Design and validation of a transcritical CO2 mobile refrigerated container system for military applications

Neal Lawrence, Stefan Elbel, Pega Hrnjak

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

This paper describes the design and analysis of a transcritical CO2 (R744), multi-temperature, mobile refrigerated container system. The use of CO2 as a refrigerant has been widely applied to supermarket refrigeration systems in recent years and shown to be promising for other applications as well. However, the extreme operating conditions of this application (up to 57°C ambient temperature and frozen temperature of -20°C) make using CO2 as a refrigerant a unique challenge here. In order to achieve reasonable efficiency at the extreme conditions of this application, several improvements have been implemented: Multi-stage compression with intercooling, improved gas cooler performance with a microchannel heat exchanger, internal heat exchange, and expansion work recovery with an ejector. The results presented in this paper show that the very high ambient temperature of this system allows for very significant COP improvement using each of the above improvements methods (over 50 % combined improvement).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication13th IIR Gustav Lorentzen Conference on Natural Refrigerants
Subtitle of host publicationNatural Refrigerant Solutions for Warm Climate Countries, Proceedings
PublisherInternational Institute of Refrigeration
Pages882-890
Number of pages9
ISBN (Electronic)9782362150265
StatePublished - 2018
Event13th IIR Gustav Lorentzen Conference on Natural Refrigerants: Natural Refrigerant Solutions for Warm Climate Countries - Valencia, Spain
Duration: Jun 18 2018Jun 20 2018

Publication series

NameRefrigeration Science and Technology
Volume2018-June
ISSN (Print)0151-1637

Other

Other13th IIR Gustav Lorentzen Conference on Natural Refrigerants: Natural Refrigerant Solutions for Warm Climate Countries
Country/TerritorySpain
CityValencia
Period6/18/186/20/18

Keywords

  • COP
  • Carbon dioxide
  • Ejector
  • Microchannel heat exchanger
  • Refrigerated container

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Condensed Matter Physics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Design and validation of a transcritical CO2 mobile refrigerated container system for military applications'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this