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, odour 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.

Aspects of various natural refrigeration methods

1.1 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 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.
 1.1.1 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.

1.1.2 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.

1.1.3 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.

1.2 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 laboratory.
Based on the working principle, refrigeration systems can be classified as vapour compression
systems, vapour absorption systems, gas cycle systems etc.
 Historical aspects of various artificial refrigeration methods:

1.3.1. Vapour 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 vapour 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 SO2 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 vapours 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 Figure 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”.
 Fig. 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.

James Harrison, the man responsible for making a practical vapor compression refrigeration system
was the one 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.

Fig.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 vapor 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.

Two Types of Vapour compression refrigeration systems:

1.3.1.1 Domestic refrigeration systems

The domestic refrigerator using natural ice (domestic ice box) was invented in 1803 and was used for
almost 150 years without much alteration. The domestic ice box used to be made of wood with
suitable insulation. Ice used to be kept at the top of the box, and low temperatures are produced in
the box due to heat transfer from ice by natural convection. A drip pan is used to collect the water
formed due to the melting of ice. The box has to be replenished with fresh ice once all the ice melts.

Though the concept is quite simple, the domestic ice box suffered from several disadvantages. The
user has to replenish the ice as soon as it is consumed, and the lowest temperatures that could be
produced inside the compartment are limited. In addition, it appears that warm winters caused
severe shortage of natural ice in USA. Hence, efforts, starting from 1887 have been made to develop
domestic refrigerators using mechanical systems.
 The initial domestic mechanical refrigerators were costly, not completely automatic and were not
very reliable. However, the development of mechanical household refrigerators on a large scale was
made possible by the development of small compressors, automatic refrigerant controls, better
shaft seals, developments in electrical power systems and induction motors.

General Electric Company introduced the first domestic refrigerator in 1911, followed by Frigidaire in
1915. Kelvinator launched the domestic mechanical refrigerator in 1918 in USA. In 1925, USA had
about 25 million domestic refrigerators of which only 75000 were mechanical. However, the
manufacture of domestic refrigerators grew very rapidly, and by 1949 about 7 million domestic
refrigerators were produced annually. With the production volumes increasing the price fell sharply
(the price was 600 dollars in 1920 and 155 dollars in 1940).

The initial domestic refrigerators used mainly sulphur dioxide as refrigerant. Some units used methyl
chloride and methylene chloride. These refrigerants were replaced by Freon-12 in 1930s. In the
beginning these refrigerators were equipped with open type compressors driven by belt drive.
General Electric Company introduced the first refrigerator with a hermetic compressor in 1926. Soon
the open type compressors were completely replaced by the hermetic compressors. First
refrigerators used water-cooled condensers, which were soon replaced by air cooled condensers.

Though the development of mechanical domestic refrigerators was very rapid in USA, it was still
rarely used in other countries. In 1930 only rich families used domestic refrigerators in Europe. The
domestic refrigerator based on absorption principle as proposed by Platen and Munters, was first
made by Electrolux Company in 1931 in Sweden. In Japan the first mechanical domestic refrigerator
was made in 1924. The first dual temperature (freezer-refrigerator) domestic refrigerator was
introduced in 1939. The use of mechanical domestic refrigerators grew rapidly all over the world
after the Second World War.

Today, a domestic refrigerator has become an essential kitchen appliance not only in highly
developed countries but also in countries such as India. Except very few almost all the present day
domestic refrigerators are mechanical refrigerators that use a hermetic compressor and an air
cooled condenser. The modern refrigerators use either HFC-134a (hydro-fluoro-carbon) or iso-butane
as refrigerant.

1.3.1.2 Air conditioning systems

Refrigeration systems are also used for providing cooling and dehumidification in summer for
personal comfort (air conditioning). The first air conditioning systems were used for industrial as well
as comfort air conditioning.

Eastman Kodak installed the first air conditioning system in 1891 in Rochester, New York for the
storage of photographic films. An air conditioning system was installed in a printing press in 1902 and
in a telephone exchange in Hamburg in 1904. Many systems were installed in tobacco and textile
factories around 1900. The first domestic air conditioning system was installed in a house in Frankfurt
in 1894. A private library in St Louis, USA was air conditioned in 1895, and a casino was air
 conditioned in Monte Carlo in 1901. Efforts have also been made to air condition passenger rail
coaches using ice.

