The experimental data of the propane heat pump equipped with the thermoelectric-aided sub-cooler

Description

The refrigeration and heat pump industries are major stakeholders in the worldwide energy sector, constituting 17% of the total [1]. Recently, the use of natural refrigerant fluids has become widespread in the sector to achieve sustainable development goals. In addition, efficiency improvements have been made in these cycles by configuring the standard cycle. In modern heating and cooling systems, the ejector-based heat pump units are one of the most effective solutions due to the expansion work recovery. However, the control of such a system together with an efficient operation is challenging due to the complexity of the ejector system. Nevertheless, variety of modifications such as subcooling techniques gives potential for enhanced energy efficiency improvements. Hence, different sub-cooling methods are investigated in the literature to control the ejector capacity using different sub-cooling degrees of the working fluid [2]. One of the promising solutions is the thermoelectric sub-cooling method due to its compactness and better scalability compared to other sub-cooling methods [3]. The thermoelectric sub-cooling method is based on taking advantage of thermoelectric modules (TEM) which convert electrical energy to heating and cooling energy on both sides due to the Peltier effect, while a hot side of the thermoelectric module rejects heat, the cold side of TEMs absorbs heat from the working fluid [4]. The main aim of this work is the preliminary experimental investigation regarding the implementation of a thermoelectric sub-cooler to the propane heat pump test rig considering energy performance analysis. The sub-cooler was designed using developed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and finite element analysis (FEA) approach to obtain a reliable and operational design for experiments. As a result of preliminary calculations, the sub-cooling unit (SCU) was manufactured for the ongoing experimental campaign on test rigs at the SUT lab in Gliwice, Poland. Acknowledgement: Project No. UMO-2021/43/D/ST8/02631 funded by Polish National Science Centre NCN. References: [1] Coulomb, D., et al. The Role of Refrigeration in the Global Economy, 29th Note on Refrigeration Technologies, IIF-IIR (2015). [2] Chen, J, et al., Subcooling control method for the adjustable ejector in the direct expansion solar assisted ejector-compression heat pump water heater, A.P.T.E.(2019). [3] Llopis, R., et al., Subcooling methods for CO2 refrigeration cycles: A review. I.J.R 93 (2018). [4] Enescu, D., et al., A review on thermoelectric cooling parameters and performance. R.S.E.R (2014).

Steps to reproduce

The test rig is designed and manufactured using the configuration presented in attached figure. The test rig should be integrated with following sensors: 1. Temperature: PT100 and/or thermocouple Type K 2. Pressure: piezoelectric transmitter and pressure drop sensor for the maximum pressure drop of 2.0 bar 3. Flow rate: Coriolis mass flow meter for propane cycle and volumetric flow rate, i.e., the electromagnetic flow meter for auxiliary circuits 4. DC electric in thermoelectric modules: voltage and current transducers. 5. Energy meter for the compressor power consumption.

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