Design and Manufacture of a Micro-Ejector and the Testing Stand for Investigation of Micro-Ejector Refrigeration Systems

Abstract

This paper describes the procedure of design and manufacture of a micro-ejector proposed for miniature ejection refrigeration systems. It describes the procedure of design, fabrication, and experimentation on supersonic micro-ejectors and makes the case for isobutane as a working fluid for such systems. It was demonstrated that it is possible to design and fabricate a micro-ejector with a cooling capacity of approximately 3 W. The discussed micro-ejector was driven by a heat source with temperature below 60 °C. The evaporation temperature was approximately 15 °C. For these operating parameters, the reported entrainment ratio was approximately 0.20. The difficulties in fabricating the micro-ejector due to its small dimensions are discussed in the paper. Additionally, the potential difficulties and solutions related to ensuring and maintaining stable operation of the testing stand are presented. The performance of the proposed system is demonstrated and discussed, including relations between mass entrainment ratio, compression ratio, cooling capacity, and temperature.