University College Of Engineering (A)

Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Kakinada

Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

By

Prof. A. Swarna Kumari

Directorate of Empowerment of Women & Grievances,
JNTUK

Prof. Dr. B. Bala Krishna

Head of the Department,
Mechanical Engineering,
UCEK,JNTUK

Introduction
A vapour compression refrigeration system is an
improvised type of air refrigeration system in which a
suitable working substance termed as refrigerant is used.
The refrigerants generally used for this purpose are
ammonia (NH3) carbon dioxide(CO2) and sulphur
dioxide(SO2).
The refrigerant used doesn't leave the system but is
circulated throughout the system alternately condensing
and evaporating.
It is now-a-days used for all purpose refrigeration from a
small domestic refrigerator to a big air conditioning plant.
The first VC system was developed in 1834 by Jacob
Perkins using hand operations.

Components
The main components of a
vapour compression
refrigeration system are
Compressor
Condenser
Expansion valve
Evaporator

Two-phase
liquid-vapor mixture

VC refrigeration

1. Compressor : The low pressure and temperature

vapour from refrigerant is drawn into
compressor where it is compressed into a high
pressure and temperature vapour.
2. Condenser : The condenser or cooler consists
of coils of pipe in which the high pressure and
temperature vapour refrigerant is cooled and
condensed. The refrigerant gives up latent heat
to surrounding condensing medium which is
normally air or water.
3. Expansion valve : It is also called throttle valve
or refrigerant control valve. Its function is to
allow the liquid refrigerant under high pressure
and temperature to pass at controlled rate after

4. Evaporator : it consists of coils of pipe in which

the liquid-vapour refrigerant (at low P and T) is
evaporated and changed into vapour state. In
evaporating, the refrigerant absorbs its latent
heat of vaporization from the medium (air, water
or brine) which is to be cooled.

In any compression refrigeration system, there

are two pressure conditions such as low and
high pressure sides.
High pressure side includes the discharge
line(piping to the condenser), condenser and
expansion valve.
Evaporator, piping from the expansion valve to
evaporator and the suction line (piping from
evaporator to compressor) comes under low
pressure side.

Vapour compression refrigeratin

system (schematic)

VC refrigeration cycle

T-s and p-h representation of

the cycle

During the working of a vapour compression

refrigeration it consists of four processes:
1. compression process(1-2)
2. condensation process(2-3)
3. expansion process(3-4)
4. evaporation process(4-1)

1. Compression process :
In this process, low pressure vapour refrigerant from
the evaporator is drawn into the compressor, where it
gets compressed into high pressure and temperature .
The compression takes place adiabatically
2. Condensation process:
The vapour enters into condenser where it is
condensed into liquid. In this process reversible
rejection of heat takes place with the help of cooling
medium circulated in the condenser. Enthalpy
decreases whereas pressure and temperature remains
constant

3. Expansion process :
The condensate leaving the condenser enters into
the receiver from where required amount of
refrigerant is supplied to expansion valve. In the
valve , irreversible expansion takes place at
constant enthalpy.
4. Evaporation process:
reversible addition heat takes place at constant
pressure. Heat is absorbed by the liquid refrigerant
present in the evaporator and vaporizes into
vapour state. The low pressure vapour enters into
the compressor thus completing the cycle.

Comparison with reversed

Carnot cycle

Carnot refrigeration cycle is a completely reversible

cycle
Hence it is used as a model of perfection for a
refrigeration cycle operating between a constant
temperature heat source and sink.
The basic Carnot refrigeration system for pure
vapour consists of four components: compressor,
condenser, turbine and evaporator.
This cycle involves two isothermal heat transfer
processes (processes 4-1 and 2-3) and two isentropic
work transfer processes (processes 1-2 and 3-4)
Refrigeration effect is obtained at the evaporator as
the refrigerant undergoes the process of
vaporization and extracts the latent heat from the
low temperature heat source.

Vapour compression cycle 1-2-3-4

Reversed carnot cycle 1-2-3-4 or 12-3-4
both cycles operating at same
temperature limits.

The V.C cycle presents three deviations from the reversed

carnot cycle :
1. Area 4-4-c-d representing a loss of the refrigerating effect as
a result of throttling.
2. Area 4-4-c-d also representing a loss of positive work,
resulting from the failure of expansion work.
3. Area 2-2-2 of superheat horn, representing an increase of
negative work, as a result of dry compression.
Consequently, theoretical C.O.P of vapour compression cycle is
lower than that of the reversed Carnot cycle. Nevertheless it is
the closest approximation to Carnot cycle compared to others.

