Part I Refrigeration

1. Basic concepts of Refrigeration 1.1 Introduction

Refrigeration:
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. Important Applications: Preservation of perishable food products by storing them at low temperatures Providing thermal comfort to human beings by means of air conditioning. Chemical and process industries Special Applications such as cold treatment of metals, medical, construction, ice skating etc. The availability of refrigerants, the prime movers and the developments in compressors and the methods of refrigeration all are a part of it. 1.2 Types of refrigeration systems: i. Natural Refrigeration: Use of Ice Evaporative cooling Cooling By Salt

Contd..
II. Artificial Refrigeration: Vapour Compression Refrigeration Systems: Vapour Absorption Refrigeration Systems: Solar energy based refrigeration system: Gas Cycle Refrigeration: Steam Jet Refrigeration System: 1.2 Reversed Carnot Cycle and its Limitation: 1.2.1: Difference between heat engine refrigerator and heat pump A. HEAT ENGINE: In a heat engine, the energy is transferred from a higher temperature to a lower temperature level called sink. During the process, we get the output as work. The higher temperature is known as source and the lower temperature is known as sink. The figure given below Shows the energy transfer in a heat engine. The Coefficient Of Performance (COP) value of a heat engine will be always less than 1.

Contd
B. REFRIGERATOR: A refrigerator is a reversed heat engine which cools and maintains the temperature of a body lower than the atmospheric temperature. This is done by the process of extracting heat from the cold body and then delivers it to a hot body. In the figure, Q1 is the energy taken from the cold body and Q2 is the energy given to T2. Since T2>T1, a work should be done to the system in order to make the process feasible. T2 will be equal to the atmospheric temperature. COP may be greater than, equal to or less than 1. The product is cold volume. T1<Ta

Contd
HEAT PUMP: There is no difference between a heat pump and a refrigerator in the case of its cycle of operation. The main difference between the heat pump and refrigerator is its operating temperatures. The working temperatures of a refrigerator are cold temperature T1 and atmospheric temperature Ta. Where as in the case of a heat pump, the working temperatures are atmospheric temperature and hot body temperature T2. Here, T1 = Ta COP always greater than 1. Hot volume is the product T2>Ta

Contd..
1.2.2

Air Cycle refrigeration system:

Belong to the general class of gas cycle refrigeration systems Gas is used as the working fluid. The gas does not undergo any phase change during the cycle, consequently, all the internal heat transfer processes are sensible heat transfer processes. Air cycle refrigeration system analysis is considerably simplified if one makes the following assumptions

i. The working fluid is a fixed mass of air that behaves as an ideal gas ii. The cycle is assumed to be a closed loop cycle with all inlet and exhaust processes of open loop cycles being replaced by heat transfer processes to or from the environment iii. All the processes within the cycle are reversible, i.e., the cycle is internally reversible iv. The specific heat of air remains constant throughout the cycle

Contd
1.2.3 Basic concepts The temperature of an ideal gas can be reduced either by making the gas to do work in an isentropic process or by sensible heat exchange with a cooler environment. When the gas does adiabatic work in a closed system by say, expanding against a piston, its internal energy drops. Since the internal energy of the ideal gas depends only on its temperature, the temperature of the gas also drops during the process, i.e.,

where m is the mass of the gas, u1 and u2 are the initial and final internal energies of the gas, T1 and T2 are the initial and final temperatures and cv is the specific heat at constant volume. If the expansion is reversible and adiabatic, by using the ideal gas equation (PV=RT)and the equation for isentropic process (P1V1=P2V2) the final temperature is related to the initial temperature (T1) and initial and final pressures (P1 and P2) by the equation:

Contd
Isentropic expansion of the gas can also be carried out in a steady flow in a turbine which gives a net work output. Neglecting potential and kinetic energy changes, the work output of the turbine is given by:

1.2.4 Refrigeration Cycle Heat flows in direction of decreasing temperature, i.e., from high-temperature to low temperature regions. The transfer of heat from a low-temperature to high-temperature requires a refrigerator and/or heat pump. Refrigerators and heat pumps are essentially the same device; they only differ in their objectives. The performance of refrigerators and heat pumps is expressed in terms of coefficient of performance (COP):

Contd
Reversed Carnot cycle employing a gas:
Reversed Carnot cycle is an ideal refrigeration cycle for constant temperature external heat source and heat sinks. Reversing the Carnot cycle does reverse the directions of heat and work interactions. A refrigerator or heat pump that operates on the reversed Carnot cycle is called a Carnot refrigerator or a Carnot heat pump. Figures below show the schematic of a reversed Carnot refrigeration system using a gas as the working fluid along with the cycle diagram on T-s and P-v coordinates.

Fig. a T-s diagram and major components for Carnot refrigerator

Contd

Fig. b. P-V diagram of a reversed Carnot refrigerator The reversed Carnot cycle is the most efficient refrigeration cycle operating between two specified temperature levels. It sets the highest theoretical COP. The coefficient of performance for Carnot refrigerators and heat pumps are:

The COP of a Carnot system only depends on temperatures of the refrigeration (T1) and heat rejection (Th)

Contd
Process 1-2: Reversible, adiabatic compression in a compressor Process 2-3: Reversible, isothermal heat rejection in a condenser Process 3-4: Reversible, adiabatic expansion in a turbine Process 4-1: Reversible, isothermal heat absorption in a evaporator The heat transferred during isothermal processes 2-3 and 4-1 are given by:

Applying first law of thermodynamics to the closed cycle,

The work of isentropic expansion, w3-4 exactly matches the work of isentropic compression w1-2.

