AIR CONDITIONING:

BASIC REFRIGERATION PRINCIPLES

THERMODYNAMICS

THERMODYNAMICS is derived from thermo, meaning heat, and dynamics, (literally “power”), and
is used to describe the movement or change of a process due to heat flow. Heat and temperature
are often confused or used interchange-ably.

HEAT

HEAT is the FLOW OF ENERGY from one object or system, to another object or system.

TEMPERATURE

Temperature is a MEASURE OF THE INTERNAL KINETIC ENERGY of an object. As an example, a

frying pan has a high temperature because the molecules of the metal are moving quickly. When an
egg is cracked into the pan, heat flows from the pan to the egg. Although not obvious, the
temperature of the pan will drop slightly as it transfers heat to the egg.

HEAT can move in three ways:

1. conduction,

2. convection, and

3. radiation.

CONDUCTION

Conduction is the easiest and most familiar to anyone who has burned themselves on a stove or a
hot pot.

It is the direct transfer of heat from one object to another, when they are in contact.

Since heat is the flow of energy, and it is driven by the temperature difference between two
objects, an iron at 300˚ and a piece of dry ice at -110˚ will both burn a finger because the
temperature difference between the finger and the iron or dry ice is about the same.

In one case the flow of heat is into the finger, in the other the flow of heat is out of the finger, but
in both the heat flow is high.

CONVECTION

Convection is based on the movement of a fluid to transfer heat from one object or area to
another.
Weather is a convective process; hot air and warm water move from the tropics toward the poles.

RADIATION

Radiation is heat transferred directly from a source to an object without using a medium like air or
water.

Heat radiated from the sun will melt snow on the road, even on a cold day.

The radiant energy warms the road surface without directly warming the air.

THREE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS

FIRST LAW

ENERGY CANNOT BE CREATED OR DESTROYED, BUT CAN CHANGE FORM, AND LOCATION. For
instance, burning wood changes the internal energy in the wood into heat and light energy.

SECOND LAW

The Second Law is the most understandable and useful in real world applications, and makes
heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration possible. ENERGY MUST FLOW FROM A HIGHER STATE
TO A LOWER STATE. That is, heat must always flow from the warmer object to a cooler object and
not from the cooler object to the warmer object.

THIRD LAW

As a system approaches Absolute Zero, the entropy of the system approaches a minimum value.
Absolute Zero cannot be attained in a real system; it is only a theoretical limit.

LATENT HEAT

Latent heat is defined as heat which brings about a change of state with no change in temperature.
This refers to a change from a solid to a liquid, or a liquid to a vapor.

LATENT HEAT OF FUSION

Latent heat of fusion is the amount of heat required to be added to change a solid to a liquid.
Example: ice to water

In order to melt 1 gram of ice into water, it takes 334 Joules of energy. There is
no temperature change during this transition – the 0°C ice becomes 0°C water after absorbing all of
that heat. Keep in mind it takes about 4.2 Joules to heat a gram of water by 1C°.

It is pretty easy to see that it takes nearly 80 times the energy to melt water as it does to then heat
it by 1C°. Or to put it another way, the energy it takes to melt ice could heat a mass equivalent of
water by nearly 80C°.
LATENT HEAT OF VAPORIZATION

Latent heat of vaporization is the amount of heat required to change liquid to vapor(gas). This is
also known as the saturation point. Example boiling water to steam

LATENT HEAT OF CONDENSATION

Latent heat of condensation is the amount of heat required to be removed to change a vapor (gas)
to a liquid. Example Steam to water

SUBLIMATION

Sublimation is the amount of heat required to change the state of a substance from a solid to a
vapor without passing through the liquid state, e.g. Dry ice to CO2.

PRESSURE / TEMPERATURE RELATIONSHIP

The boiling point of any liquid is governed by the amount of pressure placed upon its surface.

If the pressure applied on the liquid refrigerant is increased, then the boiling temperature will also
increase.

If the pressure exerted on the liquid refrigerant is decreased, then the boiling temperature will also
decrease.

