Refrigeration applications: Refrigeration applications may be grouped in six general categories as follows: 1.

Domestic refrigeration: Domestic application is limited in scope, being concerned primarily with household refrigerators and home freezers. However as number of units in service is quite large, domestic refrigeration represents significant portion of the refrigeration industry.

2.

Commercial refrigeration: Commercial refrigeration is concerned with the design, installation and maintenance of refrigerated fixtures of the type used by retail stores, restaurants, hotels and institutions for the storing, displaying, processing and dispensing of perishable commodities of all types. (e.g. Cadbury cabinets)

3.

Industrial applications: Typical industrial applications of refrigeration are ice plants, large food packaging plants (meat, fish, poultry, frozen foods and the like), breweries, creameries and industrial plants such a s oil refineries, chemical plants and rubber plants. Industrial applications also include applications related to construction industry. Industrial applications are different from commercial applications as they require larger than commercial applications and have the distinguishing feature of requiring an attendant on duty usually a licensed operating engineer.

4. Marine and transportation refrigeration: Marine refrigeration refers to refrigeration aboard marine vessels and includes, for example, refrigeration for fishing boats and for vessels transporting perishable cargo as well as refrigeration for the ships stores on vessels of all kinds. Transportation refrigeration is concerned with refrigeration equipment as it is applied to trucks, both long distance transports and local delivery, and refrigerated railway cars.

5.

Air conditioning: Air conditioning applications are of two types, either comfort or industrial, according to their purpose. Any air conditioning that has as its primary function the conditioning of air for human comfort is called comfort air conditioning. Typical installations of comfort air conditioning are in home, schools, and offices, houses of worship, hotels, retail stores, public buildings, factories, automobiles, buses, trains, and ships. Any air conditioning that does not have as its primary purpose the conditioning of air for human comfort is called industrial air conditioning. This does not necessarily mean that industrial air conditioning systems cannot serve also as comfort air conditioning coincidently with their primary function. Often the secondary function is served, although not always. The applications of industrial air-conditioning almost without limit both in number and in variety. The functions of industrial air-conditioning systems are to (i) control the moisture content of hydroscopic materials (textiles) (ii) govern the rate of chemical and biochemical reactions (petrochemical)(iii) limit the variations in the size of precision manufactured articles because of thermal expansion and contraction (textiles) (iv) provide clean, filtered air that is often essential to trouble free operation and to the production of quality products (quality control).

6.

Food preservation: the preservation of perishable commodities, particularly foodstuffs, is one of the most common uses of mechanical refrigeration. The only means of preserving food o its original fresh state is by refrigeration. This is the principal advantage that refrigeration has over other methods of preservation. However, refrigeration too has its disadvantages. For instance, when food is to be preserved by refrigeration, the refrigeration process must begin very soon after harvesting and must be continuous until the food is finally consumed. Since this requires relatively expensive and bulky equipment, it is often both inconvenient and uneconomical.

Typical refrigeration applications are given below: 1. Ice making 2. Transportation of foods above and below freezing 3. Industrial air conditioning 4. Comfort air conditioning 5. Chemical and related industries 6. Medical and surgical aids 7. Processing of food products and beverages 8. Oil refining and synthetic rubber manufacturing 9. Manufacturing and treatment of metals 10.Freezing of foods 11.Miscellaneous applications: a. Extremely low temperatures b. Plumbing
c.

Building construction etc.