Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering

BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2018-2019

Lesson1
Introduction

Refrigeration may be 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. One of the most important
applications of refrigeration has been the preservation of perishable food
products by storing them at low temperatures. Refrigeration systems are also used
extensively for providing thermal comfort to human beings by means of air
conditioning. Air Conditioning refers to the treatment of air so as to simultaneously
control its temperature, moisture content, cleanliness, odor and circulation, as
required by occupants, a process, or products in the space. The subject of
refrigeration and air conditioning has evolved out of human need for food and
comfort, and its history dates back to centuries. The history of refrigeration is very
interesting since every aspect of it, the availability of refrigerants, the prime
movers and the developments in compressors and the methods of refrigeration
all are a part of it. The French scientist Roger ThÝvenot has written an excellent
book on the history of refrigeration throughout the world. Here we present only a
brief history of the subject with special mention of the pioneers in the field and
some important events.

Brief History
Natural Refrigeration
In olden days refrigeration was achieved by natural means such as the use
of ice or evaporative cooling. In earlier times, ice was either:
1. Transported from colder regions,
2. Harvested in winter and stored in ice houses for summer use or,
3. Made during night by cooling of water by radiation to stratosphere.
In Europe, America and Iran a number of icehouses were built to store ice.
Materials like sawdust or wood shavings were used as insulating materials in these
icehouses. Later on, cork was used as insulating material. Literature reveals that
ice has always been available to aristocracy who could afford it. In India, the
Mogul emperors were very fond of ice during the harsh summer in Delhi and Agra,
and it appears that the ice used to be made by nocturnal cooling.
In 1806, Frederic Tudor, (who was later called as the “ice king”) began the
trade in ice by cutting it from the Hudson River and ponds of Massachusetts and
exporting it to various countries including India. In India Tudor’s ice was cheaper
than the locally manufactured ice by nocturnal cooling. The ice trade in North
America was a flourishing business. Ice was transported to southern states of
America in train compartments insulated by 0.3m of cork insulation. Trading in ice
was also popular in several other countries such as Great Britain, Russia, Canada,
Norway and France. In these countries ice was either transported from colder
Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2018-2019

regions or was harvested in winter and stored in icehouses for use in summer. The
ice trade reached its peak in 1872 when America alone exported 225000 tonnes
of ice to various countries as far as China and Australia. However, with the advent
of artificial refrigeration the ice trade gradually declined.

Art of Ice making by Nocturnal Cooling

The art of making ice by nocturnal cooling was perfected in India. In this
method ice was made by keeping a thin layer of water in a shallow earthen tray,
and then exposing the tray to the night sky. Compacted hay of about 0.3 m
thickness was used as insulation.The water looses heat by radiation to the
stratosphere, which is at around -55°C and by early morning hours the water in
the trays freezes to ice. This method of ice production was very popular in India.

Cooling by Salt Solutions

Certain substances such as common salt, when added to water dissolve in
water and absorb its heat of solution from water (endothermic process). This
reduces the temperature of the solution (water+salt). Sodium Chloride salt (NaCl)
can yield temperatures up to -20°C and Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) up to - 50°C in
properly insulated containers. However, as it is this process has limited application,
as the dissolved salt has to be recovered from its solution by heating.

Evaporative Cooling
As the name indicates, evaporative cooling is the process of reducing the
temperature of a system by evaporation of water. Human beings perspire and
dissipate their metabolic heat by evaporative cooling if the ambient temperature
is more than skin temperature. Animals such as the hippopotamus and buffalo
coat themselves with mud for evaporative cooling. Evaporative cooling has been
used in India for centuries to obtain cold water in summer by storing the water in
earthen pots. The water permeates through the pores of earthen vessel to its outer
surface where it evaporates to the surrounding, absorbing its latent heat in part
from the vessel, which cools the water. It is said that Patliputra University situated
on the bank of river Ganges used to induce the evaporative-cooled air from the
river. Suitably located chimneys in the rooms augmented the upward flow of
warm air, which was replaced by cool air. Evaporative cooling by placing wet
straw mats on the windows is also very common in India. The straw mat made
from “khus” adds its inherent perfume also to the air. Now-a-days desert coolers
are being used in hot and dry areas to provide cooling in summer.

