EHD Driven Smart Vapor Compression Cycle

Lyon, Ashton

Student Work

EHD Driven Smart Vapor Compression Cycle

Public Deposited

The vapor compression cycle (VCC) is a widespread technology that drives much of modern living, including refrigerators and air conditioners. However, the vapor compression process is extremely energy intensive, and even small advances to increase efficiency would lead to significant global energy savings. This MQP seeks to enhance conventional VCC systems by implementing novel research in the interactions between fluids and electrical fields, or electrohydrodynamics (EHD), reducing electrical energy consumed while achieving equal performance as its traditional counterpart. A detailed system-level numerical simulation of the VCC condenser was carried out to determine design parameters. A tabletop VCC condenser was constructed in the WPI Multi-Scale Heat Transfer Laboratory, fitted with a high-voltage electrode to facilitate dielectrophoretic (DEP) extraction, and tested at multiple applied voltages. Data were collected to compare the heat transfer performance of the system with and without EHD hardware. Future projects can build upon this work to further optimize EHD technology in VCC systems.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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