International Journal of Refrigeration 123 (2021) 189–197

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International Journal of Refrigeration

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijrefrig

Thermal-economic-environmental analysis on household refrigerator

using a variable displacement compressor and low-GWP refrigerants
Zhennan Zhu a,b, Kun Liang b,∗, Zhaohua Li b, Hanying Jiang b, Zhongwei Meng a
a
School of Automotive and Transportation, Xihua University, Chengdu 610039, China
b
Department of Engineering and Design, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QT, United Kingdom

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Variable displacement compressor technology can achieve high steady-state efficiency, non-start/off op-
Available online 9 December 2020 eration thus high seasonal efficiency and capacity modulation. A comprehensive thermal-economic-
environmental analysis of a household refrigerator with variable displacement compressor using three
Keywords:
Variable displacement refrigerants (R134a, R152a and R1234yf) was presented using CoP and normalized CoP, set-up and run-
Linear compressor ning cost and Life Cycle Climate Performance, respectively. The results indicate that with the application
Coefficient of performance of variable displacement technology, the compressor stroke can be tuned in response to heat load so
Low GWP that the power consumption is reduced thus the running cost and CO2 emissions. When the compres-
Economic cost sor stroke using R134a drops from 13 mm to 10 mm, the power consumption, total cost and life cycle
Life cycle emission CO2 emissions decrease by 86.3%, 56.7% and 59.9%, respectively. Running cost accounts for 89% of the
total cost while indirect emissions accounts for 98% of the total CO2 emissions. Replacement of R134a
by R152a will decrease the CoP by 10% but also reduce the cost and CO2 emissions by 5% and 8.6% re-
spectively. This is comparable to increasing the R134a system CoP by 0.9. It is indicated that by adopting
variable displacement technology, more CO2 emissions could be reduced given that part load represents
over 80% of operating hours for refrigerators.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.

Analyse thermo-économique et environnementale d’un réfrigérateur domestique

équipé d’un compresseur à volume balayé variable et fonctionnant avec des
frigorigènes à faible PRP

Mots-clés: Volume balayé variable; Compresseur linéaire; Coefficient de performance; Faible PRP; Coût économique; Émission pendant le cycle de vie

1. Introduction on/off operation so that seasonal coefficient of performance (CoP)

Linear compressor, which is directly driven by a linear motor
without a crank mechanism, attracts increasing attention of the
researchers (Liang, 2017). Without constraint of the crank mech-
anism, linear compressor can easily achieve compactness and the
oil-free operation resulting from the lower friction losses compared
to a conventional reciprocating compressor. More essentially, linear
compressor has the advantages of variable displacement and reso-
nant operation. Variable displacement linear compressor can avoid
∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: kun.liang@sussex.ac.uk (K. Liang).
will be higher compared with conventional refrigerators. Excessive
on/off cycling significantly reduces the annual efficiency of refrig-
erators and heat pumps. On/off cycling loss could reduce the CoP
by 30% (Bolaji, 2010). A refrigerator sized for full coverage has 80–
90% of the operating hours at a capacity less than half the design
power (the part load fraction) (Wang et al., 2015). According to
Dongellini and Morini (Dongellini and Morini, 2019), the on/off cy-
cle can cause a decrease of the seasonal performance factor (SPF)
up to 12% for an air-to-water heat pump due to the energy losses
during the start-up transient. The heating energy consumption can
achieve a reduction of 40% under partial load conditions (Bagarella
et al., 2013, Kindaichi et al., 2017, Tassou et al., 1983). To date,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2020.12.009
0140-7007/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
Z. Zhu, K. Liang, Z. Li et al. International Journal of Refrigeration 123 (2021) 189–197

