International Journal of Refrigeration 25 (2002) 1093–1101

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijrefrig

Experiment and simulation on the performance of

an autocascade refrigeration system
using carbon dioxide as a refrigerant
S.G. Kim, M.S. Kim*
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, South Korea

Received 7 August 2001; received in revised form 15 November 2001; accepted 30 November 2001

Abstract
The main purpose of this study is to investigate the performance of an autocascade refrigeration system using zeo-
tropic refrigerant mixtures of R744/134a and R744/290. One of the advantages of this system is the possibility of
keeping the highest pressure of the system within a limit by selecting the composition of a refrigerant mixture as com-
pared to that in the vapor compression system using pure carbon dioxide. Performance test and simulation have been
carried out for an autocascade refrigeration system by varying secondary fluid temperatures at evaporator and con-
denser inlets. Variations of mass flow rate of refrigerant, compressor power, refrigeration capacity, and coefficient of
performance (COP) with respect to the mass fraction of R744 in R744/134a and R744/290 mixtures are presented at
different operating conditions. Experimental results show similar trends with those from the simulation. As the com-
position of R744 in the refrigerant mixture increases, cooling capacity is enhanced, but COP tends to decrease while the
system pressure rises. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Refrigeration system; Compression system; Refrigerant; Carbon dioxide; R134a; Propane; Mixture; Refrigerating circuit;
Cascade system; Design; Performance; Measurement; Modelling

Etude expérimentale et simulation de la performance d’un

système frigorifique à cascade utilisant le dioxyde de carbone
comme frigorigène

Mots cle´s : Système frigorifique ; Système à compression ; Frigorigéne ; Dioxyde de carbone ; R134a ; Propane ; Mélange ; Circuit
frigorifique ; Systéme en cascade ; Conception ; Performance ; Mesure ; modélisation

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +82-2-880-8362; fax: +82-2-

883-0179.
E-mail address: minskim@snu.ac.kr (M.S. Kim).