The widespread development of air conditioning is attributed to the American scientist and
industrialist Willis Carrier. Carrier studied the control of humidity in 1902 and designed a central air
conditioning plant using air washer in 1904. Due to the pioneering efforts of Carrier and also due to
simultaneous development of different components and controls, air conditioning quickly became
very popular, especially after 1923. At present comfort air conditioning is widely used in residences,
offices, commercial buildings, air ports, hospitals and in mobile applications such as rail coaches,
automobiles, aircrafts etc. Industrial air conditioning is largely responsible for the growth of modern
electronic, pharmaceutical, chemical industries etc. Most of the present day air conditioning systems
use either a vapour compression refrigeration system or a vapour absorption refrigeration system.
The capacities vary from few kilowatts to megawatts.

Figure 1.3 shows the basic components of a vapour compression refrigeration system. As shown in
the figure the basic system consists of an evaporator, compressor, condenser and an expansion
valve. The refrigeration effect is obtained in the cold region as heat is extracted by the vaporization
of refrigerant in the evaporator. The refrigerant vapour from the evaporator is compressed in the
compressor to a high pressure at which its saturation temperature is greater than the ambient or any
other heat sink. Hence when the high pressure, high temperature refrigerant flows through the
condenser, condensation of the vapour into liquid takes place by heat rejection to the heat sink. To
complete the cycle, the high pressure liquid is made to flow through an expansion valve. In the
expansion valve the pressure and temperature of the refrigerant decrease. This low pressure and
low temperature refrigerant vapour evaporates in the evaporator taking heat from the cold region.
It should be observed that the system operates on a closed cycle. The system requires input in the
form of mechanical work. It extracts heat from a cold space and rejects heat to a high temperature
heat sink.

Fig.1.3. Schematic of a basic vapour compression refrigeration system

 A refrigeration system can also be used as a heat pump, in which the useful output is the high
temperature heat rejected at the condenser. Alternatively, a refrigeration system can be used for
providing cooling in summer and heating in winter. Such systems have been built and are available
now.

1.3.2. Vapour Absorption Refrigeration Systems

John Leslie in 1810 kept H2SO4 and water in two separate jars connected together. H2SO4 has very
high affinity for water. It absorbs water vapour and this becomes the principle of removing the
evaporated water vapour requiring no compressor or pump. H2SO4 is an absorbent in this system
that has to be recycled by heating to get rid of the absorbed water vapour, for continuous operation.

Windhausen in 1878 used this principle for absorption refrigeration system, which worked on H2SO4.
Ferdinand Carre invented aquaammonia absorption system in 1860. Water is a strong absorbent of
NH3. If NH3 is kept in a vessel that is exposed to another vessel containing water, the strong
absorption potential of water will cause evaporation of NH3 requiring no compressor to drive the
vapours. A liquid pump is used to increase the pressure of strong solution. The strong solution is
then heated in a generator and passed through a rectification column to separate the water from
ammonia. The ammonia vapour is then condensed and recycled. The pump power is negligible
hence; the system runs virtually on low- grade energy used for heating the strong solution to
separate the water from ammonia.

These systems were initially run on steam. Later on oil and natural gas based systems were
introduced. Figure 1.4 shows the essential components of a vapour absorption refrigeration system.

In 1922, Balzar von Platen and Carl Munters, two students at Royal Institute of Technology,
Stockholm invented a three fluid system that did not require a pump. A heating based bubble pump
was used for circulation of strong and weak solutions and hydrogen was used as a non-condensable
gas to reduce the partial pressure of NH3 in the evaporator.

Geppert in 1899 gave this original idea but he was not successful since he was using air as non-
condensable gas. The Platen-Munters refrigeration systems are still widely used in certain niche
applications such as hotel rooms etc.
 Fig.1.4. Essential components of a vapour absorption refrigeration system

Fig.1.5. Schematic of a triple fluid vapour absorption refrigeration system

Another variation of vapour absorption system is the one based on Lithium Bromide (LiBr)-water.
This system is used for chilled water air-conditioning system. This is a descendent of Windhausen’s
machine with LiBr replacing H2SO4. In this system LiBr is the absorbent and water is the refrigerant.
This system works at vacuum pressures. The condenser and the generator are housed in one
cylindrical vessel and the evaporator and the absorber are housed in second vessel. This also runs on
low-grade energy requiring a boiler or process steam.

