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Systems Engineering Procedia 1 (2011) 112116

2011 International Conference on Risk and Engineering Management (REM)

Thermodynamic analysis of the actual air cycle refrigeration system

Liu Shengjuna,b, Zhang Zhenyinga,b, *, Tian Lilic
a
Hebei United University, Tangshan 063009, China
b
Earthquake engineering research center of Hebei Province, Tangshan 063009, China
c
Tangshan College, Tangshan 063000, China

Abstract

The thermodynamic analysis of the actual air cycle refrigeration is performed. The results show that, the factors on
the performance of the actual cycle include the pressure ratio, the isentropic efficiencies of the rotors, working
temperature and etc.; there is an optimal pressure ratio for the actual cycle; the refrigerator can be used for air
conditioning near the optimal pressure ratio. Those factors are important for engineering design.
2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Organising Committee of The International Conference of Risk and Engineering
Management.
Keywords : thermodynamic analysis; air cycle refrigeration system; pressure ratio; iengineering design; sentropic efficiency

1. Introduction

From an environment point of view air is one of the most interesting working fluids for heat pumps and
refrigeration machines.[1] Air is everywhere available and totally free. Using air as refrigerant has enormous
advantages over conventional refrigerants, many of which have harmful environmental effects, are toxic or are
flammable. Air cycle systems have various advantages including inherent high reliability and ease of maintenance
and they avoid problems associated with potential future legislation restricting the use of HFCs. Leakage is also not
a problem with air cycle systems they do not cause environmentally harmful emissions and their effect on system
performance can be minimized by having automatic air top-up systems.[2] However, the general idea is that air
cycles suffer from low energy efficiency, and which has prevented their use in conventional refrigeration. Todays
highly efficient turbo machinery, which was not available to early air cycle systems, has enhanced the performance
of the air-cycle.[3] Recently, with CFCs and HCFCs problem becoming pressing issues, air, as a natural refrigerant,
has been attracting more and more attention.

2. Thermodynamic analysis of air-cycle refrigeration

The operating cycle used with air as a working fluid is the reverse Joule or Brayton cycle, which is shown in

* Corresponding author. Tel.:+1-358-259-0357.

E-mail address: zzying30@126.com

2211-3819 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Organising Committee of The International Conference of Risk and Engineering
Management.
doi:10.1016/j.sepro.2011.08.019
 Liu Shengjun et al. / Systems Engineering Procedia 1 (2011) 112116 113

Figure 1.
The cycle consists of four processes: air is compressed in the compressor causing its pressure and temperature
to increase(1-2); the air is cooled by transferring heat to a cooling medium in the high-pressure exchanger(2-3); the
air is expanded in the expander, doing work on the surroundings and causing its temperature to decrease(3-4); the
resulting cold air is used to provide cooling(4-1).
Heat out
T
PF


D
compressor V

expander TF


tc
work input P


T
V 

t0
q0

D
Heat in (cooling) s
Fig.1 Schematic diagram of the air cycle Fig.2 T-s diagram of the air cycle

The theoretical cycle is depicted on T-s (temperature -specific entropy) diagram in Figure 2 as 1-2-3-4-1.
The theoretical coefficient of performance (COP) of this cycle is defined as
T1  T4 1
COP
(T2  T1 )  (T3  T4 ) p 2 ( k 1 / k )
( ) 1
p1 (1)
However, the actual compression processes for most compressors and the actual expansion processes for most
expanders are irreversible polytropic processes. And there are temperature difference and pressure losses in the
actual heat transfer process. These factors make the performance of the actual cycle different from the theoretical
one. The analysis of the actual cycle is based on the following assumptions:
x The air is an ideal gas.
x There are no pressure losses in the heat exchangers.
x The temperature difference in the actual heat transfer process is taken into account in the exit temperature of heat
exchangers.
Then the actual cycle is depicted on a T-s (temperature -specific entropy) diagram in Figure 2 as 1-2s-3-4s-1.
For simplicity, the overall isentropic efficiency, which is a widely used efficiency index for refrigeration
compressors and expanders, is used to model the compressor and the expander for the cycle. The actual work per kg
of air input to the compressor for the process 1-2 is calculated as,
wc = c p (T 2a -T 1  c (2)

where c is the isentropic efficiency for the compressor.

