REFRIGERATION

REFRIGERATION
AND
AND
AIR CONDITIONING
AIR CONDITIONING
Introduction :
Refrigeration may be defined as the process of achieving
and maintaining a temperature below that of the
surroundings, the aim being to cool some product or space
to the required temperature.
One of the most important applications of refrigeration has
been the preservation of perishable food products by storing
them at low temperatures.
 Introduction:
Air Conditioning refers to the treatment of air so as to
simultaneously control its temperature,moisture content,
cleanliness, odour and circulation, as required by occupants, a
process, or products in the space.

 The subject of refrigeration and air conditioning has evolved

out of human need for food and comfort
 Is cooling and refrigeration are same ?
Refrigeration is not same as “cooling”, even though both the
terms imply a decrease in temperature.
In general, cooling is a heat transfer process down a temperature
gradient, it can be a natural, spontaneous process or an artificial
process.
Refrigeration is not a spontaneous process, as it requires
expenditure of exergy (or availability).
Cooling of a hot cup of coffee is a spontaneous cooling
process (not a refrigeration process), while converting a glass
of water from room temperature to say, a block of ice, is a
refrigeration process (non-spontaneous). “All refrigeration
processes involve cooling, but all cooling processes need not
involve refrigeration”.
Which of the following can be called as a refrigeration process?
?
a) Cooling of hot ingot from 1000oC to room temperature
b) Cooling of a pot of water by mixing it with a large block of ice
c) Cooling of human beings using a ceiling fan
d) Cooling of a hot cup of coffee by leaving it on a table
e) Cooling of hot water by mixing it with tap water
f) Cooling of water by creating vacuum over it
 History of refrigeration:
Natural Refrigeration:
Refrigeration was achieved by natural means such as the use
of ice or evaporative cooling.

Source of ice :
Transported from colder regions
Harvested in winter and stored in ice houses for summer use
Made during night by cooling of water by radiation to stratospehere.
Evaporative Cooling is the process of reducing the temperature
of a system by evaporation of water like
Dissipation of Metabolic heat
Cooling of water in pot

Cooling by Salt Solutions: Certain substances such as common

salt, when added to water dissolve in water and absorb its heat
of solution from water (endothermic process). This reduces the
temperature of the solution (water+salt).

Chloride salt (NaCl) can yield temperatures up to -20°C and

Calcium Chloride up to - 50°C in properly insulated containers.
Q. The disadvantages of natural refrigeration methods are:
a) They are expensive
b) They are uncertain
c) They are not environment friendly
d) They are dependent on local conditions
Ans: b) and d)
Q. Evaporative cooling systems are ideal for:
a) Hot and dry conditions
b) Hot and humid conditions
c) Cold and humid conditions
d) Moderately hot but humid conditions
Ans: a)
 Artificial Refrigeration:
Scottish professor William Cullen made the first
refrigerating machine, which could produce a small
quantity of ice in the laboratory.

 Based on the working principle, refrigeration systems can

be classified as vapour compression systems, vapour
absorption systems, Gas cycle systems, Thermo electric
refrigeration etc.
Developments in refrigeration:
Development in compressor
Development in electric motor
Development in refrigerants (CFC)
Development in non - ozone depleting refrigerants
Applications of RAC:
Applications of refrigeration:
 Food processing, preservation and distribution
 Chemical and process industries
 Special Applications
 Comfort air-conditioning
a) Industrial, such as in textiles, printing,
manufacturing, photographic, computer rooms, power
plants, vehicular etc.
b) Comfort – commercial, residential etc.
Food processing, preservation and
distribution
Storage of Raw Fruits and Vegetables:
The growth of bacteria and the rate of enzymatic processes
are reduced at low temperature. This helps in reducing the
spoilage and improving the shelf life of the food.
Fish
Meat and poultry
Dairy Products
Beverages
Candy
Processing and distribution of frozen food
Effect of storage temperature on useful storage life of food
products
Chemical and process industries:
Separation of gases
Condensation of Gases
Dehumidification of Air
Solidification of Solute
Storage as liquid at low pressure
Removal of Heat of Reaction
Cooling for preservation
Recovery of Solvents
Special applications :
Cold Treatment of Metals
Medical
Ice Skating Rinks
Desalination of Water
Ice Manufacture
Industrial Air-conditioning:
Laboratories
Printing
Manufacture of Precision Parts
Textile Industry
Pharmaceutical Industries
Photographic Material
Farm Animals
Computer Rooms
Power Plants
Vehicular Air-conditioning
 Comfort Air-Conditioning
The internal organs of a human body require a temperature
close to 35°C for their efficient operation, and regulatory
mechanisms of human body maintain this temperature by
rejecting appropriate amount of heat. Human beings do not
feel comfortable if some extra effort is required by the body to
reject this energy. The air temperature, humidity and velocity
at which human body does not have to take any extra action, is
called comfort condition
Residences, offices, shopping malls, theatres, super markets,
auditoriums etc.
Working of domestic refrigerator
Methods of producing low temperatures
Sensible cooling by cold medium
Example: Cold water or brine is used for cooling
beverages, dairy products

