Refrigerant Flow Control

Refrigerant Flow Control

Hand Expansion Valve
Capillary tube
Thermostatic expansion valves superheat
control
Automatic Expansion Valves Evaporator
Pressure Control
Low Pressure Float Control
High Pressure Float Control
The refrigerant flow control is one of the four major components
in a vapor compression refrigeration system.

The function of any refrigerant flow control is twofold[1]to

adjust the quantity of refrigerant flow into the evaporator
according to the evaporator load; to create a pressure drop from
the high side to the low side of the system in order to permit the
refrigerant to vaporize under the desired low pressure in the
evaporator while at the same time condensing at a high pressure
in the condenser.
 1. Hand Expansion Valves
Hand expansion valves are also called throttle valves.
The structure of a hand expansion valve is shown in Fig.1.

The expansion valve comprises of

main body, valve seat, and hand
wheel which is actuated to change
the opening area around the valve
seat to adjust the frictional
resistance to the refrigerant flow.
The rate of the refrigerant flow through the valve depends on
the pressure differential across the valve and opening of the
valve.
Assuming that the pressure drop across the valve remains the
same, the flow rate through a hand expansion valve will remain
constant at all times regardless of the evaporator pressure and
the evaporator load.
The advantage of the hand expansion valve is
that it is unresponsive to changes in the system
load and the disadvantage is the valve must be
manually readjusted each time when the load
on the system changes in order to prevent either
starving or overfeeding of the evaporator.
In addition, the valve must be opened and
closed manfully each time when the compressor
is cycled on and off.
2.Capillary tube
Capillary tubes are widely used as expansion
devices in small vapor compression refrigeration
Systems, such as household refrigerators, room air
conditioners, and small package air conditioning
units.
In these system, the capillary tube is wound into
with coils for direct expansion.
The tube connects the outlet of
condenser to the inlet of the
evaporator as shown in Fig.2.
 Physically the capillary tubes are hollow tubes
made with drawn copper, with internal diameters
ranging between 0.51and 2 mm .
Primarily there are two kinds of capillary tubes,
namely adiabatic and non adiabatic tubes.
The adiabatic capillary tube expands refrigerant
from high pressure to low pressure adiabatically
while in the non-adiabatic situation, the capillary
tube forms a counter-flow heat exchanger with the
suction line that joins the evaporator and the
compressor .
The refrigerant flow inside the capillary tube is very complex,
particularly in non-adiabatic situations where the capillary
tubes are in thermal contact with the suction lines.
When the pressure of the sub-cooled liquid refrigerant
flowing through
the non-adiabatic capillary tubes drops below the saturation
value
(corresponding to its temperature), a part of the refrigerant
flashes into vapor.
This results in two-phase flow while the refrigerant pressure
continues to drop due to the friction and fluid expansion in
the capillary tube.
3. Thermostatic expansion Valves-
Superheat Control
At present, thermostatic expansion valve is
probably the most widely used refrigerant flow
control device because of its high efficiency and its
ready adaptability to any type of refrigeration
applications.
The thermostatic expansion valve controls the
mass flow rate of the refrigerant into the
evaporator according to inspiration vapor degree of
superheat, and at the same time throttles the liquid
from condensing pressure to evaporation pressure.
I. Internally thermostatic expansion valves

Fig.3 is an operation diagram of the internal equalizer

thermostatic expansion valve, the main parts including:
a needle and seat, a pressure bellows or diaphragm, a
fluid-charged remote bulb, and a spring, the tension of
which is usually adjustable by an adjusting screw.
 A screen or strainer is usually installed at the liquid inlet for the valve to
prevent the entrance of foreign material which may cause malfunction of the
valve.
The main important part of the thermostatic expansion valve is the remote
bulb, which responses the superheat of the refrigeration at the
outlet of the evaporator and then move to close or open the valve to throttle
the flow of the liquid to the evaporator.
 In order to ensure against refrigerant liquid entering the compressor, it is
common practice to have the refrigerant leave the evaporator slightly
superheated.
Superheat is the difference between the temperature at the bulb and the
evaporating temperature, the former is measured at the point where the
remote bulb is located at the exit of the evaporator coil (seen in Fig.3).

It is essential that the entire

length of the remote bulb be in
good thermal contact with the
suction line and the outside of
the remote bulb be adiabatic to
ensure the temperature of the
refrigerant in the suction line and
the remote bulb is equal.
 Superheat is used as a signal to regulate liquid injection through the
expansion valve.
Resulting from the pressure exerted by the saturated liquid-vapor mixture
in the remote bulb, stem and valve head, the bulb pressure pb acts on the
top of the diaphragm to open the valve Fig.13-5.

Besides the bulb pressure, there are two other pressures under the
diaphragm to move the valve toward an open or closed position: the
spring pressure ps acts on the pin and the evaporator pressure pe acts on
the bottom of the diaphragm to close the valve.

When the opening and closing pressures balance each other, the valve pin
is in a stable fixed position.
 When the bulb pressure is greater than the sum
of the spring pressure and the evaporator
pressure, the valve will move to a position more
open than it was and so allow more refrigerant
to flow in the evaporator.
On the other hand, the valve will move toward
a less open position if the closing pressures are
greater than the opening pressure.
II. Externally thermostatic expansion
valves
When there is significant pressure drop between
the valve outlet and the evaporator exit, the
thermostatic expansion valve with an internal
equalizer construction will not function properly.
That is because the saturation temperature of the
refrigerant is always lower at the evaporator outlet
than at the evaporator inlet because of friction as it
flows through the evaporator.
Then it necessitates a higher degree of suction
superheat in order to bring the valve into
equilibrium.
4.Automatic Expansion Valves -
Evaporator pressure Control
Fig.4 is a schematic diagram of
an automatic expansion valve
showing the principal part of
the valve, which includes a
needle and seat, a pressure
bellows or diaphragm and a
spring, the tension of which is
variable by means of an
adjusting screw.
As in the case of the
thermostatic expansion valve
and all other refrigerant
controls, a screen or strainer
is usually installed at the
liquid inlet of the valve in
order to prevent the entrance
of foreign materials which
may cause stoppage of the
valve.
5. Low-Pressure Float Control
The low pressure float control (low side float) acts to maintain a
constant level of liquid in the evaporator by regulating the flow
of liquid refrigerant into that unit in accordance with the rate at
which the supply of liquid is being depleted by vaporization . It is
responsive only to the level of liquid in the evaporator and will
maintain the evaporator filled with liquid refrigerant to the
desired level under all conditions of loading without regard for
the evaporator temperature and pressure. The low pressure float
may be installed in the evaporator in which it is controlling the
liquid level or it may be installed external to these units in a
separate float chamber.
6. High-Pressure Float Control
The high pressure float valve is a liquid level
actuated refrigerant flow control that regulates the
flow of liquid to the evaporator in accordance with
the rate at which the liquid is being vaporized.
These device is located on the high pressure side of
the system and controls the amount of liquid in the
evaporator indirectly by maintaining a constant
liquid level in the high side pressure float control