Lecture 30 Thermal Engineering II (22.09.2020)

FUNDAMENTALS
OF
REFRIGERATION
BIBIN CHIDAMBARANATHAN
REFRIGERATION
• Refrigeration is the science of producing and maintaining temperatures
below that of the surrounding atmosphere.
• This means the removing of heat from a substance to be cooled.
• Heat always passes downhill, from a warm body to a cooler one, until
both bodies are at the same temperature.
• Maintaining perishables at their required temperatures is done by
refrigeration.
• Not only perishables but today many human work spaces in offices and
factory buildings are airconditioned.
REFRIGERATION
• Refrigeration unit is the heart of the system.
• In simple, refrigeration means the cooling of or removal of
heat from a system.
• The equipment employed to maintain the system at a low
temperature is termed as refrigerating system.
• The system which is kept at lower temperature is called
refrigerated system.
WAYS TO PRODUCE REFRIGERATION
• Refrigeration is generally produced in one of the following
three ways :
(i) By melting of a solid.
(ii) By sublimation of a solid.
(iii) By evaporation of a liquid.
• Most of the commercial refrigeration is produced by the
evaporation of a liquid called refrigerant.
Important refrigeration applications
• Ice making
• Transportation of foods above and below freezing
• Industrial air-conditioning
• Comfort air-conditioning
• Chemical and related industries
• Medical and surgical aids
• Processing food products and beverages
• Oil refining and synthetic rubber manufacturing
• Manufacturing and treatment of metals
• Freezing food products

Elements of Refrigeration Systems
All refrigeration systems must include at least four basic units as given below :
(i) A low temperature thermal “sink” to which heat will flow from the
space to be cooled.
(ii) Means of extracting energy from the sink, raising the temperature
level of this energy, and delivering it to a heat receiver.
(iii) A receiver to which heat will be transferred from the high
temperature high-pressure refrigerant.
(iv) Means of reducing of pressure and temperature of the refrigerant as
it returns from the receiver to the “sink”.
Refrigeration Systems
The various refrigeration systems may be enumerated as below :
• Ice refrigeration
• Air refrigeration system
• Vapour compression refrigeration system
• Vapour absorption refrigeration system
• Special refrigeration systems

Co-efficient of Performance (C.O.P.)
• The performance of a refrigeration system is expressed by a term known as the
co-efficient of performance
• C.O.P is defined as the ratio of heat absorbed by the refrigerant while passing
through the evaporator to the work input required to compress the refrigerant in
the compressor
• in short it is the ratio between heat extracted and work done.

𝑅𝐸
Co efficient of performance (C. O. P) =
𝑊𝐶
𝐶𝑂𝑃 𝑎𝑐𝑡
𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 C𝑜 efficient of performance 𝐶𝑂𝑃 𝑟𝑒𝑙 =
𝐶𝑂𝑃 𝑡ℎ
Standard Rating of a Refrigeration Machine
• The rating of a refrigeration machine is obtained by refrigerating effect
or amount of heat extracted in a given time from a body.
• The rating of the refrigeration machine is given by a unit of refrigeration

known as ‘‘standard commercial tonne of refrigeration’’
• which is defined as the refrigerating effect produced by the melting of 1

tonne of ice from and at 0°C in 24 hours.
• Since the latent heat of fusion of ice is 336 kJ/kg, the refrigerating effect
of 336 × 1000 kg in 24 hours is rated as one tonne of refrigeration,
336 × 1000
1 𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑇𝑅 = = 3.88 𝑘𝑊
24 × 3600
Ton of refrigeration (TR)
• A ton of refrigeration is basically an American unit of
refrigerating effect (R.E.).
• It originated from the rate at which heat is required to be

removed to freeze one ton of water from and at 0°C.
1 𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑇𝑅 = 3.88 𝑘𝑊

AIR REFRIGERATION
SYSTEM
AIR REFRIGERATION SYSTEM
• Air cycle refrigeration is one of the earliest methods of cooling
developed.
• It became obsolete for several years because of its low co-efficient of

performance (C.O.P.) and high operating costs.
• The air cycle refrigeration system uses air as working fluid/refrigerant.
• This system is working on reversed Brayton cycle or Joule cycle.
• The main characteristic feature of air refrigeration system, is that

throughout the cycle the refrigerant remains in gaseous state.
AIR REFRIGERATION SYSTEM
• The air refrigeration system can be divided in two systems :
(i) Closed system
In closed (or dense air) system the air refrigerant is contained within the piping or components
parts of the system at all times and refrigerator with usually pressures above atmospheric
pressure.
(ii) Open system
In the open system the refrigerator is replaced by the actual space to be cooled with the air
expanded to atmospheric pressure, circulated through the cold room and then compressed to
the cooler pressure.
The pressure of operation in this system is inherently limited to operation at atmospheric