ternative refrigerants is attracting increasing research interests

Nomenclatures (Longo et al., 2019). Traditional HFC refrigerant like R134a is
widely used both in refrigerator and air conditioner. However,
GWP global warming potential due to its high GWP (1430), it is gradually failing to meet
CoP coefficient of performance the environmental-protecting requirements. Other refrigerants like
LCCP life cycle climate performance (kg CO2 eq•kg−1 ) R410a (GWP=2088), R404a (GWP=3922), R32 (GWP=675) and
DAQ data acquisition R245fa (GWP=1030) are also limited due to high GWPs. Among
LVTD linear variable differential transformer these refrigerants, R290 (GWP=3) and R1270 (GWP=2) are re-
PWM pulse-width-modulation garded as substitutes for R410 and R404a (Longo et al., 2020).
Q˙ cool cooling capacity (W) R1233zd(E) (GWP=1) and R1234ze(E) (GWP=6) are regarded as re-
m˙ mass flow rate (g/s) placements of R245fa and R32 (Ye et al., 2020, Kim et al., 2020).
T temperature (°C or K) For the household refrigerators, R152a (GWP=124) and R1234yf
h enthalpy (kJ/kg) (GWP=4) are regarded as potential replacements of R134a (Li et al.,
CoPCarnotcarnot cycle CoP 2019, Ma et al., 2020). A number of researchers have investigated
εCarnot normalized CoP the drop-in performance of R152a and R1234yf in R134a vapour
C cost (£) compression refrigeration (VCR) systems. Bolaji (Bolaji, 2010) con-
P power consumption (W) ducted an experimental comparative study of R152a and R134a in a
hhrun functioning hours (h) domestic refrigerator, and the result shows that using R152a could
yyrun year of life (years of functioning) (y) achieve a 4.7% higher average coefficient of performance (CoP)
ckWh specific power cost (£•kWh−1 ) than using R134a. Sánchez et al. (Sánchez et al., 2017) studied the
cref specific cost of refrigerant (£•kg−1 ) energy performance of R152a and R1234yf as low-GWP R134a al-
mref charge of the refrigerant (g) ternatives. It was found that the cooling capacity and power con-
Icomp current of the compressor (A) sumption of R152a are lower by 5.7% and 8.8% respectively than
Ucomp voltage of the compressor (V) R134a, while showing a decrease in cooling capacity of 4.5%-8.6%
t time (s) but an increment in power consumption of 1.6–6.7% for R1234yf.
CRF capital recovery factor Regardless of a number of studies on alternative refrigerants, there
ALR annual leakage rate is still lack of analysis on economics and life cycle emissions par-
EOL end of life leakage ticularly when they are employed in vapor compression refrigera-
Adp•GWP GWP of atmospheric degradation product of the tion systems.
refrigerant (Adaptive GWP) (kg CO2 eq•kg−1 ) Thermal-economic-environmental analysis can give a compre-
munit mass of unit (g) hensive understanding for the performance of a refrigeration sys-
mrec mass of recycled material (g) tem using variable displacement compressor. In the literature, a
EM CO2 emission factor (kg CO2 eq•kWh−1 ) number of studies focused on the design and performance of
MM CO2 production for non-recycled material (kg linear compressors and the thermal analysis of various refriger-
CO2 eq•kg−1 ) ants can also be found. However, there is no thermal-economic-
RM CO2 production for recycled material (kg environmental analysis for variable displacement compressor par-
CO2 eq•kg−1 ) ticularly with low GWP refrigerants. In this paper, the thermal
RFM refrigerant manufacturing emission (kg analysis was firstly presented by using a linear compressor test
CO2 eq•kg−1 ) rig with a prototype compressor for domestic refrigeration applica-
RFD refrigerant disposal emission (kg CO2 eq•kg−1 ) tion, and CoP and normalized CoP were used to evaluate the ther-
ux̄ combined uncertainty modynamic performance; the economic analysis was presented
uR̄ total uncertainty associated with the experimental by breaking down the total cost into set-up cost and running
result cost; lastly the environmental analysis was conducted by using the
method of Life Cycle Climate Performance (LCCP) to calculate the
CO2 emissions of the household refrigerator with variable displace-
many studies on linear compressor development have been con- ment compressor using various refrigerants.
ducted but there is hardly study on combination of thermodynam-
ics, economics and life cycle emissions of variable displacement 2. Thermal analysis
linear compressor. Zhang et al. (Zhang et al., 2020) developed a
comprehensive and generalized simulation model based on mass The proposed refrigeration system adopts a variable displace-
and energy balance aiming at the dynamic performance of a linear ment linear compressor. Fig. 1 shows the schematic of the pro-
compressor. Bijanzad et al. (Bijanzad et al., 2020, Bijanzad et al., posed system. The system mainly consists of a linear compressor, a
2020) designed a new linear compressor prototype for household condenser, an evaporator and an expansion valve. The linear com-
refrigerators, the performance evaluation was also conducted with pressor has rated power of 200 W with motor efficiency over 90%.
air, nitrogen, R134a and R600a as the refrigerants. Jiang et al. (Jiang The full stroke is 13 mm and the operating stroke can be adjusted
et al., 2020) investigated the performance of a linear compressor from 13 mm downwards. High stroke will give higher mass flow
operating at different clearance volumes using R1234yf, and the re- thus more cooling capacity to meet the requirement of dissipat-
sults show higher CoP at high pressure ratio. Liang (Liang, 2017) re- ing high heat load. The compressor stroke increases linearly with
viewed the linear compressor technology and highlighted that part the input current for fixed operating condition. There is no exci-
load can help linear compressor to achieve a much higher electri- tation current as has been required in conventional reciprocating
cal efficiency than crank-drive reciprocating compressor. compressor using rotary motor. Therefore, there is no on/off cy-
Increasingly serious greenhouse effect and strong requirement cling loss in variable displacement compressor and it was expected
of limiting global climate change are now driving into more re- that the cooling capacity changes linearly with stroke so that the
search of low Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) replacements of refrigerator can be modulated accordingly. Also the linear compres-
chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) as refrigerant. Using the hydrofluoro- sor can be operated at its resonant frequency across the operating
carbons (HFCs) and the hydrofluoro-olefins (HFOs) as the al- range. Fig. 2 shows the experimental apparatus for the proposed