0140-7007/02/$20.00 # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
PII: S0140-7007(01)00110-4
1094 S.G. Kim, M.S. Kim / International Journal of Refrigeration 25 (2002) 1093–1101
Nomenclature
DP Differential pressure (kPa)
h Enthalpy (kWkg
1)
m Clearance volume ratio
:
mr Mass flow rate of refrigerant (kgs
1)
P: Pressure (kPa)
Q Heat capacity (kW)
DT Logarithmic mean temperature difference
( C)
v: Specific volume (m3 kg
1)
V: comp Compressor displacement rate
W Compressor power (kW)
Greek letters
v Volumetric efficiency
1. Introduction
Carbon dioxide had been used as a refrigerant in the
1930s and 1940s in ships’ refrigerators and other sta-
tionary systems. However, after an introduction of CFC
(chlorofluorocarbon) and HCFC (hydrochlorofluoro-
carbon) refrigerants, which became major refrigerants in
vapor compression refrigeration system afterwards, car-
bon dioxide faded away from the market and was sel-
dom used as a refrigerant. However, the ozone depletion
and global warming caused by CFC and HCFC
refrigerants became one of the universal concerns, and
resulted in several international agreements to restrict
the production and use of these refrigerants.
Many researchers have tried to find out new
alternative refrigerants that are ideal for the refrig-
eration systems, and HFC (hydrofluorocarbon)
refrigerants or their mixtures are now being sug-
gested for a drop-in or mid-term replacement which
have zero ODP (ozone depletion potential). However,
there is an argument that these refrigerants are harmful
to the environment because of its rather high GWP
(global warming potential). Therefore, it must be a bet-
ter solution to use naturally existing and environmen-
tally harmless substances as alternative refrigerants in
refrigeration systems. As Lorentzen suggested [1], car-
bon dioxide (CO2) is a good refrigerant which is envir-
onmentally friendly, nonflammable, nontoxic, easily
available, and has excellent thermophysical properties,
even among the naturally existing refrigerants, although
the absolutely ideal refrigerant in every respect does not
exist.
Lorentzen [1] summarized several possible tran-
scritical cycles with carbon dioxide covering car air
conditioners, large heat pumps, and commercial refrig-
eration systems. He described several cycles to pursue
Subscripts
1 Inlet of compressor
2 Outlet of compressor
2nd Secondary heat transfer fluid
c Condenser
dew Dew point
e Evaporator
i Inlet
o Outlet
sup Superheated region
tp Two phase region
better performance while keeping the gas cooling pres-
sure in the order of 10 MPa. Nekså et al. [2] sought simi-
lar applications of CO2 in heat pump water heater with
highest pressures up to 11 MPa. Many other studies
have compared transcritical cycles using carbon dioxide
with conventional vapor compression cycles that use
halocarbon refrigerants and mentioned that the adop-
tion of carbon dioxide shows quite similar, sometimes
worse, sometimes better performance [3–8]. Extensive
reviews on these subjects are well summarized by Kruse
et al. [9].
However, it is a possible disadvantage that the oper-
ating pressure of the transcritical refrigeration system
using pure carbon dioxide is too high. One way to
overcome this high pressure disadvantage may be a
choice of cascade refrigeration system, where carbon
dioxide refrigeration system is precooled by other
refrigeration system. Hesse and Kruse [10] proposed a
cascade refrigeration system using CO2 with ammonia
where ammonia is used in the higher stage and CO2 in
the lower stage so that the operating pressure is similar
to that in conventional refrigeration system, not
exceeding the pressure limit of about 2.5 MPa. It should
be remembered, however, two or more compressors are
required in a cascade system depending on the number
of refrigerants used.
One other solution to avoid high operating pressure is
a choice of autocascade refrigeration system where CO2
is used as a main working fluid and other refrigerant
with lower vapor pressure is being used to cool the main
working fluid through internal heat exchange. This sys-
tem was well described by Stoecker [11]. Even though
the system efficiency is lowered, some of the advantages
are to use only one compressor in the system, to main-
tain lower pressure ratio, and either to obtain low
temperature or to avoid high pressure risk.
 S.G. Kim, M.S. Kim / International Journal of Refrigeration 25 (2002) 1093–1101
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of an autocascade refrigeration system.
This paper investigates the performance variations of
an autocascade refrigeration system using refrigerant
mixtures of R744 (carbon dioxide) with R134a or R290
(propane). The choice of R134a seems not purely ‘nat-
ural’, but it is aimed at finding a possible solution for
the transient period of probable reduction in production
of HFCs in the future before shifting to natural working
fluid systems. So far, little work except one of the
authors’ previous work [12] has been performed for an
autocascade refrigeration system using CO2. In this
work, as a continuation of our study, experiment and
simulation have been carried out to provide perfor-
mance characteristics of an autocascade refrigeration
system for various mass fractions of R744 in the R744/
134a and R744/290 mixtures and for several operating
conditions.
2. Operation of the autocascade refrigeration system
The autocascade refrigeration system is shown in
Fig. 1 and the pressure-enthalpy (P-h) diagram is shown
1095
in Fig. 2. Point 1 represents the inlet of the compressor
and the P-h diagram with the point 1 is for the mixture’s
composition of initial charge. After compression to
point 2, the refrigerant mixture is cooled down in the
condenser, but only partially condensed to point 3 by
the heat sink whose temperature is near the ambient
temperature, as the bubble point of the mixture is much
lower than the ambient temperature. In the phase
separator, liquid phase at point 4 will have a different
composition from the vapor phase at point 7, and each
phase will flow through different passages. The mass
flow rate of each passage is strongly dependent on the
quality in the phase separator, which means that low
quality refrigerant at the exit of condenser will force a
greater mass flow rate of liquid phase in the evaporative
condenser. Therefore, the quality at the condenser outlet
should be well determined to maintain a proper heat
balance in the evaporative condenser. In addition to
this, the temperature difference should be moderate to
transfer the necessary heat to condense the vapor phase
by evaporating the low temperature refrigerant in the
evaporative condenser. Since the vapor phase and liquid
1096 S.G. Kim, M.S. Kim / International Journal of Refrigeration 25 (2002) 1093–1101
Fig. 2. Pressure-enthalpy diagram of autocascade refrigeration system.
phase refrigerants have different compositions, two dif-
ferent P-h diagrams which correspond to the overall
composition of each phase describe each heat transfer
process. Liquid phase has lower mass fraction of carbon
dioxide, therefore the front P-h diagram shown in Fig. 2
is applied, while the rear P-h diagram is applied to the
flow of the vapor phase from the phase separator. The
liquid phase is then expanded from point 4 to a lower
temperature at point 5 entering the evaporative con-
denser to cool the vapor phase in the phase separator.
This stream flows through one side of the evaporative
condenser, vaporizing and leaving slightly superheated
at point 6. The vapor phase is condensed from point 7
to point 8 in the internal heat exchanger. Then, the two
phase of carbon dioxide rich mixture condenses on the
other side of the evaporative condenser, leaving as
saturated liquid or as slightly subcooled liquid at point
9. This fraction of the refrigerant mixture is then
expanded to a state with lower pressure and temperature
(point 10). It becomes a superheated vapor (point 11) in
the evaporator by absorbing heat from the secondary
fluid and is mixed with the refrigerant coming from eva-
porative condenser (point 6). Eventually, the state is
indicated by point 12 after mixing. The temperature of
the mixed refrigerant rises to point 1 through a heat
exchange with the vapor refrigerant coming from the
separator. The compressor receives the low pressure
refrigerant from the internal heat exchanger, and it
forms a complete cycle.
The exit pressures of evaporative condenser and the
evaporator should be equalized very quickly, however, the
temperature of two streams will not always be the same.
3. Experiments
3.1. Description of experimental setup
Experimental setup for the performance test of an
autocascade refrigeration system consisted of a com-
pressor, a condenser, two expansion valves, an eva-
porator, an evaporative condenser, a phase separator,
and a vapor line to suction line heat exchanger (internal
heat exchanger) as shown in Fig. 1. The compressor in
this study was of an open, reciprocating type with two
cylinders each of which had the diameter of 32 mm and
the stroke of 28 mm. Refrigeration oil used for the
compressor was mineral oil of ISOVG32. The condenser
and the evaporator were counterflow-type heat
exchangers with concentric dual tubes. Metering valves,
which could finely regulate the flow rate, were used as
expansion valves. The rotating speed of the compressor
was also kept constant, and torque transducer was
installed between the driving motor and the compressor.
Water was used as a secondary fluid in the condenser,
and ethylene glycol and water mixture (40:60 by mass)
was used in the evaporator as a secondary heat transfer
fluid.
 S.G. Kim, M.S. Kim / International Journal of Refrigeration 25 (2002) 1093–1101 1097

