• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2015

In this study, the optimization and performance characteristics of a cascade heat pump system was analyzed with the variation of low stage refrigerant charge amount. The cascade heat pump was designed and constructed with R134a and R410A as the refrigerant for high stage and low stage cycle, respectively. Experiments were conducted by varying the low stage charge amount and the performance characteristics of the cascade heat pump were studied. The refrigerant charge amount of the low stage cycle was varied between the ranges of -15% and +10% of the optimum charge amount. The performance variation experienced in the cascade heat pump due to the variation of refrigerant charge amount shows greater effect in the undercharge regions than the overcharge regions. COP reduction in the undercharge region is larger than the decrease in the overcharge region. Some cycle variation such as power consumption and cycle pressure according to low stage refrigerant charge amount showed different trends comparing with those according to high stage refrrgerant charge amount. Therefore, the optimum charge amount of the cascade heat pump should be determined based on the experimental data obtained by the variation of high and low stage refrigerant charge amount.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.410-417
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• 2005

The cooling performance of a transcritical $CO_{2}$ cycle varies significantly with a variation of refrigerant charge amount. In this study, the performance of the $CO_{2}$ system was measured and analyzed by varying refrigerant charge amount at a standard test condition. Besides, the losses of the major components in the $CO_{2}$ system were estimated by evaluating entropy generation with refrigerant charge amount. The losses in the expansion device and the gascooler show the major portion of the total loss. For undercharging conditions, the expansion loss dominates the overall system performance, while the gascooler loss increases significantly with an increase of refrigerant charge amount.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.558-566
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• 2007

The performance characteristics of water-chilling heat pump using $CO_2$ with respect to variation of refrigerant charge amount was investigated experimentally. An experimental apparatus is consisted of a compressor, a gas cooler, an expansion valve, an evaporator and a liquid receiver. All heat exchangers used in the test rig are counter-flow-type heat exchangers with concentric dual tubes, which are made of copper. The gas cooler and the evaporator consist of 6 and 4 straight sections respectively arranged in parallel, each has 2400 mm length. The experimental results summarize as the followings : As the refrigerant charge ratio of $CO_2$ heat pump system increases, the discharge pressure and compressor ratio increases, but mass flow rate of refrigerant decreases. Also the compressor work increases with the increase of refrigerant charge ratio. However, the heating and cooling capacity of $CO_2$ heat pump decreases as the refrigerant charge ratio increases. The maximum heating COP of $CO_2$ heat pump system presented at 0.25 refrigerant charge ratio. It is possible to confirm the optimum charge ratio of $CO_2$ heat pump system by the viewpoint of heating COP.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.30-36
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• 2011

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of the refrigerant charge amount on the performance of a water-to-water ground source heat pump with a variation of compressor speed and the secondary fluid flow rate. The water-to-water ground source heat pump was tested by varying refrigerant charge amount from -40% to 20% of full charge. Compressor speed was changed from 30 Hz to 75 Hz and the secondary fluid flow rate was adjusted from 6 LPM to 14 LPM. For all test conditions, EWTs of an indoor heat exchanger and an outdoor heat exchanger were maintained at standard conditions of ISO 13256-2. The slope of the COP with the variation of charge amount is much steeper at undercharged conditions than that at overcharged conditions. For all compressor speed, the variation of the system performance according to charge amounts showed the similar trends. However, the optimum charge amount of the system increased a little with an increment of compressor speed. When the secondary fluid flow rate decreased, the system was optimized at higher refrigerant charge amount conditions.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.143.1-143.1
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• 2011

