Analyse de la migration d’huile dans les pompes à chaleur mono- et biétagées

The Laboratory of Industrial Energy systems has evaluated a series of high performance air-water heat pump concepts with the aim to retrofit existing fuel fired boilers for residential hydronic heating systems. The results are published within the framework of the Swiss Retrofit Heat Pump project, which is conducted by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. The two-stage heat pump cycle has shown the best efficiency prospects. Oil migration between the upper stage and lower stage compressors is the main obstacle for commercialization in the low heat rate range. The oil mass concentration is measured by the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrospopy (FTIR) method with an attenuated total reflection cell (ATR). This method was calibrated on a separated test loop and compared to measurements of mass-sampling and of density by a Coriolis effect densitymeter. Infrared analysis gives a precision of < 0.1% of oil concentration and the detection limit was identified at about 0.3%. Density measurements cannot be used in the ordinary temperature range of the liquid line in the heat pump. Mass sampling and the FT-IR measurements give corresponding results. An air-water heat pump (10 kWth, R-407C) was build in the laboratory to perform comparison tests in the single-stage and two-stage heating modes. The main elements of the heat pump are: two scroll type compressors, a brazed plate condenser, a finned tube evaporator, an economizer heat exchanger and two electronic expansion valves. Defrosting is done by cycle inversion with a 4-way reversing valve. Measured improvements on the two-stage heating mode of 30% for the COP and 24% for the heat output comparing to the corresponding test point (A-7/W50) in the single stage configuration have been shown. Important reductions of the maximum system temperature at the outlet of the compressors enable an extended range of application (including the point A-12/W65). In the two-stage heating mode an oil transfer rate of 5 - 10 g/min from the high pressure stage to the low pressure stage compressor was detected in all tested conditions, which is strongly limiting the continuous service of the heat pump. For long term running tests an additional balancing system composed of an oil pump and an oil vessel has been installed. The circulating oil concentration is between 0.2% and 0.4% for the two-stage configuration as measured with the FT-IR method. In single-stage mode the concentration is lower than 0.2% and only the mass sampling technique provided reliable results. Sensibility analysis in changing the regulation parameters did not give concluding results in order to design a stable configuration of the two-stage heat pump. In absence of integrated two-stage scroll compressors intermediate solutions have to be considered. These consist in the implementation of a booster compressor or the implementation of an oil separator at the outlet of the high pressure stage compressor coupled with a oil return management or a periodic shut down of the heat pump with external balancing of the oil level in the crankcase. An adapted heat transfer model for refrigerant-oil mixtures was developed, in order to investigate the theoretical impact of oil in the evaporator.

Pompe à chaleur biétagée à haute performance. Phase 2: Dégivrage par énergie à basse exergie.

Daniel Favrat, Michele Zehnder

The capacities of performance improvements of low and mid-size heat pumps are studied in this project. For the new buildings market, the components of the heat pump match already well the requirements for high performance and monovalent heating. Minor improvements are to be expected on inverter driven compressors and on the integration of the domestic water in the heat pump cycle. This study is focused on the retrofit market (replacement of existing oil burners). For this case the existing air-water heat pumps are not economical and performance decrease rapidly at low air temperatures. A two-stage heat pump with two phase injection and an economiser vessel has been built in collaboration with Termogamma. It has been compared to a single-stage configuration (Pompe à chaleur biétagée à haute performance, Phase I). The measurements at steady state conditions show significant improvements on heat output and coefficient of performance for the refrigerants R22 and R407C. In phase 2 of this project the tests are focused on a new defrosting scheme using energy stored at low exergy in the economiser. This method is compared to the reversed cycle defrosting at critical conditions A2/W50/93r.h. Both defrosting methods have equivalent performance reduction. Relative heat output reduction is -12% COP is reduced by -4% comparing to the steady state conditions (evaporator not frosted). Combining the two methods, reversed cycle and economiser, the overall performances are further improved (heat output -7% and COP -3%). The complete cycle length was limited by oil migration effects. The mechanisms of oil migration in two-stage heat pumps will be examined in a starting project at the Laboratory for Industrial Energy Systems (LENI). Several types of refrigerants are compared in the single-stage and two-stage case by simulation. The simulation includes real compressor and exchanger characteristics. The results show the important decrease of the coefficient of performance and the reduction of the heat output at low air temperatures. At higher temperatures the single stage mode is more adapted for the existing compressors. COP crossing occurs between 0°C and 5°C external air temperature. For the retrofit application, traditional heat pump design cannot be explored efficiently in the case of monovalent heating. This two stage concept is very promising, but oil migration problems have to be solved for commercialisation. The refrigerant cycle can be simplified, according to the refrigerant type used. The economiser did not show the expected improvement for the defrosting cycle. The major part of the energy potential could not be explored in the tests. For an air-air heat pump the increased refrigerant charge can be justified with the important improvements on the defrosting (only hot gas defrosting can be implemented in this case).

