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Application of an alternative thermoeconomic approach to a two-stage vapour compression refrigeration cascade cycle

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Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An alternative thermoeconomic approach is applied to a two-stage vapour compression refrigeration cascade cycle. This approach, called the UFS Model, is based on the splitting of the physical exergy into three terms, namely, internal energy term, flow work term and entropic term. Application of the UFS Model allows the isolation of both valves and condensers in the productive structure. The goal is to obtain the exergetic unit cost of each internal flow and plant product. This alternative approach yields consistent results, because exergetic unit costs are greater than or equal to 1 and the product-fuel ratio of each productive unit is less than or equal to 1. Besides the allocation of the external power cost of the plant, analyses on the irreversibilities of each cycle unit are carried out. Thus, it is shown that the UFS Model can also be used to quantify irreversibilities as well as the conventional exergy analysis.

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Abbreviations

B :

Flow exergy or exergy rate (kW)

F :

Flow work term (kW)

H :

Enthalpic term (kW)

P :

Product (kW)

Q :

Heat transfer rate (kW)

R :

Resource or fuel (kW)

S :

Entropic term (kW)

T :

Temperature (K)

U :

Internal energy term (kW)

W :

Power (kW)

Y :

Generic productive flow (kW)

b :

Specific exergy (kJ kg−1)

c :

Specific heat capacity (kJ kg−1K−1)

h :

Specific enthalpy (kJ kg−1)

k :

Exergetic unit cost (kW kW−1)

m :

Mass flow (kg s−1)

p :

Pressure (kPa)

s :

Specific entropy (kJ kg−1K−1)

u :

Specific internal energy (kJ kg−1)

v :

Specific volume (m3 kg−1)

x :

Quality (−) or (%)

ε :

Exergetic efficiency (−) or (%)

η :

Product-resource ratio (−) or (%)

ℜ:

Gas constant (kJ kg−1K−1)

PH:

Physical

0:

Environment or dead state

D :

Destruction

L :

Loss

Q :

Heat

cmp.h:

HP Compressor

cmp.l:

LP compressor

cnd:

Condenser

evp:

Evaporator

h :

High temperature

hxc:

Intermediate heat exchanger

i :

Physical flow

i:j :

Difference of flows

in:

Inlet

j :

Physical flow

l :

Low temperature

m :

Mass flow

out:

Outlet

prod:

Flows of useful exergy

r :

Real

t :

Theoretical

v :

Constant volume

vlv.h:

HP Expansion valve

vlv.l:

LP Expansion valve

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Acknowledgments

The authors of this paper would like to thank Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis (ANP), respectively, for the financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Engineering, Modelling and Social Sciences, Federal University of ABC (CECS/UFABC), Santo André, SP, Brazil

    Atilio B. Lourenço & Silvia A. Nebra

  2. Interdisciplinary Centre of Energy Planning, University of Campinas (NIPE/UNICAMP), Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Silvia A. Nebra

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Espírito Santo (DEM/UFES), Vitória, ES, Brazil

    José Joaquim C. S. Santos & João Luiz M. Donatelli

Authors
  1. Atilio B. Lourenço
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  2. Silvia A. Nebra
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  3. José Joaquim C. S. Santos
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  4. João Luiz M. Donatelli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Atilio B. Lourenço.

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Technical Editor: Jose A. dos Reis Parise.

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Lourenço, A.B., Nebra, S.A., Santos, J.J.C.S. et al. Application of an alternative thermoeconomic approach to a two-stage vapour compression refrigeration cascade cycle. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 37, 903–913 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-014-0210-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-014-0210-7

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