Performance Analysis of Vapor Compression Refrigeration Systems with Oil-free Linear Compressor Vapor Injection and Regeneration

摘要

Previous studies showed that compressor vapor injection combined with economizing increases theefficiency of vapor compression cycles by decreasing compressor specific work and increasingcooling capacity. However, most of the previous studies focused on injection for scroll/screwcompressors with oil or vapor gas, which limits the refrigerant compatibility and compressor designs.Recently, linear compressors have drawn much attention due to their high efficiencies and oil-freeoperation. The unique design of linear compressors allows the integration of cooling paths into thepiston-cylinder assembly to cool the compressor by an economizing refrigerant. This paper proposesan oil-free linear compressor piston-cylinder cooling design and assesses its potential forapproaching a quasi-isothermal compression process through utilization of refrigerant economizingand regeneration technology. A system simulation model was developed and used to analyze thesystem performance. Performance comparisons between the proposed system and a conventionalsystem are presented along with an assessment of the improvement of system efficiencies.