Prospect of solar-driven ejector-compression hybrid refrigeration system with low GWP refrigerants in summer of Guangzhou and Beijing

In this paper, the prospect of low-GWP refrigerants used in solar-driven ejector-compression hybrid refrigeration system was analyzed and evaluated based on the solar radiation data in summer of Beijing and Guangzhou. Prominent environmental friendly alternative refrigerants, including HCFO-1233zd(E), HFO-1336mzz(Z), HFO-1234ze(Z), HCFO-1224yd(Z) and HC-600 were chosen as the working fluids to address the environmental concerns, while HFC-245fa was used as the baseline refrigerant. The hybrid refrigeration system composed of an ejector refrigeration system as the upper stage and a vapor compression system as the bottom stage, respectively. The results indicated that the system with HFO-1234ze(Z) showed the highest COP. HFO-1234ze(Z) was followed by HCFO-1233zd(E) and HC-600, and all of them showed higher COP than that of HFC-245fa. The system with HC-600 needed more electric energy than any other systems, while HFO-1336mzz(Z) consumed the lowest electric power. Meanwhile, the performances of HFO-1234ze(Z) and HFC-245fa systems were further compared. It was found that for both working fluids, the heat load of the condenser (Qe,c), total electric energy consumption (We) and electric energy of compressor (Wcom) in August were the highest in Beijing, while in Guangzhou, the highest of them was achieved in September. It was also suggested that the solar radiation had no influence on the relative magnitude of the Qe,c, We and Wcom between HFO-1234ze(Z) and HFC-245fa systems. The Qe,c, We and Wcom of the system with HFO-1234ze(Z) were higher than those of HFC-245fa by 0.8%, 4.44%, and 3.55%, respectively.