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0 SUMMARY
The vapor compression refrigeration cycle is a common method for transferring heat
from a low temperature to a high temperature. The refrigeration lab was conducted to gain a
better understanding of the vapor-compression refrigeration cycle and to compare the ideal cycle
with a real cycle.
In this experiment, Dichlorofluoroethane (R141b) was used as the refrigerant and the
mass flow rate of water coming into the evaporator and the condenser was varied. From this,
variation data was obtained and analyzed. Liquids absorb heat when changed from liquid to gas
and gases give off heat when changed from gas to liquid. For an air conditioning system to
operate with economy, the refrigerant must be used repeatedly.
For this reason, all air conditioners use the same cycle of compression, condensation,
expansion, and evaporation in a closed circuit. The same refrigerant is used to move the heat
from one area, to cool this area, and to expel this heat in another area. The refrigerant comes into
the compressor as a low-pressure gas, it is compressed and then moves out of the compressor as
a high-pressure gas. The gas then flows to the condenser. Then, gas condenses to a liquid, and
gives off its heat to the outside air.
The liquid then moves to the expansion valve under high pressure. This valve restricts the
flow of the fluid, and lowers its pressure as it leaves the expansion valve.The low-pressure liquid
then moves to the evaporator, where heat from the inside air is absorbed and changes it from a
liquid to a gas. As a hot low-pressure gas, the refrigerant moves to the compressor where the
entire cycle is repeated.
The performance of refrigerators and heat pumps are expressed in terms of coefficient of
performance (COP) defined as
2.0 OBJECTIVE
EXPERIMENT A
TABLE 1.0-DATA OBTAINED FROM THE EXPERIMENT
Test no 1 2 3 4 5
The objectives of this experiment were to determine the Coefficient of Performance (COP)
of a refrigerant unit and to determine the overall heat transfer coefficient between R141b and
water in the evaporator and condenser. This experiment consists of two parts which is Part A and
Part B. For Part A, it started with turning on the cooling water supply. The main switch is on and
valve 2 and also valve 3 need to be opened. Opening the valve 2 and 3 is to allow vapor to be
drawn from the evaporator by the compressor. The water flow meter on the condenser is set to 50
g/s while at the evaporator is set to 25g/s. The system is allowed to stabilize for 20 minutes until
dripping water is seen. The pressure gauge the for the condenser is observed trough out the
experiment to ensure it is not more than 150kN/m2 . The cooling water flow is also ensured not
too low in between 6 to 8g/s. The required reading are recorded and the experiment is repeated
by setting the condenser water flow rate to 40 g/s, 30 g/s, 20 g/s, 10 g/s. The system is allowed to
stabilize for 6-10 minutes before conduct the next set up. For the next experiment, the cooling
water flow rate is increased to 25 g/s. It is allowed to stabilize for 10 minutes and data is
recorded.
A refrigeration process is the process of the change of thermodynamic properties of the
refrigerant and the energy will transfer between the refrigerant and the surroundings. Most of the
refrigeration cycles undergo the above method. The compressor is basically compressed the
refrigerant gas from low to high pressure which is from the evaporator. The compressor power
input for this experiment recorded is constant which 235 Watts is for all different water flow
rate. The gas entered the condenser or the receiver as a gas and it changes the state to liquid and
entered the evaporator. The condenser will discharge heat to the surroundings. By passing the
expansion valve between condenser and evaporator, the pressure change from high to lower
pressure. The condenser will have a higher than the evaporator. Based on the data obtained from
this experiment, it shows that both gauge and absolute pressure in condenser is much higher than
the evaporator. Where the average gauge pressure in condenser is 101.8 kN/m2 compared to
evaporator which have low pressure of 74.53 kN/m2 (average) and -26.8 kN/m2 (average)
absolute and gauge respectively. Below equation is the equation to determine the absolute
pressure.
H1 obtained from the graph shows the having the highest enthalpy for all the 5 different flow rate
of water in condenser. H2 shows a slight lower compared to H1. But H3 and H4 has the lowest
enthalpy among the 4. The coefficient of performance (cop) for the 5 different flow rate is
calculated using the enthalpy obtained. Below is the formula of calculating the COP.
𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡
COP = 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑟 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘
H1 – H4
COP = H2 – H1
By comparing the entire COP obtained from each graph cycle, it shows the decreasing of COP
value. However at the 5th graph, it’s increasing and decreasing at the last cycle. We can said that
the decreasing of COP value is not uniform. This might due to several error and mistakes. The
decreasing of water flow rate in the condenser effects the COP values as soon as the flow rate
increasing, the COP value is decreasing.
For part B, it is continuous of Part A, however the condenser cooling water flow rate is set to
25g/s which is the same with the evaporator and condenser is calculated using the formula shown
in previous discussion. From the data obtained, the rate of heat transfer is calculated for both
evaporator and condenser by using formula of :
For Evaporator
QE = me CP (t1 – t2) x 1000
Given that,
me = 0.025kg/s
CP =4.18kJ/kg.K
For Condenser
given that,
me = 0.025kg/s
CP = 4.18kJ/kg.K
The value obtained from the calculation shows that evaporator rate of heat transfer is higher than
the condenser which gives a value of 713500 J compares and condenser gives a value of 418000
J. The parameter of pressure affects the value of rate of heat transfer. The evaporator have a
lower pressure compare to the condenser, thus more energy needed to convert the liquid into gas
and entered to the compressor.
The logarithmic mean temperature difference LMTD is calculated using the formula of ;
For Evaporator
Tin,e−Tout,e
Δ𝑇𝐿𝑀𝑇𝐷= Tin,e
ln( )
Tout,e
For Condenser
Tin,c−Tout,c
Δ𝑇𝐿𝑀𝑇𝐷= Tin,c
ln( )
Tout,c
The value of log mean for condenser is higher which give a value of 12.897K compare to the
evaporator whose value is 5.944K. The temperature of condenser is higher started from the
beginning of the experiment, thus it give large value for the log mean and vice versa for the
evaporator.
The overall heat transfer is calculated for both condenser and evaporator by using the formula ;
For evaporator,
Qe
U𝑒=(A)×ΔTLMTD given A = 0.032m2
For Condenser,
Qc
𝑢𝐶=(A)×ΔTLMTD given A = 0.032m2
The value of overall heat transfer obtained from the calculation shows that the condenser is
transferring more heat than the evaporator.
5.0 CONCLUSION
6.0 REFERENCES
7.0 APPENDIX