Two-stage heat pump system with vapor-injected scroll compressor using R410A as a refrigerant

Refrigerant vapor-injection technique has been well justified to improve the performance of systems in refrigeration applications. However, it has not received much attention for air conditioning applications, particularly for air conditioning in hot climates and for heat pumping in cold climates. In this study, the performance of an 11 kW R410A heat pump system with a two-stage vapor-injected scroll compressor was experimentally investigated. The vapor-injected scroll compressor was tested with the cycle options of both flash tank and internal heat exchanger configurations. A cooling capacity gain of around 14% with 4% COP improvement at the ambient temperature of 46.1 degrees C and about 30% heating capacity improvement with 20% COP gain at the ambient temperature of -17.8 degrees C were found for the vapor-injected R410A heat pump system as compared to the conventional system which has the same compressor displacement volume. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.