [5]. In those works, the thermodynamics in finite
0022-3727/95/071314+05$1950 0 1995 IOP Publishing Ltd

time was developed to find the extremes in work and in
power for imperfect heat engines.
The significance of using the concept of finite-time
thermodynamics to investigate thermodynamic cycles
has been appreciated, many important results has been
obtained. However, most of studies were canied for
power cycles, only a few of the research works were
conducted for refrigeration cycles.
Yan and Chen [6]analysed an optimal endoreversible
threeheat-source refrigerator, in which a combined
cycle of a two-source engine driving a two-heat-source
refrigerator. Yan and Chen [7] also investigated
the performance of a class of irreversible Camot
refrigeration cycles, whose only irreversibility results
from heat conduction. The relation between the optimal
rate of refrigeration and COP was derived. They
also revealed the effect of thermal resistance is a
serious problem in cryogenic technology, and pointed
out some effects of intrinsic heat transfer character on
performance.
Klein [8] performed an analysis of endoreversible
Camot cycle with the external irreversibility came from
the different temperatures existed between the system
fluid (refrigerant) and the external streams. The optimum
distribution of heat exchange area was calculated in
Klein’s study. Refrigeration cycles with both internal
and external irreversibilities were studied by Grazzini
191. He connected the relationship between the cycle
efficiency and the thermodynamic irreversibilities for
optimizing both system design and operation. Recently
Wu [IO]analysed an endoreversible heat-engine-driven
refrigerator. The maximum cooling load of the
refrigerator was obtained for his refrigeration system.
In the above mentioned studies the external fluid
temperatures of heat reservoirs were assumed constants
even the heat is transferred from system to reservoir or
vice versa during the thermodynamic cycle.
In reality, the heat source and the heat sink of a
refrigeration cycle a e respectively called evaporator and
condenser in a refrigeration system. Both components
are essentially the heat exchangers with finite sizes. The
flow rates in both sides of heat exchanger (system flow
and reservoir flow) are limited, the heat capacitances
of both system fluid (refrigerant) and cooling fluid (for
example, air or brine water at evaporator) are thus
finite. The assumption of infinite heat capacitances for
internal and external working fluids in previous works is
therefore unrealistic.
In the present study, the concept of finite-time
thermodynamics is applied to investigate the optimal
heat absorbing rate for a refrigeration cycle. In the
analysis, the heat capacitances of working fluids are not
restricted to be infinite.
2. The thermodynamic model
The irreversibilities for a thermodynamic cycle can
be considered as external and internal. External
irreversibilities arise from temperature differences
An irreversible Carnot refrigeration cycle
required to transfer heat between the system and the heat
source or sink. Internal irreversibilities result primarily
from fluid and mechanical frictions.
The energy loss due to friction is only very small
compared with the energy exchanges between the system
fluids and external fluids, and the time required to
complete the compression and expansion processes is
very short (less than 1/30 s for a typical reciprocating
compressor), thus the heat losses are negligibly small. In
fact, the compression process is often considered as an
isentropic process while the expansion process is usually
treated as an isothalpic process (constant enthalpy).
Figure 1 also depicts a thermodynamic cycle with
finite temperature differences existing between system
fluid temperatures and the external fluid temperatures;
these temperatures have the relationship TI =. TH >
TL > Tz. Because the external fluids have finite
heat capacitances, TH is found to increase continuously
while receiving heat from the system fluid at the high-
temperature exchanger and TL is found to decrease
gradually while giving up heat to the system fluid at the
low-temperature exchanger. The reason that the system
fluid temperatures can be considered as constants (see
figure 1) is that the system fluid (refrigerant) usually
undergoes a phase change at both heat exchanges. The
latent beat is much larger than the specific heat for most
fluids; the temperature will not be altered as long as
the heat transfer processes at both heat exchangers take
place under constant pressures.
We assume that the heat released to the high-
temperature heat exchanger is QH and the heat absorbed
from the low-temperature heat exchanger is QL per
refrigeration cycle. To obtain the equations for the heat
transfer rates of both heat exchangers that do not involve
any of the outlet temperatures, we introduce the heat
exchange effectiveness EH and EL:
QK = CH.mi&H(Tl - TK.i&l (2)
QL = ChminEL(TL,in - G)ZZ (3)
where &,in and T , i . are respectively the inlet
temperatures of TH and TL, i l and t2 are respectively
the times taken to complete the heat transfer processes
at the high- and low-temperature exchangers. The
effectiveness of the high-temperature heat exchanger, cK,
and low-temperature heat exchanger, E ~ for
. counterflow
heat exchangers are defined by Kays and London [ l l ]
as
(4)
J S Chiou et a/