Vapour compression system

calculations

VC cycle on T-s
diagram

 It is worth noting that two of the processes are at constant

pressure and one is at constant enthalpy.
Therefore p-h diagram is a convenient way of
representing and calculating the vapour compression cycle.

 Further calculations done using p-h diagram:

Heat
rejected ,
COP for cooling,
COP for
heating,
Refrigeration
circulation rate,
theoretical piston displacement of the
compressor
Power consumption,
Heat rejected in
condenser,

 For mass flow rate, power consumption per ton

refrigeration and :

The isentropic discharge temperature t2 can be

found by
following methods
1. Graphically from p-h diagram by drawing the
isentropic
from point 1 to pk = constant line or by
iteration and
finding t2 corresponding to s2=s1.
2. Using saturation properties and specific heat
3. Using superheat tables and interpolating.
of vapour,

Ewings construction
The theoretical COP is found to depend on the
state of the vapour at suction to compressor,
which may be wet, dry or superheated.

COP is zero at 4 since the vapour is

immediately
compressed to 5. COP increases as the suction
state is

 A trend in increasing COP may continue until the

suction state 1m for maximum COP is reached.
For some refrigerants suction state 1m occurs in
the two phase region and for some others in the
superheat region.
Ewing has shown that when this maximum COP
occurs with the state 1m in two phase region, the
COP is equal to that of a reversed Carnot cycle
operating between the evaporator temperature T 0
and superheated discharge vapour temperature
T2m .
COPmax

Effect of various parameters

Decrease in evaporator
pressure results in
1. Decrease in R.E from
(h1-h4) to (h1-h4)
2. Increase in work
required for
compression from (h2h1) to (h2-h1)

Effect of evaporator
pressure

Since COP is the ratio of R.E to work done,

decrease in suction pressure results in decrease
in the COP .

Effect of various parameters

Increase in discharge or
condenser pressure
results in:
1. Decrease in R.E from (h1h4) to (h1-h4)
2. Increase in work required
for compression from (h2h1) result
to (h2-h
)
This
is 1similar
to the decrease in evaporator
pressure.
But the effect of increase in condenser pressure is
not as severe on the refrigerating capacity of the
system as that of decrease in evaporator pressure

Improvements techniques
The simple saturation cycle can be improved by
1. By superheating
2. By liquid sub cooling
3. By liquid vapour regenerative heat exchanger
4. Introducing flash chamber between the
expansion valve and the evaporator
5. By using the accumulator or pre-cooler

superheating
Superheating of defined as the phenomenon in
which the temperature of refrigerant is increased
above the evaporating temperature.
It is usual practice to admit slightly superheated
vapour at the beginning of compression in order to
avoid possibility of wet compression( which leads to
hammer blow).
Thus , about 5-20K of superheat is always desirable.
This superheat may occur due to the following:
(i) Evaporator load is large enough to cause vapour
superheat.
(ii) Heat exchange between the liquid from the
condenser and vapour leaving the evaporator.
(iii) Heat transfer from surroundings.

 Superheating increases both R.E as well as work of

compression.
Superheating increases the specific volume at the inlet
of compressor thus increasing the work of compression.
Hence the COP may or may not increase with
superheat , depending mainly upon the working fluid.

 Effects of superheating of vapour are as follows:

1.Increase in specific volume of suction vapour
from v1 to v1
2.Increase in R.E from (h1-h4) to (h1-h4)
3.Increase in specific work from (h2-h1) to (h2-h1)

 An increase in specific volume decreases the capacity.

On contrary , an increase in refrigerating effect will
increase the capacity.
Ratio of capacities with and without superheating can
be written as

COP of the cycle with superheat is given by

COP

Liquid sub-cooling
Under-cooling or sub-cooling refers to process of
cooling the refrigerant below condensing
temperature for a given pressure.
This is done by installing a sub cooler between the
condenser and the expansion valve.
Sub-cooling increases the refrigeration effect by
reducing the throttling loss at no additional specific
work input.
Also, sub-cooling ensures that only liquid enters into
the throttling device leading to its efficient operation.
Another practical advantage of sub-cooling is that
there will be less vapor at the inlet of the evaporator
which leads to lower pressure drop in the evaporator

VCRS cycle without and with sub-cooling in (a) P-h

and (b) T-s coordinates

Comparison between a VCRS cycle with and

without sub -cooling on T-s diagram

Without sub-cooling ,throttling loss is equal to the

hatched area b-4-4-c
With sub cooling, throttling loss is given by area a4-4-b
Hence R.E increases by an amount equal to
(h4-h4) or (h3-h3)

liquid vapour regenerative heat

exchanger
Liquid vapour regenerative heat
exchanger combines
superheating of vapour with
liquid sub cooling.
it is a counter flow heat
exchanger in which the
warm refrigerant from the
condenser exchanges
heat with cool refrigerant
vapour from the
evaporator.