Limitations of Carnot cycle:

Carnot cycle is an idealization and it suffers from several practical limitations. One of the main difficulties with Carnot cycle employing a gas is the difficulty of achieving isothermal heat transfer during processes 2-3 and 4-1. For a gas to have heat transfer isothermally, it is essential to carry out work transfer from or to the system when heat is transferred to the system (process 4-1) or from the system (process 2-3). This is difficult to achieve in practice. In addition, the volumetric refrigeration capacity of the Carnot system is very small leading to large compressor displacement, which gives rise to large frictional effects. All actual processes are irreversible, hence completely reversible cycles are idealizations only. The Carnot cycle cannot be approximated in an actual cycle, because: 1. executing Carnot cycle requires a compressor that can handle two-phases 2. also process 4-1 involves expansion of two-phase flow in a turbine. Seminar on (reading) 1. Ideal reverse Brayton cycle 2. Actual reverse Brayton cycle:

Example:

1.

A Carnot refrigerator extracts 150 kJ of heat per minute from a space which is maintained at -20C and is discharged to atmosphere at 45C. Find the work required to run the unit.

2. A cold storage plant is required to store 50 tons of fish.

The temperature at which fish was supplied = 35C Storage temperature of fish = -10C Cp of fish above freezing point = 2.94kJ/kgC Cp of fish below freezing point = 1.26 kJ/kgC Freezing point of fish = -5C Latent heat of fish = 250 kJ/kg If the cooling is achieved within half of a day, find: a) Capacity of the refrigerating plant b) Carnot COP c) If actual COP = Carnot COP/2.5 find the power required to run the plant.

1.3 Actual Refrigeration System:

The actual compression processes for most compressors and the actual expansion processes for most expanders are irreversible polytropic processes. And there are temperature difference and pressure losses in the actual heat transfer process. These factors make the performance of the actual cycle different from the theoretical one. The analysis of the actual cycle is based on the following assumptions: The air is an ideal gas. There are no pressure losses in the heat exchangers. The temperature difference in the actual heat transfer process is taken into account in the exit temperature of heat Exchangers. Then the actual cycle is depicted on a T-s (temperature -specific entropy) diagram in the following Figure as 1-2s-3-4s-1. For simplicity, the overall isentropic efficiency, which is a widely used efficiency index for refrigeration compressors and expanders, is used to model the compressor and the expander for the cycle.

Contd
The actual work per kg of air input to the compressor for the process 1-2 is calculated as,

2 1

Where c is the isentropic efficiency of the compressor

The actual work developed per kg of air for the expansion process 3-4 is given by,

= 3 4 e
Where eis

the isentropic efficiency of the expander (turbine) Net work input to the air cycle refrigeration system is calculated as 2 1 3 4 e Net refrigerating effect per kg of air is given by, = 1 4 = Cp(T1 T4s) The coefficient of performance (COP) of this cycle can be calculated as = =

Contd
The relationship between temperature and pressure for isentropic compression process 1-2 is:

For the isentropic expansion process 3-4, The relationship between temperature and pressure is

COP of this cycle can be calculated as

1.4 Vapour compression cycle and its equipment's

Vapour compression refrigeration systems are the most commonly used among all refrigeration systems. As the name implies, these systems belong to the general class of Vapour cycles, wherein the working fluid (refrigerant) undergoes phase change at least during one process. The input to the system is in the form of mechanical energy required to run the compressor. The actual Vapour compression cycle is based on Evans-Perkins cycle, which is also called as reverse Rankine cycle. Before the actual cycle is discussed and analyzed, it is essential to find the upper limit of performance of Vapour compression cycles. This limit is set by a completely reversible cycle.

The Ideal VaporCompression Refrigeration Cycle

The vapor-compression refrigeration is the most widely used cycle for refrigerators, air conditioners, and heat pumps.

Assumptions for ideal vapor-compression cycle: Irreversibilities within the evaporator, condenser and compressor are ignored No frictional pressure drops Refrigerant flows at constant pressure through the two heat exchangers (evaporator and condenser) Heat losses to the surroundings are ignored Compression process is isentropic

Contd.

Figure: T-s and P-h diagrams for an ideal vapor-compression refrigeration cycle. 1-2 : A reversible, adiabatic (isentropic) compression of the refrigerant. The saturated vapor at state 1 is superheated to state 2. wc =h2 h1 2-3: An internally, reversible, constant pressure heat rejection in which the working substance is de-superheated and then condensed to a saturated liquid at 3. During this process, the working substance rejects most of its energy to the condenser cooling water. q H = h2 h3

3-4 : An irreversible throttling process in which the temperature and pressure decrease at constant enthalpy. The refrigerant enters the evaporator at state 4 as a low-quality saturated mixture.

h3 = h4
4-1: An internally, reversible, constant pressure heat interaction in which the refrigerant (two-phase mixture) is evaporated to a saturated vapor at state point 1. The latent enthalpy necessary for evaporation is supplied by the refrigerated space surrounding the evaporator. The amount of heat transferred to the working fluid in the evaporator is called the refrigeration load.

COP

Notes: The ideal compression refrigeration cycle is not an internally reversible cycle, since it involves throttling which is an irreversible process. If the expansion valve (throttling device) were replaced by an isentropic turbine, the refrigerant would enter the evaporator at state 4s. As a result the refrigeration capacity would increase (area under 4-4s) and the net work input would decrease (turbine will produce some work). However; replacing the expansion valve by a turbine is not practical due to the added cost and complexity. The COP improves by 2 to 4% for each C the evaporating temperature is raised or the condensing temperature is lowered.

qe Qe / m h1 h4 wi Wi / m h2 h1

qL = h1 h4

The Actual Vapour Compression refrigeration cycle

Fig. below shows an actual vapor compression cycle compared with a basic cycle. There are several differences between them.

The actual compression process is irreversible (not isentropic) and goes in the direction of increase of entropy (S2>S1 ). The isentropic efficiency of the compressor is used to evaluate the performance of the compressor and define enthalpy at the exit of the actual compressor (point 2).

And at the end of the actual heat rejection process in the condenser (process 2-3) the liquid is subcooled, not saturated.

Actual VaporCompression Refrigeration Cycle contd..

Fig. T-s diagram for actual vapor-compression cycle.

Most of the differences between the ideal and the actual cycles are because of the irreversibilities in various components which are:
1. In practice, the refrigerant enters the compressor at state 1, slightly superheated vapor, instead of saturated vapor in the ideal cycle. 2. The suction line (the line connecting the evaporator to the compressor) is very long. Thus pressure drop and heat transfer to the surroundings can be significant, process 6-1.

