351

An experimental investigation of steam ejectors for

applications in jet-pump refrigerators powered by
low-grade heat
I W Eames1*, S Wu1, M Worall1 and S Aphornratana2
1
The School of the Built Environment, University of Nottingham, UK
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, Thailand

Abstract: The jet-pump refrigerator cycle offers a low-capital-cost solution for utilizing low-grade
waste heat in the production of cooling for buildings and process refrigeration. The heart of the
jet-pump refrigerator is an ejector, the performance of which strongly determines the thermal
efficiency of the cycle. This paper describes and evaluates the results of an experimental investigation
into the operation of ejectors primarily for use in jet-pump refrigerators. The construction of a
steamsteam ejector test facility and experimental method are described. Experimental results are
provided concerning the effects of primary nozzle exit position within the mixingentrainment
section, primary nozzle exit and diffuser throat areas. The causes and effects of flow instability under
conditions of high secondary pressure ratio are also discussed and methods of increasing the critical
condenser pressure are identified and rated in order of effect.
Keywords: ejectors, jet pumps, refrigeration, heat pumps

NOTATION
AD
Aexit
AR
At
AT
D
m;
Nn
Np
Ns
N%s
NXP
NXP%
Pc
P%c
Pe
Pg
Rm

diffuser throat area (m2)

primary nozzle exit area (m2)
AD/At
primary nozzle throat area (m2)
Aexit/At
diffuser throat diameter (m)
mass flow (kg/s)
Pg/Pe
Pg/Pc
Pc/Pe
critical condenser pressure ratio=P%c/Pe
nozzle exit position (m)
dimensionless nozzle exit position=NXP/D
condenser saturation pressure (Pa)
critical condenser saturation pressure (Pa)
evaporator saturation pressure (Pa)
generator saturation pressure (Pa or bar)
entrainment ratio=m; e/m; g

The MS was recei6ed on 3 July 1998 and was accepted after re6ision
for publication on 1 April 1999.
*Corresponding author: The School of the Built En6ironment, Uni6ersity of Nottingham, Uni6ersity Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.
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temperature (K or C)

Subscripts
c
dp
e
g
od

condenser
design point
evaporator
steam generator
off design

Note that all pressures are absolute and all temperatures relate to saturated vapour conditions unless otherwise stated.

INTRODUCTION

Jet-pump refrigerators are thermally powered devices.

Their main disadvantage compared with other thermally powered machines, such as single-effect vapour
absorption cycle refrigerators, is their relatively low
coefficient of performance (0.25 compared with 0.7).
However, they are simple in construction, have few
moving parts, do not suffer from the same corrosion
problems as absorption systems and therefore have
potentially greater reliability. Interest is currently being
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I W EAMES, S WU, M WORALL AND S APHORNRATANA

Fig. 1

A schematic view of a jet-pump refrigerator

shown in jet-pump cycle refrigerators owing to their

environmental advantages, namely they are able to
utilize water as a refrigerant fluid and they can be
powered by low-grade waste heat (greater than 80 C).
Eames et al. [1], Eames and Aphornratana [2] and
Lund and Soe [3] proposed the use of jet-pump refrigerators powered by low-grade heat from waste incinerators and combined heat and power (CHP)district
heating schemes for building cooling during summer
months.
Figure 1 shows the construction of a jet-pump refrigerator. The cycle is similar to the conventional vapour