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Table 1
Test conditions of the refrigerator using variable displacement compres-
sor.

Refrigerant R134a, R152a, R1234yf

Refrigerant charge (g) 220

Pressure ratio 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0
Compressor stroke (mm) 0-13
Condenser temperature (°C) 40, 45, 50
Operating frequency (Hz) 32-39
Evaporation temperature (°C) -5-30
Heat load (W) 20-550

Fig. 1. The schematic of the refrigerator using variable displacement linear com-
pressor technology.
refrigeration system (Li et al., 2019, Liang, 2014). An electric heater
was adopted to simulate the heat load on evaporator. The measure-
ments of the thermodynamic performance of the system include
pressure transducers, LVDT displacement sensor, voltage and cur-
rent sensors, mass flow meter, thermocouples, and heater power
meter. The details of the linear compressors and instrumentations
can be found in (Liang, 2014). Table 1 lists the test condition of
the refrigerator using variable displacement compressor. Three re-
frigerants were tested with the system, namely R134a, R1234yf and
R152a with same refrigerant charge. The operating frequency was
changed to match with the resonance. Compressor stroke was ad-
justed from full stroke at 13 mm to 0 mm.
Coefficient of performance (CoP) is an important parameter
evaluating the performance of a refrigeration system. The steady-
state CoP for the proposed refrigerator using variable displacement
compressor can be calculated as below:
Q˙ cool
CoP = (1)
Pin
where Q˙ cool is the cooling capacity and Pin is the electrical power
into the linear compressor. Fig. 3 shows the saturation lines of
R134a, R152a and R1234yf and the loops at pressure ratio of 2.0,
stroke of 11mm and condenser outlet temperature of 45 °C calcu-

Fig. 2. Experimental apparatus for (a) the refrigeration test system (Li et al., 2019) and (b) components of the refrigeration cycle using variable displacement linear com-
pressor (Liang, 2014).

