Predicting off-design range and performance of refrigeration cycle with two-stage centrifugal compressor and flash intercooler

A modern refrigeration process requires constant control to provide required cooling for the user. To properly and economically accommodate this need, a wide operation range of the compressor is necessary. Therefore, it is of interest to investigate the off-design operation of a cooling cycle and compressor. The refrigeration cycle equipped with a two-stage centrifugal compressor and a flash intercooler is studied. The compressor operation maps are generated with two different design codes and the operation values of the compressors are interpolated from the compressor maps in the simulation of the entire cooling cycle. Based on the previous studies of the utilised refrigeration cycle, R245fa is selected as coolant. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the control capacity of the centrifugal compressor and the performance of the cooling loop in off-design conditions. This configuration provides better and wider control over the cooling range than the traditional on-off control of displacement compressors.