SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

ENGR 463: Thermal Power Systems 4/30/2007

Refrigeration Experiment

Prepared By: Jorge Corona Instructor: M. Meguerdichian

Abstract
A refrigeration apparatus was used to evaluate the performance of a refrigeration cycle utilizing the R-11 refrigerant. The equipment was run in two parts. In part one, the evaporation chamber refrigerant temperature was held constant as the water flow rate decreased. In part two the condenser chamber refrigerant temperature was held constant while the water flow rate decreased. In addition the pumping over process and the effect of air in the system where demonstrated. Plotting the variation of absolute chamber pressure versus refrigerant temperature revealed linear trends for both the evaporator and condenser. Plotting the variation of the heat transfer rate versus the refrigerant temperature revealed: linear decreasing trends for the condenser chamber, a linearly decreasing trend for the evaporator chamber when the condenser was held constant, and a linearly increasing trend for the evaporator when the evaporator was held constant. The compressor power was calculated in two different methods; Method 1 used the energy balanced of the system while the second Method 2 used the enthalpy and mass flow rate of the refrigerant. Method 1 resulted in the work increasing as the evaporator temperature dropped, and Method 2 resulted in the work decreasing when the evaporator temperature dropped. The volumetric efficiency versus the evaporator refrigerant temperature increased linearly as the evaporator temperature decreased. The coefficient of performance was again calculated using the two different methods and was found to range from 7-1. The variation of the overall heat transfer coefficient versus the water flow rate revealed decreasing linear trends for the condenser when the evaporator was held constant and for the evaporator when the condenser was held constant.

Table of Contents

Intro................................................................................................................................................. 1 Apparatus ...................................................................................................................................... 2 Procedure ...................................................................................................................................... 2 Data ................................................................................................................................................ 3 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 4 Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 11 Discussion Questions ................................................................................................................ 12 Conclusion................................................................................................................................... 13 Recommendation ....................................................................................................................... 14 References .................................................................................................................................. 15 Equation Page ............................................................................................................................ 16 Appendix...................................................................................................................................... 17

ENGR 463: Thermal Power Systems

Refrigeration Experiment

Intro
Simple Vapor-Compression Refrigeration Cycle 1-2 Isentropic compression in the compressor 2-3 Isothermal constant pressure (heat rejected) in condenser 3-4 Isentropic throttling from expansion device 4-1 Isothermal constant pressure (heat absorption) in evaporator

Figure 1. Vapor-compression refrigeration diagram1

Figure 2. T-s and P-h vapor-compression refrigeration cycle2 Compressor: The low-pressure saturated vapor refrigerant from the evaporator is drawn into the compressor, where its pressure is increased and delivered to the condenser. The compressor is of the diaphragm type and is directly coupled to an electric motor. Condenser: The condenser is a heat exchanger where the high-pressure vapor from the compressor condenses as it transfers heat to the cooling water, which becomes warmer. Throttle: As the high-pressure high temperature liquid refrigerant passes the throttling valve seating, its pressure and temperature drop to that of the evaporator. The drop in temperature is accompanied by the formation of flash vapor, so a mixture of low-pressure and temperature liquid and vapor enter the evaporator. Evaporator: The low-pressure liquid and vapor refrigerant mixture enters the evaporator and separate; the liquid stays in a pool for re-evaporation, while vapor mixes with the other vapor passing to the compressor absorbing heat from the water. Jorge Corona pg. 1

ENGR 463: Thermal Power Systems

Refrigeration Experiment

Apparatus
Figure 3 shows the apparatus in consideration.

Figure 3. Refrigeration Cycle Demonstration Unit R632.

Procedure
Before you start the experiment make sure that the unit is charged with refrigerant and that the condenser and evaporator wells are filled with water. In the condenser there should be enough refrigerant that the float valve floats freely. In the evaporator there should be about 15 mm of refrigerant above the water coil. Adjust the evaporator and condenser water flow rates to be 50 gm/s, and then turn on the switch. A light should illuminate and the compressor should start to run. Once the system is running reduce the condenser water flow until the condenser pressure gauge is about 50 kPa. Take the absolute pressure from the condenser pressure and look up the saturated temperature to verify that the condenser pressure matches up. Air may be expelled by gently pulling on the relieve valve spindle to change the condenser pressure. For the first part of the experiment adjust the condenser water flow rate while keeping the evaporator temperature constant. After different data has been collected adjust the evaporator water flow rate while keeping the condenser temperature constant. Once all the data needed has been collected demonstrate the pumping over process and then the effect of air in the refrigeration system.

