Liquid flooded Ericsson cycle heat pump and heat engine system

The Ericsson cycle modified with a novel implementation of the liquid flooding concept is presented. With liquid flooding, the effective surface area of the compression and expansion processes is greatly increased, allowing near isothermal processes, allowing the ideal, reversible system to approach Carnot efficiency. Modelling was conducted using an EES and Modelica based model. The system is improvement on early proposed Ericsson liquid flooded cycle arrangements shows marked improvements in the non-ideal case of irreversible components and other system losses. Modelled systems include Ericsson heat pumps and heat engines for possible application to domestic applications such as hot water heating, refrigeration, and mCHP/mCSP type devices.