Profit performance optimisation for an irreversible Carnot refrigeration cycle

The finite time exergoeconomic performance of a Newtonian law system generalised irreversible Carnot refrigeration cycle with heat resistance, heat leakage and internal irreversibility is investigated in this paper. The operation of the generalised irreversible Carnot refrigeration cycle is viewed as a production process with exergy as its output. The finite time exergoeconomic performance optimisation of the generalised irreversible Carnot refrigeration cycle is performed by taking profit as the objective. The relationships between profit and temperature ratio of refrigerant, between COP (coefficient of performance) and temperature ratio of refrigerant, as well as the optimal relationship between profit and COP of the cycle are derived. The focus of this paper is to obtain the compromised optimisation between economics (profit) and energy utilisation factor (COP) for the generalised irreversible Carnot refrigeration cycle, by identifying the optimum COP at maximum profit, which is termed as the finite time exergoeconomic performance limit. Moreover, the effects of cycle parameters on the performance of the cycle are analysed by using a numerical example.