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Z. Zhu, K. Liang, Z. Li et al. International Journal of Refrigeration 123 (2021) 189–197

where Pin , Pfan,cond and Pfan,evap are the power consumption of lin-
ear compressor, the fan on condenser and the fan on evaporator,
respectively, hhrun is the yearly functioning hours, yyrun is the year
of life (years of functioning), ckWh is the specific power cost, and
Cref is the cost of refrigerant charged in the system, which can be
calculated as below:

Cref = cref mref (7)

where cref and mref are specific cost and charge of the refrigerant,
respectively. According to Eq.(6) and (7), the annual running cost
Cannrun can be calculated as below:
 
Cannrun = Pin + Pfan,cond + Pfan,evap hhrun ckWh + Cref /yyrun (8)
Table 2 lists the parameters to evaluate the economic cost for
the refrigerator using variable displacement compressor, which can
be used in Eqs. (5-8). Since the compressor is a variable displace-
ment type and there is no on/off operation, the refrigerator is con-
sidered to have a continuous operation, thus the yearly running
Fig. 3. The saturation lines of R134a, R152a and R1234yf and the loops at refrig- duration is 24 × 365 h. Meanwhile, the target application of the re-
erant charge of 220 g, pressure ratio of 2, stroke of 11 mm and condenser outlet
temperature of 45 °C.
frigerator using variable displacement compressor is for the house-
hold. According to (Troch et al., 2016), the lifetime (years of func-
tioning) is considered to be 15 years. The power consumption of
lated using NIST REFPROP database. The cooling capacity can be the compressor is dependent on the piston stroke and pressure ra-
calculated as below: tio and it can be calculated as below:
  1 t
Q˙ cool = m˙ hevap_out − hevap_in (2) Pin = ∫ IcompUcomp dt (9)
t 0
where m˙ is the mass flow rate, hevap_out is the enthalpy of evapo-
where Icomp is the current and Ucomp is the voltage consumed by
rator outlet (point 1 for R134a, 1’ for R152a and 1’’ for R1234yf in
the compressor.
Fig. 3) and hevap_in is the enthalpy of evaporator inlet (point 4 for
The annual cost Cann can be calculate as below (Wang et al.,
R134a, 4’ for R152a and 4’’ for R1234yf in Fig. 3).
2020) :
Carnot CoP is the coefficient of performance for a Carnot re-
versible cycle, which is also the highest theoretical CoP for a re- Cann = Cset−upCRF + Cannrun (10)
frigeration system. The Carnot cycle CoP for the proposed refriger-
where Cannrun is the annual running cost, and CRF is the capital
ator using variable displacement compressor can be calculated as
recovery factor, which can be calculated as below:
below (Liang, 2014) :
Tevap_in i ( i + 1 )n
CRF = (11)
CoPCarnot = (3) (i + 1 )n − 1
Tcond_out − Tevap_in
where i and n represent annual interest rate and the lifetime of the
where Tcond_out represents the condensing temperature.
system, which are set as 5% (Li et al., 2019) and 15 years (Troch et
Normalized CoP, also known as the thermodynamical perfect-
al., 2016) respectively in this work.
ness, is generally used to indicate the degree to which the refriger-
ation cycle is close to the reverse Carnot cycle. The normalized CoP
4. Environmental analysis
can be expressed as the ratio of the actual CoP over the Carnot cy-
cle CoP as below:
The environmental analysis is conducted considering both di-
CoP
εCarnot = (4) rect emissions and indirect emissions through the Life Cycle Cli-
CoPCarnot mate Performance equation, shown as Eq. (12-14) (Troch et al.,
2016):
3. Economic analysis
LCCP = mref (yyrun ALR + EOL )(GW P + Adp · GW P ) + (Pin
  
The cost of the proposed refrigerator using variable displace- + Pfan,cond + Pfan,evap hhrun yyrun EM + munit MM
ment compressor consists of set-up cost and running cost. The set-  
up cost is mainly the sum of the cost of the linear compressor, + mrec RM + mref (1 + yyrun ALR )RF M
condenser and evaporator, shown as in the following equation:
+ mref (1 − EOL )RF D (12)
Cset−up = Ccomp + Ccond + Cevap (5)
where Ccomp is the cost of linear compressor, Ccond is the cost of Direct emissions = mref (yyrun ALR + EOL )(GW P + Adp · GW P )
condenser and Ccond is the cost of evaporator. Note that the pro-
posed linear compressor is still in prototype stage and the cost is
(13)
based on a LG linear compressor (model TCA37091209) due to very  
close power rate and target market. Indirect emissions = Pin + Pfan,cond + Pfan,evap hhrun yyrun EM
The running cost consists of yearly energy consumption and   
cost of refrigerant charge, which can be calculated according to + munit MM + mrec RM
(Botticella et al., 2018) : + mref (1 + yyrun ALR )RF M
 
Crun = Pin + Pfan,cond + Pfan,evap hhrun yyrun ckWh + Cref (6) + mref (1 − EOL )RF D (14)

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Table 2
. Parameters to evaluate the economic cost of the refrigerator using variable displacement compressor.