3.2. Test conditions and test method
The performance test during cooling conditions was
carried out for the refrigerant mixtures of R744/134a
and R744/290. As for composition of the refrigerant
mixtures, the mass fraction of R744 was selected 0.21–
0.36 for R744/134a and 0.13–0.31 for R744/290, so that
the maximum operating pressure was below 3 MPa.
The temperature differences of the secondary heat
transfer fluids between the inlet and outlet at condenser
and evaporator were set to 8 and 7  C, respectively. In
order to cover the operating ranges for outdoor tem-
perature change during room cooling, the condenser
inlet temperature of the secondary heat transfer fluid
was varied from 27.8 to 40.0  C for the designated sec-
ondary fluid inlet temperature at the evaporator of
26.7  C. The quality at the condenser outlet was main-
tained near 0.5 by controlling the flow rate of the second-
ary fluid while keeping the inlet temperature and the
overall temperature difference of the secondary fluid in the
condenser. Table 1 shows the inlet and outlet temperatures
and pressures of the refrigerant mixture at the condenser
and evaporator together with the calculated dew point
temperatures, which are estimated from the measured
pressures at the inlet of the condenser and evaporator.
The cooling capacity was measured by the heat loss or
gain of the secondary heat transfer fluid in the eva-
porator and condenser, and the work input to the com-
pressor was calculated from the torque and rotating
speed measurement. Rotating speed of the compressor
was kept 1500 rpm.
When the variation of temperature measurement was
within 0.3  C, that of the pressure measurement
within 5 kPa, and the change of the mass flow rate of

Table 1
The inlet and outlet temperature levels, pressures and the estimated dew point temperatures at the condenser and evaporator

R744/134a

xCO2 T2nd,ci ( C) Pci (kPa) Pei (kPa) Tci ( C) Tco ( C) Tei ( C) Teo ( C) Tdew,c ( C) Tdew,e ( C)