1.3.3. Solar energy based refrigeration systems

Attempts have been made to run vapour absorption systems by solar energy with concen erious
consideration to solar refrigeration systems was given since 1965, due to the scarcity termittent
absorption systems based on solar energy have also been built and operate trating and flat plate
solar collectors. Several small solar absorption refrigeration systems have been made around 1950s
in several countries.

Professor G.O.G. L f of America is one of the pioneers in the area of solar refrigeration using flat plate
collectors. A solar refrigeration system that could produce 250 kg of ice per day was installed in
Tashkent, USSR in 1953. This system used a parabolic mirror of 10 m2 area for concentrating the solar
radiation.

F. Trombe installed an absorption machine with a cylindro-parabolic mirror of 20 m 2 at Montlouis,

France, which produced 100 kg of ice per day. S of fossil fuel based energy sources. LiBr-water based
systems have been developed for air conditioning purposes. The first solar air conditioning system
was installed in an experimental solar house in University of Queensland, Australia in 1966. After this
several systems based on solar energy were built in many parts of the world including India.

In 1976, there were about 500 solar absorption systems in USA alone. Almost all these were based on
LiBr-water as these systems do not require very high heating temperatures. These systems were
mainly used for space air conditioning. In d successfully. In these systems, the cooling effect is
obtained during the nighttime, while the system gets “charged” during the day using solar energy.
Though the efficiency of these systems is rather poor requiring solar collector area, they may find
applications in remote and rural areas where space is not a constraint. In addition, these systems are
environment friendly as they use eco-friendly refrigerants and run on clean and renewable solar
energy.

Solar adsorption refrigeration system with ammoniacates, sodium thiocyanate, activate . Compared
to the compression systems, vapour absorption refrigeration systems: d charcoal, zeolite as
adsorbents and ammonia, alcohols or fluorocarbons as refrigerants have also been in use since
1950s. These systems also do not require a compressor. The refrigerant vapour is driven by the
adsorption potential of the adsorbent stored in an adsorbent bed. This bed is connected to an
evaporator/condenser, which consists of the pure refrigerant. In intermittent adsorption systems,
during the night the refrigerant evaporates and is adsorbed in activated charcoal or zeolite providing
cooling effect.

During daytime the adsorbent bed absorbs solar radiation and drives off the refrigerant stored in the
bed. This refrigerant vapour condenses in the condenser and stored in a reservoir for nighttime use.
Thus this simple system consists of an adsorbent bed and a heat exchanger, which acts as a
condenser during the nighttime and, as an evaporator during the night. Pairs of such reactors can be
used for obtaining a continuous cooling

1.3.4. Gas Cycle Refrigeration

Dalton and Gay Lusaac studied this in 1807, I\if air at high pressure expands and does work (say
moves a piston or rotates a turbine), its temperature will decrease. This fact is known to man as early
as the 18th century.

Sadi Carnot mentioned this as a well-known phenomenon in 1824. However,

Dr. John Gorrie a physician in Florida developed one such machine in 1844 to produce ice for the
relief of his patients suffering from fever. This machine used compressed air at 2 atm. pressure and
produced brine at a temperature of –7o C, which was then used to produce ice.

Alexander Carnegie Kirk in 1862 made an air cycle cooling machine. This system used steam engine
to run its compressor. Using a compression ratio of 6 to 8, Kirk could produce temperatures as low
as 40o C.

Paul Gifford in 1875 perfected the open type of machine. This machine was further improved by T B
Lightfoot, A Haslam, Henry Bell and James Coleman. This was the main method of marine
refrigeration for quite some time.

Frank Allen in New York developed a closed cycle machine employing high pressures to reduce the
volume flow rates. This was named dense air machine. These days air cycle refrigeration is used only
 in aircrafts whose turbo compressor can handle large volume flow rates. Figure 1.6 shows the
schematic of an open type air cycle refrigeration system. The basic system shown here consists of a
compressor, an expander and a heat exchanger.