Cost of linear compressor Ccomp LG TCA37091209 £231.35 (11.5 kg)

Cost of condenser Ccond RETEKOOL 8148 £11.61 (1 kg)
Cost of evaporator Cevap COMBINE e18 £7.74 (1 kg)
Power consumption of compressor Pin Vary from operation conditions
Power consumption of the fan on condenser Pfan,cond 20W (0.02 kW)
Power consumption of the fan on evaporator Pfan,evap 20W (0.02 kW)
Yearly running hours hhrun 24 × 365
Years of functioning yyrun 15
Specific cost of electricity ckWh £0.144 kWh−1 (UK power southern, average unit rate in March
2020) (UK Power)
Specific cost of refrigerant cref R134a R152a R1234yf
£34.7 kg−1 £11.5 kg−1 £73.3 kg−1
(BOC) (Alibaba) (BOC)
Charge of refrigerant mref 220g

Table 3
Parameters to calculate the Life Cycle Climate Performance (LCCP) of the refrigerator using variable displacement compressor.

Refrigerant R134a R152a R1234yf

Annual leakage rate ALR 2% (Troch et al., 2016)

End of life leakage EOL
GW P
Adaptive GWP Ad p · GW P
Annual energy Consumption
CO2 emission factor
Total mass munit + mrec
CO2 production for
non-recycled material MM and
recycled material RM
Refrigerant manufacturing
emissions RF M
15% (Troch et al., 2016)
1,430 124 4
1.6 kg CO2 eq•kg−1 - 3.3 kg CO2 eq•kg−1
(Baral et al., August 2013) (Baral et al., August 2013)
8760(Pin /10 0 0 + 0.02 + 0.02) kWh−1
0.2556 kg CO2 eq•kWh−1 (UK) (Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors, 2019)
13.5 kg (the sum of the mass of linear compressor, condenser and evaporator)
Calculated from the parameters in Table 5.
5.0 kg CO2 eq•kg−1 2.2 kg CO2 eq•kg−1 13.7 kg CO2 eq•kg−1
(Troch et al., 2016, Hill and (Hill and Papasavva, 2005) (Troch et al., 2016, Hill and
Papasavva, 2005) Papasavva, 2005)

Table 4
Manufacturing emissions for refrigerator using variable displacement compressor (Troch et al., 2016).

Material Virgin Manufacturing Percentage of Unit Mixed Manufacturing

Emissions (kg CO2 eq•kg−1 ) Mass Composition Emissions (kg CO2 eq•kg−1 )
Steel 1.8 46% 1.43
Aluminum 12.6 12% 4.5
Copper 3 19% 2.78
Plastic 2.8 23% 2.61

where ALR is the annual leakage rate, EOL is the end of life leakage,
Adp•GWP is the GWP of atmospheric degradation product of the
refrigerant (Adaptive GWP), EM is CO2 emission factor, MM and RM
are CO2 production for non-recycled material and recycled material
respectively, RFM is refrigerant manufacturing emission and RFD is
refrigerant disposal emission.
2 1/2
Table 3 lists the parameters to calculate the Life Cycle Climate
Performance of the refrigerator using variable displacement com-
pressor. For a household refrigerator, the annual leakage rate is 2%
and the end of life leakage is 15% according to (Troch et al., 2016).
Table 4 lists the manufacturing emissions for refrigerators, which
can be used to calculate the CO2 production for non-recycled ma-
terial and recycled material. The percentages of unit mass compo-
sitions of the linear compressor in this research are considered to
be similar to the refrigeration compressor mentioned in (Troch et
al., 2016).
where ux̄ is the combined uncertainty, Sx̄2 is type A uncertainty,
and wx̄2 is the type B uncertainty.
According to Chen (Chen et al., 2011), the measured values are
used to compute the results R in some cases. Thus, the combined
uncertainty for multiplying measurement can be expressed as


n
∂R
uR̄ = u (16)
i=1
∂ xi xi
where uR̄ , xi and uxi are the total uncertainty associated with
the experimental result R, the independent variable which affects
the experimental result R, and the uncertainty of the variable xi ,
respectively. According to Eq.(15) and Eq.(16), the uncertainty of
power consumption, cooling capacity and CoP are 1.5%, 2.3% and
4%, respectively.