0.21 27.8 1560.6 519.9 76.4 28.6
23.8 26.9 37.9
3.4
0.21 31.0 1745.1 541.9 85.1 31.8
23.0 26.9 42.0
2.9
0.21 35.0 1954.6 544.6 91.9 35.7
20.8 27.2 46.2
2.9
0.21 40.0 2193.8 543.8 99.8 40.7
17.1 27.1 50.5
2.3
0.26 27.8 1813.7 536.6 79.1 28.5
29.8 26.7 39.4
6.7
0.26 31.0 2012.4 553.2 89.3 31.4
29.1 26.7 43.2
6.5
0.26 35.0 2267.3 543.8 97.2 35.5
27.1 26.6 47.6
7.0
0.26 40.0 2502.8 531.3 103.9 40.5
25.2 26.7 51.3
6.6
0.30 27.8 2000.9 632.9 84.3 28.3
27.2 26.8 40.2
5.1
0.30 31.0 2198.3 636.8 91.4 31.6
26.1 26.8 43.6
4.9
0.30 35.0 2409.3 623.6 98.2 35.5
24.5 26.8 46.9
5.0
0.30 40.0 2671.8 596.9 106.7 40.5
21.5 26.7 50.8
5.2
0.36 27.8 2363.2 760.9 86.7 28.2
27.7 26.8 41.4
4.8
0.36 31.0 2574.5 767.0 97.1 31.4
26.8 26.7 44.5
4.5
0.36 35.0 2831.6 762.2 103.9 35.5
24.8 26.9 47.9
4.0
0.36 40.0 3131.4 723.6 113.1 40.4
22.0 26.8 51.6
4.4

R744/290

xCO2 T2nd,ci ( C) Pci (kPa) Pei (kPa) Tci ( C) Tco ( C) Tei ( C) Teo ( C) Tdew,c ( C) Tdew,e ( C)

