Thermodynamic analysis of different two-stage transcritical carbon dioxide cycles

The aim of this paper is the thermodynamic evaluation and optimisation of different two-stage transcritical carbon dioxide cycles. Five different cycles are studied: basic single-stage cycle, single-throttling with two-stage compression cycle, split cycle, phase separation cycle and single-stage cycle coupled with a gas cooling circuit. Each basic cycle is analysed for the effect of internal heat transfer between different streams of refrigerants. In the case of two-stage compression, intermediate cooling between the compressor stages is present. An analysis on the Plank cycle for intermediate pressure higher than critical one is performed. Each cycle is optimised with regards to energy performance, calculating the optimal values of both the upper and the intermediate pressures. In the case of split cycle, the ratio of the mass flow rate in the main stream to the one in the auxiliary stream is also optimised.