5. Uncertainty analysis 6. Results and discussions

The uncertainty analysis can help the experimental results 6.1. Thermal performance
achieve the confidence. There are usually two types of uncertainty,
type A (Uncertainty of Measurement Results bib29) and type B At same operating conditions (condenser temperature and pres-
(Uncertainty of Measurement Results). The combined uncertainty sure ratio), higher heat load will require higher compressor stroke
can be expressed as and vice versa. Part load operation will only need low stroke and
 thus low power consumption. Given that most of domestic refrig-
ux̄ = Sx̄2 + wx̄2 (15) erators sized for full capacity have majority of operation at part

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Fig. 4. Cooling capacity and power consumption against stroke of the refrigerator
using variable displacement compressor using R134a.
Fig. 5. Normalized CoP against stroke of the refrigerator using variable displace-
ment compressor using R134a.

load, with variable displacement compressor, the annual efficiency

is significantly high and the running cost will be low. This is very
different from conventional refrigerators using reciprocating com-
pressors which normally have fixed stroke (peak to peak displace-
ment). With variable displacement technology, there is no excita-
tion current to start the motor. Higher stroke will require higher
input current. Conventional reciprocating technology requires a ro-
tary motor which needs a high magnetizing current to start. Once
the evaporator temperature reaches the target temperature set by
users, the motor will be switched off. If the temperature deviates
or the heat load is changed, the motor will be switched on again to
establish the temperature gradient. Excessive on/off operation will
significantly reduce the annual efficiency of conventional refriger-
ators. With the proposed variable displacement technology, con-
tinuous operation is achieved. When the temperature or heat load
varies, the compressor stroke can be adjusted accordingly.
Fig. 4 plots the cooling capacity and power consumption against
the stroke for the refrigerator using variable displacement com-
pressor R134a to predict how much power can be saved at part
load (part stroke) operation when using variable displacement
compressor. The data of strokes of 11 mm and 12 mm are exper-
imental ones while the data of strokes of 10 mm and 13 mm are Fig. 6. The CoP against pressure ratio of the refrigerator using variable displace-
obtained through linear extrapolation as these strokes cannot be ment compressor using R134a, R152a and R1234yf.
reached during experiments. The error bars are also shown. When
the cooling demand decreases, a lower cooling capacity is required,
and less work needs to be done, leading to a lower input voltage Fig. 6 compares the CoP among R134a, R1234yf and R152a. It
and current, thus a lower power consumption. It is clear that both is clear to see that the CoP shows a significant decline with an
electric power and cooling capacity decrease as the compressor increase in pressure ratio with fixed condenser temperature and
stroke decreases. When the stroke drops from 13 mm to 10mm, compressor stroke. In general, the CoPs of R134a are the highest
the cooling capacity decreases by 93.2% while the electric power while those of R1234yf are the lowest, which means that R134a
consumption decreases by 86.3%. Thus it can be concluded that can give the best cooling performance. It’s interesting to see that
refrigerator using variable displacement compressor can achieve a as pressure ratio increase, the difference of CoP among these 3 re-
wide cooling range by changing the stroke, also variable displace- frigerants decreases. R152a appears to be closer to R134a as alter-
ment operation has a significant impact on energy saving at partial native option.
load operating conditions compared with a fixed stroke one.
Fig. 5 shows the normalized CoP against the stroke for R134a. 6.2. Economic performance
Decrease in the pressure ratio will lead to an increase in the mass
flow rate for a fixed stroke as the volumetric efficiency increases, Fig. 7 plots the total cost (including the set-up cost and the
thus a higher CoP and normalized CoP (Liang, 2014). It is clear running cost) against the compressor stroke for the refrigerator us-
to see that normalized CoP decreases with pressure ratio. At the ing variable displacement compressor using R134a to predict how
stroke of 12 mm, normalized CoP decreases by 6.1% and 5.7% when much cost can be saved at part load (part stroke) operation when
the pressure ratio rises from 2.5 to 3.0, and then to 3.5, respec- using variable displacement compressor. Also, the data of strokes
tively. Compared with pressure ratio, changing in stroke does not of 10 mm and 13 mm are obtained through linear extrapolation.
has such dramatical influence on normalized CoP. It is clear that an increase in the compressor stroke can bring an

