Available energy analysis of new tandem double-capillary tube refrigeration system for refrigerator-freezers

A new tandem double-capillary tube refrigeration system for refrigerator-freezers is proposed. A capillary tube was added between the two evaporators in the fresh and frozen food storage chests to raise the evaporation temperature of the refrigerating chamber, and reduce the heat exchange temperature difference and the available energy loss. Peng-Robinson (P-R) equation of state was adopted to calculate the thermodynamic properties of the refrigerants, and the available energy analysis of the vapor compression refrigeration cycle was programmed to calculate the thermodynamic performances of the new and the conventional refrigeration cycle of the refrigerator-freezer. The calculation results show that the available energy efficiency of the conventional refrigeration cycle of the refrigerator-freezer is 21.20% and 20.57%, respectively when the refrigerant is R12 and R134a, while that of the double-capillary tube refrigeration cycle of the refrigerator-freezer is 23.97% and 23.44%, respectively. By comparison, the available energy efficiency of the new refrigeration system increases by 13.07% and 13.95%, respectively.