By reducing the pressure to a sufficiently low enough value it is possible to drop the boiling
temperature to a value that is cooler than the surrounding ambient air temperature, thus resulting
in the process known as refrigeration.

REFRIGRATION & AIRCONDITIONING

Refrigeration and air conditioning is used to cool products or a building environment. The
refrigeration or air conditioning system (R) transfers heat from a cooler low-energy reservoir to a
warmer high-energy reservoir

TEMPERATURE IN REFRIGRATION

A refrigerator maintains a temperature a few degrees above the freezing point of water. Optimum
temperature range for perishable food storage is 3 to 5 °C (37 to 41 °F). A similar device that
maintains a temperature below the freezing point of water is called a freezer. The refrigerator
replaced the icebox, which was a common household appliance for almost a century and a half
prior. For this reason, a refrigerator is sometimes referred to as an icebox.
Freezer units are used in households and in industry and commerce. Food stored at or below −18 °C
(−0 °F) is safe indefinitely. Most household freezers maintain temperatures from -23 to -18 °C (-9 to -
0 °F), although some freezer-only units can achieve −34 °C (−29 °F) and lower.

HEAT TRANSFER LOOP IN REFRIGERATION SYSTEM

There are several heat transfer loops in a refrigeration system as shown in Figure , Thermal energy
moves from left to right as it is extracted from the space and expelled into the outdoors through
five loops of heat transfer:

Indoor air loop. In the left loop, indoor air is driven by the supply air fan through a cooling coil,
where it transfers its heat to chilled water. The cool air then cools the building space.

Chilled water loop. Driven by the chilled water pump, water returns from the cooling coil to the
chiller’s evaporator to be re-cooled.

Refrigerant loop. Using a phase-change refrigerant, the chiller’s compressor pumps heat from the
chilled water to the condenser water.

Condenser water loop. Water absorbs heat from the chiller’s condenser, and the condenser water
pump sends it to the cooling tower.

Cooling tower loop. The cooling tower’s fan drives air across an open flow of the hot condenser
water, transferring the heat to the outdoors.

PRINCIPLES OF REFRIGERATION (BASIC REFRIGERATION CYCLE)

 Liquids absorb heat when changed from liquid to gas ,

 Gases give off heat when changed from gas to liquid.

For an air conditioning system to operate with economy, the refrigerant must be used repeatedly.
For this reason, all air conditioners use the same cycle of compression, condensation, expansion,
and evaporation in a closed circuit. The same refrigerant is used to move the heat from one area, to
cool this area, and to expel this heat in another area.
The refrigerant comes into the COMPRESSOR as a low-pressure gas, it is compressed and then
moves out of the compressor as a high-pressure gas.

BASIC REFRIGERATION CYCLE

The gas then flows to the CONDENSER. Here the gas condenses to a liquid, and gives off its heat to
the outside air.

The liquid then moves to the EXPANSION VALVE under high pressure. This valve restricts the flow
of the fluid, and lowers its pressure as it leaves the expansion valve.

 The low-pressure liquid then moves to the evaporator, where heat from the inside air is
absorbed and changes it from a liquid to a gas.

 As a hot low-pressure gas, the refrigerant moves to the compressor where the entire cycle
is repeated.

 Note that the four-part cycle is divided at the center into a high side and a low side This
refers to the pressures of the refrigerant in each side of the system

VAPOR COMPRESSION REFRIGERATION CYCLE

 Compression refrigeration cycles take advantage of the fact that highly compressed fluids
at a certain temperature tend to get colder when they are allowed to expand.
  If the pressure change is high enough, then the compressed gas will be hotter than our
source of cooling(outside air, for instance) and the expanded gas will be cooler than our
desired cold temperature.

 In this case, fluid is used to cool a low temperature environment and reject the heat to a
high temperature environment.

Vapour compression refrigeration cycles have two advantages.

 First, A LARGE AMOUNT OF THERMAL ENERGY IS REQUIRED TO CHANGE A LIQUID TO A

VAPOR, and therefore a lot of heat can be removed from the air-conditioned space.

