Regenerative Gas Cycle Air Conditioning Using Solar Energy.

摘要

The objective of this program is to assess the feasibility of a solar powered, Vuilleumier (VM) cycle,regenerative gas cooler for air conditioning applications. A complete thermodynamic and mechanical design for a 1/4-ton water chiller has been developed and is under fabrication. The capacity of this unit will be more than two orders of magnitude greater than that of the largest VM cooler reported to date (less than 10 W at cryogenic temperatures). In order to achieve low flow power requirements, a new low gas velocity VM configuration was evolved having multiple,in-line regenerator-heat exchanger-displacer subassemblies. The key components for feasibility are primarily the thermal regenerator and secondarily the heat exchanger;all other components are conventional. The thermal regenerator developed for this program constitutes a major advance in regenerative heat engines. The heat exchange is a unique spiral-wound configuration of flattened copper tubes. The actual design has a capacity of 1000 W at a charge pressure of 1500psi using 5000Btu/hr of heat from a 225F water source and using 200-W electrical input. The volume per unit capacity is 13,000in 3/ton. This regenerative gas cooler using solar energy has been shown to be feasible from an analytical viewpoint. All of the significant components for a 250-W, 1/4-size initial feasibility model have been fabricated.