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Learning outcomes
At the end of this lecture you should be able to :1. Describe the importance of refrigeration
2. Describe the components in the vapour compression refrigeration cycle and the
principle of operation
3. Describe some basic terms
4. Be able to describe the Ph chart and represent some basic terms on it.
Resources
Stoecker WF and Jones JW, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, McGraw Hill
1995
Trott AR and Welch TC, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Butterworth
Heinemann, 2000
Nicholls R, 2002, Low Energy Design, Published by Interface Publishing, 2002,
ISBN 0-9539409-2-6
Dossatt, RJ, Principles of Refrigeration, Published By Prentice Hall International,
A website with links see The Institute of Refrigeration http://www.ior.org.uk/
A
website
with
refrigerant
ph
charts
http://www.dupont.com/suva/emea/products/index.html
The Role of Refrigeration in Society
Refrigeration plays an important part in society. Worldwide, it makes a positive socio
economic impact in terms of people employed (approx 2million), equipment sold
(approx 200 Billion US Dollar per annum) and plays an important role in critical and
non-critical application. These include applications within the chemical and food
industry, medical (surgery and production/ storage of vaccines/ drugs), and the air
conditioning of buildings.
In contrast as covered later refrigeration has a conflicting contribution on the
environment as covered later on this course. CFCs and HCFC refrigerants were main
contributors to ozone depletion, 12.5 Billion kWh is consumed by refrigeration
compressor in the UK, and direct and indirect contribution of refrigerants to global
warming is equivalent to approximately 10% of the total radiative force. As a result
we must always reflect carefully on whether cooling is needed or not.
These notes take you through the fundamentals of applying active refrigeration
technology and it is hoped you will apply this for vocational purpose. It is hoped that
you also consider the necessity for refrigeration and minimise its use and its
environmental impact.
The General Principle
Most refrigeration systems use the principle of vapour compression and this is
covered mostly within these lecture notes. The general principle of vapour
compression systems is explained below.
For any fluid there is a relationship between the temperature and pressure at which it
changes phase, that is either boils or condenses. The higher the pressure the higher
the temperature at which the phase change will take place.
When a fluid evaporates it absorbs heat from its surroundings and when it condenses
it releases heat to its surroundings. The vapour compression refrigeration cycle has
been devised to make use of these physical characteristics to transfer heat from one
place to another. When it is used for the purpose of cooling it is called a refrigerator
and when it is used to heat it is called a heat pump.
By using suitable compounds or refrigerants and varying the pressure of the
refrigerant, they can be used to absorb or reject heat at normal atmospheric
temperatures.
If as a low-pressure liquid the refrigerant will evaporate at around room temperature it
will extract heat from the room. It will of course have to become a gas which if then
pressurised it can be made to condense at a high outdoor temperature thus releasing
the heat to atmosphere. It can be then reduced to its original pressure and the
process is repeated.
The compression of gas is achieved by using a compressor and the reduction in the
pressure of the liquid is effected by passing it through a pressure-reducing valve
called an expansion valve.
An example
To reinforce the above concept consider the following example, which first considers
the evaporation process in the vapour compression cycle.
Suppose a cold store room is to
be maintained at 10oC. The
amount of heat entering the room
can be reduced by insulating the
walls floor and roof but some heat
will still get through.
To remove the heat from the
room a refrigerant at a lower
temperature would be required,
say 16oC. If refrigerant R134a
was used as the refrigerant, it
would need to boil at a pressure
of 1.5 bar abs. If R134a was
placed in a container with its
outlet restricted to maintain a
pressure of 1.5 bar abs then heat
would flow from the room at
10oC into the refrigerant providing
the latent heat to evaporate the
refrigerant at 16oC. This would
produce refrigeration until all the
R134a had evaporated.
Restriction
R134a boiling
at 16oC
Some temporary refrigeration systems use the refrigerant once to provide cooling,
however this is wasteful and damaging to the environment. Consequently, the
remainder of the refrigeration cycle is concerned with re-using the refrigerant, ie
removing the latent heat from the vapour, so that it condenses back into a liquid. To
condense, the refrigerant must reject heat to some heat sink. The most common heat
sinks are atmospheric water and air, which are normally at a much higher
temperature than the refrigerant in the evaporator. In this case we are rejecting heat
from the refrigerant to atmospheric air at around 25oC and this requires the R134a
refrigerant to condense at a higher temperature of say 40oC. To condense at this
temperature the R134a needs to be pressurized to approximately 10 bar abs.
Thus the escaping R134a is passed through a compressor which raises its pressure
to 10 bar abs and then into a condenser where air at 25oC is used a heat sink with
rejected heat from the refrigerant allowing the refrigerant to condense to a liquid state
at approximately 40oC. To reuse the refrigerant and thus make the cycle continuous it
must then be returned to the evaporating vessel. To maintain the difference in
pressure between the condensing and evaporating refrigerant and to match the
return of liquid to the rate at which the compressor pumps the vapour, the flow is
regulated by an expansion valve.
The 4 main components: the evaporator, compressor, condenser and expansion
device are typically shown connected in Figure 2. The design parameters of each
component will vary according to the requirements of the particular application for
which they are designed. The temperatures and pressures around the cycle also
change to suit the temperatures of what is to be refrigerated and the temperature of
the condenser heat sink. The temperatures pressure relationships together with
properties of refrigerants for vapour and liquid at evaporating and condensing
conditions are listed in tables of refrigerant properties or shown graphically on charts.
Vapour R134a at 10 bar abs
Vapour R134a at 1.5 bar
R134a condensing at 39oC in
condenser
Compressor
Expansion device
Heat flowing into container
at 10oC
Satuation temperature
Pressure
bar (abs) oC
25
20
Ammonia
R22
R134a
15
10
0
-80
-60
-40
-20
20
40
Saturation Pressure
Temperature
bar absC
Figure 3. Saturation Temperature for Ammonia, R22 and R134a
C:\teaching\refrigerationM\1. Introduction to Vapour Compression Refrigeration.doc
60
100
100% liquid/
saturated liquid
Temperature (oC)
100% vapour/
saturated vapour
50
Subcooled
liquid
0
Latent heat
sensible
heat
Latent heat
sensible heat
Enthalpy kJ/ kG
Subcooled liquid
Superheated vapour
Constant Entropy
lines kJ/kg K
pressure
Constant
temperature lines
Saturated
vapour line
Saturated
liquid line
Enthalpy kJ/kg K
Constant specific
volume lines m3/kg
pressure
1. Find known
pressure
3. Find
pressure
2. Find known
saturation temperature
Enthalpy
Now for you to try some examples
1. R134a is at a pressure of 2 bar abs, what is its saturation temperature.
2. R134a is condensing at 40oC what is its saturation pressure
3. R134a boils at 10oC, what is its saturation pressure.
4. R134a is in a refrigeration system. At one point a pressure gauge reads 6 bar abs
and the fluid is measured at a temperature of 40oC, what state is the refrigerant.
5. R134a is at a pressure of 8 bar abs with 10K superheat, what are its saturation
and actual temperatures.
6. For R134a at 0oC saturation temperature and 10oC actual temperature
determine the enthalpy of the refrigerant.
7. For refrigerant R134a at 1 bar abs, 20K superheat, determine the enthalpy,
specific volume and entropy of the fluid.
8. What is the state of the refrigerant R134a at 3 bar abs and 240 kJ/ kg enthalpy.
9. What is the quality of the refrigerant in question 8.
10. For R134a at 0.5 bar abs and 20% quality determine the enthalpy and saturation
temperature.
C:\teaching\refrigerationM\1. Introduction to Vapour Compression Refrigeration.doc