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Data
Table 1-a. Part 1, Evaporator held constant RUN 1 Condenser Pressure (kN/m2) Evaporator Pressure (kN/m2) Condenser Flow rate (gm/sec) Evaporator Flow rate (gm/sec) Inside Condenser R-11 Temperature (C) Inside Evaporator R-11 Temperature (C) IN Condenser H2O Temperature (C) OUT Condenser H2O Temperature (C) IN Evaporator H2O Temperature (C) OUT Evaporator H2O Temperature (C) IN Compressor Temperature (C) OUT Compressor Temperature (C) 1 40 -10 44 10 18.6 11 15 16.4 15.9 11.8 20.6 58.8 2 48 -25 40 10 20.1 8.1 14.9 16.6 15.5 10.8 17.5 58.8 3 48 -10 30 10 20.1 7.7 14.6 16.9 15.1 10.2 17.2 58.7 4 48 -10 20 10 20.3 7.1 14.4 17.1 15 10 17.2 58.7 5 50 -8 10 10 21.5 7.7 14.6 19.5 14.8 10.4 17.4 58

Table 1-b. Part 2, Condenser held constant RUN 2 Condenser Pressure (kN/m2) Evaporator Pressure (kN/m2) Condenser Flow rate (gm/sec) Evaporator Flow rate (gm/sec) Inside Condenser R-11 Temperature (C) Inside Evaporator R-11 Temperature (C) IN Condenser H2O Temperature (C) OUT Condenser H2O Temperature (C) IN Evaporator H2O Temperature (C) OUT Evaporator H2O Temperature (C) IN Compressor Temperature (C) OUT Compressor Temperature (C) 6 2 -5 50 40 17.8 6.8 13 15 13.3 11 16 61 7 2 -5 50 30 18 6.5 13.1 14.9 13.5 10.8 16 61.2 8 2 -5 50 20 18.4 6.1 13.2 14.9 13.6 10.4 15.8 61.3 9 5 -5 50 10 18.9 6.2 13.3 15 14 8.9 16 61.4

Jorge Corona

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Results
Table 2-a. Part 1, absolute pressure and R-11 temperatures Condenser Absolute Pressure (kPa) 141.506 149.506 149.506 149.506 151.506 Evaporator Absolute Pressure (kPa) 91.506 76.506 91.506 91.506 93.506 Condenser Absolute Pressure (Table) (kPa) 83.97 88.7 88.7 89.35 93.3 Evaporator Absolute Pressure (Table) (kPa) 62.97 56.16 55.27 53.95 55.27 Inside Condenser R-11 Temperature (C) 18.6 20.1 20.1 20.3 21.5 Inside Evaporator R11 Temperature (C) 11 8.1 7.7 7.1 7.7

Table 2-b. Part 2, absolute pressure and R-11 temperatures Condenser Absolute Pressure (kPa) 103.506 103.506 103.506 106.506 Evaporator Absolute Pressure (kPa) 96.506 96.506 96.506 96.506 Condenser Absolute Pressure (Table) (kPa) 81.54 82.14 83.36 84.9 Evaporator Absolute Pressure (Table) (kPa) 53.3 52.66 51.81 52.02 Inside Condenser R-11 Temperature (C) 17.8 18 18.4 18.9 Inside Evaporator R11 Temperature (C) 6.8 6.5 6.1 6.2

Plot 1. P-h diagram from Run 6

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Graph 1-a. Condenser absolute pressure vs. condenser R-11 temperature

Graph 1-b. Evaporator absolute pressure vs. evaporator R-11 temperature

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Graph 1-c. Condenser absolute pressure vs. condenser R-11 temperature

Graph 1-d. Evaporator absolute pressure vs. evaporator R-11 temperature

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Graph 2-a. Condenser heat transfer vs. condenser R-11 temperature

Graph 2-b. Condenser heat transfer vs. condenser R-11 temperature

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Graph 3-a. Evaporator heat transfer vs. condenser R-11 temperature

Graph 3-b. Evaporator heat transfer vs. evaporator R-11 temperature

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Refrigeration Experiment

Graph 4-a. Compressor power vs. evaporator R-11 temperature

Graph 4-b. Volumetric efficiency vs. evaporator R-11 temperature

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Graph 5. Coefficient of performance vs. condenser temperature

