Waste Heat Driven Multi-Ejector Cooling Systems: Optimization of Design at Partial Load; Seasonal Performance and Cost Evaluation

Luca Viscito, Gianluca Lillo, Giovanni Napoli and Alfonso William Mauro
Additional contact information
Luca Viscito: Department of Industrial Engineering, Federico II University of Naples P. le Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy
Gianluca Lillo: Department of Industrial Engineering, Federico II University of Naples P. le Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy
Giovanni Napoli: Department of Industrial Engineering, Federico II University of Naples P. le Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy
Alfonso William Mauro: Department of Industrial Engineering, Federico II University of Naples P. le Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 18, 1-25

Abstract: In this paper, a seasonal performance analysis of a hybrid ejector cooling system is carried-out, by considering a multi-ejector pack as expansion device. A 20 kW ejector-based chiller was sized to obtain the optimal tradeoff between performance and investment costs. The seasonal performance of the proposed solution was then evaluated through a dynamic simulation able to obtain the performance of the designed chiller with variable ambient temperatures for three different reference climates. The optimized multi-ejector system required three or four ejectors for any reference climate and was able to enhance the system performance at partial load, with a significant increase (up to 107%) of the seasonal energy efficiency ratio. The proposed system was then compared to conventional cooling technologies supplied by electric energy (electrical chillers EHP) or low-grade heat sources (absorption chillers AHP) by considering the total costs for a lifetime of 20 years and electric energy-specific costs for domestic applications from 0.10 to 0.50 €/kWhel. The optimized multi-ejector cooling system presented a significant convenience with respect to both conventional technologies. For warmer climates and with high electricity costs, the minimum lifetime for the multi-ejector system to achieve the economic break-even point could be as low as 1.9 years.

Keywords: thermo-economic analysis; seasonal performance; dynamic simulation; multi-ejector; heat driven cooling systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/18/5663/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/18/5663/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:18:p:5663-:d:631914

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().