Contd.

3. The compressor is not internally reversible in practice, which increase entropy. However, using a multi-stage compressor with intercooler, or cooling the refrigerant during the compression process, will result in lower entropy, state 2. 4. In reality, the refrigerant leaves condenser as sub-cooled liquid. The sub-cooling process is shown by 3-4 in Fig above. Sub-cooling increases the cooling capacity and will prevent entering any vapor (bubbles) to the expansion valve. 5. Heat rejection and addition in the condenser and evaporator do not occur in constant pressure (and temperature) as a result of pressure drop in the refrigerant.

Equipment's of Vapour compression refrigeration cycle

1. COMPRESSORS

There are different types of compressors that generally used in industry are, (a) Reciprocating compressor (b) Centrifugal compressor (c) Rotary compressor (d) Screw compressor (e) Scroll compressor The reciprocating and screw compressors are best suited for use with refrigerants which require a relatively small displacement and condense at relatively high pressure, such as R-12, R-22, Ammonia, etc. The centrifugal compressors are suitable for handling refrigerants that require large displacement and operate at low condensing pressure, such as R-11, R-113, etc. The rotary compressor is most suited for pumping refrigerants having moderate or low condensing pressures, such as R-21 and R-114; this is mainly used in domestic refrigerators.

2. CONDENSERS
The functions of the condenser are to desuperheat the high pressure gas, condense it and

also sub- cool the liquid. Heat from the hot refrigerant gas is rejected in the condenser to the condensing medium-air or water. Air and water are chosen because they are naturally available. Their normal temperature range is satisfactory for condensing refrigerants. Like the evaporator, the condenser is also heat-exchange equipment. There are three types of condensers, viz. (a) Air- cooled, (b) Water-cooled and (c) Evaporative. As their names imply, air-cooled condensers use air as the cooling medium, watercooled condensers use water as the medium and the evaporative condenser is a combination of the above, i.e. uses both water and air.

3. EVAPORATORS
The process of heat removal from the substance to be cooled or refrigerated is done in the evaporator. The liquid refrigerant is vaporized inside the evaporator (coil or shell) in order to remove heat from a fluid such as air, water etc. Evaporators are manufactured in different shapes, types and designs to suit a diverse nature of cooling requirements. Thus, we have a variety of types of evaporators, such as a) prime surface types, b) finned tube or extended surface type, c) shell and tube liquid chillers, etc.

4. EXPANSION DEVICES
There are different types of expansion or throttling devices. The most commonly used are: a) Capillary tube, b) Float valves, c) Thermostatic expansion valve.

Multi stage (Cascade ) Vapour compression refrigeration cycle

Systems that have 2 (or more) refrigeration cycles operating in series.

Fig. A 2-stage cascade Vapour compression cycle

Contd
Cascade cycle is used where a very wide range of temperature between TL and TH is required. As shown in Fig. 5-5, the condenser for the low temperature refrigerator is used as the evaporator for the high temperature refrigerator. Cascading improves the COP of a refrigeration cycle. Moreover, the refrigerants can be selected to have reasonable evaporator and condenser pressures in the two or more temperature ranges.

Fig. T-S diagram for a 2 stage cascade Vapour compression cycle

Contd
The two cycles are connected through the heat exchanger in the middle, which serves as evaporator (cycle A) and condenser (cycle B). One can write:

Figure above shows the increase in refrigeration capacity (area under 4-7) and decrease in compressor work (2-2-6-5).

Multistage Compression Refrigeration system

Two-stage expansion system with a flash cooler A two-stage system is a refrigeration system working with a two-stage compression and mostly also with a two-stage expansion. A schematic system layout and the corresponding process in a log p-h diagram are shown in the following figure.

Flash gas is separated from liquid refrigerant in an intermediate receiver between the two expansion valves. The high-stage compressor will then remove the flash gas, as shown in Fig.6.13

Fig Two stage expansion system with a flash cooler

The basic components of the system, with two compressors in series and two expansion valves are shown in Fig above, and the states of the refrigerant around the cycle are shown on pressure-enthalpy coordinates in Fig above.

Contd

Vapor refrigerant at point 1 enters the low-stage compressor at the dry saturated state. It is compressed to the interstage pressure pi at point 2 and mixes with evaporated vapor refrigerant from the flash cooler, often called an economizer. The mixture then enters the high-stage compressor at point 3. Hot gas, compressed to condensing pressure pcon, leaves the high-stage compressor at point 4. It is then discharged to the condenser, in which the hot gas is desuperheated, condensed, and to liquid state at point 5 . After the condensing process, the subcooled liquid refrigerant flows through a throttling device, such as a float valve, at the high-pressure side. A small portion of the liquid refrigerant flashes into vapor in the flash cooler at point 7, and this latent heat of vaporization cools the remaining liquid refrigerant to the saturation temperature corresponding to the interstage pressure at point 8. Inside the flash cooler, the mixture of vapor and liquid refrigerant is at point 6.

Contd

Liquid refrigerant then flows through another throttling device, a small portion is flashed at point 9, and the liquid-vapor mixture enters the evaporator. The remaining liquid refrigerant is vaporized at point 1 in the evaporator. The vapor then flows to the inlet of the low-stage compressor and completes the cycle. This is the overall process of two stage expansion system with a flash cooler.
In the flash cooler, out of 1 unit of refrigerant flowing through the condenser, x unit of it cools down the remaining portion of liquid refrigerant (1 - x) unit to saturated temperature T8 at interstage pressure pi. Because h5 is the enthalpy of the liquid refrigerant entering the flash cooler, h6 is the enthalpy of the mixture of vapor and liquid refrigerant after the throttling device, for a throttling process, h5 = h6. Enthalpies h7 and h8 are the enthalpies of the saturated vapor and saturated liquid, respectively, at the interstage pressure, and h9 is the enthalpy of the mixture of vapor and liquid refrigerant leaving the flash cooler after the lowpressure side throttling device. Again, for a throttling process, h8 = h9 The fraction of liquid refrigerant evaporated in the flash cooler x is given as