194
Z. Zhu, K. Liang, Z. Li et al.
Fig. 7. Total cost (including the set-up cost and the running cost) against the com-
pressor stroke of the refrigerator using variable displacement compressor using
R134a.
Fig. 8. Variation of total cost with respect to the operation time at full stroke of
the refrigerator using variable displacement compressor using R134a, R152a and
R1234yf.
increase in the power consumption as shown in Fig. 4, thus an in-
crease in running cost. As shown in Fig. 8, when the stroke drops
from 13 mm to 10 mm, the total cost decreases significantly by
56.7%. The total cost is £2954.7 for the stroke of 13 mm while
£1280.1 for the stroke of 10 mm. It is believed that with capability
of tuning the compressor stroke, the refrigerator using variable dis-
placement compressor will cost much less than conventional ones
across the life time.
Fig. 8 plots the total costs against the operation time at full
stroke (13 mm) for the refrigerator using variable displacement
compressor using R134a, R152a and R1234yf. Note that the set-up
cost is the same and the power consumption of the refrigerator
using R134a is the highest, so is the economic cost. For the en-
tire functioning life at full stroke, the economic cost of the refrig-
erator using variable displacement compressor using R134a, R152a
and R1234yf is £2399.4, £2284.8 and £2388.1, respectively, showing
very slight differences. Therefore, variable displacement operation
can achieve a much more significant cost saving than refrigerants.
Fig. 9 plots the cost breakdown of the refrigerator using variable
displacement compressor. It is clear that running cost represents
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International Journal of Refrigeration 123 (2021) 189–197
Fig. 9. Cost breakdown of the refrigerator using variable displacement compressor.
Fig. 10. Life cycle emissions against stroke of the refrigerator using variable dis-
placement compressor using R134a.
approximately 89% of total economic cost for the life time opera-
tion of refrigerators using variable displacement compressor while
the set-up cost represents approximately 12% of total cost.
6.3. Environmental performance
Fig. 10 shows the life cycle emissions against the compressor
stroke of the refrigerator using variable displacement compressor
using R134a to predict how much less carbon dioxide would be
produced at part load (part stroke) operation when using vari-
able displacement compressor. Also, the data of strokes of 10 mm
and 13 mm are obtained through linear extrapolation. It is appar-
ent that the life cycle CO2 emissions increase with the compressor
stroke. If the stroke is maintained at 10 mm, the life cycle CO2
emissions will be 1988.2 kg; if the stroke is maintained at 13 mm,
the life cycle CO2 emissions will be 4960.6 kg. From the stroke of
13 mm to 10 mm, the CO2 emissions decreases by 59.9%. During
part load conditions, refrigerator using variable displacement com-
pressor can significantly decrease the CO2 emission than conven-
tional ones.
Fig. 11 shows the direct emissions and indirect emissions of the
refrigerator using variable displacement compressor using R134a,
R152a and R1234yf. Due to the highest GWP, R134a has the most
Z. Zhu, K. Liang, Z. Li et al.
Fig. 11. (a) Direct emissions (mainly comprised of refrigerant released into atmosphere, highly related to GWP) of linear compressor refrigerator using R134a, R152a and
R1234yf; (b) Indirect emissions (mainly comprised of power consumption and the manufacturing emission) of the refrigerator using variable displacement compressor using
R134a, R152a and R1234yf.
Fig. 12. Life cycle emissions and the power consumption against CoP for refrigera-
tor using variable displacement compressor using R134a, R152a and R1234yf at full
stroke.
significant direct emissions. Compared with R134a, direct emis-
sions of R152a and R1234yf are negligible. The indirect CO2 emis-
sion of R152a is the highest while R1234yf is the lowest. Mean-
while, it is clear that indirect emission occupies the vast major-
ity (approximately 98%) of the life cycle emissions of the refriger-
ator using variable displacement compressor and R1234yf almost
has no direct emission resulting from its extremely low GWP. The
