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Topic · Mechanical Engineering

Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies

Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies is a research topic within Mechanical Engineering. Science Explorer counts 31k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on refrigeration systems and technologies, with an emphasis on refrigerants, ejectors, CO2 heat pumps, vapor compression systems, low-GWP alternatives, thermodynamic analysis, energy efficiency, environmental impact, and heat pump technology. The papers cover a wide range of topics including experimental validation, numerical investigations, performance predictions, and environmental considerations in the field of refrigeration and heat pump systems.

  • Refrigerants
  • Ejectors
  • CO2 Heat Pumps
  • Vapor Compression Systems
  • Low-GWP Alternatives
  • Thermodynamic Analysis
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Environmental Impact
  • Heat Pump Technology
  • CFD Modeling
Research works
31k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+14%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
51% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies

Which countries lead Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (2.6k and 556 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.6k works
  2. 2 India 556 works
  3. 3 United States 512 works
  4. 4 Germany 239 works
  5. 5 Türkiye 228 works
  6. 6 South Korea 215 works
  7. 7 Italy 215 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 203 works
  9. 9 Iran 156 works
  10. 10 Indonesia 152 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 51.1%India: 11.0%United States: 10.1%Germany: 4.7%6 others listed: 23.1%51%largest
China2,588 · 51.1%India556 · 11.0%United States512 · 10.1%Germany239 · 4.7%6 others listed1,170 · 23.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Xi'an Jiaotong University publishes the most Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 184 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 126 works
  3. 3 Tsinghua UniversityChina 65 works
  4. 4 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 58 works
  5. 5 Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 49 works
  6. 6 Beihang UniversityChina 45 works
  7. 7 Zhejiang UniversityChina 45 works
  8. 8 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 45 works
  9. 9 Tianjin UniversityChina 43 works
  10. 10 Beijing University of TechnologyChina 41 works

Who are the leading researchers in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies include Kai You Wang, Hua Zhang and Han Zhang.

  1. 1 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  2. 2 Hua Zhang Singapore 196k citations
  3. 3 Han Zhang China 161k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies?

The most cited paper in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies is "The 1993 IGTI Scholar Lecture: Loss Mechanisms in Turbomachines" (J. D. Denton, 1993), with 1,646 citations. Next come "Transformations of Galaxies. II. Gasdynamics in Merging Disk Galaxies" (1,363) and "A review of thermodynamic cycles and working fluids for the conversion of low-grade heat" (1,317).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The 1993 IGTI Scholar Lecture: Loss Mechanisms in Turbomachines J. D. Denton · Journal of Turbomachinery Oct 1993 1,646
2 Transformations of Galaxies. II. Gasdynamics in Merging Disk Galaxies Joshua E. Barnes, Lars Hernquist · The Astrophysical Journal Open access Nov 1996 1,363
3 A review of thermodynamic cycles and working fluids for the conversion of low-grade heat Huijuan Chen, D. Yogi Goswami, Elias K. Stefanakos · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 31 Jul 2010 1,317
4 A review of working fluid and expander selections for organic Rankine cycle Junjiang Bao, Li Zhao · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 18 Apr 2013 1,317
5 Use of model predictive control and weather forecasts for energy efficient building climate control Frauke Oldewurtel, Alessandra Parisio, Colin Neil Jones et al. · Energy and Buildings Open access 25 Sep 2011 1,231
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies research done?

The largest centres of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Xi'an (China), Shanghai (China) and Tianjin (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Castellon and Oak Ridge.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 557 works
  2. 2 Xi'anChina 265 works
  3. 3 ShanghaiChina 219 works
  4. 4 TianjinChina 109 works
  5. 5 NanjingChina 105 works
  6. 6 WuhanChina 100 works
  7. 7 HangzhouChina 87 works
  8. 8 SeoulSouth Korea 80 works
  9. 9 QingdaoChina 78 works
  10. 10 TehranIran 76 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. CastellonES · 27.6 works20×
  2. Oak RidgeUS · 26.4 works11×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies than the world average.

See Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies on the map

Where is the best place to study Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies?

Among universities, judged by research, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Universitat Jaume I and Hong Kong Polytechnic University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 23.75%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Yeungnam UniversityHong Kong Polytechni…Universitat Jaume IXi'an Jiaotong Unive…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 78.221.9%17.1×184 +24.3%
2Universitat Jaume ISpain 73.023.1%29.6×28 +70.3%
3Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 69.028.4%3.7×20 +24.5%
4Yeungnam UniversitySouth Korea 67.929.6%9.5×13 +146.6%
5Qingdao University of Science and TechnologyChina 65.528.5%11.4×26 +83.5%
6Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 58.618.9%6.8×49 +131.5%
7Hunan UniversityChina 58.026.9%4.2×18 +44.1%
8Beijing University of TechnologyChina 57.215.5%9.4×41 +68.2%
9Korea UniversitySouth Korea 55.531.0%3.5×13 -12.0%
10Tsinghua UniversityChina 54.913.7%4.6×65 +5.0%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies, country by country

Is Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 14% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.033% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies0.030% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies9.9% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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