Graph 6-a. Heat transfer coefficient vs. water flow rate

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Refrigeration Experiment

Graph 6-b. Heat transfer coefficient vs. water flow rate

Discussion
From Table 2-a, Graph 1-a,and Graph 1-b you can see that when you keep the evaporator water flow rate constant and reduce the condenser flow rate the condenser temperature and pressure rise somewhat linearly. Similarly, from Table 2-b, Graph 1-b, and Graph 1-d you can see that when you keep the condenser water flow rate constant and reduce the evaporator flow rate the evaporator temperature and pressure fall. Graph 1-a, Graph 1-b, Graph 1-c, and Graph 1-d all show that the actual absolute pressures from the R-11 thermodynamic tables are much lower than what was measured. These high pressures measured are most likely due to not releasing enough air from condenser chamber. Graph 2-a and Graph 2-b show that as you increase the condenser R-11 temperature the heat transfer decreases linearly. Graph 2-b show much higher heat transfer rates compared to Graph 2-a because the condenser water flow rates were much higher. From Graph 3-a, you can see as you keep the evaporator water flow rate constant and reduce the condenser flow rate the evaporator temperature decreases and the heat transfer goes up linearly. When you keep the condenser water flow rate constant and reduce the evaporator water flow rate you can see ,from Graph 3-b, that the heat transfer goes down linearly. The reason that the heat transfer goes down instead of up with decreasing temperature is because the water flow rate is decreasing so you have less heat transfer absorption in the evaporator. Graph 4-a shows that as you decrease the evaporator temperature the compressor does more work, for Method 1, and for Method 1 you can see that as you decrease the evaporator temperature the compressor does less work. Method 1 work was calculated from doing an energy balance, whereas Method 2 was calculated from the enthalpy and mass flow rate of the R-11 refrigerant; since the mass flow rate of the refrigerant is much lower than the theoretical mass flow rate and because the mass flow rate is decreasing the work is much less and also decreasing. You can see from Graph 4-b that the volumetric efficiency is decreases linearly with the evaporator temperature. As a result of the lower work, from Method 2, on the compressor and decreasing heat transfer from the evaporator the COP (Coefficient of Performance) for refrigeration is curved down, as seen in Graph 5. Using Method 1, shows a similar curve but with higher and lower COP values; as the pressure in the condenser chamber increases so

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does temperature, as seen in Graph 1-a and Graph 1-c, which decrease the heat transfer, as seen in Graph 2-a and Graph 2-b, so the COP of a heat pump and refrigeration will go down as seen in Graph 5. Graph 6-a shows the heat transfer coefficients of both the evaporator and condenser. For the condenser you can tell that as you decrease the water flow rate you also decrease the heat transfer coefficient in a linear way. In Graph 6-b you can see similar results; when you decrease the water flow rate for the evaporator the heat transfer coefficient decrease on the evaporator in a linear fashion. In order to demonstrate the pumping over process on the refrigeration unit we had to close the isolation valve on the condenser, which cut off the refrigeration from the cycle. Once the unit was started all of the refrigeration on the evaporator chamber was decreasing and going into the condenser chamber, until the evaporator chamber was empty and condenser chamber was full of refrigerant. At this point any maintenance could be done to the system without fear of losing refrigerant. The valve was re-opened and the refrigeration went back through the throttle and back into the evaporator until both condenser and evaporator where balanced with refrigerant. In order to let a small amount of air into the system we opened a valve, located on the bottom of the evaporator chamber. Initially the evaporator pressure increased and then it dropped as air moved through the compressor and into the condenser chamber, increasing the condenser chamber pressure. Air did not get stuck in the compressor because air is lighter than the refrigerant. The air created an insulation layer on the condenser coils preventing refrigerant vapor from coming into contact with the cooling coils, and as a result the condensation seemed sluggish. Once the air valve spindle was released the condenser pressure decreased and the condensation increased.

Discussion Questions
1) What is a thermoelectric refrigerator? What are some typical applications? A thermoelectric refrigerator is a device that acts as a refrigerator but does not have moving parts, such as a compressor, condenser, evaporator and pipes. The thermoelectric refrigerator works by having two thermo conductive plates, one hot and the other cold, and by using special thermoelectric elements sandwiched in-between the plates, as seen in Figure 4. Heat in is absorbed into the cold plate while heat out is being rejecting by the hot plate. Typical applications would be in sensitive places such as biomedical research or small compartments such as the NASA shuttle.

Figure 4. Thermoelectric module3 2) What are the major differences between vapor compression and vapor absorption refrigeration cycles? What are typical limitations of vapor absorption systems? The absorption cycle is a process by which refrigeration effect is produced through the use of two fluids and some quantity of heat input, rather than electrical input as in the more familiar vapor compression cycle. Both vapor compression and absorption refrigeration cycles accomplish the removal of heat through the evaporation of a refrigerant at a low pressure and the rejection of heat through the condensation of the refrigerant at a higher pressure. The method of creating the pressure

