Refrigeration and Air

conditioning

Dr Rabia Shaukat
 Introduction
• Air conditioning involves the tampering of conditions of air that involve cooling
and heating coupled with ventilation, filtration and air circulation.

• Refrigeration involves only cooling and it’s the fundamental part of air conditioning
systems.
 History of refrigeration
Natural cooling
• Nocturnal cooling
• Evaporative cooling
• Cooling by salt solutions
Artificial cooling
• Professor William Cullin, 1755, produced ice artificially by
vaporization of water at reduced pressure
• Cooling by Peltier effect, 1834
• 1834, development of air compressor
• 1851, development of vapor compression and absorption systems
• 1877, development of cryogenics
• 1931, vortex tube refrigeration system
 Applications of air conditioning
• Human comfort
• Textile
• Printing
• Photographic processing facilities
• Computer rooms
• Medical rooms
• Process plants
• Industries
 Human comfort
• Factors affecting human comfort
Body heat loss (convections, radiation, evaporation)
Rate of body heat loss depends on five conditions
• Air temperature
• Air humidity
• Air motion
• Temperature of surrounding objects
• Clothing
Consultants can improve air quality by controlling
the first three factors
 Human comfort
• Factors affecting human comfort
Body heat loss (convections, radiation, evaporation)
Rate of body heat loss depends on five conditions
• Air temperature
• Air humidity
• Air motion
• Temperature of surrounding objects
• Clothing
Consultants can improve air quality by controlling
the first three factors
 Classification of air conditioning
systems
• All water (Hydronic)
• All air
• Combination systems
• Unitary and central air conditioning systems
Comfort zone
Design of air conditioning systems
• Complex process
• Time span (Months or even engineers)
• Consulting engineers design the electrical,
mechanical and plumbing systems, estimate
the project cost.
• Consultation with the architects is necessary
for overall building plan
 Design…. Continued

Owner

Architect

Electrical Mechanical Structural Other

engineer engineer engineer consultants
Installation of air conditioning systems

Architect

General
contractor

Electrical Mechanical Structural Other

engineer engineer engineer subcontractors
Operation, maintenance and services of
air conditioning systems
• Responsibility of contractor to operate the
system maintaining the comfortable
environment.
• Regular inspection and maintenance is also
responsibility of operating engineer’s duty.
• Mechanical service contractor are called off
for serious issues.
 Types of refrigeration cycles
• Major types
Vapour compression
 Vapour absorption
Vapour jet systems
 Gas cycles
• Isochoric ~ constant volume
• Isobaric ~ constant pressure
• Isothermal ~ constant temperature
• Isentropic ~ constant entropy
• Adiabatic ~ no energy added or subtracted to
the system
 Specific heat capacity
• Quantity of energy required to change the
temperature of unit mass of gas by 1 degree.
Quantity of energy supplied or removed can be
determined by Eq.

𝑄 = 𝑚𝐶𝑝 ∆𝑇
Example: Twenty kg of water at an initial
temperature of 40 oC are heated until the temperature
is increased to 90 oC. Calculate the amount of heat
energy supplied?
 Sensible and latent heat
• Sensible heat : Change in temperature
𝑄 = 𝑚𝐶𝑝 ∆𝑇
• Latent heat : Change in phase at constant
temperature
𝑄 = 𝑚ℎ𝑓𝑔/𝑓𝑠
Latent heat of fusion: change of phase between
solid and liquid
Latent heat of vaporization: change of phase
between liquid and vapor.
Saturation temperature:
Temperature at which the fluid changes its state from
liquid to vapor or vice verca.
Subcooled temperature:
Temperature of the liquid below the saturation
temperature.
Superheated temperature:
Temperature of the vapour above the saturation
temperature
 Carnot cycle
• Carnot cycle is the ideal cycle.
 Ideal vapor compression cycle
• Refrigeration is the reverse Carnot cycle.
P-h diagram
T-s diagram