Artificial Refrigeration
Refrigeration as it is known these days is produced by artificial means.
Though it is very difficult to make a clear demarcation between natural and
artificial refrigeration, it is generally agreed that the history of artificial refrigeration
began in the year 1755, when the Scottish professor William Cullen made the first
refrigerating machine, which could produce a small quantity of ice in the
Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2018-2019

laboratory. Based on the working principle, refrigeration systems can be classified

as vapour compression systems, vapour absorption systems, gas cycle systems
etc.

Vapor Compression Refrigeration Systems:

The basis of modern refrigeration is the ability of liquids to absorb enormous
quantities of heat as they boil and evaporate. Professor William Cullen of the
University of Edinburgh demonstrated this in 1755 by placing some water in
thermal contact with ether under a receiver of a vacuum pump. The evaporation
rate of ether increased due to the vacuum pump and water could be frozen. This
process involves two thermodynamic concepts, the vapor pressure and the latent
heat. A liquid is in thermal equilibrium with its own vapor at a pressure called the
saturation pressure, which depends on the temperature alone. If the pressure is
increased for example in a pressure cooker, the water boils at higher
temperature. The second concept is that the evaporation of liquid requires latent
heat during evaporation. If latent heat is extracted from the liquid, the liquid gets
cooled. The temperature of ether will remain constant as long as the vacuum
pump maintains a pressure equal to saturation pressure at the desired
temperature. This requires the removal of all the vapors formed due to
vaporization. If a lower temperature is desired, then a lower saturation pressure
will have to be maintained by the vacuum pump. The component of the modern
day refrigeration system where cooling is produced by this method is called
evaporator.
If this process of cooling is to be made continuous the vapors have to be recycled
by condensation to the liquid state. The condensation process requires heat
rejection to the surroundings. It can be condensed at atmospheric temperature
by increasing its pressure. The process of condensation was learned in the second
half of eighteenth century. U.F. Clouet and G. Monge liquefied SO 2 in 1780 while
van Marum and Van Troostwijk liquefied NH3 in 1787. Hence, a compressor is
required to maintain a high pressure so that the evaporating vapors can
condense at a temperature greater than that of the surroundings.
Oliver Evans in his book “Abortion of a young Steam Engineer’s Guide”
published in Philadelphia in 1805 described a closed refrigeration cycle to
produce ice by ether under vacuum. Jacob Perkins, an American living in London
actually designed such a system in1835. The apparatus described by Jacob
Perkins in his patent specifications of 1834 is shown in Fig.1.1. In his patent he stated
“I am enabled to use volatile fluids for the purpose of producing the cooling or
freezing of fluids, and yet at the same time constantly condensing such volatile
fluids, and bringing them again into operation without waste”.
Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2018-2019

Figure 1.1: Apparatus described by Jacob Perkins in his patent specification of 1834. The
refrigerant (ether or other volatile fluid) boils in evaporator B taking heat from surrounding water
in container A. The pump C draws vapour away and compresses it to higher pressure at which it
can condense to liquids in tubes D, giving out heat to water in vessel E. Condensed liquid flows
through the weight loaded valve H, which maintains the difference of pressure between the
condenser and evaporator. The small pump above H is used for charging the apparatus with
refrigerant.

John Hague made Perkins’s design into working model with some
modifications. This Perkins machine is shown in Fig.1.2. The earliest vapour
compression system used either sulphuric (ethyl) or methyl ether. The American
engineer Alexander Twining (1801-1884) received a British patent in 1850 for a
vapour compression system by use of ether, NH3 and CO2.
The man responsible for making a practical vapor compression refrigeration
system was James Harrison who took a patent in 1856 for a vapour compression
system using ether, alcohol or ammonia. Charles Tellier of France patented in
1864, a refrigeration system using dimethyl ether which has a normal boiling point
of −23.6°C.
Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2018-2019

Figure 1.2: Perkins machine built by John Hague

Carl von Linde in Munich introduced double acting ammonia compressor.

