Impacts of non-uniform airflow over gas cooler on the performance of transcritical CO2 air conditioning

The air flowrate and air inlet temperature over gas cooler in transcritical CO2 air conditioning for vehicles are easily unevenly distributed due to the influence of upstream obstacles. The unevenly distributed airflow affects heat exchange between CO2 and air, thus influencing the cooling capacity and power consumption of the air conditioning system. This study delves into the implications of such non-uniform airflow on the operational performance of transcritical CO2 air conditioning through simulation analysis. It elucidates the mechanisms by which the uneven distribution pattern, uneven distribution direction and non-uniformity affect the cooling capacity of transcritical CO2 air conditioning system. Moreover, the conditions of inhomogeneous airflow for enhanced heat transfer are explored by decoupling inhomogeneous flow rate and inhomogeneous temperature. Results indicate that non-uniform airflow of air temperature distributed as TB-HT (high in top and low in bottom) and air flowrate as TB-HB (high in bottom and low in top) increases the cooling capacity of 27.7 % at non-uniformity of 55 %. Conversely, uneven airflow of flowrate and temperature both distributed as LR-HL (high in left and low in right) at 40 % nonuniformity leads to a wastage of compressor power up to 1/2. These findings reveal the dual impacts of non-uniform airflow on the performance of transcritical CO2 air conditioning system, which emphasizes the importance of considering these impacts when designing automotive CO2 air conditioning systems.