Advanced exergy analyses of an ejector expansion transcritical CO₂ refrigeration system

Highlights: • Advanced exergy analyses are performed on CO₂ EERC cycle. • Compressor should be improved first, followed by ejector, evaporator and gas cooler. • Interactions among the system components are assessed with advanced exergy analysis. • Real potential for exergy destruction reduction of the system is 43.44%. - Abstract: This paper presents a thermodynamic investigation on an ejector expansion transcritical CO₂ refrigeration system with advanced exergy analysis. By splitting the exergy destruction into endogenous/exogenous and unavoidable/avoidable parts, more valuable information of the interactions among the system components and the components improvement potential is provided. The results indicate that the compressor with largest avoidable endogenous exergy destruction possesses the highest priority of improvement, followed by the ejector, evaporator and gas cooler. The system exergy destruction is dominantly endogenous, and 43.44% of the total exergy destruction can be avoided by improving the system components. The evaporator has a serious impact on the exogenous exergy destruction within the compressor and ejector, and its own exergy destruction is entirely belongs to endogenous part. The effects of the discharge pressure, compressor efficiency and ejector efficiency on the system exergetic performance are discussed. There is an optimal discharge pressure with respect to the minimum endogenous exergy destruction in the compressor. Avoidable endogenous exergy destruction rates of the compressor and ejector are respectively reduced by 93.6% and 81.7% when the corresponding component efficiency varies from 0.5 to 0.9.