1) Fraction of Evaporated Refrigerant in Flash Cooler

Contd
h5 h8 x h7 h8
2. Enthalpy of Vapor Mixture Entering high-Stage Compressor

Ignoring the heat loss from mixing point 3 to the surroundings, we see that the mixing of the gaseous refrigerant discharged from the low-stage compressor at point 2 and the vaporized refrigerant from the flash cooler at point 7 is an adiabatic process. The state 3 at entry to the high-stage compressor is found by applying the energy equation to the mixing of streams 7 and 2. So the specific enthalpy of state 3 given by

h (1 x)h xh
3 2

(3) Coefficient of Performance

For 1 unit of refrigerant flowing through the condenser, the amount of refrigerant flowing through the evaporator is (1 - x) . The specific refrigeration effect can be expressed as

qe (1 x)(h1 h9 )

Total work input to the compressor (including the low and high-stage compressor) ,Wi is

wi (1 x)(h2 h1 ) (h4 h3 )

The coefficient of performance of the two-stage expansion system with a flash cooler COP is
COP qe (1 x)(h1 h9 ) Wi (1 x)(h2 h1 ) (h4 h 3 )

36

Factors affecting cycle performance

(a) Sub-cooling of Liquids: In the below of simple vapor compression cycle, condensation process CD resulted in the liquid at saturated state D. If it was possible to further cool down the liquid to some lower value say up to D, then the net refrigeration effect will be increased as (hB hA) > (hB - hA). Hence, the sub cooling of the liquid increases the refrigerating effect without increasing the work requirement. Thus COP is improved.

Fig. Effect of sub-cooling on cycle performance

Contd
The sub cooling may be achieved by any of the following methods: I. By passing the liquid refrigerant from condenser through a heat exchanger through which the cold vapor at suction from the evaporator is allowed to flow in the reversed direction. This process subcools the liquid but superheats the vapor. Thus, COP is not improved though refrigeration effect is increased. II. By making use of enough quantity of cooling water so that the liquid refrigerant is further cooled below the temperature of saturation. In some cases, a separate subcooler is also made use of for this purpose. In this case, COP is improved. b. Superheating of Vapor: If the vapor at the compressor entry is in the superheated state B, which is produced due to higher heat absorption in the evaporator, then the refrigerating effect is increased as (hB - hA) > (hB hA). However, COP may increase, decrease or remain unchanged depending upon the range of pressure of the cycle.

C. Change in suction pressure (PS):

Fig. Effects of change in the evaporator and condenser pressure. Let the suction pressure or the evaporating pressure in a simple refrigeration cycle be reduced from PS to PS. It will be clear from the figure that: The refrigerating effect is reduced to: (hB - hA ) < (hB - hA ) The work of compression is increased to: (hC - hB ) > (hC - hB) Hence, the decrease in suction pressure decreases the refrigeration effect and at the same time increases the work of compression. But, both the effects tend to decrease the COP.

D. Change in discharge pressure (Pd):

In Fig. above, let us assume that the pressure at the discharge or the condensing pressure is increased from Pd to Pd. It will have effects as follows: The compressor work requirement is increased to: (hC - hB) > (hC - hB ) The refrigerating effect is reduced to: (hB - hA ) < hB - hA ) Therefore, the increase in discharge pressure results in lower COP. Hence, the discharge pressure should be kept as low as possible depending upon the temperature of the cooling medium available.

GAS CYCLE REFREGIRATION

Ideal Gas refrigeration cycle: The power cycles can be used as refrigeration cycles by simply reversing them. Of these, the reversed Brayton cycle, which is also known as the gas refrigeration cycle, is used to cool aircraft and to obtain very low (cryogenic) temperatures after it is modified with regeneration.

Contd....
The work output of the turbine can be used to reduce the work input requirements to the compressor. Thus, the COP of a gas refrigeration cycle is:

The energy equations (neglecting kinetic and potential energy effects) are as follows:

Aircraft cooling systems

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: I. Large internal heat generation due to occupants, equipment etc. II. Heat generation due to skin friction caused by the fast moving aircraft III. 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. IV. Solar radiation 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 as:

Aircraft cooling systems contd..

I. Air is cheap, safe, non-toxic and non-flammable. Leakage of air is not a problem II. Cold air can directly be used for cooling thus eliminating the low temperature heat exchanger (open systems) leading to lower weight III. 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 IV. Design of the complete system is much simpler due to low pressures. Maintenance required is also less.

Simple aircraft refrigeration cycle:

1.

Ramming Process. Let the pressure and temperature of the ambient air is P1 and T1 respectively. The ambient air is rammed isentropically from pressure P1 and temperature T1 to the pressure P2 and temperature T2 (process line 1-2). In actual practice, because of internal friction due to irreversibiliteis the temperature of the rammed aid is more than T2. The actual ramming process is process 1- 2 (adiabatic but not isentropic). During the ideal or actual ramming process, the total energy or enthalpy remains constant. i.e. h2 = h2 and T2 = T2

Contd..

If V is the air craft velocity or the velocity of air relative to the aircraft in meter per second, then the kinetic energy of outside air relative to air craft, By applying steady flow energy equation to the ramming process, the temperature rise at the end of the ram effect can be shown to be:

Due to irreversibilities, the actual pressure at the end of ramming will be less than the pressure resulting from isentropic compression. The ratio of actual pressure rise to the isentropic pressure rise is called as ram efficiency, Ram, i.e.,

Contd 2. Compression Process. The isentropic compression of air in the main compressor is represented by the line 2-3. in actual practice the compression is represented by the curve 2-3. the work done during this compression process is given by: = 2 3 3. Cooling Process : the compressed air is cooled by the ram air in the heat exchanger. This process is shown by the curve 3-4. in actual process there is a pressure drop in the heat exchanger but ignored in here. = 3 4 Expansion Process. The cooled air is now expanded isentropically in the cooling turbine as shown by a process 4-5. the actual due to irreversibility is shown as process 4-5. the work done by the cooling turbine is: = 4 5

4.

