UNITS OF REFRIGERATION

• In earlier days, refrigeration was produced by ice, so, the

rate of removal of heat in a cooling process was
expressed in terms of tons of ice produced per unit time,
usually per day (24 hour).

• Therefore, the standard unit of refrigeration being used is

Ton Refrigeration or simply ton, denoted by the symbol
TR. It is equivalent to the rate of heat required to produce
1 ton (short ton or 2000 Ib) of ice at 32°F from water at
32°F in one day (24 hours).
 UNITS OF REFRIGERATION
• In FPS system, latent heat of fusion of ice is 143.5 Btu/lb
(333.7 kJ/kg)
• Thus, 1 TR= 2000 lb x 143.5 Btu/lb
24 hour
11,958.333 ≈ 12000 Btu/h = 200 Btu/min
(Rough but widely used commercially)
• In general, 1 Short TR means 200 Btu/min (approx)
irrespective of working substance used and its
temperature.
• 2000 lb is equal to one short ton
 UNITS OF REFRIGERATION
• To get accurate values in SI Units, 1 Btu = 1.0550559 kJ, therefore :
• In SI units, 1 short TR = 11,958.333 x1.0550559
= 12616.70662 kJ/h or
= 12616.70662 /60 = 210.2784 kJ/min ≈ 210 kJ/min
or = 210/60 = 3.5 kJ/s = 3.5 kW
• Another way of calculating in SI system, is to take latent heat of ice as
333.7 kJ/kg. Thus, the refrigeration produced by 907.18474 kg of ice
which is equal to 1 short ton (= 2000lb) is:
• 1 Short TR = 907.18474 kg x 333.7 kJ/kg = 12613.6478 kJ/h
24 hour
• = 12613.6478 /60 = 210.227 kJ/min ≈ 210 kJ/min
 UNITS OF REFRIGERATION
A much less common definition is:
• 1 tonne of refrigeration is the rate of heat removal
required to freeze a metric ton (1000 kg) of water at 0°C
in 24 hours.
• Based on the heat of fusion being 333.7 kJ/kg,
• 1 Tonne of refrigeration =
= 1000 kg x 333.7 kJ/kg = 13,904.1667kJ/h
24 hour
Say 14000 kJ/h
= 231.736 kJ/min or 3.862 kJ/s or 3.862 kW
• So 1 tonne of refrigeration, is equal to 3.862 kW, and is
about 9.4% larger than 1 ton of refrigeration, which is
3.5 kW
 SUMMARY
• 1 Metric Tonne of refrigeration
= 231.736 kJ/min or 3.862 kW
• 1 short ton refrigeration is ≈ 12000 Btu/h
• ≈ 210 kJ/min or 3.5 kW
• In MKS units, 1 TR = kcal/h = 3024.2 kcal/h
• = 50.4 kcal/min