Stefan Elbel, Ph.D.

EXPERIMENTAL AND ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATION OF A TWO-PHASE

EJECTOR USED FOR EXPANSION WORK RECOVERY IN A TRANSCRITICAL
R744 AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM

DISSERTATION ABSTRACT
Although the reduced cooling capacity and coefficient of performance (COP) at elevated
outdoor temperatures represent an inherent drawback of the transcritical carbon dioxide (CO2,
R744) refrigeration cycle, the supercritical heat rejection pressure can be used to maximize the
system performance. In addition, large throttling losses make R744 a suitable fluid for expansion
work recovery. This study presents experimental and computational results obtained from a
transcritical R744 air-conditioning system using a two-phase ejector specifically designed and
built for this investigation. The results are compared with that of a conventional system with an
expansion valve. For the test conditions considered, the cooling capacity and COP
simultaneously improved by up to 8% and 7%, respectively. Extrapolation was used to determine
that the COP could have been improved by as much as 18% at matched cooling capacities. An
ejector efficiency based on simple external pressure, temperature, and mass flow rate
measurements was defined. According to this new metric, up to 17% of the expansion work
potential was recovered. The ejector system COP was successfully maximized by using an
integrated high-side pressure control mechanism. A control strategy ensuring ejector system
operation with maximum energy efficiency was derived in accordance with the trends
successfully predicted by numerical simulation results. Furthermore, it was shown that high
outdoor temperatures and small diffuser angles both had positive effects on ejector efficiency.
The interference between the ejector and an internal heat exchanger (IHX) was also investigated.
It was found that the ejector system could have a reduced IHX effectiveness and still achieve
capacities and COPs that were comparable to those of the conventional expansion valve system
with IHX. However, maximum performance was obtained with a highly effective IHX and
ejector. High-speed flow visualization was used to investigate the complex two-phase shock
wave patterns observed in the mixing section of the ejector. Static wall pressure distributions
along the ejector were analyzed and flow choking phenomena and metastabilty effects were
studied. Finally, a lighter weight and significantly smaller second generation ejector displayed
even higher ejector efficiencies, up to 22%.