compression system except for the fact that the compressor is replaced by a liquid feed pump, vapour
generator and ejector. Gosney [4] provided a detailed
description of the cycle. Briefly, liquid refrigerant is
vaporized at a high pressure in a generator and fed to
an ejector where it entrains a low-pressure vapour
coming from the evaporator and compresses it to some
intermediate pressure equal to that in the condenser. A
proportion of the condensate collected in the condenser
is then returned to the evaporator via an expansion
valve while the remainder is returned to the generator
via a liquid feed pump.
The ejector is the heart of the jet-pump cycle. The
construction of the supersonic ejector used in the
present experiments is described in Fig. 2. In operation,
high-pressure vapour coming from a steam generator is
accelerated to supersonic velocity through the convergentdivergent passage of the primary (de Laval) nozzle, shown inset in Fig. 2. As this high-velocity jet
emerges from the nozzle it entrains a secondary vapour
stream (from the evaporator), which enters the conical
mixing section through the suction manifold. The primary and secondary flow streams combine within the
convergent passage of the mixing section to form a
single stream at entry to the parallel section of a
diffuser throat. At design-point operating conditions, as

Fig. 2 The construction of the steam steam ejector assembly used in these experiments
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353

Fig. 3 A schematic drawing of the experimental rig

the flow enters the divergent diffuser section it undergoes a thermodynamic shock process that causes a
sudden rise in static pressure and a reduction (loss) in
stagnation pressure. The location of the shock wave
within the diffuser varies with the condenser back pressure. The flow emerges from this shock process with
subsonic velocity and is compressed until its static
pressure equals the saturation pressure in the
condenser.
Eames et al. [1], Eames and Aphornratana [2, 5] and
Aphornratana and Eames [6] found that the performance of steam steam ejectors is sensitive to small
changes in geometry, particularly when the saturation
temperature of the driving steam is low (Pg B 4 bar).
This led to the study summarized and evaluated in this
paper and which reports on the effects that primary
nozzle exit position, primary nozzle exit and diffuser
throat areas have on ejector performance.
Although ejectors have been manufactured for most
of the twentieth century, their design is still more art
than science. Most of the research on which available
design data are based appears to have been carried out
using air or high-pressure primary flow steam (Pg \ 10
bar). The use of low-grade heat to produce driving
steam at saturation temperatures ranging from 100 to
130 C is relatively new and design data for steam
steam ejectors in jet-pump refrigerators operating with
such low-temperature sources are sparse. The information provided in the present paper will help to fill this
data gap.
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THE STEAMSTEAM EJECTOR TEST

FACILITY

The test facility is shown in Figs 3 and 4. It consists of

five principal components: a 7 kW electrically powered
steam generator assembly (x), an ejector assembly (d), a
flash evaporator (i), an 8 kW water-cooled condenser
(w) and a 2 kW evaporator heater (m). The following
identification letters refer to those given in Fig. 3.
2.1

The generator

A 7 kW electrically heated generator was manufactured

to produce saturated steam up to 4 bar at the rate of
approximately 10 kg/h. Heating elements (y) were controlled by a thermostat (t). The temperature was measured using a type K thermocouple positioned in the
steam drum (x) and readings were taken from a digital
display (s). The pressure was measured using an analogue gauge (a). The water content was measured using
a calibrated sight glass (f). The generator was thermally
insulated and protected by a thermostatic cut-out and a
pressure relief valve (b).
2.2

The evaporator

The evaporator (i) consisted of an insulated glass vessel,

300 mm in i.d. and 500 mm in height, with bolted
stainless steel end plates, proprietary flanges and seals.
The vessel was calibrated to enable the liquid content to
be measured. Steam flowed from the top of the vessel to
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the ejector through a stainless steel pipe 80 mm in o.d.

connected to the evaporator vessel by a bolted flange.
Chilled water was circulated by a pump between the
vessel and a tube-in-tube heat exchanger (m), which
provided the cooling load. Heated water at a pre-set
temperature was returned to the vessel via a flow
control valve and spray nozzle (h). Steam was generated by flash evaporation. Type K thermocouples were
used to measure the temperature of the water in the
vessel. The evaporator pressure was measured using the
temperature of the saturated liquid water in the vessel
and from a direct-reading pressure gauge. The differences between these two readings provided an indication of the presence of air.
2.3

