Cryogenic Engineering

Lecture 5: Gas Liquefaction and Refrigeration Systems

•Basics of Refrigeration/Liquefaction
•Production of low temperatures
•Ideal thermodynamic cycle
•Various liquefaction cycles

Prof. Dipanshu Bansal

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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 Earlier Topics

• Introduction to Cryogenic Engineering

• An introductory knowledge of Cryogenic
Engineering.

• Properties of Cryogenic Fluids

• Properties of Cryogens, T – s diagram,
Hydrogen, Helium.

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Introduction
• LN2 is used as precoolant in most of the cryogenic
systems and also it is used to provide an inert
atmosphere in welding industries.

• Cryogens like LOX, LH2 are used in rocket

propulsion and in the recent past LH2 is being
considered for automobile.

• The transportation of these gases across the world

is done in liquid state.

• Gas refrigeration can also be used as precoolant

for liquefiers and also in applications where low
temperature gases are required.
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Introduction
Basics of Refrigeration

• The technique of preserving food and perishable

goods is an idea of prehistoric times.

• A system which produces cold or maintains such

low temperatures is called as a Refrigerating
System.

• This process is called as Refrigeration.

• A refrigerating system normally operates in a

closed cycle system.
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Basics of Refrigeration
First Law of Thermodynamics

• It is the manifestation of Law of

dW Conservation of Energy.

dU • The change in Heat (Q) in a system is

equal to sum of changes in the
Internal energy (U) and the Work
dQ (W).
dQ  dU  dW

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Introduction
Second Law of Thermodynamics

• Heat flows from high temperature to

low temperature.

• The second law states that the work is

required to pump the heat from low
temperature to high temperature.

• Hence, work input is needed to

generate and maintain low
temperatures.

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Basics of Refrigeration
• Coefficient of Performance (COP) is
defined as the ratio of heat
extracted (QL) to the work input (W)
TH at a particular temperature.
QH
• Mathematically,
W
QL
QL COP 
W
TL
QL
COP 
QH  QL

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Basics of Refrigeration
• The best performance is delivered by
a system, when it adapts a reverse
Carnot Cycle as the working cycle.
TH
QH • The COP of such a system is called as
Carnot COP and is given by
W
TL
QL COP 
TH  TL
TL
• Carnot COP is often used as a
benchmark to compare the
performances of refrigerating
systems
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Basics of Refrigeration
• COP represents watt of cooling effect
obtained per Watt of power input at a
particular temperature.
300 K
TH
• For example, if it is desired to
QH maintain TL as 100 K with 1 W as
W cooling power. TH is at 300 K. The
Carnot COP is
QL
TL 100 1
TL100 K COP   
TH  TL 300  100 2
• It means that 2 W of input power is
required to deliver 1 W of cooling
power at 100 K.
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Comparative Study
T WP/WC Carnot COP Actual COP
270 0.11 9 3.33 ~ 2.0
100 2 0.5 0.1 ~ 0.05
20 14 0.0714 0.01 ~ 0.005
4 74 0.0135 0.0014 ~ 0.0007

• WP and WC are the work input and the cooling

effect in watts respectively.

• As TL decreases, the Carnot COP decreases.

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Symbols
Symbols used in Liquefaction Cycle
Schematics

• The symbols used in different cycle

schematics of refrigeration/liquefaction
systems are as given below.
QR
Compressor
• A compressor increases the pressure of
the gas. It interacts with the surroundings
in the following ways.

WC • QR – Heat of compression.
• WC – Work required for compression.
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Symbols
Connecting Flow Lines
• The flow of liquid is assumed to be frictionless
and there is no pressure drop during this flow.

• The direction of the arrow indicates the flow

direction.

Liquid Container
• It is assumed that the container is perfectly
insulated from the surroundings.

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Symbols
Expander
• The schematic for a expander is as shown. The
expansion is isentropic and during expansion it
produces work We.

We
Heat Exchanger
• It can either be a two-fluid type or triple-fluid
type depending upon the number of inlets and
outlets attached to the HX.

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Methods of Production
1. Throttling 2. Heat
Method Exchanger
FluidA, in FluidA, out
High Low
Pr. Pr.
FluidB, out
FluidB, in
• Large systems may be formed by combination
of above two methods

• to increase the capacity of the system or

• to reach very low temperatures.

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Methods of Production
3.Compression/ • Arrangements like
Expansion precooling, Joule –
Thompson expansion,
expansion devices like
reciprocating or turbo-
expanders may be used in
these systems.

• COP and capacity of the

system can be improved.

Cold Heat
Exchanger
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Refrigerator
• A refrigerator operates in a closed
thermodynamic cycle.

• The rate of mass flow is same at any

point inside the system.

• The heat is exchanged between the

cold end and the object to be cooled.
Object
• This cold end heat exchanger can also
be used to liquefy gases.