0.13 27.8 1534.9 714.5 69.1 29.7
10.3 26.9 36.9 3.6
0.13 31.0 1648.4 638.6 77.1 32.9
10.4 26.7 39.9 0.0
0.13 35.0 1794.3 635.7 82.6 36.5
8.5 26.9 43.4
0.1
0.13 40.0 2009.4 633.3 89.5 41.5
5.5 26.9 48.3 0.0
0.22 27.8 1821.3 785.4 71.5 29.1
14.6 26.6 38.8 0.9
0.22 31.0 1955.9 754.8 79.6 32.2
13.9 26.7 41.7
0.3
0.22 35.0 2235.7 719.3 88.7 35.9
14.1 26.6 47.3
3.0
0.22 40.0 2418.7 702.6 95.4 40.9
12.6 26.9 50.7
2.5
0.31 27.8 2365.2 976.3 78.7 28.3
17.2 26.6 43.2
0.9
0.31 31.0 2519.2 968.9 83.9 31.5
16.1 26.6 45.8
0.5
0.31 35.0 2727.1 911.8 92.0 35.8
12.8 26.7 49.0
1.5
0.31 40.0 2937.2 912.7 98.2 40.5
10.2 26.5 52.1
0.1
1098 S.G. Kim, M.S. Kim / International Journal of Refrigeration 25 (2002) 1093–1101
refrigerant was within 0.2 g/s, the system was assumed
steady and data were collected.
Combined standard uncertainty in measuring the
heat capacity in condenser and evaporator is  3.4% of
the measured heat transfer rate, and that in calculating
COP (coefficient of performance) is  3.5%. The repeat-
ability of the measurement is within the range of  3.0%.
4. Autocascade cycle simulation
4.1. Modeling of autocascade cycle
Compression process is described by a simple way
using the concept of a constant isentropic efficiency. The
mass flow rate of refrigerant is calculated considering
the compressor displacement rate, volumetric efficiency,
and specific volume of gas entering the compressor as
shown in Eqs. (1) and (2).
1
v ¼ 1
mð
1Þ ð1Þ
2
: the compositions that can be obtained for the phase
: Vcomp 
mr ¼ ð2Þ
1
Here, m represents a clearance volume ratio to have the
value of 0.04.
Both the evaporator and condenser are modeled as
counterflow heat exchangers as shown in the experi-
ment. Even though the local heat transfer coefficients
vary as a function of refrigerant flow rate, heat flux,
mass quality, etc., average temperature difference
between the refrigerant and the secondary heat transfer
fluid is designated in the simulation, which is taken as
an average of test data sets obtained from the experi-
ment. The average temperature difference between two
fluids is defined as in Eqs. (3) and (4), which is propor-
tional to the heat transfer rate of each phase of refrig-
erant in the heat exchanger considering the logarithmic
mean temperature difference of each subsection [13]. The
separation of two phase flow region and the superheated
region of refrigerant mixture is necessary, and this is
quite straightforward since we know pressure and tem-
perature at each point of heat exchangers. Correspond-
ing secondary fluid temperatures and transferred heat
can be easily obtained from the energy balance based on
mass flow rate of refrigerant and the enthalpies at each
point of heat exchangers.
: :
1 Qsup;c Qtp;c
¼ : þ : ð3Þ
Tc Qc Tsup;c Qc Ttp;c
: :
1 Qtp;e Qsup;e
¼ : þ : ð4Þ
Te Qe Ttp;e Qe Tsup;e
It is assumed that pressure drop and heat loss in heat
exchangers are negligible.
Evaporative condenser is used to condense the vapor
phase of refrigerant in the phase separator that has
higher fraction of carbon dioxide by the evaporating
refrigerant of low temperature which has relatively
higher fraction of R134a or R290. Evaporative con-
denser is also a counterflow heat exchanger that is
assumed to have negligible pressure drop and heat loss.
It is idealized to have heat exchanger effectiveness of 1.
Expansion device is modeled to be isenthalpic.
The refrigerant from the condenser outlet should pass
through the phase separator. In the phase separator, the
refrigerant mixture’s vapor and liquid phases are coex-
isting and its composition of liquid phase is different
from that of vapor phase for zeotropic mixtures in this
study. In this case the mass fraction of carbon dioxide
(R744) is higher in vapor phase, and the liquid phase is
richer in R134a or R290. Even though the phase
separation is not perfect in this flowing situation com-
pared with the case of phase equilibrium, it is quite a
unique way to assume the liquid and vapor phase have
equilibrium state. Once the compositions are determined
from the equilibrium relation, it is idealized that the
liquid and vapor phases are flowing independently in
separate passages.
4.2. Simulation conditions
In the autocascade refrigeration system, evaporating
temperature, condensing temperature, the ratio of mass
flow rate at each branch circuit, and the mass fraction of
the charged refrigerant are important variables. In order
to investigate the effects of the variation of these vari-
ables on the system performance, quality at condenser
outlet, degree of superheat and isentropic efficiency are
held constant.
In order to compare the experimental results with the
simulation results, simulation conditions are made
similar to experimental conditions. The selection of the
composition of the mixture is limited by the capability
of the thermodynamic property calculation using
REFPROP [14] near the critical point of the mixture.
5. Results and discussion
5.1. Performance at cooling conditions
The variations of cooling capacities with respect to
