| The transient behavior of a heat pump equipped with a distillation column has been experimentally and numerically investigated. An experimental water-to-water heat pump system was tested using pure R32, and using a 30/70% by mass mixture of R32/134a. A set (24 factorial design) of experiments were conducted with the pure fluid and with the mixture. The factors, each with a high and low setting, were: sump heater power, evaporator heat transfer fluid mass flow rate, condenser heat transfer fluid mass flow rate, and compressor speed. Additionally, a set of computer models were written to predict the steady-state behaviors of the compressor, condenser, and evaporator. The models were validated using the experimental data, then they were used to test whether or not it might be possible to model the transient performance of these components on a quasi-steady basis.; Changes in startup transient behavior due to the four factors were not always as expected. An increase in sump heater power did make the pure fluid transients more rapid, but the mixture transient behavior was relatively unchanged. The mixture tests differed in that increases in sump heater power increased not only the mass introduction rate to the refrigerant loop, but also the effectiveness of the distillation column. Changes in end-of-test capacities due to the four factors were generally as expected. A complete discussion of the cause and effects of changes in transient and end-of-test behavior, due to the factorial changes, is presented.; The steady-state compressor, condenser, and evaporator models generally predicted end-of-test performance within 5%. Good agreement was also obtained when the models were used to predict transient performance on a quasi-steady basis. On average, agreement between the models and the transient data was within 5% for times greater than 10 minutes after startup. This indicates that a quasi-steady system model, integrating all heat pump components, should predict transient data reasonably well.*; *This dissertation is a multimedia document (contains text and other applications not available in printed format). |
