The effect of liquid suction heat exchanger sub-cooler on performance of a freezer using R404A as working fluid

Abstract

This study presents the effect of liquid-suction heat exchangers (LSHX) sub-cooler in a freezer. The LSHX sub-cooler is a method to increase the cooling capacity of the evaporator by lowering temperature at the condenser outlet. The decrease in temperature of the condenser outlet will cause a decrease in the quality refrigerant entering the evaporator. The lower the quality of the refrigerant entering the evaporator, the higher the cooling capacity produced by the evaporator. The LSHX sub-cooler utilizes a heat exchanger to transfer heat from the outlet of the condenser (liquid line) to the suction of the compressor. In the present study, three different LSHX sub-coolers in the freezer with cabin temperature settings of 0, -10 and -20oC were investigated. The results showed that the lowest and the highest of effectiveness of the heat exchanger were 0.28 and 0.58, respectively. The experimental results also showed that EER reduction is occurred at the cabin temperature setting of 0oC and -10oC, whereas the EER improvements were always occurred at the cabin temperature settings of -20oC.