Endothermic mixing of substances

Low temperatures can be obtained when certain salts are
dissolved in water.
Phase change processes
Refrigeration is produced when substances undergo
endothermic phase change processes such as sublimation,
melting and evaporation.
Expansion of Liquids
Expansion of gases
Throttling:
 Isenthalpic process
 Temperature decreases or increases during the isenthalpic
throttling process depends on a property of the gas called
Joule-Thomson coefficient.
Expansion of gases through a turbine
Steady flow expansion of a high pressure gas through a
turbine or an expansion engine results in a net work output
with a resulting decrease in enthalpy. This decrease in
enthalpy leads to a decrease in temperature.
Thermoelectric Refrigeration

` Refrigeration effect is obtained at the cold junction and

heat is rejected to the surroundings at the hot junction. The
position of hot and cold junctions can be reversed by
reversing the direction of current flow.
Adiabatic demagnetization
 Based on the Magnetocaloric effect
 Some materials raise their temperatures when adiabatically
magnetised, and drop their temperature when adiabatically
demagnetised.
 Temperature very near the absolute zero may be obtained
 Unit of Refrigerating capacity
 A ton of refrigeration (TR)
 Also called a refrigeration ton (RT)
 Is a unit of power used in some countries (especially in North
America) to describe the heat-extraction capacity
of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment.

 It is defined as the rate of heat transfer that results in the

freezing or melting of 1 short ton (2,000 lb or 907 kg) of
pure ice at 0 °C (32 °F) in 24 hours.
 Freezing or melting of the ice represents a change-of-state only,
which is considered a transfer of latent heat

 Expressing TR in Watt
Latent heat of fusion of ice L= 334 kJ/kg
Amount of heat to be added or removed = M*L
1TR = 907(Kg)*334(kJ/kg)
Heat transfer duration is 24 hr and calculating for a minute or
sec
1TR = (907*334)/(24*60)
= 210 kJ/min
= 3.51 kJ/sec or 3.51 kW
 Q). A cold storage plant is required to 50 tonne of fish. The temperature at
which fish was supplied is 35°C storage temperature of fish -10 °C , Cp of fish
above freezing point is 2.97 kJ/Kg °C, Cp of fish below freeing is 1.26 kJ/Kg
°C, freezing point of fish = -5 °C, latent heat of fish =250 kJ/kg. if the cooling is
achieved with of a day. Calculate refrigerating capacity of the plant in TR .
A Refrigerating machine –the Second
law interpretation
A Refrigerating machine is a device that will either cool or
maintain a body at a temperature below that of the
surroundings.
It is impossible to
construct a device which
will operates in cycle and
producing no effect other
than transffering heat from
low temperature body to
high temperature body.
Refrigeration without work input:
The logical conclusion is there must be
some process in which work is done
Refrigerating machine operating in cycle
Heat engine,Heat pump and Refrigerator
Conditioned space

E- heat engine
H- heat pump
R- refrigerator Conditioned space
Energy ratios or COP:
Used to describe the performance of refrigerator or heat
pump
COP ---- Coefficient of performance:
= Desired effect/work done
= Usefull heat/ work done

COP for cooling = Qo/W =Qo/(Qk-Qo)

COP for heating = Qk/W = Qk/(Qk-Qo)

Power consumption of refrigerating
machine
Expressed in kW or HP or HP/TR
1 HP = 746 watt
= 0.746 kW
1 TR = 3.5167 kW

Expressing work in HP/TR

1 HP = W/ 0.746 W – power consumption
HP/kW refrigeration = W(HP) / (0.746*Qo (kW))

HP/TR = W(HP) / (0.746*Qo (TR) / 3.5165))

= 4.71 W / Qo
= 4.71 /COP
 Refrigeration cycles

Rankine
Carnot
Brayton VCR
VAR
Reversed carnot cycle
 A Reversible heat engine can be reversed in operation to
work as refrigerating machine.
Maximum COP

To --- Refrigeration temp

Tk ---- heat rejection temp
Thermodynamic Processes:

1 2 : isentropic compression (S1=S2)

