A fast method for the calculation of refrigerant thermodynamic properties in a refrigeration cycle

Modeling and simulating dynamic and complex energy systems that are composed of a large number of components where every component model is described by mathematical equations can take high computational time. The calculation of the refrigerant thermodynamic properties has a big impact on the computational speed of the model. In an attempt to speed up simulations, two implementation methods for the calculation of refrigerants' thermodynamic properties were investigated, the Coolprop thermodynamic equations of state and the Implicit fitting method. A complex dynamic cascade refrigeration cycle was developed and simulated using the two fluids implementation methods. The advantages and disadvantages of each method were discussed. The results show that using the implicit fitting method instead of Coolprop for the simulations of complex dynamic systems in Dymola will accelerate the simulation by about 30 times. In addition, the implicit method is accurate and offers more flexibility for modeling complex realistic energy systems.

Automated summary

This study investigates two implementation methods for calculating refrigerant thermodynamic properties and compares their performance. The results show that the implicit fitting method significantly speeds up simulation time and offers greater flexibility for modeling complex energy systems.