Vapor Compression cycle

Heat Exchangers
3 Condenser 2

1
Compressor
Heat
Exchanger

P Sub Cooling
4
5 3 Condensation
Evaporator 4 2
6

Expansion
 Heat exchanger sub cools the liquid from the
condenser with suction vapor coming from the Evaporation
evaporator 5 5/ 6 1
Super Heating
h3 - h4= h1 – h6 h
Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 90
 Vapor Compression cycle

Heat Exchangers
 System using the heat exchanger may seem to have obvious advantages because of the increased
refrigeration effect

 Both Refrigeration Capacity and COP to be improved

P Sub Cooling
This is not necessarily true
4 3 Condensation
2


Expansion
Compression is pushed further out into the super heat
region, where work of compression in KJ/kg is greater
than, it is closed to the saturated vapor line
Evaporation
5 5/ 6 1
 Heat Exchanger is justified, where the vapor entering the
Super Heating
compressor must be super heated to ensure that no
liquid enters the compressor h

 Heat Exchanger subcools the liquid from the condenser to prevent bubbles of
vapor from impeding the flow of refrigerant through the expansion valve
Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 91
 Vapor Compression cycle

Actual Vapor Compression Cycle

 Difference b/w actual and Standard cycle can be shown by superimposing the actual cycle on the Ph-
diagram of the standard cycle

 Essential Differences between the actual and

the standard cycle appear: P Sub Cooling Pressure Drop Actual Cycle

2
3

o In the pressure drops in the condenser and Standard Cycle

evaporator

o In the sub cooling of the liquid leaving the

condenser 4
1

o in the superheating of the vapor leaving the Pressure Drop Super Heating
evaporator
h

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 92

 Vapor Compression cycle

Example

In the vapor compression cycle a throttling device is used almost universally to reduce the pressure of
the liquid refrigerant.
(a) Determine the percent saving in net work of the cycle per kg of refrigerant if an expansion engine
could be used to expand saturated liquid Refrigerant 22 isentropically from 35 oC to the evaporator
temperature of 0 oC . Assume that compression is isentropic from saturated vapor at 0 oC to a
condenser pressure corresponding to 35 oC.
(b) Calculate the increase in refrigerating effect in kJ/kg resulting from use of the expansion engine.

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 93

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 94
Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 95
Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC Univ. 96
Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC Univ. 97
 Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

Expansion Devices
 The purpose of the Expansion Device is Two fold:
o To maintain a pressure differential between the high P
and low pressure sides of the system in order to (kPa)
3 Condensation
permit the refrigerant to vaporize under the desired 2
low pressure in the evaporator while at the same time

Expansion
condensing at a high pressure in the condenser

o To meter the liquid refrigerant from the liquid line into Evaporation
4
the evaporator at a rate commensurate with the rate at 1
which vaporization of the liquid is occurring in the
later unit
h, kJ/kg

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 98

 Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

Expansion Devices
Thermostatic Expansion Valve (TEV)
 Most versatile and most commonly used expansion valve in
refrigeration systems
 It maintains a constant degree of superheat at the exit of
evaporator
 It does not allow the liquid refrigerant to enter the
compressor

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 99

 Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

Expansion Devices
Thermostatic Expansion Valve (TEV) – contd --
 A Feeler Bulb that is attached to the evaporator exit tube
so that it senses the temperature at the exit of evaporator

 The feeler bulb is connected to the top of the Bellows by a

Capillary Tube

 Feeler Bulb and the narrow tube contain some fluid that
is called Power Fluid

 The pressure of the power fluid Pp is the saturation

pressure corresponding to the temperature at the
evaporator exit

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 100

 Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

Expansion Devices
Thermostatic Expansion Valve (TEV) – contd --
 If the evaporator temperature is Te and the corresponding
saturation evaporator pressure is Pe

Purpose of TEV is to maintain a temperature Te +ΔTs at

the evaporator exit, where ΔTs is the degree of superheat
required from the TEV

Power Fluid senses this temperature Te + ΔTs by the feeler

bulb and its pressure Pp is the saturation pressure at this
temperature
 Force Fp exerted on top of bellows of area A due to this
pressure is given by:

 Evaporator Pressure is exerted below the bellows:

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 101

 Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

Expansion Devices
Thermostatic Expansion Valve (TEV) – contd --
 Difference of the two forces Fp and Fe is exerted on top of the needle stand
 There is an adjustment spring below the needle stand that
exerts an upward spring force Fs on the needle stand
 In steady state there will be a force balance on the needle stand

 Once Fs is fixed Pp - Pe = Constant and fixed = Tp - Te =

∆Ts = Degree of Superheat

 (Fp – Fe) α ∆Ts OR

Fs α ∆Ts

 Degree of super heat can be adjusted by adjusting

the spring force Fs

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 102

 Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

Expansion Devices
Thermostatic Expansion Valve (TEV) – contd --
Example

 Refrigerant, Power Fluid : R-12

 Evaporator Temp., Te : 4 oC
 Evaporator Pressure, Pe : 250 kPa
 Pressure due to Spring, Ps : 60 kPa
 What is the degree of superheat : ?
 At Steady state, downward pressure Pp is : Pe + Ps = 250 +
60 = 310 kPa
 Saturation Temperature, corresponding to 310 kPa = 9 oC
 ⇒ Degree of Superheat = ∆Ts = Ts – Te = 5 oC