outside flows) at the high-temperature heat exchanger, and substituting equation (12) and equation (15) yields
CL.^" and CL,- are the corresponding values at the
low-temperature heat exchanger. The associated number
transfer of units of heat exchangers are NTUH and
NTUL, which are based on the minimum thermal
capacitance rates, and are defined as

NTUH = AHUH/CH (6)

NTUL = ALUL/CL. (7)

In both heat exchangers, since the thermal capaci-
tance rates of the system fluid are almost infinite (be-
cause of the phase change), we may use the following
approximations:

CH,min/CH.max 0
2.1. The optimal refrigeration rate
C~.minlC~,-+ 0. From equation (17). it is seen that R is a function of
From these approximations, equations (2)-(5) can be Tz, TH.~,,,T L . ~COP,
. CHEHand CLCL.Once the type
written as of heat exchangers and the available cooling fluids are
QH = CHcH(T1 - TH,in)tl (8) known, the values of &,in. T L ; ~CHEH
. and CLCLare
usually determined. R is then only a function of Tzat a
QL = CLEL(TL,in - Tz)~z (9) fixed value of COP. The optimal rate of refrigeration for
EH = 1 - exp(-NTUH) (10) a certain COP can be obtained from
EL = 1 - exp(-NTUL) (1 1) (aR/aTz)wp = 0. (18)
where CHin equation (8) represents the capacitance rate
of cooling flow (such as cooling water) in the high- It should be noted that we can also express R in
temperature heat exchanger and C,. is the counterpart terms of TI and COP by replacing TZ in equation (16)
of CH at the low-temperature heat exchanger. by Tl/(1 + COP), the relation of equation (13). In
Since the heat losses during the compression and this way, R becomes a function of TI and COP.
expansion are negligibly small, the refrigeration cycle The optimal refrigeration rate can then be obtained
is an almost endoreversible (intemally reversible) cycle. by (aR/aT~)cop= 0. The resulting formulation
In addition, since the system fluid temperatures at both will eventually be identical to that obtained with
heat exchangers are constants, we may use the following equation (18), since both ways are based on the same
relationship set of equations.
QH/QL= TIIT,. (12) From equations (17) and (18), we can obtain
It should be noted that, if TI = TH and TZ = TL, then
equation (12) is exactly the same as that of the Carnot
cycle.
From equation (12) the COP of our refrigeration cycle
is

Subsequently, we have
If the total time for the system fluid to complete a
refrigeration cycIe is assumed to be t , expressing t as

t = Y (fl t fz) (14)

where tl and tz are the process times spent at the high-
temperature and low-temperature heat exchangers, y is
thus > 1.
From equations (8). (9) and (14), we can obtain the
average rate of a refrigeration cycle as