the mass fraction of R744 are displayed in Fig. 3.
Cooling capacity is calculated by multiplying three fac-
tors of mass flow rate of secondary heat transfer fluid,
specific heat, and the temperature difference between the
inlet and outlet including the heat gain from the ambient
 S.G. Kim, M.S. Kim / International Journal of Refrigeration 25 (2002) 1093–1101
air. As the mass fraction of R744 increases, refrigerant
mass flow rate increases owing to the smaller vapor
specific volume of R744 than that of R134a and R290
for the same temperature and pressure conditions. Since
cooling capacities are very much dependent on the mass
flow rate of refrigerant, increased mass flow rate of
refrigerant under constant compressor speed condition
is expected. The cooling capacity of R744/290 is about
twice greater than that of R744/134a, because the
refrigeration effect of R290 is greater than that of R134a.
When the inlet temperature of the secondary heat trans-
fer fluid to the condenser increases, the cooling capacity
decreases mainly because mass flow rate of refrigerant
decreases due to the increased compressor discharge
pressure. Since the specific volume of refrigerant is
reduced at the discharge line of compressor with ele-
vated discharge pressure, compressor volumetric effi-
ciency will decrease, and accordingly the mass flow rate
of refrigerant decreases, as indicated in Eqs. (1) and (2).
Fig. 4 presents the trend of compressor power
requirement which is measured by the torque transducer
and tachometer. The figure shows the compressor power
increases when the mass fraction of R744 increases,
which is due to the increased mass flow rate and the
higher pressure of refrigerant mixture. The specific
volume at the compressor suction remains constant and
the specific volume at the compressor discharge decrea-
ses as the condensing temperature increases, so that the
volumetric efficiency of the compressor decreases. Hence
Fig. 3. Variations of cooling capacity with respect to mass
fraction of R744 at cooling condition.
1099
the pressure ratio of the compressor increases, which
results in the increase in the compressor power. The
compressor power of R744/290 is greater than that of
R744/134a at the same composition of R744, which is
because the saturation pressure of R290 is greater than
that of R134a.
The coefficient of performance (COP) is defined as
the refrigeration capacity divided by the work per unit
time required by the compressor. The variation of COP
with the change of the mass fraction of R744 and the
secondary fluid temperature at the condenser inlet are
represented in Fig. 5. As the mass fraction of R744 in
the mixture increases, COP decreases. Fig. 5 also pre-
sents COP variation for several condenser temperature
levels, which indicates it decreases with an increase in
the condensing temperature.
The variations of condensing pressure with respect to
mass fraction of R744 are shown in Fig. 6. As the tem-
perature of secondary heat transfer fluid at condenser
inlet is elevated and the mass fraction of R744 in the
mixture increases, condenser pressure increases. This
figure shows the limit of the mass fraction of R744 in
the mixture which should be kept in order for the max-
imum pressure not to exceed a certain limit. For exam-
ple, if the condenser maximum pressure should be kept
not to exceed 3 MPa when the condenser inlet tempera-
ture of the secondary fluid is 40 C, the mass fraction of
R744 in R744/290 mixture should be less than about
0.31. Therefore, this figure presents the condenser pres-
sure of the system that can be kept within a certain
Fig. 4. Variations of compressor power with respect to mass
fraction of R744 at cooling condition.
1100 S.G. Kim, M.S. Kim / International Journal of Refrigeration 25 (2002) 1093–1101
Fig. 5. Variations of COP with respect to mass fraction of
R744 at cooling condition.
Fig. 6. Variations of inlet pressure of condenser with respect to
mass fraction of R744 at cooling condition.
range similar to that for conventional refrigeration sys-
tem by selecting a composition of R744/134a and R744/
290 according to the secondary fluid temperature at the
condenser inlet. The simulation shows a good agreement
with the experiment.
5.2. Effects of condenser exit quality on the performance
Simulation model was used to investigate the varia-
tion of the performance of the autocascade refrigeration
cycle using R744/290 (30:70 wt.%) and R744/134a
(30:70 wt.%) when the quality at the condenser exit
changes. This supports the selection of condenser exit
quality in this study. Just like the degree of subcooling
in the standard vapor compression cycle, the choice of
condenser exit quality is dependent on the temperature
level and the flow rate of the secondary fluid. Calcu-
lated refrigeration capacity, compressor power, and
COP are presented in Fig. 7 for the quality changes
at the condenser outlet when the secondary fluid
temperature at condenser inlet is kept as 20  C and
that at evaporator inlet as 0  C. In order to make
