Energy and Exergy Analyses of a New Triple-Staged Refrigeration Cycle Using Solar Heat Source

Abstract

In this paper, energy and exergy analyses of a new solar-driven triple-staged refrigeration cycle using Duratherm 600 oil as the heat transfer fluid are performed. The proposed cycle is an integration of absorption refrigeration cycle (ARC), ejector (EJE) refrigeration cycle (ERC), and ejector expansion Joule–Thomson (EJT) refrigeration cryogenic cycles which could produce refrigeration output of different magnitude at different temperature simultaneously. Both exergy destruction and losses in each component and hence in the overall system are determined to identify the causes and locations of the thermodynamic imperfection. Several design parameters, including the hot oil outlet temperature, refrigerant turbine inlet pressure, and the evaporator temperature of ERC and EJT cycle are also tested to evaluate their effects on energy and exergy performance. It is observed that largest contribution to cycle irreversibility comes from the central receiver and heliostat field with the heat recovery vapor generator (HRVG), condenser, and ejector of ERC itself also contributing considerably. The exergy efficiency of the solar-driven triple-staged refrigeration cycle is 4% which is much lower than its energy efficiency of 10%, respectively. The results clearly reveal that thermodynamic investigations based on energy analysis alone cannot legitimately be complete unless the exergy concept becomes a part of the analysis.