Air from the cold room is compressed in the compressor. The hot and high pressure air rejects heat
to the heat sink (cooling water) in the heat exchanger. The warm but high pressure air expands in
the expander. The cold air after expansion is sent to the cold room for providing cooling. The work of
expansion partly compensates the work of compression; hence both the expander and the
compressor are mounted on a common shaft.

Fig.1.6. Schematic of a basic, open type air cycle refrigeration system

1.3.5. Steam Jet Refrigeration System

If water is sprayed into a chamber where a low pressure is maintained, a part of the water will
evaporate. The enthalpy of evaporation will cool the remaining water to its saturation temperature
at the pressure in the chamber. Obviously lower temperature will require lower pressure. Water
freezes at 0o C hence temperature lower than 4o C cannot be obtained with water. In this system,
high velocity steam is used to entrain the evaporating water vapour.

High-pressure motive steam passes through either convergent or convergentdivergent nozzle where
it acquires either sonic or supersonic velocity and low pressure of the order of 0.009 kPa
corresponding to an evaporator temperature of 4o C. The high momentum of motive steam entrains
or carries along with it the water vapour evaporating from the flash chamber. Because of its high
velocity it moves the vapours against the pressure gradient up to the condenser where the pressure
is 5.6-7.4 kPa corresponding to condenser temperature of 35-45o C. The motive vapour and the
evaporated vapour both are condensed and recycled.

This system is known as steam jet refrigeration system. Figure 1.7 shows a schematic of the system. It
can be seen that this system requires a good vacuum to be maintained. Sometimes, booster ejector
is used for this purpose. This system is driven by low- grade energy that is process steam in chemical
plants or a boiler.

Fig.1.7. Schematic of a steam jet refrigeration system

In 1838, the Frenchman Pelletan was granted a patent for the compression of steam by means of a
jet of motive steam. Around 1900, the Englishman Charles Parsons studied the possibility of
reduction of pressure by an entrainment effect from a steam jet.

However, the credit for constructing the steam jet refrigeration system goes to the French engineer,
Maurice Leblanc who developed the system in 1907-08. In this system, ejectors were used to
produce a high velocity steam jet (≈ 1200 m/s).

Based on Leblanc’s design the first commercial system was made by Westinghouse in 1909 in Paris.
Even though the efficiency of the steam jet refrigeration system was low, it was still attractive as
water is harmless and the system can run using exhaust steam from a steam engine. From 1910
onwards, stem jet refrigeration systems were used mainly in breweries, chemical factories, warships
etc.

In 1926, the French engineer Follain improved the machine by introducing multiple stages of
vaporization and condensation of the suction steam. Between 1928-1930, there was much interest in
this type of systems in USA. In USA they were mainly used for air conditioning of factories, cinema
theatres, ships and even railway wagons. Several companies such as Westinghouse, Ingersoll Rand
and Carrier started commercial production of these systems from 1930.

However, gradually these systems were replaced by more efficient vapour absorption systems using
LiBr-water. Still, some east European countries such as Czechoslovakia and Russia manufactured
these systems as late as 1960s. The ejector principle can also be used to provide refrigeration using
fluids other than water, i.e., refrigerants such as CFC-11, CFC-21, CFC-22, CFC-113, CFC-114 etc. The credit
for first developing these closed vapour jet refrigeration systems goes to the Russian engineer, I.S.
Badylkes around 1955. Using refrigerants other than water, it is possible to achieve temperatures as
low as –100o C with a single stage of compression. The advantages cited for this type of systems are
simplicity and robustness, while difficult design and economics are its chief disadvantages.

1.3.6. Thermoelectric Refrigeration Systems

In 1821 the German physicist T.J. Seebeck reported that when two junctions of dissimilar metals are
kept at two different temperatures, an electro motive force (emf) is developed, resulting in flow of
electric current. The emf produced is found to be proportional to temperature difference.