The condenser

An 8 kW condenser was assembled from a glass vessel

(w) 220 mm in i.d. and 700 mm long, fitted with a
water-cooled coil (v), manufactured from a 15 m length
of plain copper tube 15 mm in o.d. wound to form an
open coil 150 mm in diameter and 600 mm long. The
condenser pressure was measured using a mercury
manometer (u) and the saturation temperature was
measured using a type K thermocouple. The bottom of
the condenser vessel acted as a condensate reservoir. At
the end of each test the condensate was pumped to the
steam generator using a diaphragm pump (l) and re-

turned under gravity to the evaporator via a flow

control valve. For simplicity a constant-loss cooling
system was used to cool the condenser. The pressure
within the condenser was adjusted by varying the water
flow through the cooling coil.

2.4

Figure 2 shows a scale drawing of the ejector assembly.

This was designed using a semi-empirical method described by Eames and Aphornratana [2]. The body of
the ejector (9 in Fig. 2) was manufactured from stainless steel pipe 80 mm in o.d. fitted with flanges at both
ends to provide a connection with the condenser and a
location for the primary nozzle support plate (1). A
stainless steel suction manifold 80 mm in i.d. (2 in Fig.
2) was welded to the ejector body and provided with a
flange to connect it to the evaporator. Flanged connections were sealed with O-seals (11) to provide an airtight construction.
The primary nozzle assembly, shown in Fig. 2, was
made in three pieces; the nozzle (5) itself, a spacer (4)
and a screwed connector (3) to connect the assembly to
the support flange (1). The diffuser assembly consisted
of a mixing section (6), a diffuser throat section (7), a
subsonic diffuser section (8) and a tail piece (10). These
were manufactured in aluminium. Their outside diameters were machined to provide a push fit into the ejector
body and O-seals (11) were fitted to prevent steam
from leaking back from the condenser to the evaporator. Location lugs were provided to ensure alignment
between the separate pieces.
Figure 2 also shows the nozzle exit position (NXP)
datum. With reference to this, ten wall static pressure
tappings were included along the length of the diffuser
on 40 mm centres from NXP= 20 mm. These were
connected to a manifold (c in Fig. 3), via a length of
pipe and an isolation valve positioned to prevent condensate from draining back to the pressure gauge. The
static pressure in the diffuser was measured by comparing its difference with the pressure in the condenser.

Fig. 4 The experiment rig

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The ejector assembly

EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

The objectives were to investigate the part-load operation of steamsteam ejectors and to determine the
significance of the primary nozzle exit position, nozzle
exit area and diffuser throat area with regard to performance and operating stability. After evacuation the
generator and evaporator were filled with distilled water from the condenser. Generator heaters were then
switched on and the thermostat was set at the required
temperature. Once the required generator steam pressure had been achieved, the supply valve was opened
causing the ejector to operate. As the evaporator cooled
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Table 1

Generator
Condenser
Evaporator

Range of test conditions

Pressure range

Temperature range

100300 kPa (sat)

2.312.3 kPa (sat)
0.61.2 kPa (sat)

100132 C (sat)
2050 C (sat)
010 C (sat)

refrigerant water from the bottom of the vessel was

circulated through the heater coil (m in Fig. 3) and its
flow adjusted until the desired evaporation pressure was
obtained. The condenser cooling water flow was then
adjusted to provide the required ejector back pressure.
When the system was operating in a steady state condition, the pressure, temperature and water level readings
were recorded from the generator, evaporator and condenser vessels.
During each test run the apparatus was operated in a
steady state condition for about 30 min. After this time
a further set of readings was taken and results calculated. The entrainment ratios were determined from the
measured water content changes in the evaporator and
generator vessels over the measured steady state operating time of the experiment. In each case volume
changes were converted to mass and entrainment ratios
calculated by dividing the mass change at the evaporator with that at the generator during the same time
interval. The water level change at the condenser was
used to check the results. Absolute mass flows (kg/s)
were also calculated in each case. The secondary and
primary pressure ratios were calculated from pressure
readings taken at the condenser, generator and
evaporator.
Experiments were carried out using three diffuser
geometries, three primary nozzle geometries and every
combination of these over ranges of nozzle exit positions. The range of tested operating conditions is listed
in Table 1.