QL
R = - QL
=

(15)
1316

On substituting equations (20) and (21) into equa-
tion (17), the optimal refrigeration rate is
This is the relation between Ropland COP at the fixed
inlet temperatures Tfl.1" and TL,in. The corresponding
temperature of the system fluid at the low-temperature
heat exchanger, Tz, is given by equation (19) and at the
high-temperature heat exchanger is
If we set
Equation (22) becomes
or expressed as
The relationship between R, and COP expressed by
equation (24) is similar to that obtained by Yan and Chen
[7]. Equation (24) however includes the time ratio, y .
(which can be larger than one), and the effectiveness of
heat exchanger. The value of EH (or EL usually falls in
the range 0.5-1.0, see [ I l l .
If Ropt= 0 (when the heat transfer time is infinite),
the above equation becomes
Equation (25) is the form of a reversible Camot
refrigeration cycle. Because a reversible cycle
has infinitesimal differences between system fluid
temperatures and reservoir temperatures, it will take
infinite time to transfer a fixed amount of energy either
from system to reservoir or 6om reservoir to system.
The resulting refrigeration rate is thus equal to zero.
Under the condition of a given rate of refrigeration,
the bound of the COP should be determined by using
equation (2).
If we introduce the equivalent temperature
Y~ Rapt
T; = T L ,-~ - (26)
K
then equation (24) can be written as
An irreversible Carnot refrigeration cycle
1.00
3 0.75
E
ffi
s0.50
PI
2 0.25
0.00
0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00
COP
Figure 2. Ropl/Rmaversus COP.
On comparing equations (25) and (27). one may imagine
a practical refrigeration cycle whose temperature at
the low-temperature reservoir is lower than TL by
(y/K)ROpt;therefore T; is the contracted expression
of the irreversibility of heat conduction (from TL to
7:)' in the Camot refrigeration cycle. Since the COP
is larger than zero, it is required that T; > 0, namely
~ ~( y / K ) R O p t . If we define R,, as the optimal
T L , 2,
refrigeration rate when COP = 0, then
K
,R = -TL,~" = Rap,. (28)
Y
Equation (28) can also be obtained from equation (24)
by setting COP = 0.
2.2. Results
The relation R,,/R,, versus COP is shown in figure 2.
As expected, R, decreases when COP increases and Ropf
approaches R, while COP tends to zero. However, the
refrigeration cycle cannot be carried out when COP = 0.
In fact, R,, is usually much smaller than (K/Y)TL,~.
Figure 3 shows how Ropt will be reduced when the
coefficient of time y increases.
From equations (19) and (23), we can plot T, and TI
versus COP. Figure 4 depicts that a lower TI will give a
higher COP, and a higher T2 will result in a higher COP.
As the COP approaches 4.0, the temperature difference
between the system fluid (Ti or Tz) and the inlet
temperature of the cooling fluid (TH.inor TL,~") is about
10 K. To demonstrate the difference in performance due
to the thermodynamic irreversibility, an example is given
in the following section.
2.3. An example
Consider a refrigeration cycle with the refrigeration rate
R = 1.5 kW, both its heat capacitance rates at the
evaporator and the condenser are 0.2 kW K-', T H . = ~
1317
J S Chiou et a/
T8.i. = 303K,TL,~,,= 2WK
C’ = 1.0, COP = 2.5
NTUa 5 NTU’= 1.0
If the effectiveness of heat exchangers is not unity,
but rather cH = EL = 0.5 (this implies that the heat
capacitances of reservoirs are finite, so their temperatures
are variable), then we may have K = 0.025 a n d COP =
2.03. This value represents a more realistic COP as is
found in the actual application.

3. Conclusion
The Camot refrigeration cycle is an ideal cycle with
the maximum performance. Since its COP value is
usually much higher than a realistic one, it is not suitable
as the ‘benchmark’ value for a practical refrigeration
cycle. The concept of finite-time thermodynamics and
0.00 I finite heat capacitance are employed in this study to
1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 iao zoo consider the effect due to the external (major inherent)
Coefficient of Time y irreversibility. The resulting COP obtained by the present
analysis, equation (24), is thus more realistic and can be
Figure 3. Rapt versus y at different &/&, used as a standard of comparison. From the design point
of view, the heat transfer rate (the desired refrigeration
capacity) and the inlet temperatures of cooling watedair
are known a priori and thus the COP of a refrigeration
system can be estimated or improved by adjusting the
heat transfer characteristics at the evaporator and the
- 0.5 condenser.

References
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Andresen B, Salamon P and Berry R S 1911
Thermodynamics in finite time extremals for imperfect
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L
Andresen B. Salamon P, Nilzan A and Berry R S 1911
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loo
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0.0 Thermodynamics in finite time Phys. Todny 37 67,-70
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J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 23 136-41
COP, =-
lL -
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