It required pressures of more than 10 atmospheres in the condenser. Since the
normal boiling point of ammonia is -33.3°C, vacuum was not required on the low
pressure side. Since then ammonia is used widely in large refrigeration plants.
David Boyle, in fact made the first NH3 system in 1871 in San Francisco. John
Enright had also developed a similar system in 1876 in Buffalo N.Y. Franz
Windhausen developed carbon dioxide CO2 based vapour compression system
in Germany in 1886.
The carbon dioxide compressor requires a pressure of about 80
atmospheres and therefore a very heavy construction. Linde in 1882 and T.S.C.
Lowe in 1887 tried similar systems in USA. The CO2 system is a very safe system and
was used in ship refrigeration until 1960s. Raoul Pictet used SO2 (NBP -10°C) as
refrigerant. Its lowest pressure was high enough to prevent the leakage of air into
the system. Palmer used C2H5Cl in 1890 in a rotary compressor. He mixed it with
C2H5Br to reduce its flammability. Edmund Copeland and Harry Edwards used iso-
butane in 1920 in small refrigerators. It disappeared by 1930 when it was replaced
by CH3Cl. Dichloroethylene (Dielene or Dieline) was used by Carrier in centrifugal
compressors in 1922-26.
Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2018-2019

Lesson 2
Carnot Cycle and Reversed Carnot Cycle

Refrigeration is that branch of science which deals with process of reducing

and maintaining the temperature of a space or material below the temperature
of the surrounding.
The standard unit of refrigeration is Ton of Refrigeration (TON/TR). One ton
of refrigeration (TR) is the rate of cooling required to freeze one ton of water at
320F (00C) to ice at 320F (00C) in twenty-four hours.
The heat of fusion either from solid to liquid of from liquid to solid is 144
BTU/lb, thus;
𝐵𝑇𝑈 𝑙𝑏
144 𝑥 2000 𝑡𝑜𝑛
𝑙𝑏
𝑚𝑖𝑛
24ℎ𝑟 𝑥 60
ℎ𝑟
Hence
1 TR = 200 Btu/min
1 TR = 50.4 kcal/min
1 TR = 211 kJ/min = 3.516 kW

Unit of Force
The Unit of force in the SI system is the newton, denoted by the symbol N.
I kgf = 9.8066 N
1 lbf = 4.4484 N
1 lbf = 0.4536 kgf

Unit of Pressure
The SI unit of pressure is the pascal and is denoted by the symbol Pa.
1 Pa = 1 N/m2
1 bar = 100 kPa
1 psi = 6895 Pa
1 atm = 101.325 kPa
Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2018-2019

= 1.033 kg/cm2
= 14.696lb/in2

Unit of Energy of Work

The Si unit of work is the newton meter denoted by Nm or joule denoted by J.
1 Nm = 1 J
1 cal = 4.187 J
1 Btu = 252 cal
= 1055 J

Unit of Power
The SI unit of power is the watt, denoted by the symbol W. It is defined as the rate
of doing 1 Nm of work per second.
1 W = 1 J/s
1 Hp = 0.746 kW
= 42.4 Btu/min

Heat Engine and Refrigerating machine

A system operating in a cycle and producing a net quantity of work from a
supply of heat is called a heat engine and represented as shown below.

Hot reservoir (source of heat)

𝑤 = 𝑄ℎ − 𝑄𝑙
𝑤 𝑄ℎ − 𝑄𝑙
𝑒= =
𝑄𝑙 𝑄𝑙
where,

Qh = the heat added

Ql = the heat rejected
W = the net work
e= the thermal efficiency

Figure 2.1: Representation of Heat Engine

A refrigerating machine will either cool or maintain a body at a
temperature below that of its surrounding. A refrigerating machine may be
represented by the diagram below. The machine R absorbs heat Qa from the
cold body at the temperature T1 and rejects heat Qr to the surroundings at
temperature T2 and, during the process, requires work W to be done on the
system.

𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 𝑄ℎ − 𝑄𝑙
𝑄𝑙 𝑄𝑙
𝐶𝑂𝑃 = =
𝑊 𝑄ℎ − 𝑄𝑙
where,
Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2018-2019

Figure 2.2: Representation of refrigerating machine

The performance of the heat engine is expressed by its thermal efficiency.
The performance of a refrigerating machine is expressed by the ratio of useful
result to work, called energy ratio or coefficient of performance.

Carnot Cycle
T
T
a b
maximum temperature

d c minimum temperature
S
T – S Diagram
Figure 2.3: T-S Diagram of Carnot Cycle
The Carnot power cycle consists of the following reversible processes:
Process a – b: isothermal expansion Ta = Tb = TH
Process b – c: isentropic expansion, Sb = Sc
Process c – d: isothermal compression, Tc = Td = TL
Process d – a: isentropic compression, Sd = Sa

Heat added, Qa
Qa = TH (Sb − Sa )

Heat Rejection, QR
QR = TL (SC − SD )
= TL (Sb − Sa )

Work net
W = (QA − QR )
Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2018-2019

Efficiency
W
e=
QA
TH − TL
e=
TH

Carnot Refrigeration Cycle

The carnot refrigeration cycle performs the reverse effect of heat engine,
because it transfers energy from a low level of temperature to a high level of
temperature.

c b maximum temperature

\
c
minimum temperature
d a
S
T – S Diagram
\
Figure 2.4: T-S Diagram ofc Carnot Refrigeration Cycle

Cycle Analysis
Process a – b : isentropic compression, S1 = S2
Process b – c : isothermal heat rejection, Ta = Tb = TH
Process c – d : isentropic expansion, S3 = S4
Process d – a : isothermal heat addition, Td = TC = TL

Heat added,
Qa = TL (Sa − Sd )

Heat Rejection,
QR = TH (Sb − Sc )
= TH (Sa − Sd )

Work net
W = (QR − QA )

Coefficient of Performance, COP

It is the ratio of heat added to the network of the cycle.
Qa
COP =
W
Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2018-2019

TL
COP =
TH − TL

Performance Factor or Carnot Heat Pump, PF

It is the ratio of heat rejected to the network of the cycle.
QR
PF =
W
PF = COP + 1

Supplementary problems:
1. A carnot refrigeration cycle absorbs heat at -120C and reject it at 400C.
a. Calculate the coefficient of performance of this refrigeration cycle.
b. If the cycle is absorbing 15 kW at -120C temperature, how much power is
required?
c. If a carnot heat pump operates between the same temperature as the
above refrigeration cycle, what is the performance factor?
d. What is the rate of heat rejection at the 400C temperature if the heat pump
absorbs 15 kW at the -120C temperature?
2. The coefficient of performance of a reversed carnot cycle is 5.35 when
refrigeration is done at 255 K, s = 0.38 kJ/kg - K during the isothermal heat
interactions. Find;
a. The heat added in the cycle.
b. The temperature at which heat is added.
c. The network.
3. A refrigeration system operates on the reversed carnot cycle. If the heat
added and heat rejected in the system are 5,000 kJ/min and 6,500 kJ/min
respectively, draw the schematic diagram and find:
a. Coefficient of performance
b. The ratio of maximum temperature to minimum temperature
c. The power required.

Examples:
1. A reversed Carnot Cycle is used for refrigeration and rejects 1,000 kW of
heat at 340 K while receiving heat at 250 K. Determine (a) COP, (b) the
power required, and (c) the refrigerating effect. Ans. 735.3 kW
2. A reversed Carnot cycle has a refrigerating COP of 4. (a)What is the ratio
Tmax/Tmin? (b) if the work input is 6 kW, what will be the maximum
refrigerating effect, kJ/min and tons. Ans. 1.25 and 6.826 TR
3. A reversed Carnot engine removes 40,000 kW from a heat sink. The
temperature of the heat sink is 260 and the temperature of the heat
reservoir is 320 K. Determine the power required of the engine. Ans. 9230.8
kW