Lecture 1: Principle of Refrigeration

Definition
The American Society of Heating, Air conditioning and Refrigerating Engineers
(ASHARE) defines refrigeration as the science of providing and maintaining temperatures below
the immediate surrounding temperatures. Thus, it is a process of removing heat from a medium.
In other words, the term “refrigeration” is used to denote maintenance of a system or body at a
temperature lower than that of its surroundings. In other words, it is the process of cooling a
substance below the initial temperature of the substance.
Refrigeration is defined as a method of reducing the temperature of a system below that
of the surroundings and maintaining it at the lower temperature by continuously extracting the
heat from it.

The principle of refrigeration is based on second law of thermodynamics. It states that

heat does not flow from a low temperature body to a high temperature body without the help of
an external work. In refrigeration process, the heat is continuously removed from a system at
lower temperature and transfers it to the surroundings at a higher temperature. This operation
according to second law of thermodynamics can only be performed by the aid of the external
work. Therefore, in a refrigeration system, power is to be supplied to remove heat continuously
from the refrigerator to keep it cool at a temperature less than the surroundings. The refrigeration
cycle is based on reversible Carnot cycle.
Refrigeration effect
 The rate at which the heat is absorbed in a cycle of from the interior space to be cooled is
called refrigeration effect. It is defined as the quantity of heat removed to the time taken. It is
also called as the capacity of a refrigerator.
UNIT OF REFRIGERATION
Capacity of refrigeration system is expressed as ton of refrigeration (TR). A ton of
refrigeration is defined as the quantity of heat to be removed in order to form one ton (2000 lbs.)
of ice at 0 ºC in 24 hrs, from liquid water at 0 ºC. This is equivalent to 12600 kJ/h or 210 kJ/min
or 3.5 kJ/s (3.5 kW).

1 TR = 12600 kJ/h or 210 kJ/min or 3.5 kW.

The capacity of refrigeration plant required in any dairy/food plant can be estimated based on the
cooling load requirement of the plant.
Co-efficient of Performance (COP):
The Co-efficient of Performance is defined as the ratio of heat absorbed in a system to the
work supplied. The theoretical Coefficient of Performance (Carnot), (COP a standard measure of
refrigeration efficiency of an ideal refrigeration system) depends on two key system
temperatures: evaporator temperature Te and condenser temperature Tc.
 COP is given as: COP Carnot = Te / (Tc - Te)
This expression also indicates that higher COP Carnot is achieved with higher evaporator
temperatures and lower condenser temperatures. But COP is only a ratio of temperatures, and
does not take into account the type of compressor. Hence the COP normally used in industry is
calculated as follows:

Where the cooling effect is the difference in enthalpy across the evaporator and expressed
as kW.
Ice making capacity:
It is the ability of the refrigeration system to make ice. In other words, it is the capacity of
refrigeration system to remove heat from water to make ice.
Relative COP: It is the ratio of actual COP to the theoretical COP of a refrigerator. Actual COP
is measured during a test and theoretical COP is obtained by applying the laws of
thermodynamics.
REFRIGERATOR AND HEAT PUMP
The vapor compression refrigeration cycle is a common method for transferring heat
from a low temperature to a high temperature.
 The above figure shows the objectives of refrigerators and heat pumps. The purpose of a
refrigerator is the removal of heat, called the cooling load, from a low temperature medium. The
purpose of a heat pump is the transfer of heat to a high temperature medium, called the heating
load. When we are interested in the heat energy removed from a low temperature space, the
device is called a refrigerator. When we are interested in the heat energy supplied to the high
temperature space, the device is called a heat pump. In general, heat pump is used to describe the
cycle as heat energy is removed from the low temperature space and rejected to the high
temperature space.
The performance of refrigerators and heat pumps is expressed in terms of coefficient of
performance (COP), defined as

Both COPR and COPHP can be larger than 1. Under the same operating conditions, the
COPs are related by

IMPORTANCE OF REFRIGERATION
Refrigeration is a basic requirement for the processing and storage of milk and milk products as
majority of food products are perishable in nature. The need of refrigeration is indicated below.
 Chilling of milk at producers‟ level by employing bulk milk coolers and at milk chilling
centers is the first requirement in dairy industry. Immediate cooling of milk to about 2-3
ºC is very important to reduce the multiplications of micro-organisms and to get low
bacterial count in the milk and milk products.
 Processing of milk using either batch pasteurizer or HTST plant requires chilled water or
any other cooling medium for cooling of milk.
 Manufacture of many products requires refrigeration. e.g. butter, ice-cream etc.
  Storage of many products requires maintaining low temperature in the cold storages
depending on the type of product to be stored. e.g. milk is stored at around 3-4 ºC while
ice-cream is stored at -30 ºC temperature.
 Transportation of many products requires refrigerated vehicles to maintain the quality of
products.
 Low temperature storage is required for distribution of products as well as at the
consumers‟ level.
Thus, refrigeration is a basic requirement from production to consumption level for dairy
and food products. The concept of cold chain of transportation has been accepted in order to
supply quality products to the consumers.
METHODS OF REFRIGERATION
1. Natural Methods
 Use of water: If a material is cooled below the initial temperature by using water, the process
is called refrigeration. This method has limitations as desired value of low temperature water
may not be available and it is not possible to reduce the temperature of the product/material
to a required level.
 Use of water added with salt: When salts (e.g., sodium chloride) are added in water, the
temperature of the water falls and if this salt water is used for cooling, the process is called
refrigeration. This is not practical as the drop in temperature is very small.
 Use of naturally harvested ice: If naturally available ice is used for cooling, the process is
called natural refrigeration. But ice is not available every place and it cannot meet the
requirement of low temperature.
 Use of ice and salt mixture: When salts (e.g., sodium chloride) are mixed in ice, it is possible
to achieve temperature below 0 ºC. In many towns, ice-cream is made using hand freezers
employing ice and salt mixture for freezing of ice-cream.
 Evaporative cooling with water: When ambient air passes through a spray of water or a wet
grass pad, evaporation of part of water takes place by using sensible heat of the same air. As
the sensible heat of the air decreases, the dry bulb temperature of the air decreases. The
vapour produced due to evaporation of water goes with the air and hence total enthalpy of the
air remains constant. This process is called adiabatic process. This method of air cooling is
more effective when the relative humidity of the air is less. This principle of air cooling is
 employed in air coolers/dessert coolers. The lowest possible temperature of the air achieved
in evaporative cooling is up to the wet bulb temperature of air. Another limitation of this
method of cooling is higher humidity in the room area. The knowledge of psychrometry is
necessary to understand the process of evaporative cooling which may not have much
significance in air conditions, but the understanding of the process is important to understand
the process of spray drying, cooling of water in cooling tower etc.
2. Artificial methods
The artificial method of refrigeration, which is known as vapour compression
refrigeration system, is commonly used in dairy plants, food factories, air conditioning systems
etc. The basic working principle is the same in all such systems. It may be house hold freeze,
small capacity air conditioner or a big capacity refrigeration plant of any dairy/food factory.
TYPES OF REFRIGERATION
Refrigeration is classified as based on working substance used
 Air refrigeration system (Bell-Coleman cycle)
 Water refrigeration system
 Ice refrigeration system
 Refrigeration by special fluid ( low boiling point fluids Refrigerants) ( Reversed Carnot
cycle)
o Vapour compression refrigeration system (VCR)
o Vapour absorbtion refrigeration system (VAR)
o Vapour adsorbtion refrigeration system and etc