355

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND

DISCUSSION

The performance of ejectors may be characterized by

the primary pressure ratio Np, secondary pressure ratio
Ns, nozzle pressure ratio Nn and entrainment ratio Rm.
These terms are defined in the notation at the beginning
of this paper. Some important geometrical features of
ejectors are the mixing chamber area ratio AR, primary
nozzle area ratio AT and dimensionless nozzle exit
position NXP%. These parameters are also defined in the
notation.

4.1

Part-load operating characteristics

Figure 5 shows the measured variation in entrainment

ratio Rm with secondary pressure ratio Ns for two
nozzle pressure ratios. The nozzle used to produce these
results had a design pressure ratio Nn of 227 (Pg =198
kPa, Tg = 120 C, Pe = 0.872 kPa, Te = 5 C). Also, it is
important to note that the primary nozzle had a critical
pressure ratio of approximately 1.83 (with steam) and,
therefore, operated in a fully choked condition
throughout. Therefore, any variation in the entrainment ratio which occurs when Nn = constant and
greater than 1.83 is entirely due to changes in secondary
flow m; e. With the primary nozzle operating at its design
pressure ratio (Nn = 227), Fig. 5 shows that entrainment ratio Rm remained approximately constant at 0.32
with increasing secondary pressure ratio Ns (back pressure), until it reached a value of approximately 3.4
(Pc = 2.98 kPa, Tc = 24 C). From this point, Rm fell
sharply. If Ns was increased to 3.6 (Pc =3.17 kPa,
Tc = 25 C), then the ejector ceased to pump altogether
and further increases in Ns resulted in hot steam,
from the primary nozzle, flowing through the suction

Fig. 5 Measured variation in the entrainment ratio with the secondary pressure ratio
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Fig. 6

Comparison between the experimental and theoretical steam flow through primary nozzle with
generator pressure

Fig. 7

Measured variation in the entrainment ratio with the nozzle pressure ratio

manifold and into the evaporator. This was observed

experimentally by a sudden and significant rise in both
the evaporator pressure and the temperature. The condenser pressure at which an ejector fails to function is
termed the critical condenser pressure and the value of
Ns at this condition is termed the critical secondary
pressure ratio N%s.
The results shown in Fig. 5 show that increasing the
Nn value of a primary nozzle raises the critical condenser pressure ratio N%s at the expense of reduced
entrainment ratio. Figure 5 also shows that the effect of
raising Nn from 227 (Pg =198 kPa, Tg =120 C) to 310
(Pg =270 kPa, Tg =130 C) increases N%s from 3.6 to
5.8 with a reduction in entrainment ratio Rm from 0.33
to 0.27. Although the entrainment ratio was found to
Proc Instn Mech Engrs Vol 213 Part A

reduce, in this case, the secondary flow m; e increased by

approximately 10 per cent while the primary flow m; g
increased by 34 per cent as a result of the increase in
the steam generator pressure. The variation in steam
flow through the primary nozzle (throat 2 mm in
diameter) with generator pressure is shown in Fig. 6.
When these experimental results are compared with the
theoretical results calculated using one-dimensional
compressible flow theory, assuming that P6 1.3 =constant, the error in mass flow in most cases is less than
5 per cent. It has long been known that for supersaturated isentropic expansion of steam this relationship
gives a reasonable approximation [7]. Therefore, for
generator pressures less than 4 bar the results shown in
Fig. 6 confirm that
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Table 2

Test nozzle geometries

Nozzle
number

Throat
diameter

Exit
diameter

Design
Nn = Pg/Pe

1
2

2 mm
2 mm

8 mm
12 mm

227
625

m; g 8

Nn and might be used as the basis of a control algorithm

which seeks to optimize the entrainment ratio by raising
the nozzle pressure ratio Nn as the secondary pressure
ratio Ns rises in response to increases in the ambient
temperature.
4.2