Since the mass flow rate of liquid and vapour is

same, applying energy balance of heat exchanger

COP

Simple saturation cycle with flash

chamber
When refrigerant passes through expansion valve
some of it evaporates. This is known as flash.
This vapour formed during expansion is of no use in
producing refrigeration effect compared to that of
liquid which carries heat in the form of latent heat.
The formed vapour can be passed around the
evaporator and supplied directly to the suction of
the compressor by installing flash chamber between
valve and evaporator.
This flash chamber is an insulated container and it
separates the liquid and vapour due to centrifugal
effect .

Simple saturation cycle with flash

chamber

VC refrigeration with flash

chamber

P-h representation

Simple saturation with accumulator

Sometimes, the liquid is not completely evaporated in
evaporator which causes compressor to do an
additional work of evaporating and raising the
temperature of liquid refrigerant.
In order to avoid this, accumulator is installed. It
receives discharge from expansion valve and supplies
the liquid only to the evaporator (as in case of flash
chamber).
The discharge from the evaporator is sent again to
accumulator which helps in keeping off the liquid from
entering the compressor.
Thus accumulator supplies dry and saturated vapour to
the compressor.

Simple saturation with accumulator

VC refrigeration with
accumulator

P-h representation

Actual VCR cycle

The cycles considered so far are internally reversible
and no change of refrigerant state takes place in the
connecting pipelines. However, in actual VCRS
several irreversibilities exist. These are due to:
1. Pressure drops in evaporator, condenser and
LSHX.
2. Pressure drop across suction and discharge
valves of the compressor.
3. Heat transfer in compressor.
4. Pressure drop and heat transfer in connecting
pipe lines etc..,

T- s and p-h
charts of
actual VCR
cycle

Advantages over air refrigeration

C.O.P. is quite high as the working of the cycle is
very near to that of reversed Carnot cycle.
When used on ground level the running cost of
vapour compression refrigeration system is only
1/5 of air refrigeration system.
For the same refrigeration effect the size of the
evaporator is smaller.
It can be employed over large range of
temperatures.
COP is quiet high.

Disadvantages
Initial cost is high.
The major disadvantages are
1. Inflammability.
2. leakage of vapours.
3. Toxicity in some refrigerants.

Multi stage vapour compression

refrigeration systems
Sometimes, the vapour refrigerant needs to be
delivered to a condenser at very high pressure as in
case of low temperature refrigerating systems.
In such cases either we should employ a single stage
compressor with high pressure ratio or compress it in
two or more compressors placed in series.
The compression carried out in two or more
compressors is called multistage or compound
compression .
Compression work can be greatly reduced if the
refrigerant is compressed very close to the saturated
vapour line. This can be achieved through multistage
compression with intercooling.

Advantages
The main advantages of compound compression over
single are
as follows :
1. Work done/kg of refrigerant is reduced.
2. It improves volumetric efficiency for given pressure
ratio.
3. It reduces the leakage loss considerably
4. It gives more uniform torque, and hence smaller size
of flywheel is needed.
5. It provides effective lubrication because of lower
temperature range.
6. It reduces cost of compressor.

Types of Multi stage vapour

compression refrigeration systems
1. Two stage compression with liquid intercooler.
2. Two stage compression with water intercooler and
liquid sub cooler.
3. Two stage compression with water intercooler,
liquid sub-cooler and liquid flash intercooler.
4. Two stage compression with liquid intercooler ,
liquid sub-cooler and flash intercooler.
5. Three stage compression with flash chambers.
6. Three stage compression with water intercoolers.
7. Three stage compression with flash intercoolers
etc.,

Two stage compression with

liquid intercooler

Two stage compression with water

intercooler and liquid sub-cooler

Two stage compression with water intercooler,

liquid sub-cooler and liquid flash chamber

Two stage compression with water intercooler ,

liquid sub-cooler and flash intercooler

Three stage compression with

flash chambers

Three stage compression with

water intercoolers

Three stage compression with

flash intercoolers

Three stage compression with

multiple expansion valves flash
intercoolers