The actual work developed per kg of air for the expansion process 3-4 is given by,
we = =c p (T 3 -T 4a  e (3)
where e is the isentropic efficiency for the expander.
Net work input to the air cycle refrigeration system is calculated as
w0 =w c -we = c p (T 2a -T 1 )/ c -c p (T 3 -T 4a  e (4)
Net refrigerating effect per kg of air is given by,
q 0 =h 1 -h 4s =c p (T 1 -T 4s ) (5)
114 Liu Shengjun et al. / Systems Engineering Procedia 1 (2011) 112116

The coefficient of performance (COP) of this cycle can be calculated as

q0 c p (T1  T4 s )
COP
w0 c p (T2 a  T1 )
 c p (T3  T4 a )K e
Kc (6)
The relationship between temperature and pressure for isentropic compression process 2-3 is
1 k 1 k
pc k
T4 a T3 ( ) T3 PR k (7)
p0
For the isentropic expansion process 3-4, The relationship between temperature and pressure is
k 1 k 1
pc k
T2 a T1 ( ) T1 PR k (8)
p0
Where p c , p 0 represent air pressure at inlet and outlet of turbine respectively, k is the ratio of specific heat at
constant pressure to specific heat at constant volume.
If c , e , and T 1 , T 3 , and pressure ratio are known values, T 4s can be determined by using Eqs.(3) as
T 4s =T 3 -(T 3 -T 4a ) e (9)
using Eqs.(6)-(9), COP of this cycle can be calculated as
1 k
T1  T3  T3 (1  PR k )K e
COP k 1 1 k
T1 ( PR k  1) / K c  T3 (1  PR k )K e 10
So the factors that may influence the COP of this refrigerating system include the pressure ratio, the
efficiencies of the compressor and expander, and the outlet temperatures of the heat exchangers.

3. Results and discussion

The influence of the pressure ratio on the cycle COP for T 1 =.T 3 =. c = e = 0.85 is presented in Fig.
3. It is seen that the COP of the theoretical cycle drops rapidly with the increase of the pressure ratio. However, it is
also noted from Fig. 3 that there exists an optimal pressure ratio PR opt which gives a maximum COP for the actual
cycle. As the pressure ratio is increased, the COP increases rapidly when the pressure ratio is less than PR opt but
decreases relatively slowly when the pressure ratio is greater than PR opt . Moreover, it is evident from Fig. 3 that the
COP of the theoretical cycle is far bigger than that of the actual cycle. Therefore, in order to improve the cycle
performance, we should try to make the actual cycle close to the theoretical one.

3.5 300

3 COPt
280
COPa
2.5
T4
260
T4 / K

2
COP

1.5 240

1
220
0.5

0 200
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
PR

Fig. 3 Variation of COP and T 4 along with the change of pressure ratio
 Liu Shengjun et al. / Systems Engineering Procedia 1 (2011) 112116 115

Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 show the effect of the isentropic efficiency for the compressor c and the isentropic efficiency
for the expander e on the COP for T 1 =.T 3 =. at various pressure ratios respectively. The COP increases
rapidly as the isentropic efficiency for the compressor c and the isentropic efficiency for the expander e is
increased. The effect of the isentropic efficiency for the expander e is seen to be relatively important as compared
with the isentropic efficiency for the compressor c .

1.4 1.4

1.2
c=0.9 1.2
e=0.9
c=0.8 e=0.8
1 1
c=0.7 e=0.7
0.8 c=0.6 0.8 e=0.6
COP

COP
0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
PR PR

Fig.4 Impact of c on the COP of the cycle Fig.5 Impact of e on the COP of the cycle

The influence of the inlet temperature of the compressor and the expander on the COP for c = e = 0.85 at
various pressure ratios is presented in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 respectively. The COP is seen to increase gradually with the
increase of the inlet temperature of the compressor but drop gradually with the increase of the inlet temperature of
the expander. The effect of the inlet temperature is seen to be relatively small as compared with the discussed
pressure ratio and the isentropic efficiency for the compressor and expander. The bigger is the pressure ratio, the
smaller is the influence.

1.4 1.8

1.6
1.2 T3=308 K
1.4
T3=313 K
1
1.2
T3=318 K
COP

0.8 1 T3=323 K
COP

0.8
0.6 T1=303 K
T1=298 K 0.6
0.4
T1=293 K 0.4
0.2 T1=288 K 0.2

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
PR  PR 
Fig.6 Impact of T 1 on the COP of the cycle Fig.7 Impact of T 3 on the COP of the cycle

4. Concluding remarks

In this paper, a thermodynamic cycle analysis of air-cycle refrigeration system has been presented. It is shown
that for an actual air cycle there exists an optimal pressure ratio that gives a maximum COP, which is different from
the theoretical cycle. The analysis reveals that the COP of the actual air cycle mainly depends on the pressure ratio,
the isentropic efficiency of the compressor and expander, and the inlet temperature of the compressor and expander.
Among these parameters, the isentropic efficiencies of the rotors (the compressor and the expander) are more
influential, especially the isentropic efficiency of the expander.
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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support by the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei United University
(No.z0818).

References

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