The work of this turbine is used to drive the cooling air fan which draws cooling air from the heat exchanger. 5. Refrigeration process. The air from the cooling turbine (i.e after expansion) is sent to the cabin and cockpit where it gets heated by the heat of equipment and occupancy. This process is shown as process 5-i.

Contd The refrigeration capacity of the simple aircraft cycle discussed, is given by:

The COP of the system is given by: = =

5 2 3

5 2 3

Bootstrap system:
Is a modification of the simple system. As shown in the figure, this system consists of two heat exchangers (air cooler and after cooler), in stead of one air cooler of the simple system. It also incorporates a secondary compressor, which is driven by the turbine of the cooling system. This system is suitable for high speed aircraft, where the velocity of the aircraft provides the necessary airflow for the heat exchangers, as a result a separate fan is not required.

Contd..

Contd..
Other modifications over the simple system are: regenerative system and reduced ambient system. In a regenerative system, a part of the cold air from the cooling turbine is used for precooling the air entering the turbine. As a result much lower temperatures are obtained at the exit of the cooling turbine, however, this is at the expense of additional weight and design complexity. The cooling turbine drives a fan similar to the simple system. The regenerative system is good for both ground cooling as well as high speed aircrafts. The reduced ambient system is well-suited for supersonic aircrafts and rockets.

Dry Air Rated Temperature (DART):

The concept of Dry Air Rated Temperature is used to compare different aircraft refrigeration cycles. Dry Air Rated Temperature is defined as the temperature of the air at the exit of the cooling turbine in the absence of moisture condensation. For condensation not to occur during expansion in turbine, the dew point temperature and hence moisture content of the air should be very low, i.e., the air should be very dry. The aircraft refrigeration systems are rated based on the mass flow rate of air at the design DART. The cooling capacity is then given by:

A comparison between different aircraft refrigeration systems based on DART at different Mach numbers shows that: I. DART increases monotonically with Mach number for all the systems except the reduced ambient system II. The simple system is adequate at low Mach numbers III. At high Mach numbers either bootstrap system or regenerative system should be used IV. Reduced ambient temperature system is best suited for very high Mach number, supersonic aircrafts

Seminar

Types of refrigerants
Selection of refrigerants Read, report and present on seminar

Chapter 2. Vapour Absorption System

Vapour Absorption Refrigeration Systems (VARS) belong to the class of Vapour cycles similar to Vapour compression refrigeration systems. However, unlike Vapour compression refrigeration systems, the required input to absorption systems is in the form of heat. Hence these systems are also called as heat operated or thermal energy driven systems. Since conventional absorption systems use liquids for absorption of refrigerant, these are also sometimes called as wet absorption systems. Similar to Vapour compression refrigeration systems, Vapour absorption refrigeration systems have also been commercialized and are widely used in various refrigeration and air conditioning applications. Since these systems run on low-grade thermal energy, they are preferred when low-grade energy such as waste heat or solar energy is available.

1. Ammonia-Water Vapor Absorption Refrigeration System

The working of ammonia-water absorption refrigeration system is based on the simple vapor absorption refrigeration system. In this system ammonia is used as the refrigerant and water is used as the absorbent. The ammoniawater absorption system is used in the domestic as well the commercial applications where the requirement of the temperature could be sub zero or well above 0oC.

Contd The major advantage of the ammonia-water solution is that water has strong affinity for ammonia and they are soluble with each other in wide operating conditions that occur in different refrigeration applications. Further, the ammonia-water solution is highly stable and works well with many materials except copper and its alloys that get corroded in the presence of ammonia. We have already seen that ammonia is considered to be the most suitable refrigerant, however, due to its toxicity its applications are limited and it is not used in the air conditioning applications.

The various parts of the ammonia-water vapor absorption refrigeration system and their working are explained below: 1) Evaporator: It is in the evaporator where the refrigerant pure ammonia (NH3) in liquid state produces the cooling effect. It absorbs the heat from the substance to be cooled and gets evaporated. From here, the ammonia passes to the absorber in the gaseous state. 2) Absorber: In the absorber the weak solution of ammonia-water is already present. The water, used as the absorbent in the solution, is unsaturated and it has the capacity to absorb more ammonia gas. As the ammonia from evaporator enters the absorber, it is readily absorbed by water and the strong solution of ammoniawater is formed. During the process of absorption heat is liberated which can reduce the ammonia absorption capacity of water; hence the absorber is cooled by the cooling water. Due to absorption of ammonia, strong solution of ammoniawater is formed in the absorber. 3) Pump: The strong solution of ammonia and water is pumped by the pump at high pressure to the generator. 4) Generator: The strong solution of ammonia refrigerant and water absorbent are heated by the external source of heat such as steam or hot water. It can also be heated by other sources like natural gas, electric heater, waste exhaust heat etc. Due to heating the refrigerant ammonia gets vaporized and it leaves the generator. However, since water has strong affinity for ammonia and its vaporization point is quite low some water particles also get carried away with ammonia refrigerant, so it is important to pass this refrigerant through analyzer.