2 3:Isothermal heat rejection to hot reservoir at Tk=C
3 4: isentropic expansion (S3=S4)
4 1:isothermal heat absorption from cold reservoir at To= C
 Area on T-S diagram representing ∫Tds gives the heat
transfer.
Work done in cycle is calculated as follows:
REVERSED BRAYTON OR JOULE OR
BELLCOLEMAN CYCLE
 assuming air to be a perfect gas
Analysis of Gas Cycle and unit mass of air circulated
The COP of the gas cycle is, therefore, a function of the pressure ratio r
= Pk/Po only.
The lower the value of the pressure ratio, the higher is the COP.
It may be noted that the pressures pk and p0, and hence the
pressure ratio r, have limitations on account of the
operating temperatures,
(i) T1 as the highest refrigeration temperature, and
(ii) T3 as the lowest ambient temperature.
Actual Gas Cycle
1). A refrigerator has working temperatures in the evaporator and condenser
coils of –30 and 35°C respectively. What is the maximum possible COP of
the refrigerator?
2). If the actual refrigerator has a refrigerating efficiency of 0.75, calculate the
refrigerating effect in kW and TR per kW of power input.
A reversed Carnot cycle has a COP for cooling of 4. Determine
the temperature ratio Tk/To
 Determine the power consumption of a domestic refrigerator if its
refrigerating capacity is 1/8 TR. It is operating in an ambient of 40°C.
Temperature in the freezer must be maintained at –15°C. COP of the
system is half the Carnot COP. Assume suitable condensing and
evaporating temperatures.
A gas refrigeration cycle with a pressure ratio of 3 uses helium
as the working fluid. The temperature of the helium is -10°C at
the compressor inlet and 50°C at the turbine inlet. Assuming
adiabatic efficiencies of 80 percent for both the turbine and the
compressor, determine (a) the minimum temperature in the
cycle, (b) the coefficient of performance, and (c) the mass flow
rate of the helium for a refrigeration rate of 18 kW.
Aircraftcoolingsystems

In an aircraft, cooling systems are required to keep the cabin

temperatures at a comfortable level. Even though the outside
temperatures are very low at high altitudes, still cooling of cabin
is required due to

Large internal heat generation due to occupants, equipment etc

Heat generation due to skin friction caused by the fast moving
aircraft
Solar radiation
At high altitudes, the outside pressure will be sub-atmospheric.
When air at this low pressure is compressed and supplied to the
cabin at pressures close to atmospheric, the temperature increases
significantly. For example, when outside air at a pressure of 0.2
bar and temperature of 223 K (at 10000 m altitude) is compressed
to 1 bar, its temperature increases to about 353 K. If the cabin is
maintained at 0.8 bar, the temperature will be about 332 K. This
effect is called as ram effect. This effect adds heat to the cabin,
which needs to be taken out by the cooling system
Even though the COP of air cycle refrigeration is very low
compared to vapour compression refrigeration systems, it is still
found to be most suitable for aircraft refrigeration systems
 Air is cheap, safe, non-toxic and non-flammable. Leakage of air is not a
problem
 Cold air can directly be used for cooling thus eliminating the low
temperature heat exchanger (open systems) leading to lower weight
 Cabin pressurization and air conditioning can be combined in one operation
 The aircraft engine already consists of a high speed turbo-compressor,
hence separate compressor for cooling system is not required. This reduces
the weight per kW cooling considerably. Typically, less than 50% of an
equivalent vapour compression system
 Design of the complete system is much simpler due to low pressures.
Maintenance required is also less
 Air cycle systems for aircraft
Air cycle systems for aircraft
refrigeration
refrigeration

Simple cycle
Boot strap
Regenerative
Reduced ambient
Simple Aircraft Refrigeration Cycle with
Ram Compression
Bootstrap
BootstrapSystem
System
Dry Air Rated Temperature
The temperature of the discharge air from the expander if
there is no condensed moisture present(moisture content
of the air should be low)
The aircraft refrigeration systems are rated based on the mass
flow rate of air at the design DART
Open or closed system
 The air cycle can work as an open cycle or as a closed cycle system.
 A closed air cycle system or a dense air machine has many thermodynamic
advantages. It can work at a suction pressure p0 higher than the
atmospheric. This reduces the volumes handled by the compressor and the
expander. Also, the operating pressure ratio pk/p0 can be reduced, resulting
in a higher coefficient of performance.
 In an open air-cycle system the air after expansion is directly led to the
conditioned space. It is, therefore, necessary to expand air to one
atmosphere pressure. This requires larger volumes to be handled.
 The open cycle system, has another advantage over the closed cycle
system, in respect that it does not require a heat exchanger for the
refrigeration process. This saves the weight and cost of the equipment.
 It, however, has one disadvantage, when the air drawn from the
refrigerated space is humid, it might produce fog and ice at the end of the
expansion process and clog the line. A drier in the circuits required in such
a case.
 Main Expansio
Ambient
To Cabin Ram air compress Air cooler n in
Ti, P4
air T2, P2 or T4, P3 turbine
T1, p1 T3,P3 T5, P4
 Pr ratio p3/p2 = 3

P3-P4 = 0.1 bar

298K, 1.01325 bar

258k, 0.35 bar

1.06 bar

RE= 58.05kW
Stagnation temperature and pressure of the
air entering the compressor
 Pr ratio p3/p2 = 5

300K, 1.01325 bar

263k, 0.341 bar

Power requirement for pressurization
0.504