Model-based improvement of a trans-critical CO2 refrigeration plant

Abstract Refrigeration sector including heat pumps, cryogenics and air conditioning is responsible for a share close 10% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, a huge effort of the scientific and industrial community is needed on the development of technologies allowing to reduce the environmental impact of this sector. The use of CO2 as working fluid has great interest in food chain conservation and participates to the problem of the impact produced by the traditional synthetic fluids, recently oriented also to hydrocarbons. Main problem of plants using CO2 as working fluid is the low COP, which reduces even more in moderate or hot climate regions in which low temperature thermal energy is more required. To assess the benefits introduced by plant optimization and innovative technologies, many advanced thermodynamic models are developed in the last years. Anyway, few software platforms are developed for the comprehensive analysis of plant behaviour. To fill this gap, this paper presents the results of a theoretical and experimental research done on an industrial trans-critical CO2 refrigeration plant. The aim was to set up energy saving solutions finalized to mitigate the intrinsic low COP values. A detailed physically consistent model of the unit has been developed following an integrated zero and mono-dimensional thermo-fluid-dynamic approach. The propagative, capacitive, and inertial properties of the components have been considered, so going beyond of the theoretical approaches that are typical in the sector. A wide experimental characterization of the unit has been done with the aim to validate the model and to use it as tool to predict the effect on the COP of the operating variables. The reduction of the compressor absorption and the potentiality of the energy recovery from energy usually wasted have been analysed.