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of the refrigerant charge amount on the performance of a water-to-water ground source heat pump with a variation of compressor speed and the secondary fluid flow rate. The water-to-water ground source heat pump was tested by varying refrigerant charge amount from -40% to 20% of full charge. Compressor speed was changed from 30 Hz to 75 Hz, and the secondary fluid flow rate was adjusted from 6 LPM to 14 LPM. For all test conditions, EWT of an indoor heat exchanger and an outdoor heat exchanger were maintained at standard conditions of ISO 13256-2. The slope of the COP with the variation of charge amount is much steeper at undercharged conditions than that at overcharged conditions. For all compressor speed, the variation of the system performance according to charge amounts showed the similar trends. However, the optimum charge amount of the system increased a little with an increment of compressor speed. When the secondary fluid flow rate decreased, the system optimized at higher refrigerant charge amount conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.15-22
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• 2018

As heat pump application has been extending to residential, commercial, and industrial fields, the heat pump should have many operation modes. It is required to optimize refrigerant charge amount at all operation modes in order to enhance the annual performance of heat pumps. In this study, the performance analysis of the heat pump which has cooling, heating, cooling-hot water, heating-hot water, and hot water modes was executed with the variation of refrigerant charge amount. As the refrigerant charge amount changed, the maximum COPs of the heat pump at different operation modes were changed within ${\pm}10%$. Therefore, it is highly recommended to select optimum charge amount for the heat pump based on the analysis of annual load for each operation modes.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.22-30
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• 2007

An expansion device plays an important role in optimizing the heat pumps by controlling refrigerant flow and balancing the system pressures. Conventional expansion devices are being gradually replaced with electronic expansion valves due to increasing focus on comfort, energy conservation, and application of a variable speed compressor. In addition, the amount of refrigerant charge in a heat pump is another primary parameter influencing system performance. In this study, the flow characteristics of the expansion devices are analyzed, and the effects of refrigerant charge amount on the performance of the heat pump and the variation of compressor speed are investigated at various operating conditions. Mass flow rate through capillary tube, short tube orifice, and EEV was strongly dependent on the upstream pressure and subcooling. The heat pump system is very sensitive with a variation of refrigerant charge amount. The performance of it can be optimized by adjusting the flow rate through expansion device to maintain a constant superheat at all test conditions.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.538-541
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• 2007

An expansion device plays an important role in optimizing the heat pumps by controlling refrigerant flow and balancing the system pressures. Conventional expansion devices are being gradually replaced with electronic expansion valves due to increasing focus on comfort, energy conservation, and application of a variable speed compressor. In addition, the amount of refrigerant charge in a heat pump is another primary parameter influencing system performance. In this study, the flow characteristics of the expansion devices are analyzed, and the effects of refrigerant charge amount on the performance of the heat pump are investigated at various operating conditions. Cooling capacity of the heat pump system is strongly dependent on load conditions. The heat pump system is very sensitive with a variation of refrigerant charge amount. But, the performance of it can be optimized by adjusting the flow rate through expansion device to maintain a constant superheat at all test conditions.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.486-493
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• 2000

A theoretical model for the transient performance of vapor-compression air-conditioning system has been developed to evaluate the influence of the refrigerant charge on the system performance. A set of mass and energy equations for the simulation of the heat exchangers and the capillary tube and a polytropic compression model for the compressor are used. The present model successfully predicts the transient behavior of the vapor-compression air-conditioner from the startup. As the refrigerant charge is increased, both the evaporating and condensing pressures increase gradually, and the cooling rate and the COP show a maximum in the range of 0.75-0.8 kg of refrigerant charge. This amount of refrigerant mass is determined to be the optimum charge of the model system. Also, the effect of outdoor air temperature on the optimum refrigerant charge is discussed.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.398-403
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• 2005

The cooling performance of a transcritical $CO_2$ cycle varies significantly with a variation of refrigerant charge amount. In this study, the performance of the $CO_2$ system was measured and analyzed by varying refrigerant charge amount with a change of cycle option. The applied cycle options are the single-stage compression system, two-stage compression with 1-EEV system, and two-stage compression with 2- EEV system. The optimum normalized charge were 0.363, 0.297, and 0.282 for the two-stage compression with 2-EEV system, two-stage compression with 1-EEV system, and single-stage compression system, respectively.