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difference and circulating the refrigerant is the primary difference between the two cycles. The vapor compression cycle employs a mechanical compressor to create the pressure differences necessary to circulate the refrigerant. In the absorption system, a secondary fluid or absorbent is used to circulate the refrigerant. Because the temperature requirements for the cycle fall into the low-tomoderate temperature range, and there is significant potential for electrical energy savings, absorption would seem to be a good prospect for geothermal application.4 Some limitations of vapor absorption systems are that for applications above 32F, the cycle uses lithium bromide as the absorbent and water as the refrigerant. For applications below 32F, an ammonia-water cycle is in use, with ammonia as the refrigerant and water as the absorbent. 3) What is an ozone depleting species? Which refrigerants are considered ozone depleting species? Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), along with other chlorine and bromine containing compounds, are Ozone depleting species that have implication in the acceleration of reducing the ozone in the Earths stratosphere. The ozone layer acts as a blanket, protecting us from harmful UV radiation, so it is essential that we reduce these chemicals that are deteriorating the ozone layer. Common ozone depleting species are found in industry, and house hold applications because they are non-toxic, nonflammable, and non-reactive with other components. Here is a list of common refrigerants5: Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs): CFC11, CFC12, CFC502, CFC13, CFC115, CFC113, CFC500, CFC114, CFC503. Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs): HCFC22, HCFC123, HCFC124. Refrigerant blends containing HCFCs: R401A, R401B, R402A, R402B, R403A, R403B, R406A, R408A, R409A, R409B, R411B. Halon refrigerant: R13B1.

Conclusion
Looking at Plot 1, you can tell that our data is pretty close to that of a typical P-h diagram, as seen in Figure 2. From Graph 1-a, Graph 1-b, Graph 1-c, and Graph 1-d you can see that the results are as expected; as you increase the temperature you increase the pressure and vice versa. Graph 2-a and Graph 2-b both show that as the refrigerant is condensed the condenser temperature increase and heat transfer decrease in a linear way, as expected. Similarly as you decrease the evaporator temperature the heat transfer goes up, as seen in Graph 3-a; however, if you decrease the water flow rate the heat transfer will go down as you decrease the evaporator temperature as seen in Graph 3-b. The COP for the refrigeration was pretty good and ranged from 7-1, as seen in Graph 5. From Graph 4-a, Method 1, you can see that as the evaporator temperature drops the more work the compressor will do and for Method 2 you can see the opposite, as you the evaporator temperature drops the less work the compressor does. It is hard to tell which work is the actual of the compressor work, but you can say that the average compressor work is about 70 Watts. Graph 4-b shows that the volumetric efficiency drops as you decrease the evaporator temperature. This seems as expected because the evaporator heat transfer is decreasing while the enthalpy values are also decreasing and so the mass flow rate should also be decreasing. The relationship between the condenser and evaporator heat transfer coefficients was that as you decrease the water flow rate, you decrease the heat transfer coefficients, as seen in Graph 6-a and Graph 6-b; the trend is linear decreasing for the condenser when the evaporator is held constant and for the evaporator when the condenser is held constant. The pumping over process seemed normal and is a good method to maintain the refrigeration system, because the refrigerant is dangerous to the environment. The demonstration of air in the system proved that the more air you have the less efficient the system would be.

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Recommendation
Our absolute chamber pressures seemed to be high and it would be recommended that air pressure be released more frequently. A trial run should be done before part one and part two, in order to make sure the absolute chamber pressures are in agreement with the appropriate thermo dynamic tables.

Jorge Corona

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References
1. Sonntag, Richard E., Claus Borgnakke, and Gordon J. Van Wylen. Pg. 218. Fundamentals of Thermodynamics, Sixth Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2003. 2. Chapter 3 from Moran and Shapiro, found online: http://202.113.80.70/kejian/liwenjiekejian/yingwen/gongke/rexuejibendinglu-english/Notes24.ppt 3. Thermoelectric picture was found on: http://www.polarpowerinc.com/products/refrigerator/ref-tech-overview.htm 4. ABSORPTION REFRIGERATION, Kevin D. Rafferty, P.E., Geo-Heat Center, found on: http://geoheat.oit.edu/bulletin/bull19-1/art62.htm 5. List of refrigerants was found on the UK Environmental Agency, found on: http://www.netregs.gov.uk/netregs/275207/275412/1644699/?version=1& ENGR 463: Thermo Power Systems Lab Manual, Ganji and Meguerdichian, 2007 Ganji, A. Professor of Mechanical Engineering, San Francisco State University Meguerdichian, M. Professor of Mechanical Engineering, San Francisco State University

Equation Page
Heat Transfer of Condenser Heat Transfer of Evaporator

Temperature Difference Between The Two Fluids (inlet)

Temperature Difference Between The Two Fluids (outlet)

Log Mean Temperature Difference

*************************************** Similar equations were used to calculate the log mean temperature difference for the evaporator. *************************************** Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient R-11 Cooling Heat Loss

Work From Compressor (Method #1) Work from compressor (Method #2)

COP (Refrigeration)

Appendix