5) Analyzer: One of the major disadvantages of the ammonia-water vapor absorption refrigeration system is that the water in the solution has quite low vaporizing temperature, hence when ammonia refrigerant gets vaporized in the generator some water also gets vaporized. Thus the ammonia refrigerant leaving the generator carries appreciable amount of water vapor. If this water vapor is allowed to be carried to the evaporator, the capacity of the refrigeration system would reduce. The water vapor from ammonia refrigerant is removed by analyzer and the rectifier. The analyzer is a sort of the distillation column that is located at the top of the generator. The analyzer consists of number of plates positioned horizontally. When the ammonia refrigerant along with the water vapor particles enters the analyzer, the solution is cooled. Since water has higher saturation temperature, water vapor gets condensed into the water particles that drip down into the generator. The ammonia refrigerant in the gaseous state continues to rise up and it moves to the rectifier. 6) Rectifier or the reflex condenser: The rectifier is a sort of the heat exchanger cooled by the water, which is also used for cooling the condenser. Due to cooling the remaining water vapor mixed with the ammonia refrigerant also gets condensed along with some particles of ammonia. This weak solution of water and ammonia drains down to the analyzer and then to the generator. 7) Condenser and expansion valve: The pure ammonia refrigerant in the vapor state and at high pressure then enters the condenser where it is cooled by water. The refrigerant ammonia gets converted into the liquid state and it then passes through the expansion valve where its temperature and pressure falls down suddenly. Ammonia refrigerant finally enters the evaporator, where it produces the cooling effect. This cycle keeps on repeating continuously. Meanwhile, when ammonia gets vaporized in the generator, weak solution of ammonia and water is left in it. This solution is expanded in the expansion valve and passed back to the absorber and its cycle repeats.

2. Water-Lithium Bromide Vapor Absorption Refrigeration System

In a water-lithium bromide vapor absorption refrigeration system, water is used as the refrigerant while lithium bromide (Li Br) is used as the absorbent. In the absorber, the lithium bromide absorbs the water refrigerant, creating a solution of water and lithium bromide. This solution is pumped by the pump to the generator where the solution is heated. The water refrigerant gets vaporized and moves to the condenser where it is cooled while the lithium bromide flows back to the absorber where it further absorbs water coming from the evaporator. The water-lithium bromide vapor absorption system is used in a number of air conditioning applications. This system is useful for applications where the temperature required is greater than 0oC. Special Features of Water-Lithium Bromide Solution Here are some special features of the water and lithium bromide in an absorption refrigeration system: 1) Lithium bromide has great affinity for water vapor, however, when the waterlithium bromide solution is formed, they are not completely soluble with each other under all the operating conditions of the absorption refrigeration system. Because of this, the designer must take care that such conditions would not be created where crystallization and precipitation of the lithium bromide would occur.

 2) The water used as the refrigerant in the absorption refrigeration system means the operating pressures in the condenser and the evaporator must be very low. Even the difference of pressure between the condenser and the evaporator are very low, and this can be achieved even without installing the expansion valve in the system, since the drop in pressure occurs due to friction in the refrigeration piping and also in the spray nozzles. 3) The capacity of any absorption refrigeration system depends on the ability of the absorbent to absorb the refrigerant, which in turn depends on the concentration of the absorbent. To increase the capacity of the system, the concentration of absorbent should be increased, which would enable absorption of more refrigerant. Some of the most common methods used to change the concentration of the absorbent are: controlling the flow of the steam or hot water to the generator, controlling the flow of water used for condensing in the condenser, and re-concentrating the absorbent leaving the generator and entering the absorber.

 Fig Diagram of two shell Lithium bromide- water absorption water chiller system

Parts and How They Work

1) Evaporator: Water as the refrigerant enters the evaporator at a very low pressure and temperature. Since very low pressure is maintained inside the evaporator the water exists in a partial liquid state and partial vapor state. This water refrigerant absorbs the heat from the substance to be chilled and gets fully evaporated. It then enters the absorber. 2) Absorber: A concentrated solution of lithium bromide is available in the absorber. Since water is highly soluble in lithium bromide, solution of waterlithium bromide is formed. This solution is pumped to the generator. 3) Generator: Heat is supplied to the refrigerant water and absorbent lithium bromide solution in the generator from the steam or hot water. The water becomes vaporized and moves to the condenser, where it gets cooled. As water refrigerant moves further in the refrigeration piping and though nozzles, its pressure is reduced along with the temperature. This water refrigerant then enters the evaporator where it produces the cooling effect. This cycle is repeated continuously. Lithium bromide on the other hand, leaves the generator and reenters the absorber for absorbing water refrigerant. As seen in the image above, the condenser water is used to cool the water refrigerant in the condenser and the water-Li Br solution in the absorber. Steam is used for heating water-Li Br solution in the generator. To change the capacity of this water-Li Br absorption refrigeration system the concentration of Li Br can be changed.

Maximum COP of Ideal absorption refrigeration system

In case of a single stage compression refrigeration system operating between constant evaporator and condenser temperatures, the maximum possible COP is given by Carnot COP:

If we assume that heat rejection at the absorber and condenser takes place at same external heat sink temperature To, then a vapour absorption refrigeration system operates between three temperature levels, Tg, T oand Te. The maximum possible COP of a refrigeration system operating between three temperature levels can be obtained by applying first and second laws of thermodynamics to the system.

Contd
From first law of thermodynamics, From second law of thermodynamics, Since the refrigeration system operates in a closed cycle, the entropy change of the working fluid of the system undergoing the cycle is zero, i.e., Ssys=0. The entropy change of the surroundings is given by:

Substituting the expression for first law of thermodynamics in the above equation

Neglecting solution pump work, Wp; the COP of VARS is given by:

Contd.
An ideal Vapour absorption refrigeration system is totally reversible (i.e., both internally and externally reversible). For a completely reversible system the total entropy change (system + surroundings) is zero according to second law, hence for an ideal VARS. Hence: Hence combining first and second laws and neglecting pump work, the maximum possible COP of an ideal VARS system is given by:

Thus the ideal COP is only a function of operating temperatures similar to Carnot system. It can be seen from the above expression that the ideal COP of VARS system is equal to the product of efficiency of a Carnot heat engine operating between Tg and Toand COP of a Carnot refrigeration system operating between T oand Te, i.e.,

CYCLE CALCULATIONS FOR AMMONIA WATER VARS

1. Composition:
The composition of ammonia-water solution is also expressed either in mass fraction () or mole fraction (x). However, for ammonia-water solutions, the mass and mole fractions are defined in terms of ammonia. For example the mass fraction is defined as the ratio of mass of ammonia to the total mass of solution, i.e., Similarly, the mole fraction of ammonia-water solution is defined as:

The number of moles of ammonia and water can easily be obtained from their respective masses in solution and molecular weights, thus;

where MA (= 17.0 kg/kmol) and MW (= 18.0 kg/kmol) are the molecular weights of ammonia and water respectively.