 Second, THE ISOTHERMAL NATURE OF THE VAPORIZATION ALLOWS EXTRACTION OF HEAT

WITHOUT RAISING THE TEMPERATURE OF THE WORKING FLUID TO THE TEMPERATURE OF
WHATEVER IS BEING COOLED. This means that the heat transfer rate remains high ,
because the closer the working fluid temperature approaches that of the surroundings, the
lower the rate of heat transfer.

VAPOR COMPRESSION REFRIGERATION CYCLE

The refrigeration cycle is shown in Figure and can be broken down into the following stages:

1 – 2. Low-pressure liquid refrigerant in the evaporator absorbs heat from its surroundings,
usually air, water or some other process liquid. During this process it changes its state from a
liquid to a gas, and at the evaporator exit is slightly superheated.

2 – 3. The superheated vapour enters the compressor where its pressure is raised. The
temperature will also increase, because a proportion of the energy put into the compression
process is transferred to the refrigerant.

3 – 4. The high pressure superheated gas passes from the compressor into the condenser. The
initial part of the cooling process (3-3a) de-superheats the gas before it is then turned

4 – 5. The high pressure superheated gas passes from the compressor into the condenser. The
initial part of the cooling process (3-4) de-superheats the gas before it is then turned back into
liquid (4-5).

The cooling for this process is usually achieved by using air or water. A further reduction in
temperature happens in the pipe work and liquid receiver (4 - 5), so that the refrigerant liquid is
sub-cooled as it enters the expansion device.

5 - 1 The high-pressure sub-cooled liquid passes through the expansion device, which both
reduces its pressure and controls the flow into the evaporator.
VAPOR COMPRESSION REFRIGERATION CYCLE

EVAPORATION

During this stage, the refrigerant travels through a device called an evaporator that has a large
surface area and typically consists of a coiled tube surrounded by aluminum fins. The cold fluid is a
mixture of liquid and vapor refrigerant as it begins this stage. While flowing through the
evaporator, all the liquid Evaporates and absorbs heat from the enclosed space.

The energy absorbed is used to change the state of the refrigerant from liquid to vapor. This lowers
the temperature of the space, along with whatever food or beverages are stored in it. The
refrigerant exits this stage as a saturated vapor.
COMPRESSION

The heat that was absorbed in the Evaporation stage must be released into the surroundings, but
this will not happen unless the temperature of the refrigerant is higher than the outside air. This is
the purpose of the Compression stage. A device, predictably called a compressor, raises the
pressure of the refrigerant vapor.

Due to basic thermodynamic principles, this causes the temperature of the refrigerant to rise,
leaving the stage as a superheated vapor. Energy is needed to power the compressor, which is why
electricity is required to operate a refrigerator.
CONDENSATION

Increasing the temperature of the refrigerant above that of the surroundings, we can dissipate the
heat necessary to continue the process. This is accomplished with a device very similar to the
evaporator. It also uses a coiled tube with aluminum fins, but may have different dimensions than
the evaporator to accommodate the different state of the refrigerant.

As the hot vapor flows through the condenser, the outside air removes energy And the refrigerant
becomes a saturated liquid. At this point the slightest drop in pressure will initiate evaporation,
which is the basis for the final stage of the process.
EXPANSION

To begin a new cycle, A lowering of the refrigeration temperature to below that of the enclosure.
This is the key to the entire cycle, can utilize the auto refrigeration effect.

When a saturated liquid experiences a sudden drop in pressure, a small amount of liquid is instantly
vaporized and the temperature of the mixture is drastically reduced.

This cold liquid-vapor mixture can now begin a new cycle. The pressure drop is accomplished by
the simplest, yet most important, part of the system –a simple flow restriction. This part is
commonly called a throttle or expansion valve.