difference in indirect emission between R134a and R152a is 5.4%
under full stroke while that between R134a and R1234yf is 1%.
The maximum difference in total CO2 emissions is 8.7% between
R134a and R152a. By comparing Fig. 11 with Fig. 10, it can be seen
that changing stroke of the refrigerator using variable displacement
compressor causes a more significant change in CO2 emission than
changing refrigerant.
To help have a better understanding of the effect of CoP on
life cycle emissions, Fig. 12 plots the life cycle emissions and the
power consumption against the CoP for refrigerator using variable
displacement compressor using R134a, R152a and R1234yf at the
stroke of 12 mm and the pressure ratio varying from 2.5 to 3.5.
It can be seen that the increase in CoP (decrease in pressure ra-
tio) leads to an increase in both power consumption due to the
increased mass flow rate at a fixed stroke, thus higher life cycle
196
International Journal of Refrigeration 123 (2021) 189–197
Fig. 13. Comparison of R134a, R152a and R1234yf in the refrigerator using variable
displacement compressor.
CO2 emissions. When pressure ratio increases from 2.5 to 3.5, CoP
will be increased by 66.4%, 74.2% and 58.2% for R134a, R152a and
R1234yf, respectively, while the power consumption and the CO2
emissions will be increased by 74.2% and 38.6%, 102.3% and 49%,
and 86.1% and 44.6, respectively. It is interesting to notice that at
the pressure ratio of 3.0, the power consumption and CO2 emis-
sions show very slight difference among these three refrigerants
while R134a can provide the highest CoP (5.1% larger than R152a
and 30.6% larger than R1234yf).
Fig. 13 gives a comparison of R134a, R152a and R1234yf for the
whole operation life for use in the refrigerator using variable dis-
placement compressor. Among these three refrigerants, R134a costs
most but giving the highest normalized CoP. It is also worth men-
tioning that R152a costs least and is the most eco-friendly refrig-
erant as the life cycle emission of R152a is the lowest, it also can
give the highest normalized CoP. R134a has best thermal perfor-
mance in terms of CoP. However, it causes the highest life cycle
CO2 emission.
7. Conclusions
This paper investigates the thermal-economic-environmental
performance of a refrigerator using variable displacement compres-
sor using R134a, R152a and R1234yf. Key findings are listed as be-
low:
Z. Zhu, K. Liang, Z. Li et al.
(1) Compared with conventional refrigerators, refrigerator using
variable displacement compressor has a significant advantage
of energy saving as well as cost and CO2 reduction by decreas-
ing the stroke at part load. When the stroke of the refrigerator
using variable displacement compressor using R134a changes
from 13 mm to 10 mm, the power consumption, the total cost
and the life cycle CO2 emissions have decreased by 86.3%, 56.7%
and 59.9%, respectively.
(2) With variable displacement technology applied, continuous op-
eration is achieved. There is no on/off cycling loss thus annual
efficiency will be significantly higher than conventional refrig-
erators. When the temperature or heat load varies, the com-
pressor stroke can be adjusted accordingly. Higher stroke will
lead to higher cooling capacity.
(3) Running cost represents 88% of total economic cost for the
life time operation of refrigerators using variable displacement
compressor indirect emissions accounts for most of life cycle
CO2 emissions of the refrigerators using variable displacement
compressor.
(4) At a fixed stroke and condenser temperature, the increase in
CoP (decrease in pressure ratio) leads to an increase in both
power consumption due to the increased mass flow rate, at the
pressure ratio of 3.0, the power consumption and CO2 emis-
sions show very slight difference among these three refriger-
ants while R134a can provide the highest CoP.
(5) Among these refrigerants, R134a generally has a higher CoP
than R152a and R1234yf, but meanwhile the highest CO2 emis-
sions, while R152a has the least cost and CO2 emissions as well
as the highest normalized CoP.
Declaration of Competing Interests
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgment
None.
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