Pg

(1)

Tg

Figure 7 shows the measured variation in entrainment

ratio with nozzle pressure ratio Nn. The nozzle design
conditions in this case were Nn =227 and Ns = 3.029
(Pg =198 kPa, Tg =120 C, Pc =4.2 kPa, Tc =30 C,
Pe =0.872 kPa, Te =5 C). These results show that the
measured entrainment ratio at the design generator
temperature was 0.32. This compares favourably with a
value of 0.33 predicted using a theoretical one-dimensional ideal-gas model of ejector performance described
by Eames and Aphornratana [2]. The shape of the
Ns =3.029 curve in Fig. 7 shows that maximum entrainment in this case was achieved at Nn =194 (Pg =1.7 kPa,
Tg = 115 C, Pe =0.872 kPa, Te =5 C). The operating
point of an ejector would normally be to the right of the
peaks in the characteristic curves shown in Fig. 5. Within
this domain the entrainment ratio is found to be approximately inversely proportional to the nozzle pressure
ratio and therefore the off-design entrainment ratio may
be estimated from the following equation:
Rm(od) =Rm(dp)

Nn(dp)
Nn(od)

(2)

The results from equation (2) correlate closely with the

experimental data in Fig. 7 and therefore this relationship
provides a simple description of the off-design performance with respect to changes in the nozzle pressure ratio

Fig. 8
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357

Nozzle outlet area effects

Two primary nozzles, with the geometries described in

Table 2, were tested. The divergent sections of both
nozzles had an included angle of 8. A drawing of a
typical nozzle is shown inset in Fig. 2. Figure 8 shows
the measured variation in the entrainment ratio with the
nozzle pressure ratio for the two test nozzles.
The results in Fig. 8 show that the entrainment ratio
for nozzle 1, the design-point case, is measurably better
than the oversized nozzle 2. This effect is thought to have
been produced almost entirely by the differences in the
nozzle exit area. There may have been a small difference
in isentropic efficiency between the two nozzles owing to
the slightly longer divergent expansion piece in nozzle 2.
However, this effect was probably not significant. What
is clear from these results is that increasing the degree of
over-expansion by designing the primary nozzle to have
a larger than critical exit area seems to result in poorer
entrainment performance.
4.3

Effects of the nozzle exit position (NXP)

The NXP is defined here as the distance from the exit

plane of the primary nozzle to the entry plane of the
second conical part of the mixing chamber as shown in
Fig. 2. A series of tests was carried out to determine the
effect of changes in the nozzle exit position on the
achievable secondary pressure ratio Ns. For the purposes
of experimentation the primary nozzle 1 (Table 2)

Variation in the entrainment ratio with the nozzle pressure ratio for different nozzle exit throat
area ratios

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Fig. 9

Measured variation in the optimum nozzle exit position with the secondary pressure ratio

was used together with a diffuser with an 18 mm

throat. The primary nozzle was arranged so that it
could be moved axially to vary the NXP value by
means of a screw mechanism.
Before each test run the condenser pressure was
adjusted to the desired value by varying the cooling
water flow. The ejector entrainment ratio was held at
a constant value throughout by fixing the generator
pressure and evaporator heat input. During these experiments the primary nozzle was incrementally
moved away from the mixing chamber entrance. After each change in NXP, the system was given time
to stabilize before data readings were recorded. The
results of two sets of experimental data are shown in
Fig. 9. It can be seen from these results that the
achievable secondary pressure ratio Ns (pressure lift)
rises to a peak and then falls away as the nozzle was
withdrawn from the mixing section. The optimum
NXP value is considered to be that which gives the
greatest secondary pressure ratio Ns. It can be seen
from Fig. 9 that the optimum NXP/D position increased from 0.05 to approximately + 0.5 when
the primary pressure ratio Np was reduced from 107
to 75. In practice this means that, as the condenser
pressure (ambient temperature) increases, the primary
nozzle should be moved further into the mixing
chamber in order to maintain a desired evaporator
pressure. It was also found that the critical condenser
pressure at which the ejector failed to function could
be increased by increasing NXP/D. Furthermore, experiments have shown that, if the generator and evaporator pressures were held constant, the entrainment
ratio was found to be a maximum at the optimum
NXP/D position determined in the way previously described.
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4.4