1999

Efficient air-water heat pumps for high temperature lift residential heating, including oil migration aspects

Michele Zehnder

This thesis presents a system approach with the aim to develop improved concepts for small capacity, high temperature lift air-water heat pumps. These are intended to replace fuel fired heating systems in the residential sector, which leads to a major reduction of the local greenhouse gas emissions. Unfavorable temperature conditions set by the existing heat distribution systems and by the use of atmospheric air, as the only accessible heat source, have to be overcome. The proposed concepts are intended to cover the total application range and to provide the full heat demand without any additional (electric) heat supply. A systematic approach, using a multi objective optimization tool, has been applied to evaluate possible alternate refrigerants, which perform best, regarding to the system COP and the specific heat output. All the optimal refrigerant blends are composed by flammable refrigerants and a potential increase of the COP of 8% (compared to the commercial blend R-407C) has been determined. These potential improvements highly depend on the acceptance to use flammable refrigerants, as can be shown by this evaluation. The standard concepts of small capacity heat pumps suffer from a restricted application range and show highly decreasing performances (COP and provided heat) at extreme operating conditions. From the examination of the thermodynamic cycle, different improved concepts are proposed and are assembled in a generalized super-configuration. The most promising concepts have been built as prototype units and have been tested in laboratory. These concepts are: a) the two-stage compression cycles with economizer heat exchanger or b) with economizer flash tank at the intermediate pressure level, c) the booster-compressor setup, d) the one-stage compression cycle including a new developed hermetic compressor, which enables intermediate injection of saturated vapor flow and e) a small capacity auxiliary cycle for liquid subcooling. In all these concepts the application range could be extended, by achieving reduced discharge temperatures and the heat rate provided at extreme operating conditions could be substantially increased (20%-35%, +100% for the booster setup), using the same compressor and evaporator size. System COP has been improved (~5%) over a large application range, and specifically in high temperature lift operating conditions. The experimental evaluation reveals the major problem of unbalanced oil migration in two-stage compression cycles (except for the booster concept). An extensive evaluation has been applied, to analyze the oil migration in two-stage compression heat pumps. A new developed measurement technique, using a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry combined with a high pressure supporting ATR cell, has been calibrated (with a lower detection limit at 0.2% - 0.4%, and a sensitivity of 0.1%) with the used refrigerant-oil mixtures (R-134a/POE oil and R-407C/POE oil). It has been applied to perform on-line oil concentration measurements during two-stage and one-stage steady stage and during transitory operating modes. A generalized steady state simulation model has been developed including namely the new developed compressor model with an intermediate injection port, considering the geometrical flow path of the tested prototype compressors. A flow map based extensive heat transfer model is integrated into a finned tube evaporator model and taking into account oil effects on the heat transfer. General models of plate heat exchangers and for capillary tube expansion devices complete this modular simulation model, on which the concepts of the super-configuration can be calculated and some parametric analysis has been performed. An in house developed fluid interface module includes the fluid properties calculation program Refprop and allows to define new mixtures or to use the large number of predefined refrigerants.

EPFL2004

Evaporation du réfrigérant HFC 407C sur des tubes lisses ou à surface améliorée.

Daniel Favrat, John Richard Thome, Olivier Zürcher

The substitution of CFC refrigerants in refrigeration systems, heat pumps and organic Rankine cycles for heat recovery, requires good methods for predicting heat transfer of substitute fluids. The measurements in the LENI test facility (concentric tubes with water flowing in a countercurrent flow) with HFC 407C, HFC 134a, HCFC 123, HFC 404A and HFC/HCFC 402A provide a new data band for new refrigerants, and allow a coherent comparison with old refrigerants CFC 11, CFC 12, CFC/HCFC 502 and with existing correlations. The existing correlations were found to be inadequate. Because of this work, an improved flow pattern map and flow boiling model were developed, which resulted in a substantial progress in the accurate predict of heat transfer in plain, horizontal tubes for refigerants without oil. The Kattan et al. (1996, [6]) correlation was programmed to calculate and compare predicted heat transfer coefficients to the new HFC 407C test data. The flow pattern map proposed by Kattan et al. (1996) was also programmed and compared to flow regimes observed for HFC 407C. It predicted the HFC 407C flow pattern data quite accurately. The original objective of the HFC 407C measurements was the validation of the Kattan et al. (1996) correlation applied to a zeotropic refrigerant blend. Local flow boiling heat transfer coefficients were measured for HFC 407C evaporating inside a microfin and plain tube. In addition, microfin heat transfer augmentation relative to a plain tube was investigated. The presence of oil in the evaporator had a complex effect on heat transfer coefficients. Local flow boiling heat transfer coefficients were measured for refrigerant HFC 407C ester oil mixtures (Mobil EAL Arctic 68). A new thermodynamic approach for modeling mixtures of zeotropic refrigerant blends and lubricating oils was also developed. A very high accuracy, straight vibrating tube type of density flowmeter was used to measure oil concentrations of flowing HFC 407C oil mixtures. The test covered oil concentration from 0.5-5 wt.% oil. A method was proposed to predict thermodynamic and transport properties of the refrigerant-oil mixtures. In addition, a first empirical approach was proposed for predicting heat transfer for boiling of refrigerant-oil mixtures. Based on this work, the following phenomena important to the problem were identified that require further investigation: • oil retention in the evaporator tubes that was found and clearly proved in the present project. • the formation of foam in the HFC 407C/oil mixture (but not in the previous HFC 134a/oil tests) •the effect of oil on flow patterns, in particular stratified and stratified-wavy flows.

1996