In 1834, a Frenchmen, J. Peltier observed the reverse effect, i.e., cooling and heating of two junctions
of dissimilar materials when direct current is passed through them, the heat transfer rate being
proportional to the current. In 1838, H.F.E. Lenz froze a drop of water by the Peltier effect using
antimony and bismuth (it was later found that Lenz could freeze water as the materials used were
not pure metals but had some impurities in them).

In 1857, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) proved by thermodynamic analysis that Seebeck effect and
Peltier effect are related and he discovered another effect called Thomson effect after his name.
According to this when current flows through a conductor of a thermocouple that has an initial
temperature gradient in it, then heat transfer rate per unit length is proportional to the product of
current and the temperature.

As the current flow through thermoelectric material it gets heated due to its electrical resistance.
This is called the Joulean effect, further, conduction heat transfer from the hot junction to the cold
junction transfers heat. Both these heat transfer rates have to be compensated by the Peltier Effect
for some useful cooling to be produced.

For a long time, thermoelectric cooling based on the Peltier effect remained a laboratory curiosity as
the temperature difference that could be obtained using pure metals was too small to be of any
practical use. Insulating materials give poor thermoelectric performance because of their small
electrical conductivity while metals are not good because of their large thermal conductivity.
However, with the discovery of semiconductor materials in 1949-50, the available temperature drop
could be increased considerably, giving rise to commercialization of thermoelectric refrigeration
systems. Figure 1.8 shows the schematic of the thermoelectric refrigeration system based on
semiconductor materials.

The Russian scientist, A. F. Ioffe is one of the pioneers in the area of thermoelectric refrigeration
systems using semiconductors. Several domestic refrigerators based on thermoelectric effect were
made in USSR as early as 1949.

However, since 1960s these systems are used mainly used for storing medicines, vaccines etc and in
electronic cooling. Development also took place in many other countries. In USA domestic
refrigerators, air conditioners, water coolers, air conditioned diving suits etc. were made
 Fig. 1.8. Schematic of a thermoelectric refrigeration system

12V using these effects. System capacities were typically small due to poor efficiency. However some
large refrigeration capacity systems such as a 3000 kcal/h air conditioner and a 6 tonne capacity cold
storage were also developed. By using multistaging temperatures as low as – 145o C were obtained.
These systems due to their limited performance (limited by the materials) are now used only in
certain niche applications such as electronic cooling, mobile coolers etc. Efforts have also been made
to club thermoelectric systems with photovoltaic cells with a view to develop solar thermoelectric
refrigerators.

1.3.7. Vortex tube systems

In 1931, the French engineer Georges Ranque (1898-1973) discovered an interesting phenomenon,
which is called “Ranque effect” or “vortex effect”. The tangential injection of air into a cylindrical
tube induces to quote his words “ a giratory expansion with simultaneous production of an escape
of hot air and an escape of cold air”.

Ranque was granted a French patent in 1928 and a US patent in 1934 for this effect. However, the
discovery was neglected until after the second world war, when in 1945, Rudolph Hilsch, a German
physicist, studied this effect and published a widely read scientific paper on this device. Thus, the
vortex tube has also been known as the "Ranque-Hilsch Tube”. Though the efficiency of this system
is quite low, it is very interesting due to its mechanical simplicity and instant cooling. It is convenient
where there is a supply of compressed air.
 The present day vortex tube uses compressed air as a power source, it has no moving parts, and
produces hot air from one end and cold air from the other. The volume and temperature of these
two airstreams are adjustable with a valve built into the hot air exhaust. Temperatures as low as
−46°C and as high as 127°C are possible. Compressed air is supplied to the vortex tube and passes
through nozzles that are tangential to an internal counter bore. These nozzles set the air in a vortex
motion. This spinning stream of air turns 90° and passes down the hot tube in the form of a spinning
shell, similar to a tornado.

A valve at one end of the tube allows some of the warmed air to escape. What does not escape,
heads back down the tube as a second vortex inside the low-pressure area of the larger vortex. This
inner vortex loses heat and exhausts through the other end as cold air. Currently vortex tube is used
for spot cooling of machine parts, in electronic cooling and also in cooling jackets for miners, firemen
etc.

http://nptel.ac.in/courses/112105129/pdf/RAC%20%20Lecture%201.pdf

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