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Technical, economic, and environmental feasibility of replacing a flash tank with a sub-cooler in heat pump system

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Abstract

This article is considering the continuous development of heat pump and refrigeration systems. The sub-cooler and flash tank have been described as effective methods to improve efficiency in the mentioned systems. Also, the intermediate pressure optimization in each of these methods has a significant impact on their efficiency. Therefore, it is important to compare these optimized cycles and determine the effect of this replacement on economic and environmental aspects. In this paper, the flash tank heat pump (FTHP) was optimized based on flash tank pressure, and the optimized sub-cooler heat pump (SCHP) cycle was modeled according to experimental data. The optimum flash tank pressure in the FTHP cycle was obtained by considering operating conditions equal to 872 kPa with the best coefficient of performance (COP) and exergy efficiency of 1.885 and 0.023, respectively. Through comparing the two optimized cycles under the same operating conditions, it was found that the FTHP cycle has a superior COP and exergy efficiency compared to the SCHP cycle, according to the first and second laws of thermodynamics. On the other hand, by performing economic and environmental analyses on SCHP and FTHP cycles, it was observed that using the FTHP cycle over the SCHP cycle saves electricity 507.82 (GWh/year), reduces CO2 emissions by 298.11 (thousand tons/year), and decreases the costs by ~ 58 (million dollars /year) for large-scale heat pumps in seven European countries such as Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, France, and Denmark.

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Data Availability

Data are available to present upon the request of readers.

Abbreviations

PEm:

The price factor of emission ($ kg−1)

PEE:

The price factor of electrical energy ($ kWh−1)

CER:

CO2 emission reduction (ton)

EFC:

The emission factor of carbon \(({\text{kg}}_{{{\text{CO}}_{2} }}\) kWh−1)

SEE:

Saving electricity energy (MWh)

\(\mathop {Ex}\limits^{ \cdot }\) :

Exergy rate (kW)

h :

Enthalpy (kJ kg−1)

\(\dot{m}\) :

Mass flow rate (kg s−1)

P :

Pressure (kPa)

\(\dot{Q}\) :

Heat transfer (kW)

s :

Specific entropy (kJ kg−1 K−1)

T :

Temperature (K)

\(\dot{W}\) :

Power consumption (kW)

\(\eta\) :

Efficiency

0:

Ambient

Comp:

Compressor

hp:

High pressure

in:

Inlet

lp:

Low pressure

out:

Outlet

COP:

Coefficient of performance

FTHP:

Flash tank heat pump

SCHP:

Sub-cooler heat pump

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Computational Energy, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hakim Sabzevari University, PO Box 397, Sabzevar, 9617976487, Iran

    Saeed Maddah

  2. The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Khorasan Razavi Science and Research Branch,, Azad University, Tehran, Iran

    Mahdi Hadizadeh

  3. Mechanical Engineering Department, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX, 77706, USA

    Marjan Goodarzi

  4. Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Marjan Goodarzi

  5. Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL, 33174, USA

    Cheng-Xian Lin & Mohammad Reza Safaei

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  4. Cheng-Xian Lin
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  5. Mohammad Reza Safaei
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Contributions

Conceptualization was carried out by S.M., M.G., and M.H.; methodology by S.M. and M.H.; software by S.M. and M.H.; validation by S.M. and M.H.; formal analysis by S.M. and C.X.L.; investigation by H.M. and M.H.; resources by S.M. and M.H.; data curation by S.M.; writing—original draft preparation—by S.M. and M.G.; writing—review and editing—by M.G., M.R.S., and C.X.L.; visualization by C.X.L.; supervision by M.R.S. and M.G.; project administration by M.R.S. and M.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Marjan Goodarzi.

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Maddah, S., Hadizadeh, M., Goodarzi, M. et al. Technical, economic, and environmental feasibility of replacing a flash tank with a sub-cooler in heat pump system. J Therm Anal Calorim 147, 13757–13768 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-022-11520-3

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