A model for exergy analysis and thermodynamic bounds of Stirling refrigerators Original Research Article

A thermodynamic model based on exergy flow through a Stirling Refrigerator is developed. Important irreversibilities of the refrigerator due to external heat transfer with the reservoirs, heat leak, flow and heat transfer in regenerator are included in the model. Expansion and compression efficiencies are introduced in the model to account for the losses in these processes. The effect of a control phase shift between the mass flow rate and pressure across regenerator on the performance of the refrigerator is presented. Analytical solutions representing important quantities in the design of Stirling refrigerators such as the load curve, cooling power and efficiency in terms of basic system input parameters are developed. Thermodynamic bounds for the performance of Stirling refrigerators are obtained. Results indicating a compromise between cooling power and efficiency that are dependent on the constraint of the system are presented and discussed.