Contd Since the vapour above ammonia-water liquid consists of both ammonia and water vapour, it is essential to distinguish between the composition in liquid phase and composition in vapour phase. The superscripts L and V will be used to distinguish between liquid and vapour phase compositions. Thus L stands for liquid phase mass fraction and V stands for vapour phase mass fraction. Though the vapour phase composition, can be obtained by assuming ideal solution behavior, it is observed that the actual vapour composition deviates from that predicted by ideal mixture equations. Based on experimental measurements, charts have been developed for obtaining composition of ammonia-water mixture in vapour phase in equilibrium with a solution of ammonia and water at different temperatures. Figure below shows the construction of such a chart using which one can obtain the composition of mixture in vapour phase from known values of liquid phase mass fraction (L) and saturated temperature of pure ammonia or pressure.

2. Vapour pressure of ammonia-water solutions: The effect of ammonia in water is to lower the vapour pressure of water, similarly the effect of water in ammonia is to lower ammonias vapour pressure. Thus the total pressure over ammonia-water solutions is made up of partial pressure of ammonia and partial pressure of water vapour, and is always in between the saturation pressures of pure ammonia and water. If Raoults law is applied to ammonia-water mixtures, then the total pressure at any temperature, Ptotal is given by: where x is the liquid phase mole fraction of ammonia, PA and PW are the saturation pressures of pure ammonia and pure water at that temperature. Ammonia-water solutions properties deviate from ideal solution behavior predicted by Raoults law in a negative manner, i.e., at a given temperature of the solution the actual vapour pressure will be less than that predicted by Raoults law (activity coefficient is much smaller than 1.0). The vapour pressure data of ammonia-water solutions is also available in the form of Dhring and other P-T- plots.

3. Enthalpy of ammonia-water mixtures: Liquid phase: The enthalpy of ammonia-water solution in liquid phase, hL is calculated in the following manner. where L is the liquid phase mass fraction of ammonia, are liquid phase enthalpies of pure ammonia and water respectively. And hmix is the heat of mixing, which is negative (exothermic) which is provided from measurements. Thus enthalpy charts for solution are plotted as a field of isotherms against mass fraction by taking suitable reference values for enthalpy of ammonia and water. Vapour phase: Evaluation of enthalpy of a mixture of vapour of ammonia and water is more complicated compared to liquid phase enthalpy. This is due to the dependence of vapour enthalpy on both temperature and pressure. However, to simplify the problem, it is generally assumed that ammonia and water vapour mix without any heat of mixing. Then the enthalpy of the vapour mixture, hV is given by:

Contd where .v is the vapour phase mass fraction of ammonia and are the specific enthalpies of ammonia vapour and water vapour respectively at the temperature of the mixture. However, since vapour enthalpies depend on temperature as well as pressure, one has to evaluate the vapour enthalpy at suitable pressure, which is not equal to the total pressure. An approximate, but practically useful method is to evaluate the vapour enthalpies of ammonia and water at pressures P A and PW given by:

where y is the vapour phase mole fraction of ammonia and Ptotal is the total pressure. It should be noted that P A and PW are equal to the partial pressures of ammonia and water only if they behave as ideal gases. However since ammonia and water vapour may not approach the ideal gas behavior at all temperatures and pressures, in general PA and PW are not equal to the partial pressures. Using this method enthalpies of ammonia-water mixtures in vapour phase have been obtained as functions of temperature and mass fraction.

Basic Steady -flow process with binary mixtures

a) Adiabatic mixing of two streams: When two streams of ammonia-water solutions mixed adiabatically as shown in Fig. below, one can write mass and energy balance equations as:

From the above equation the mas fraction and enthalpy of the mixture at 3 are given by:

Contd b) Mixing of two streams with heat transfer: The process of mixing of two streams with heat transfer takes place in the absorber and generator of absorption refrigeration systems. For example, Fig. below shows the mixing of saturated refrigerant vapour (state 1) with saturated solution of refrigerant-absorbent (state 2) in the absorber. The resulting mixture is a solution that is rich in refrigerant (state 3). Since the process is exothermic, heat (Q) is released during this process. Mass and energy balance equations for this process can be written as follows:

Contd

From the above equations the enthalpy at state 3 can be found as:

Thus with heat transfer from the mixing chamber, the exit state lies at a vertical distance of (Q/m3) below the state which would result without heat transfer (point 3). The exit point would lie above the state without heat transfer if heat is transferred to the mixing chamber. c) Throttling process: Throttling or isenthalpic expansion of ammonia-water solution takes place in the solution expansion valve of the absorption refrigeration system. Figure below shows the throttling process on enthalpy-composition diagram. Since both mass and energy are conserved during this process, and there is neither work nor heat transfer, we obtain:

Contd

Hence the inlet and outlet states, points 1 and 2 are identical on enthalpycomposition diagram as shown in the figure. However, as there is possibility of vapour generation due to flashing, the exit condition may be a mixture of saturated liquid and vapour at the outlet pressure P2 then the exit temperature T 2 will be much lower than the inlet temperature T1. Taking point 2 as in the two-phase region corresponding to the outlet pressure P2, one can get the vapour fraction and exit temperature T by trial-end-error method.

Steady-flow analysis of the Ammonia- water absorption refrigeration system

The analysis is done by carrying out by applying steady flow mass and energy balance to each component.

Fig. Schematic diagram for a vapour absorption refrigeration system working with Ammonia water solution

Contd
In ammonia-water systems, strong solution means solution that is rich in ammonia, consequently, weak solution refers to solution that is weak in ammonia. The circulation ratio is defined as the ratio of weak solution to refrigerant flow rate i.e;

By applying mass balance across the absorber and assuming the amount of water vapour in the refrigerant vapour at the exit of the evaporator is negligible (v=1); the circulation can be shown to be:

Where s and w are the mass fractions of strong and weak solutions leaving and entering the absorber respectively. Next we will deal with the mass and energy balance for all components which will be similar to the water- lithium bromide solution system. How ever the thermal input to the generator differs due to the heat transfer at the dephlegmator.