Effects of the diffuser throat area

Three diffusers were manufactured and tested with

nozzle 1 (Table 2). The dimensions of the test diffusers are listed in Table 3.
Figure 10 shows the measured variation in the critical dimensionless secondary pressure ratio N%s with
the primary and nozzle pressure ratios over a range
of dimensionless diffuser throat areas AR. It can be
seen from Fig. 10 that, when the diffuser throat area
ratio AR is constant, the primary pressure ratio Np
increases with the critical secondary pressure ratio Nn
to a maximum at a point where the nozzle pressure
ratio Nn equals 227. This was the design-point value
for nozzle 1 used in these experiments. From this
maximum point, Np falls with increasing N%s.
It is interesting to note from Fig. 10 the variation
in Np which occurs when the diffuser throat area ratio AR is held constant and the nozzle pressure ratio
Nn is increased. For example, with AR = 121 the primary pressure ratio Np required to achieve a critical
(or maximum) secondary pressure ratio of 5.5 is 54:1.
However, if AR is reduced to 49, the primary pressure
ratio required to give the same critical secondary

Table 3 Geometries of three test diffusers. The dimensions

A to G are indicated in Fig. 2. The diffusers were
designed to have the same convergent and divergent angles in both the mixing section (3.5) and
the subsonic diffuser sections (6)
A (mm) B (mm) C (mm) D (mm) E (mm) F (mm) G (mm)
36
40.6
53.8

98.5
139.8
183.8

130.8
176.6
219.6

495.4
518.1
493.6

52.2
53.3
50.7

14
18
22

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Fig. 10

359

Measured effects of the primary pressure ratio, diffuser throat area and nozzle pressure ratio on the
critical condenser pressure

Fig. 11 Variation in the entrainment ratio with the diffuser throat area ratio

pressure ratio (or the maximum pressure lift ratio between the evaporator and condenser) falls to 47:1. If the
throat diameter of the primary nozzle is fixed, the steam
consumption of the ejector will reduce in almost linear
proportion to the primary flow stagnation pressure, as
shown by equation (1). Therefore, to achieve a given
design-point secondary (condenser evaporator) pressure ratio Ns it may be desirable to undersize the diffuser
throat if the operating pressure of the steam generator
is limited by the heat source temperature. However, a
disadvantage of this approach is that the secondary mass
flow also falls with primary mass flow and this effect will
be proportionately greater owing to a reduction in the
entrainment ratio with the diffuser throat area. Figure 11
shows the measured change in the entrainment ratio Rm
with AR. It can be seen from this that Rm falls almost
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linearly with increasing diffuser throat area. The selection of the diffuser throat area is therefore a compromise
between the capacity of the steam generator in terms of
both the pressure and the mass flow, the maximum
secondary pressure ratio required in terms of N%s and the
design-point entrainment which determines the cooling
capacity of a jet-pump refrigerator.
4.5