pressure in the refrigerator.
ADVANTAGES OF CLOSED SYSTEM OVER OPEN SYSTEM
• (i) In a closed system the suction to compressor may be at high pressure.
• The sizes of expander and compressor can be kept within reasonable limits by
using dense air
• (ii) In open air system, the air picks up moisture from the products kept in the
refrigerated chamber ; the moisture may freeze during expansion and is likely
to choke the valves whereas it does not happen in closed system and
• (iii) In open system, the expansion of the refrigerant can be carried only upto
atmospheric pressure prevailing in the cold chamber but for a closed system
there is no such restriction.
COMPONENTS OF AIR REFRIGERATION SYSTEM
• Following are the components of an air cycle refrigeration
system:
• (a) Compressor
• (b) Cooler (heat exchanger)
• (c) Expander
• (d) Refrigerator
Bell-Coleman cycle
• In this system, cooling effect is produced in the
refrigerator.
• The system has very low COP.
• In spite of the fact that this system has low

COP, this is still popular in aircraft cooling
system.
• In this system, work obtained by the expander

is used for the operation of the compressor.
• This is why less work is required for the

operation of the system.
Bell-Coleman cycle
• Figures show p-V and T-S plot for the cycle
• Air drawn from the refrigerator at (1) is supplied to the
compressor where it is compressed isentropically by
Process (1-2).
• High-temperature and high-pressure compressed air is
supplied to the cooler where it gets cooled at constant
pressure up to (3).
• The air at (3) is expanded by isentropic process up to (4).
• The cooled air is supplied to the refrigerator to produce
cold effect. The air gets heated at constant pressure
process during (4-1). The process is repeated again and
again.
Bell-Coleman cycle
• Considering m kg of air,
• heat absorbed in refrigerator, QE = mcp(T1 – T4)
• Heat rejected in cooler, QR = mcp(T2 – T3)
• Work required for the operation
QR – QE = [mcp(T2 − T3) – mcp(T1 – T4)]

Bell-Coleman cycle
Merits of Air Cycle Refrigeration
• Since air is non-flammable, therefore there is no risk of fire as in the
machine using 𝑁𝐻3 as the refrigerant.
• It is cheaper as air is easily available as compared to the other refrigerants.
• As compared to the other refrigeration systems the weight of air
refrigeration system per tonne of refrigeration is quite low, because of this
reason this system is employed in aircrafts.

Demerits of Air Cycle Refrigeration
• The COP of the system is very low as compared to other systems.
• The weight of air required to be circulated is more compared with
refrigerants used in other systems. This is due to the fact that heat is
carried by air in the form of sensible heat.

PROBLEM
ON
AIR REFRIGERATION
CYCLE
01
PROBLEM 01 :
Air enters the compressor of an aircraft system at 100 kPa, 277 K and is compressed to
300kPa with an isentropic efficiency of 72%. After being cooled to 328 K at constant
pressure in a heat exchanger, the air then expands in a turbine to 100 kPa with an
isentropic efficiency of 78%. The low-temperature air absorbs a cooling load of 3 tons of
refrigeration at constant pressure before re-entering the compressor which is driven by
the turbine. Find COP of the refrigerator, driving power and air mass flow rate
Air cooler
𝟑 𝟐 𝟐′
Expander Compressor
𝟒′ 𝟒 𝟏
Refrigerator
Given Data:
@ state 2; P2 = 300 kPa
@ state 1; P1 = 100 𝑘𝑃𝑎 T1 = 277 𝐾 𝜂𝑐 = 72%
@ state 3; P3 = 300 kPa T3 = 328 𝐾 𝜂𝐸 = 78%
@ state 4; P4 = 100 𝑘𝑃𝑎 𝐶𝑅 = 3 𝑇𝑅 = 11.64 𝑘𝑊
To find:
COP of the refrigerator (𝐶𝑂𝑃)=?
Driving power ( 𝑃𝑛𝑒𝑡 ) =?
air mass flow rate ( 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 ) =?