Component Analysis: i. Generator: mass balance: 4 = 10 + 6 The energy equation including the heat transfer at the dephlegmator:

Writing the mass flow rate of strong (point 4) and weak (point 6) solutions in terms of refrigerant flow rates and mass fraction; we can write the above equation as:

ii: Condenser: 11 = 10 =

iii. Expansion valve(refrigerant): 12 = 13 12 = 13

Contd iv. Evaporator: 13 = 14 = = ( )

v. Absorber: Mass balance:

2 = 1 + 8

Energy balance in terms of pure Ammonia from the evaporator: = 1 + 8 1 + 2 = [ 1 2 + 8 2 ]

Contd vi. Solution pump : 2 = 3 = = (3 3 ) = (1 + )(3 3 )

vii. Solution heat exchanger II : 3 = 4 = 6 = 7 = Heat transfer rate in the solution heat exchanger, QHX II is given by: = 1 + 4 3 = 6 7 vii. Solution expansion valve: 7 = 8 = 7 = 8 Vii. Refrigerator heat exchanger II : 11 = 12 = 14 = 1 = Heat transfer rate in the refrigerator heat exchanger, QHX I is given by: = 11 12 = 1 14

Steady-flow analysis of the water-Lithium bromide absorption refrigeration system

1. Composition: For water-lithium bromide solutions, the mass fraction is defined as the ratio of mass of anhydrous lithium bromide to the total mass of solution, i.e.,

where mL and m W are the mass of anhydrous lithium bromide and water in solution, respectively.

The composition can also be expressed in terms of mole fraction of lithium bromide as: where nL and nW are the number of moles of anhydrous lithium bromide and water in solution, respectively. The number moles of lithium bromide and water can easily be obtained from their respective masses in solution and molecular weights, thus;

where (ML = 86.8 kg/kmol) and (MW = 18.0 kg/kmol) are the molecular weights of anhydrous lithium bromide and water respectively.

2. Vapour pressure of water-lithium bromide solutions : Applying Raoults law, the vapour pressure of water-lithium bromide solution with the vapour pressure exerted by lithium bromide being negligibly small is given by: where PW is the saturation pressure of pure water at the same temperature as that of the solution and x is the mole fraction of lithium bromide in solution. It is observed that Raoults law is only approximately correct for very dilute solutions of water lithium bromide (i.e., as x 0). Strong aqueous solutions of water-lithium bromide are found to deviate strongly from Raoults law in a negative manner. The ratio of actual vapour pressure to that predicted by Raoults law is known as activity coefficient. The vapour pressure data of water-lithium bromide solutions can be very conveniently represented in a Dhring plot. The plot shows the pressure-temperature values for various constant concentration lines (isosters), which are linear on Dhring plot.

Contd Figures Below shows the Dhring plot. The Dhring plot can be used for finding the vapour pressure data and also for plotting the operating cycle. Pressure-temperature-composition data are also available in the form of empirical equations.

3. Enthalpy of water-lithium bromide solutions Since strong water-lithium bromide solution deviates from ideal solution behavior, it is observed that when water and anhydrous lithium bromide at same temperature are mixed adiabatically, the temperature of the solution increases considerably. This indicates that the mixing is an exothermic process with a negative heat of mixing. Hence the specific enthalpy of the solution is given by:

where hL and hW are the specific enthalpies of pure lithium bromide and water, respectively at the same temperature Figure below shows a chart giving the specific enthalpy-temperature-mass fraction data for water-lithium bromide solutions. The chart is drawn by taking reference enthalpy of 0 kJ/kg for liquid water at 0oC and solid anhydrous lithium bromide salt at 25oC.

Contd

Contd
Enthalpy values for pure water (liquid and superheated vapour) The enthalpy of pure water vapour and liquid at different temperatures and pressures can be obtained from pure water property data. For all practical purposes, liquid water enthalpy, hW,liquid at any temperature T can be obtained from the equation:

The water vapour generated in the generator of water-lithium bromide system is in super heated condition as the generator temperature is much higher than the saturation water temperature at that pressure. The enthalpy of superheated water vapour, hW,sup at low pressures and temperature T can be obtained approximately by the equation:

It should be noted from the property charts that the entire water-lithium bromide system operates under vacuum.

Cycle Steady flow analysis of Water-Lithium Bromide Systems

Figure below shows the schematic of the system indicating various state points. A steady flow analysis of the system is carried out with the following assumptions: i. Steady state and steady flow ii. Changes in potential and kinetic energies across each component are negligible iii. No pressure drops due to friction iv. Only pure refrigerant boils in the generator.

Contd
The circulation ratio () is defined as the ratio of strong solution flow rate to refrigerant flow rate. It is given by:

This implies that the strong solution flow rate is given by:

The analysis for the cycle is carried out by applying mass and energy balance across each component.

Contd

Contd

where vsol is the specific volume of the solution which can be taken to be approximately equal to 0.00055 m3/kg. Even though the solution pump work is small it is still required in the selection of suitable pump.

Contd

Contd

Contd In order to find the steady-state performance of the system from the above set of equations, one needs to know the operating temperatures, weak and strong solution concentrations, effectiveness of solution heat exchanger and the refrigeration capacity. It is generally assumed that the solution at the exit of absorber and generator is at equilibrium so that the equilibrium P-T- and h-T- charts can be used for evaluating solution property data. The effectiveness of solution heat exchanger, HX is given by:

From the above equation the temperature of the weak solution entering the generator (T7) can be obtained since T6 is almost equal to T5 and T8 is equal to the generator temperature Tg . The temperature of superheated water vapour at state 1 may be assumed to be equal to the strong solution temperature T.

Practical problems in water-lithium bromide systems Practical problems typical to water-lithium bromide systems are: 1. Crystallization 2. Air leakage, and 3. Pressure drops

Chapter 3: Steam Jet Refrigeration