Critical condenser pressure

It has been shown that the pressure lift and entrainment of an ejector is limited by its critical secondary
pressure ratio N%s and therefore, for a jet-pump refrigerator, with a limited nozzle pressure ratio Nn, an understanding of the flow conditions within an ejector is
important.
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Experiments were carried out to determine the variation in the static pressure along the wall of the mixing and diffuser sections. Figure 12 traces the static
pressure measurements taken along the wall of diffuser 1 in Table 3 operating with the condenser pressure well below and close to its critical pressure ratio
condition. The curves in Fig. 12 show the results of
measurements taken with the condenser pressure set
at 3.2 kPa (Ns =3.67) and again at 4.0 kPa (Ns =
4.49) with the nozzle pressure ratio in both cases
equal to the design-point value of 227 (Pg =198 kPa,
Pe =0.872 kPa). A half-section scale drawing of the
diffuser along the horizontal axis in Fig. 12 shows the
relative positions of the wall tappings.
The two curves shown in Fig. 12 indicate a gradual
rise in the static pressure in the wall region rather
than the sudden rise normally associated with a shock
process. This is probably due to the damping effect
of the viscous boundary region. However, it is clear
from these results that the static pressure does not
begin to rise until the flow is well within the divergent section which supports the view that the shock
process occurs downstream of the diffuser throat
when Ns B N%s.
As the condenser pressure rises towards its critical
condition N%s, the results in Fig. 12 show that the
static pressure at the wall rises at the diffuser throat
exit plane. This suggests that the shock moves upstream with rising secondary pressure ratio Ns until,
and ideally at design-point operating conditions, it
stands at the exit plane of the diffuser throat. It is
thought that, when Ns \N%s, a shock wave system en-

ters the throat and the flow becomes unstable if Ns is

increased further. When Ns \ N%s, the entrainment
ratio can become negative as hot primary steam flows
to the evaporator.
4.6

Methods of increasing N%s

The results of this experimental study have shown

that the critical condenser pressure may be increased
(in order of importance) by:
(a) reducing the diameter of the diffuser throat,
(b) increasing the primary flow stagnation pressure and
temperature and
(c) advancing the primary nozzle exit towards the diffuser throat.
Reducing the diameter of the diffuser throat will reduce
the entrainment ratio and, if the primary flow was
unaltered, then the absolute entrainment rate would
also fall. Increasing the stagnation pressure and temperature of the primary flow simply provides more momentum to overcome a greater back pressure. However,
at the same time the primary mass flow increases and it
has been found that, although the absolute entrainment
rises, the entrainment ratio falls. Advancing the primary nozzle towards the diffuser throat can initially
increase the entrainment ratio with increasing critical
condenser pressure. However, beyond a certain point
(the peak of the curves in Fig. 9), determined by
stagnation conditions of the primary and secondary
flows, the entrainment ratio will fall as the mixing
section becomes blocked with the primary nozzle.

Fig. 12 Variation in the static pressure along the diffuser wall

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CONCLUSIONS

The jet-pump refrigerator cycle offers a low-capital-cost

means of utilizing low-grade heat for the economic
production of cooling for building air conditioning and
process refrigeration. The design of the ejector is particularly critical for such applications and this paper
examined some features of ejector geometry and their
effects on performance. The following conclusions were
drawn:
1. If the condenser pressure (ejector back pressure) is
increased beyond a certain value, namely the critical
condenser pressure, a severe reduction in the entrainment performance was found to occur. This often
resulted in the flow of the primary (driving) steam
into the secondary or suction pipe, causing the
ejector to lose its function.
2. It was found that the critical condenser pressure can
be raised (in order of effect) by reducing the diffuser
throat area, increasing the generator pressure, moving the nozzle exit position closer to the diffuser
throat or a combination of these.
3. The entrainment ratio Rm and secondary pressure
ratio Ns were found to be functions of (in order of
importance) the diffuser throat area, steam-generator pressure, primary nozzle throat area, primary
nozzle outlet position and evaporator temperature.
4. Static wall pressure measurements taken along the
wall of the diffuser assembly showed that under
normal operation a sudden wall static pressure rise
occurs downstream of the diffuser throat. This
moves upstream into the diffuser throat as the condenser pressure is increased towards its critical value
and just before flow reversal within the mixing
section occurs and the ejector loses its function.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the
Department of Trade and Industry for their kind support.

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