the quality at the condenser outlet decrease, the con-
densing pressure should increase when the log mean
temperature difference in the condenser is kept con-
stant, which results in greater requirement of the
compressor power. In refrigeration capacity point of
view, the unbalance in the mass flow rate through the
evaporative condenser is a great concern, where the
mass flow rate of vapor to be condensed in the eva-
porative condenser is quite reduced for higher quality
at the condenser outlet, while that of liquid to be eva-
porated in the evaporative condenser is quite reduced
Fig. 7. Performance with respect to condenser exit quality for
R744/290 and R744/134a mixture.
 S.G. Kim, M.S. Kim / International Journal of Refrigeration 25 (2002) 1093–1101
for lower quality. Therefore, the maximum COP was
obtained for the quality of about 0.4 for R744/134a
(30/70 wt.%) and 0.5 for R744/290 (30/70 wt.%),
respectively.
6. Concluding remarks
The performance of an autocascade refrigeration sys-
tem using zeotropic refrigerant mixtures of R744/134a
and R744/290 has been investigated. It is aimed that the
system using carbon dioxide is devised while keeping the
highest pressure of the system close to that of conven-
tional vapor compression systems. The performance was
evaluated by both experiments and computer simula-
tions for various mass fractions of R744 and several
operating conditions.
The performance test and simulation showed that as
inlet temperature of the secondary heat transfer fluid to
condenser increased, the refrigeration capacity and COP
decreased while the compressor power increased. Fur-
thermore, as the mass fraction of R744 increased, cool-
ing capacity and compressor power increased, but COP
decreased.
In this study, it is found that the autocascade refrig-
eration cycle has a merit of low operating pressure as
low as that in a conventional vapor compression refrig-
eration cycle. Natural refrigerants or HFC refrigerants
with relatively small amount of charge can be used as a
refrigerant in the autocascade refrigeration system.
However, lower COP of autocascade refrigeration cycle
is a disadvantage, and the way to improve it should be
sought in the future.
Acknowledgements
This study is supported by Korea Science and Engine-
ering Foundation (Grant No. 1999-1-304–006–3) and by
the BK21 project of the Ministry of Education.
References
[1] Lorentzen G. Revival of carbon dioxide as a refrigerant.
Int J Refrig 1994;17(5):292–301.
1101
[2] Nekså P, Rekstad H, Zakeri GR, Schiefloe PA. CO2-heat
pump water heater: characteristics, system design and
experimental results. Int J Refrig 1998;21(3):172–9.
[3] Halozan H, Rieberer R. CO2 as refrigerant—possible
applications. Proceedings of the 4th IIR-Gustav Lor-
entzen Conference on Natural Working Fluids at Purdue,
2000 July 25–28; West Lafayette, USA. 2000, p. 43–50.
[4] Pettersen J, Aarlien R, Nekså P, Skaugen G, Aflekt K. A
comparative evaluation of CO2 and HCFC-22 room air
conditioners. In: Proceeding of IEA-IIR Workshop-CO2
Technology in Refrigeration, Heat Pump and Air Con-
ditioning Systems, 13–14 May 1997; Trondheim, Norway.
1997, p. 177–91.
[5] Brown JS, Yanna Motta S, Domanski P. A. Analysis of
an automotive air conditioning system operating with CO2
and R134a. Int J Refrig [in press].
[6] Aarlien R, Frivik PE. 1998, Comparison of practical per-
formance between CO2 and R-22 reversible heat pumps
for residential use. In: Natural Working Fluids 98, Pro-
ceeings of the IIR-Gustav Lorentzen Conference, 2–5 June
1998; Oslo, Norway 1998. p. 341–50.
[7] Aarlien R, Pettersen J, Skaugen G, Nekså P. Residential
air conditioning with CO2-preliminary results. In: Pro-
ceeding of IIR Conference-Applications for Natural
Refrigerants, 3–6 September 1996; Aarhus, Denmark
1996. p. 659–66.
[8] Hwang Y, Radermacher R. Experimental evaluation of
CO2 water heater. In: Natural Working Fluids 98, Pro-
ceeings of the IIR-Gustav Lorentzen Conference, 2–5 June
1998; Oslo, Norway, 1998. p. 321–8.
[9] Kruse H, Heidelck R, Süss J. The application of CO2 as a
refrigerant, IIR Bulletin, No. 1, Paris: International Insti-
tute of Refrigeration, 1999.
[10] Hesse U, Kruse H. Alternatives for CFCs and HCFC 22
based on CO2. Proceeding of IIR Conference-Energy Eef-
ficiency in Refrigeration and Global Warming Impact,
Ghent, Belgium, 1993. p. 317–25.
[11] Stoecker WF. Industrial refrigeration, Vol. II. Business
News Publishing Company, 1995. p. 319–25.
[12] Park SN, Kim MS. Performance of autocascade refrig-
eration system using carbon dioxide and R134a, In: Nat-
ural Working Fluids’98, Proceeings of the IIR-Gustav
Lorentzen Conference, 2–5 June 1998; Oslo, Norway.
1998. p. 311–20.
[13] Domanski P, McLinden M. A simplified cycle simulation
model for the performance rating of refrigerants and
refrigerant mixtures. Int J Refrig. 1992;15(2);81–8.
[14] McLinden M, Klein S, Lemmon E, Peskin A. NIST thermo-
dynamic and transport properties of refrigerants and refrig-
erant mixtures, Ver. 6.0. Gaithersburg, USA, 1998.