Formula
𝑄𝐸
𝐶𝑂𝑃 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑂𝑃 =
𝑃𝑛𝑒𝑡
𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑟 (𝑄𝐸 𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑅) = 𝑚ሶ𝑎 × 𝐶𝑝𝑎 (𝑇1 − 𝑇4′ )
𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑟 (𝑄𝑅 ) = 𝑚ሶ𝑎 × 𝐶𝑝𝑎 (𝑇2′ − 𝑇3 )
𝑁𝑒𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑏𝑒𝑑 (𝑃𝑛𝑒𝑡 ) = 𝑃𝐶 − 𝑃𝐸
𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 (𝑃𝐸 ) = 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 × 𝐶𝑃𝑎 (𝑇3 − 𝑇4′ )
𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑟 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 (𝑃𝑐 ) = 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 × 𝐶𝑃𝑎 × (𝑇2′ − 𝑇1 )

Formula
𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑅 = 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 × 𝐶𝑃𝑎 × (𝑇1 − 𝑇4′ )
𝑜𝑟
𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑄𝐸 = 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 × 𝐶𝑃𝑎 × (𝑇1 − 𝑇4′ )
𝑊𝐸′ 𝑇3 − 𝑇4′
𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝜂𝐸 = =
𝑊𝐸 𝑇3 − 𝑇4
𝑊𝑐 𝑇2 − 𝑇1
𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑟 𝜂𝑐 = ′= ′
𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 1 − 2 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 3 − 4
𝛾−1 γ−1
𝑇2 p2 𝛾 𝑇4 p4 γ
= =
𝑇1 p1 𝑇3 p3
𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 1 − 2 P2 = 300 kPa
P1 = 100 𝑘𝑃𝑎
𝛾−1
𝑇2 p2 𝛾
= γ = 1.4
𝑇1 p1
T1 = 277 𝐾
1.4−1
𝑇2 300 1.4
=
277 100
𝑻𝟐 = 𝟑𝟕𝟗. 𝟏𝟒 𝑲
𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑟 𝜂𝑐 = ′= ′
𝑊𝑐 𝑇2 − 𝑇1 𝜂𝑐 = 72 %
𝑇1 = 277 𝐾
379.14 − 277 𝑇2 = 379.14 𝐾

0.72 =
𝑇2′ − 277
𝑻′𝟐 = 𝟒𝟏𝟖. 𝟖𝟔 𝑲
𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 3 − 4
𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑖𝑟, 𝛾 = 1.4
γ−1
𝑇4 p4 γ
= P4 = 100 𝑘𝑃𝑎
𝑇3 p3
P3 = 300 kPa
1.4−1
𝑇4 100 1.4
= T3 = 328 𝐾
328 300
𝑻𝟒 = 𝟐𝟑𝟗. 𝟔𝟒 𝑲
𝑊𝐸′ 𝑇3 − 𝑇4′
𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝜂𝐸 = = 𝜂𝐸 = 78%
𝑊𝐸 𝑇3 − 𝑇4
T3 = 328 𝐾
𝑇3 − 𝑇4′
𝜂𝐸 =
𝑇3 − 𝑇4
𝑇4 = 239.64 𝐾
328 − 𝑇4′
0.78 =
328 − 239.64
𝑻′𝟒 = 𝟐𝟓𝟗. 𝟎𝟖 𝑲
𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑅 = 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 × 𝐶𝑃𝑎 × (𝑇1 − 𝑇4′ )
𝑜𝑟
𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑄𝐸 = 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 × 𝐶𝑃𝑎 × (𝑇1 − 𝑇4′ )
𝐶𝑅 = 3 𝑇𝑅 = 11.64 𝑘𝑊
11.64 = 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 × 1.005 × (277 − 259.08 )
𝑘𝐽
𝐶𝑃𝑎 = 1.005
𝑘𝑔. 𝐾
𝑚ሶ 𝑎 = 0.646 𝑘𝑔/𝑠 T1 = 277 𝐾
𝑇4′ = 259.08 𝐾
Answer:
Air mass flow rate ( 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 ) = 0.646 𝑘𝑔/𝑠

𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑟 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 (𝑃𝑐 ) = 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 × 𝐶𝑃𝑎 × (𝑇2′ − 𝑇1 )
𝑚ሶ 𝑎 = 0.646 𝑘𝑔/𝑠
𝑘𝐽
𝐶𝑃𝑎 = 1.005
𝑃𝑐 = 0.646 × 1.005 × (418.86 − 277) 𝑘𝑔. 𝐾
𝑇2′ = 418.86 𝐾
𝑷𝒄 = 𝟗𝟐. 𝟏 𝒌𝑾 T1 = 277 𝐾
𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 (𝑃𝐸 ) = 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 × 𝐶𝑃𝑎 (𝑇3 − 𝑇4′ ) 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 = 0.646 𝑘𝑔/𝑠
𝑘𝐽
𝐶𝑃𝑎 = 1.005
𝑘𝑔. 𝐾
𝑃𝐸 = 0.646 × 1.005 × (328 − 259.08)
T3 = 328 𝐾
𝑇4′ = 259.08 𝐾
𝑷𝑬 = 𝟒𝟒. 𝟕𝟒 𝒌𝑾
𝑁𝑒𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑏𝑒𝑑 (𝑃𝑛𝑒𝑡 ) = 𝑃𝐶 − 𝑃𝐸
𝑃𝑐 = 92.1 𝑘𝑊
𝑃𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 92.1 − 44.74 𝑃𝐸 = 44.74 𝑘𝑊
𝑃𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 47.36 𝑘𝑊
Answer:
Driving power ( 𝑃𝑛𝑒𝑡 ) = 47.36 𝑘𝑊

𝑄𝐸 𝑄𝐸 = CR = 11.64 𝑘𝑊
𝐶𝑂𝑃 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑂𝑃 =
𝑃𝑛𝑒𝑡
11.64 𝑃𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 47.36 𝑘𝑊

𝐶𝑂𝑃 =
47.36
𝐶𝑂𝑃 = 0.245
Answer:
COP of the refrigerator (𝐶𝑂𝑃)= 𝟎. 𝟐𝟒𝟓

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FUNDAMENTALS

• Transportation of foods above and below freezing

• Chemical and related industries

• Medical and surgical aids

• Processing food products and beverages

• Oil refining and synthetic rubber manufacturing

• Manufacturing and treatment of metals

• Freezing food products

• Air refrigeration system

• Vapour compression refrigeration system

• Vapour absorption refrigeration system

• Special refrigeration systems

• in short it is the ratio between heat extracted and work done.

• The rating of the refrigeration machine is given by a unit of refrigeration

• which is defined as the refrigerating effect produced by the melting of 1

• It originated from the rate at which heat is required to be

1 𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑇𝑅 = 3.88 𝑘𝑊

• It became obsolete for several years because of its low co-efficient of

• The air cycle refrigeration system uses air as working fluid/refrigerant.

• This system is working on reversed Brayton cycle or Joule cycle.

• The main characteristic feature of air refrigeration system, is that

(i) Closed system

(ii) Open system

The pressure of operation in this system is inherently limited to operation at atmospheric

• Following are the components of an air cycle refrigeration

• (b) Cooler (heat exchanger)

• The system has very low COP.

• In spite of the fact that this system has low

• In this system, work obtained by the expander

• This is why less work is required for the

• heat absorbed in refrigerator, QE = mcp(T1 – T4)

• Heat rejected in cooler, QR = mcp(T2 – T3)

• Work required for the operation

QR – QE = [mcp(T2 − T3) – mcp(T1 – T4)]

machine using 𝑁𝐻3 as the refrigerant.

• It is cheaper as air is easily available as compared to the other refrigerants.

• As compared to the other refrigeration systems the weight of air

refrigeration system per tonne of refrigeration is quite low, because of this

reason this system is employed in aircrafts.

• The COP of the system is very low as compared to other systems.

• The weight of air required to be circulated is more compared with

carried by air in the form of sensible heat.

@ state 1; P1 = 100 𝑘𝑃𝑎 T1 = 277 𝐾 𝜂𝑐 = 72%

@ state 3; P3 = 300 kPa T3 = 328 𝐾 𝜂𝐸 = 78%

@ state 4; P4 = 100 𝑘𝑃𝑎 𝐶𝑅 = 3 𝑇𝑅 = 11.64 𝑘𝑊

air mass flow rate ( 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 ) =?

𝑁𝑒𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑏𝑒𝑑 (𝑃𝑛𝑒𝑡 ) = 𝑃𝐶 − 𝑃𝐸

𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 (𝑃𝐸 ) = 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 × 𝐶𝑃𝑎 (𝑇3 − 𝑇4′ )

𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑟 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 (𝑃𝑐 ) = 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 × 𝐶𝑃𝑎 × (𝑇2′ − 𝑇1 )

379.14 − 277 𝑇2 = 379.14 𝐾

Air mass flow rate ( 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 ) = 0.646 𝑘𝑔/𝑠

𝑃𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 92.1 − 44.74 𝑃𝐸 = 44.74 𝑘𝑊

Driving power ( 𝑃𝑛𝑒𝑡 ) = 47.36 𝑘𝑊

11.64 𝑃𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 47.36 𝑘𝑊

COP of the refrigerator (𝐶𝑂𝑃)= 𝟎. 𝟐𝟒𝟓

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