Thermodynamic analysis of a novel solar-driven booster-assisted ejector refrigeration cycle

Abstract This paper presents a subcooling booster-assisted ejector refrigeration cycle (SBERC) for refrigeration applications in the field of solar-driven air conditioning. The innovation is that a subcooler and IHX is introduced to enhance the ejector refrigeration cycle performance effectively. In the SBERC, the refrigerant at the generator outlet is in a two-phase state. Energy and exergy analyses are conducted on two basic cycles and the novel cycle using environmentally friendly refrigerant R1234ze(E). Compared with two basic cycles, the COPt of the novel cycle is increased by 51.1% and 20.5%, respectively; the exergy efficiency ηex is increased by 38.2% and 15.1%, respectively, under a typical working condition. Under all given working conditions, the cooling performance of the novel cycle is better than that of two booster-assisted ejector refrigeration cycles. The results also indicate that the novel cycle obtains higher exergy efficiency, and requires less solar energy input than two basic cycles when solar radiation intensity ranges from 600 to 1000 W/m2. Besides, the performance coefficient of the novel cycle reached a maximum value when the refrigerant vapor quality at the generator outlet is about 0.73 under a typical working condition, and the higher effectiveness IHX and subcooler bring better cycle performance.