Modeling of Surge Characteristics in Turbo Heat Pumps

This paper presents a new analytical model of surge dynamics in turbo heat pumps. Turbo heat pumps use refrigerants as the working fluid and consist of a centrifugal compressor, condenser, expansion valve, and evaporator. Compared to a gas turbine engine, the turbo heat pump system introduces additional complexities. First, the turbo heat pump forms a closed-loop system. Second, the system has two plenums — condenser and evaporator — which are coupled to each other. Third, the heat pump runs on a refrigeration cycle with two phases — vapor and liquid. Fourth, heat transfer effects of evaporation and condensation have to be considered. Fifth, unlike air, a refrigerant has strong real gas effects and thus cannot be modeled as an ideal gas. The new model addresses such additional complexities on the basis of the first principles of conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. When applied to a gas turbine system, the new model’s predictions become identical to those from the Greitzer’s model. Furthermore, comparison with the available experimental data shows that the model can also accurately predict surge behavior in actual turbo heat pumps. Finally, the effects of Greitzer’s B parameter and the ratio of evaporator and condenser volume have been examined. Parameter B influences both surge shape and frequency. Finally, surge frequency is extremely sensitive to the ratio of the two plenum volumes.