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ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR REFRIGERATION AND AIR-CONDITIONING APPLICATIONS
Citation:
Gauger, D., H. Shapiro, AND M. Pate. ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR REFRIGERATION AND AIR-CONDITIONING APPLICATIONS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-95/066 (NTIS PB95-224531), 1995.
Impact/Purpose:
information
Description:
The report gives results of an assessment of refrigeration technologies that are alternatives to vapor compression refrigeration for use in five application categories: domestic air conditioning, commercial air conditioning, mobile air conditioning, domestic refrigeration, and commercial refrigeration. A fundamental criterion for the selection of the alternative refrigeration technologies to be assessed was that they be environmentally safe. The study was conducted in three phases: a survey of U.S. patents, system modeling, and a technology assessment. Each refrigeration application was defined by a set of thermal source and sink temperatures. The U.S. patent survey was conducted from 1918 to the present. A method was developed for classifying refrigeration technologies found during the survey. Thermodynamic models were developed for the alternative refrigeration cycles. A computer program was written using these thermodynamic models to conduct a parametric study of the cycle efficiency of the alternative refrigeration technologies. A method for assessing and comparing the refrigeration technologies was developed. Six criteria were identified: state of the art, complexity, size/weight, maintenance, useful life, and energy efficiency. A Project Summary is available (EPA/600/SR-95/066) through NSCEP at http://www.epa.gov/nscep.
