Experimental study of the performance characteristics of a steam-ejector refrigeration system

Conventional compression-refrigeration systems not only consume a large amount of electric power, but also cause serious environmental pollution. Among the various possible approaches in overcoming these two problems, a steam-ejector refrigeration system is believed to be most effective. This paper experimentally investigates the controlling parameters of a steam ejector, including operating conditions and the exit Mach number of the primary nozzle. Operation maps useful to the practical design are constructed from experimental results, and the empirical equations are correspondingly derived. Excessively increasing the exit Mach number of primary nozzle is unnecessary, and 4.35 should be a moderate value. With regard to the performance characteristics of the ejector itself, a steam ejector is better than an R114 ejector and is comparable to an R113 ejector. Moreover, with the use of a two-stage ejector, the required pressure to drive a steam ejector is reduced, and the low-grade heat source can be efficiently used. The results of primitive observation of the flow field are also discussed in this work. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1997.