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 103

 Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

Expansion Devices
Thermostatic Expansion Valve (TEV) – contd --

Effect of Load Variation

 If Load on the Plant Increases, the evaporation rate of
liquid refrigerant increases ⇒ the area available for
superheating the vapor increases
 As the degree of superheat increases, pressure of power
fluid Pp increases, the needle stand is pushed down and
the mass flow rate of refrigerant increases
 Both, evaporation rate of refrigerant and the mass flow
rate supplied through the expansion valve are
proportional to the load

 If coil’s Load Drops, the degree of superheat of the vapor

refrigerant at the outlet of the evaporator becomes smaller
 resulting in a narrower valve opening

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 104

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC Univ. 105
 Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

Refrigerant Flow Controls

Automatic Expansion Valves
 The valve consists mainly of:
o a needle and seat
o a pressure bellows or diaphragm Ps
o a spring  It’s tension is variable by means of
an adjusting screw

 It functions to maintain a constant pressure in the

evaporator by flooding more or less of the evaporator Pe
surface in response to changes in the evaporator load

 Evaporator Pressure Pe exerted on one side of the

bellows or diaphragm, acts to move the valve in a
closing direction
o whereas the spring pressure Ps, acting on the opposite side of the bellows or diaphragm, acts to move the
valve in an opening direction
Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 106
 Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

Refrigerant Flow Controls

Automatic Expansion Valves – contd --

 E.g., Tension of the spring is adjusted to maintain a

constant pressure in the evaporator (Pe) of 10 psig Ps

any time the Pe tends to fall below 10 psig, the spring

pressure will exceed the Pe causing the valve to move in
the opening direction Pe

 thereby increasing the flow of liquid to the evaporator

and flooding more of the evaporator surface

 As more of the evaporator surface becomes effective, the rate of vaporization increases and
the Pe rises until equilibrium is established with the Ps

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 107

 Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

Refrigerant Flow Controls

Automatic Expansion Valves – contd --

As Pe tend to rise above the 10 psig, it will immediately

override the Ps and cause the valve to move in the
Ps
closing direction

 thereby throttling the flow of liquid into the

evaporator and reducing the amount of effective
evaporator surface Pe
 Naturally, this decreases the rate of vaporization and
lowers the Pe until equilibrium is again established
with the Ps

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 108

 Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

Refrigerant Flow Controls

Automatic Expansion Valves – contd --

 valve will close off tightly when the Compressor Cycles Off
and remain closed until the compressor cycles on again Ps

 vaporization continues in the evaporator for a short time

after the Compressor Cycles Off and
 since the resulting vapor is not removed by the Pe
compressor
 Pressure in the evaporator (Pe) rises
 during the off cycle, the evaporator pressure (Pe) will
always exceed the spring pressure (Ps) and the valve will
be tightly closed
 When the Compressor Cycles On
the evaporator pressure (Pe) will be immediately reduced
below the spring pressure (Ps),
the valve will open and admit sufficient liquid to the
evaporator to establish operating equilibrium between the
evaporator and spring pressures Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 109
 Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

Refrigerant Flow Controls

Automatic Expansion Valves – contd -- Ps

Effect of Load Variation
 it is evident that maintaining a constant pressure in the Pe
evaporator (Pe) requires that the rate of vaporization in the
evaporator be kept constant
 As the load on the evaporator decreases and the heat transfer
capacity per unit of evaporator surface is reduced, more and more
of the evaporator surface must be flooded with liquid if a constant
rate of vaporization is to be maintained
If load is permitted to fall below a certain level, there is a
possibility of overfeeding of the evaporator to the extent that
the liquid may enter into the suction line
in a properly designed system, overfeeding is not likely to
occur, since the thermostat will usually cycle the compressor
off before the space temperature is reduced to a level such that
the load on the evaporator will fall below the Critical Point
Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 110
 Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

Refrigerant Flow Controls

Automatic Expansion Valves – contd -- Ps

Effect of Load Variation – contd --

 When the load on the system is heavy, the valve permits only a
small portion of the liquid to maintain a constant pressure and Pe
evaporation rate
 This results in considerable loss in compressor capacity and
efficiency

Application

 Automatic Expansion Valve is best applied only to small equipment

having relatively constant loads, such as domestic refrigerators
and freezers, milk chilling units and water coolers.
 Normally the usage is limited to systems of less than 10 TR
capacities with critical charge

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 111

 Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle

Refrigerant Flow Controls

Critical Charge is a definite amount of refrigerant that is put into the refrigeration system
so that in the eventuality of all of it accumulating in the evaporator, it will just fill the
evaporator up to its brim and never overflow from the evaporator to compressor.

Mechanical Engineering Dept. HITEC 112