AIR HANDLING UNITS ( AHU)

An air handler, or air handling unit (often abbreviated to AHU), is a device used to condition and
circulate air as part of a heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system.

 controls temperature,

 controls humidity,

 controls pressure & air exchange

AIR HANDLING UNIT COMPONENTS

An air handling unit; air flow is from the right to left in this case. Some AHU components
shown are
1 – Supply duct
2 – Fan compartment
3 – Vibration isolator ('flex joint')
4 – Heating and/or cooling coil
5 – Filter compartment
6 – Mixed (recirculated + outside) air duct

CONTROLS

Controls are necessary to regulate every aspect of an air handler, such as: flow rate of air,
supply air temperature, mixed air temperature, humidity, air quality. They may be as simple
as an off/on thermostat or as complex as a building automation system.

for example : Common control components include temperature sensors, humidity

sensors, sail switches, actuators, motors, and controllers.

FILTERS

Air filtration is almost always present in order to provide clean dust-free air to the building
occupants
SUPPLY DUCT

Supply Ducts are used in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) to deliver and
remove air.

These needed airflows include, for example, supply air, return air, and exhaust air.

Ducts also deliver, most commonly as part of the supply air, ventilation air.

As such, air ducts are one method of ensuring acceptable indoor air quality as well as
thermal comfort.

VIBRATION ISOLATORS

The blowers in an air handler can create substantial vibration and the large area of the duct
system would transmit this noise and vibration to the occupants of the building.

To avoid this, vibration isolators (flexible sections) are normally inserted into the duct
immediately before and after the air handler and often also between the fan compartment
and the rest of the AHU.

The rubberized canvas-like material of these sections allows the air handler components to
vibrate without transmitting this motion to the attached ducts.

MIXED ( RECIRCULATED + OUTSIDE) AIR DUCT

The outside air is drawn through a duct which is usually located on the roof of the building,
and the return air is delivered to the supply fan by the return or exhaust fan.

The return air fan exhausts air from the inside room through return air vents into the space
above the drop ceiling (called the return air plenum). This return air then goes through a
return duct to the fan room. The return air can then be exhausted to the outside and/or
recirculated.

MIXED (RECIRCULATED + OUTSIDE) AIR DUCT

The return air moving through the plenum above the drop ceiling often comes in contact
with pollutant sources, including fibrous glass insulation on the ducts or in sprayed on fire
proofing, asbestos insulation on pipes or in fire proofing, and chemicals off-gassing from
the ceiling tiles. ( " Indoor Air Quality".)

The amounts of return air and outside air mixed together is controlled by dampers in the
return and outside air ducts. Each damper can move to any position from fully closed to
fully open.

The return air, exhaust air, and outside air dampers all work together so that when the
outside air damper is fully open, the return air damper is closed and the exhaust air damper
 is open. On the other hand, when the outside air damper is closed, the return air damper is
fully open and the exhaust damper is closed. In this mode the ventilation system would be
entirely recirculating office air.

Indoor air quality problems usually occur when the outside air dampers are not open
enough to provide adequate amounts of outside air. The American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) normally recommends that a
ventilation system should deliver at least 15 to 20 cubic feet per minute (cfm) of outside air
per occupant.

COOLING TOWERS

Cooling towers are devices which enable air movement over the water to remove the system heat
from the water. They are needed when water cooled condensers are installed.

Cooling towers may be considered as water conservation devices as it is illegal to run fresh water
through a condenser once and then to waste. (Water Conservation Act).

Strict guidelines are in force for the maintenance of cooling towers and the control of bacteria.

There are two main types of cooling tower:

1. Natural draft

2. Forced draft (either forced or induced draft): depend on fans to provide the air circulation.

forced – cross flow.

induced – counter flow.

COOLING TOWER OPERATION

 Water is drawn from the sump/basin/reservoir of the cooling tower and circulated
throughout the condenser circuitry before returning to the cooling tower distributor.

 The distributor is located toward the top of the cooling tower and enables the water to be
evenly sprayed over the fill which increases the water surface area for the air flow to
evaporate and cool the water. The cooled water then collects in the sump/basin/reservoir
for recirculation.

 As water evaporates, air draws heat from the body of the water. The larger the surface area
of the water the more heat can be rejected.