Development and performance of steam ejector refrigeration system operated in real application in Thailand

• The prototype steam ejector refrigerator can be stably operated in Thailand.
• The prototype refrigerator was successfully tested as air conditioner.
• CFD technique was employed to simulate the steam ejector used.

This paper presents the design and construction of a prototype steam ejector refrigeration system which can be operated under the actual condition of Thai environment, which is rather hot and humid. The prototype refrigerator was designed to produce a cooling capacity of approximately 3 kW. Water was selected to be used as the working fluid. The steam boiler used was a vertical fire tube type and it was designed to be used with LPG compact gas burner. The condenser was cooled by water obtained from a conventional cooling tower. The prototype refrigerator was used to produce chilled water which was used to cool a small tested room. It was observed that the room temperature of 24.2 °C was obtained at the cooling load of 3000 W. The cooling water was supplied to the condenser at about 30 °C. The COP obtained was 0.45. This prototype refrigerator is proven to be practical and can be used in actual environment of Thailand.