Evaluation of carbon dioxide as R-22 substitute for residential air-conditioning

J. Steven Brown, Yongchan Kim, Piotr A. Domanski

    Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

    20 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    This paper compares the performance of CO2 and R-22 in residential air-conditioning applications using semi-theoretical vapor compression and transcritical cycle models. The simulated R-22 system had a conventional component configuration, while the CO2 system also included a liquid-line/suction-line heat exchanger. The CO2 evaporator and gas cooler were microchannel heat exchangers originally designed for CO2. The R-22 heat exchangers employed the same microchannel heat exchangers as CO2 with the difference that we modified the refrigerant passages to obtain reasonable pressure drops. The study covers several heat exchanger sizes. The R-22 system had a significantly better coefficient of performance (COP) than the CO2 system when equivalent heat exchangers were used in the CO2 and R-22 systems, which indicates that the better transport properties and compressor isentropic efficiency of CO2 did not compensate for the thermodynamic disadvantage of the transcritical cycle in comfort cooling applications. An entropy generation analysis showed that the CO2 evaporator operated with fewer irreversibilities than did the R-22 evaporator. However, the CO2 gas cooler and expansion device generated more entropy than their R-22 counterparts and were mainly responsible for the low COP of the CO2 system.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)954-963
    Number of pages10
    JournalASHRAE Transactions
    Volume108 PART 2
    Publication statusPublished - 2002
    EventASHRAE Transactions 2002 - Honolulu, HI, United States
    Duration: 2002 Jun 222002 Jun 26

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Building and Construction
    • Mechanical Engineering

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Evaluation of carbon dioxide as R-22 substitute for residential air-conditioning'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this