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Liquefier
• A Liquefier often produces cold
Makeup gas liquid, that is drawn off from the
system. For example, a nitrogen
liquefier produces LN2.

• Since the mass is drawn out from

the system, it operates in an open
thermodynamic cycle.

• The mass deficit occurring due to

loss of the working fluid is
Liquefied gas replenished by a Makeup Gas
connection.
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Refrigerator & Liquefier
• Systems can also be used to
Makeup gas liquefy gas (liquefier) as well as to
cool the object (refrigerator).

• One such arrangement is as shown

in the schematic.

• A cold heat exchanger is used to

transfer cold from the liquid
container to the object to be
Object cooled.

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Comparative Study
Makeup gas Makeup gas

Liquefied gas
Refrigerator Liquefier Refr. + Liqu.
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Joule – Thompson Expansion

High Low
Pr. Pr.

Initial Final
Parameter Initial Final • From 1st Law of
Mass flow m i m f Thermodynamics,
Enthalpy hi hf dQ  dW  dU
Velocity vi vf
Datum zi zf Qnet  Wnet   U  U
out in
Heat Qnet
Work Wnet
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Joule – Thompson Expansion
• Applying the 1st Law
 v 2f   vi2 
Qnet  Wnet  m f  h f   gz f   m i  hi   gzi 
 2g 2g
   

• The changes in Heat (Qnet) and Work (Wnet) are

zero for this expansion device.

• The changes in the velocities and datum levels

are very small and can be neglected.

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Joule – Thompson Expansion

 v 2f   vi2 
Qnet  Wnet  m f  h f   gz f   m i  hi   gzi 
 2g 2g
   

• Mass flows are equal at inlet and outlet sections.

h f  hi
• Hence, a Joule – Thompson expansion is an
isenthalpic expansion.

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Joule – Thompson Effect
• T – p plot for any gas at
constant enthalpies are as
shown.
2 1
• As can be seen from the
figure, the constant enthalpy
line shows a maxima at a
particular temperature.

• The line joining maximas

divides the space into
Pressure Region-1 and Region-2.

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Joule – Thompson Effect
• Consider gas at state A in
the region-1 with pressure
and temperature as shown.
2 1
• It is expanded from state A
to state B at a constant
B enthalpy.
A
• As can be seen, this results
in increase in temperature of
the gas.
Pressure
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Joule – Thompson Effect
• Now, consider the gas
sample at state C in region-2
with pressure and
2 1 temperature as shown.

• The gas is expanded from

C state C to state D at constant
enthalpy.
D
• This decrease in pressure
results in drop in
Pressure temperature.
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Joule – Thompson Effect
• The ratio
 T 
 
  p h
2 1 • is negative for AB where
as, it is positive for CD.

B
• This ratio is called as Joule –
A Thompson coefficient and
D this effect is called as Joule
– Thompson Effect (J – T).

Pressure
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Joule – Thompson Effect
• Mathematically,
 T 
 JT   
  p h
2 1
JT Effect
>0 Cooling
B
<0 Heating
A
=0 No effect
D

Pressure
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Joule – Thompson Effect
• This dividing line is called as
Tinv Inversion Curve.

2 1 • The temperature on the

inversion curve at p=0 is
called as Maximum
B Inversion Temperature,
A Tinv.

D
• It is clear that the initial
state of the gas should be
inside the region-2 or below
Pressure
Tinv to have a cooling effect.
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Joule – Thompson Effect
• From the earlier plot, Enthalpy (h) is a function of
both pressure (p) and temperature (T).
h f  p,T 
• Using the calculus, the following can be derived.
 h   p   T 
       1
 p T  T h  h  p

• Rearranging the terms, we have

 T   T   h 
JT         
 p h  h  p  p T
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Joule – Thompson Effect
• Also, using the calculus, the following can be
derived. s  f T , p 

 s   s   s   s 
ds    dT    dp Tds  T   dT  T   dp
 T  p  p T  T  p  p T

cp    Maxwell’s
  Equation
 T  p
 v 
Tds  cpdT  T   dp
 T  p   v  
dh  cpdT  T    v dp
  T  p 
dh  Tds  vdp
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Joule – Thompson Effect
• Also, using the calculus, the following can be
derived.
h  f  p,T 

 h   h    v  
dh    dT    dp dh  cpdT  T    v dp
 T  p  p T   T  p 

 T   T   h 
JT         
 p h  h  p  p T

1   v  
JT  T    v
cp   T  p 
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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Joule – Thompson Effect
• For an ideal gas, the equation of state is RT

p
• Differentiating w.r.t T at constant p, we get
   R 
• On substitution, we get    
 T  p p T
1      1    
JT  T      T     0
cp   T  p  cp   T  

• For an ideal gas JT  0 . It means that the ideal

gas does not show any change in temperature
when it undergoes J – T expansion.

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Thank You!

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Prof. M D Atrey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay