Refrigeration Experiment

MSU Chilled Water Plant Tour

Worksheet

Due Friday, November 12 by 5:00 pm

(Turn into your TA or their mailbox)
Name:
Signature of TA to Verify Attendance:
1. What devices in an absorption refrigeration system replace the compressor of a
conventional vapor/compression refrigeration system?

2. Describe the four (4) fluid streams within a Trane absorption unit.
3. How does a cooling tower operate?
4. What is the rated capacity of the chilled water plant in tons of refrigeration,
Btu/hr, and kW?
5. Given the chilled water flow rate (from the pump) and the entering and exiting
temperatures of the chilled water stream for one of the absorption units, calculate
the actual cooling load (in tons of refrigeration) the unit is providing.
6. Determine the Carnot cycle COP for the absorption cycle used at the MSU
chilled water plant.
7. Using the Carnot cycle COP and assuming a cooling load of 1250 tons,
determine the required mass flow rate of steam.

MSU Chilled Water Plant Tour

Lecture
This experiment involves a tour of the main chilled water plant on campus and the
completion of worksheet. The main chilled water plant is located on service road;
just eat of the Service Rd-Bogue Rd intersection, as shown on the map overhead.
The tours are scheduled for your regular lab times:
November 2 (Tuesday) 3-5 PM
November 4 (Thursday) 9:30-11:30 AM
November 4 (Thursday) 1-3 PM
You should meet at the plant and wear comfortable clothes and shoes. The tour will
be given by Mike Crouch who is the lead refrigeration technician on campus. The
worksheet consists of some questions about the plant operation and some simple
calculations involving the plant.
The purpose of a refrigeration system is the extraction of heat from a cold space, so
as to maintain its cold temperature. Since the cold space is cold relative to its
surrounding, this heat extraction normally involves driving heat in the direction
opposite to its natural inclination. That is, a refrigeration system must "pump" heat
from a region of low temperature to a region of high temperature. So as not to
violate the second law of thermodynamics this pumping of heat requires a certain
input of energy in the form of work or heat. A simple schematic of a refrigeration
system acting thusly is shown below.

High Temperature Heat Reservoir

at TH

QH

Refrigerator

QL
Low Temperature Heat Reservoir
at TL

Wnet

A refrigeration system generally works by using the fact that a phase change process
is a very effective way of transferring heat. Hence, the interaction between the low
temperature reservoir and the refrigerator is normally achieved with a evaporation
phase change, whereas the interaction between the high temperature reservoir and
the refrigerator involves a condensation phase change. Further, by adjusting the
pressure the phase change process can be forced to occur at whatever temperature is
appropriate and in whatever direction (evaporation or condensation) desired for the
heat transfer. That is, in order to remove heat from a low temperature region, a fluid
(the refrigerant) can be forced to boil at a low temperature by lowering the pressure
so that energy can be absorbed from the cold space. Similarly, by boosting the
pressure of the refrigerant when it is in contact with the warm environment it can be
forced to condense and release the energy it absorbed from the cold space. The
energy input is what controls the pressures.
A measure of the operation of a refrigeration system is its COP. In general the COP
is defined as

COP =

cooling effect
required energy input

In thermodynamics we learned that the most efficient refrigerator is a Carnot

refrigerator that has

COP max

1
TH
-1
TL

In a conventional vapor/compression refrigeration system, a compressor is used to

control the refrigerant pressure and the required energy input is the work needed to
run the compressor. Here on the MSU campus (as you found out during your tour of
the Simon Power Plant), we have a cogeneration power facility that puts out both
electric power and steam at 90 psig.

The absorption refrigeration system is

designed to utilize this steam as the required energy input and significantly reduce
the electricity consumed for air conditioning on campus. Several buildings on
campus are air conditioned with a chilled water system, where the chilled water is
produced at a central plant on campus operating on the absorption refrigeration
cycle. A schematic of this air conditioning system is shown below:

Hot
Air

Warmed
Water

Air/Water
Heat Exchanger

Campus
Building
Cold
Air

Chilled
Water

Condensate

Chilled
Water
Plant
Steam

Steam
Power
Plant

In the absorption refrigeration cycle, the pressure is controlled by two devices called
the generator and absorber instead of a compressor.

The refrigerant is a

Lithium/Bromide-Water solution. A unique phase equilibrium exists for this solution

that connects the Li/Br concentration with the saturation temperature and pressure.
By appropriately controlling the concentration the pressures of the condenser and
evaporator can be controlled much in the same way a compressor controls them in a
conventional vapor/compression refrigeration system.

In order to maintain the

appropriate concentration, energy must be added to the generator (via the steam,
while the absorber must be maintained at a prescribed temperature and thus requires
cooling. Water from the plants cooling tower provides both this cooling and the
high temperature heat reservoir in the condenser. The system is shown in the
schematic below.

CONDENSER
WATER OUT
TO TOWER

STEAM IN

GENERATOR

STEAM OUT

HEAT
EXCHANGER

CONDENSER
LOW PRESSURE
WATER VAPOR

CHILLED
WATER IN

ABSORBER

GENERATOR ABSORBER
PUMP
PUMP

CONDENSER
WATER IN
FROM TOWER

CHILLED
WATER OUT

EVAPORATOR

REFRIGERANT
PUMP

The cooling towers at the chilled water plant provide the heat rejection mechanism
for the absorption system. Energy extracted from the chilled water is eventually
deposited into the cooling tower water. This water then flows through the cooling
tower where some of it evaporates into the air. This evaporation provides the
mechanism to remove the energy from the cooling tower water.
As we found with the power plant tour, the language of academia is very different
form the language of industry.

From our thermodynamics we would have

considered the load of a refrigeration facility (the QL) to be in kW. In industry the
cooling load is given in tons of refrigeration. A ton of refrigeration is equivalent to
the energy required to freeze one ton of water into ice in an hour. We can relate this
unit to our more conventional units as follows
1 ton of refrigeration = 12,000 Btu/hr = 3.517 kW
Also industry is much more concerned with the capacity of a system and that they
are running at rated capacity than the COP of the system. Industry assumes that the
system manufacturers have maximized the COP in their design and as users simply
want the system to run at the capacity specified by the manufacturer.
Review the worksheet, especially the calculations reminding the students of the 1 st
Law of Thermodynamics.

Figure 2. Schematic View of Trane Absorption Unit