Heat-Driven Managed Cooling Cycle for Remote Refrigeration

A program is proposed to demonstrate the feasibility of small-scale steam-jet chiller technology for cooling refrigerators in military field kitchens. Yankee Scientific's Liquid Injected Cogeneration (LIC) cycle currently provides electric power anddistributed heating capability for the cooking systems in the US Army's SLIC kitchen. The normal operation of this cycle produces the proper steam supply that is needed to implement steam-jet refrigeration, thereby minimizing the additional hardwarerequired. Successful applications of steam-jet refrigeration are typically found in industrial settings where excess or waste steam is available. The SLIC kitchen satisfies this criteria for success.Novel adaptations of steam ejector and evaporator technologies will be investigated to apply steam-jet refrigeration to the relatively small sizes required for refrigerator use. Coolant lines will pump chilled water from the steam-jet chiller to therefrigerator, thus enhancing the flexibility of locating the refrigerator. The potential for steam-driven ice production will also be evaluated as a means of temperature stabilization for the refrigerator and as a source of ice for external use. Providing refrigeration in the field is a longstanding challenge that has typically been addressed through the use of transported ice, vapor compression refrigeration or heat-driven refrigeration. Steam-jet technology takes advantage of the steam supplysystem inherent in the SLIC kitchen hardware and uses it to economically produce significantly more cooling capacity than most heat driven refrigeration systems can deliver. Steam-jet cooling avoids the logistical difficulties of transporting ice, is lesscomplex than Zeoliter or Chemisorption systems and uses much less electric power than vapor compression systems.Yankee Scientific is actively involved with the development of residential combined heat and electric power (CHP) systems utilizing Liquid Injected Cogeneration. This technology is best applied where there is a heating demand, which is normally foundduring the heating season or when potable water heating is required. If steam-jet refrigeration can be implemented for summer cooling applications then waste heat from the power production cycle could be used to drive the cooling system. The payback andmarketability of this class of appliances would be greatly increased with the addition of such a cooling capability.