Refrigeration and air

conditioning
MENG 5281
CHAPTER-ONE
BASIC CONCEPTS IN REFRIGERATION, APPLICATIONS
OF REFRIGERATION & AIR CONDITIONING
Question ?
How do you think the refrigerators in your
house works?

Why is refrigeration and air conditioning

important?

Can you mention some methods you know

which can apply for refrigeration?
Introduction

• Refrigeration: The process of removing heat, and

the practical application is to produce or maintain
temperatures below the ambient.

• Air-conditioning: A form of air treatment whereby

temperature, humidity, ventilation, and air
cleanliness are all controlled within limits
determined by the requirements of the air
conditioned enclosure.

• Ventilation is supply of fresh air or extraction of

used air without conditioning
Applications Of Refrigeration & Air Conditioning

REFRIGERATION AIR-CONDITIONING
Food processing, preservation Industrial, such as in textiles,
and distribution printing, manufacturing,
Chemical and process photographic, computer
industries Rooms, power plants, vehicular
Special Applications such as etc.
cold treatment of metals, Comfort in commercial,
medical, construction, ice residential etc.
skating etc.
 Refrigeration cycles
Refrigeration cycles can be categorized into:
 Vapour cycle
 Gas cycle

Vapour compression refrigeration cycle

• In gas cycles, heat rejection and refrigeration take place as the gas undergoes sensible cooling and heating.
• In a Vapour cycle the working fluid undergoes phase change and refrigeration effect is due to the vaporization of refrigerant
liquid.
• 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.
•Two of the most common refrigeration applications, viz., a window-type room air
conditioner and a domestic refrigerator
Domestic Refrigerator
•The working principle of a domestic refrigerator is exactly the same as that of an air
conditioner. A schematic diagram of the refrigerator is shown in Figure
•Like the air conditioner, it also consists of the following four basic components:
(i) Evaporator
(ii) Compressor
(iii) Condenser
(iv) Expansion device
Room Air Conditioner
 Vapour cycle refrigeration system
I. Vapour Compression Refrigeration (VCR): uses
mechanical energy
II. Vapour Absorption Refrigeration (VAR): uses thermal
energy
III. Vapour Jet

I. Vapour Compression Cycle

• In a Vapour compression refrigeration system, refrigeration is obtained

as the refrigerant evaporates at low temperatures.
◦ Heat is put into the fluid at the lower temperature and pressure and
provides the latent heat to make it boil and change to a Vapour.
◦ The input to the system is in the form of mechanical energy required to
run the compressor.
◦ This Vapour is then mechanically compressed to a higher pressure and
a corresponding saturation temperature at which its latent heat can be
rejected so that it changes back to a liquid.
Complete Basic Cycle Of Vapour Compression Refrigeration System
Advantages of Vapour Compression Refrigeration

• Lots of heat can be removed (lots of thermal energy to change liquid

to Vapour) with a small mass flow of refrigerant.
• high efficiency, arguably one of the most efficient refrigeration systems
at the macroscale, producing high COP
• Heat transfer rate remains high (temperature of working fluid much
lower than what is being cooled)
II. Vapour absorption system
III. Steam Jet Refrigeration System:
This system uses the principle of boiling the water below
100. If the pressure on the surface of the water is reduced
below atmospheric pressure, water can be made boil at
low temperatures.
Water boils at 60, when the pressure on the surface is 5
cm of Hg. The very low pressure or high vacuum on the
surface of the water can be maintained by throttling the
steam through jets or nozzles. The general arrangement of
the system is shown in the Figure.
Consider a flash chamber containing 100 kg of water. If
suddenly 1 kg of water is removed by boiling, as pressure
is reduced due to throttling of steam through nozzles.
Approximately 2385 kJ of heat will be removed from the
water, which is equivalent to heat of evaporation of water.
The fall in temperature of the remaining water will be,
Water is the refrigerant used in the steam jet refrigeration system. As water freezes at 0 , then
either refrigeration has to be stopped or some device is required to pump the ice.
Operation:
High pressure steam is supplied to the nozzle from the boiler and it is expanded. Here, the water
vapor originated from the flash chamber is entrained with the high velocity steam jet and it is
further compressed in the thermo compressor. The kinetic energy of the mixture is converted
into static pressure and mass is discharged to the condenser.
The chilled water in the flash chamber is circulated by a pump to the point of
application.
The warm water from the load is returned to the flash chamber. The water is sprayed
through the nozzles to provide maximum surface area for cooling. The water, which is
splashed in the chamber and any loss of cold water at the application, must be
replaced by makeup water added to the cold water circulating system.
Advantages:
a) It is flexible in operation; cooling capacity can be easily and quickly changed.
b) It has no moving parts as such it is vibration free.
c) It can be installed out of doors.
d) The weight of the system per ton of refrigerating capacity is less.
e) The system is very reliable and maintenance cost is less.
 f) The system is particularly adapted to the processing of cold water used in rubber mills,,
distilleries, paper mills, food processing plants, etc.
g) This system is particularly used in air-conditioning installations, because of the complete
safety of water as refrigerant and ability to adjust quickly to load variations and no hazard
from the leakage of the refrigerant.
Disadvantages:
a) The use of direct evaporation to produce chilled water is usually limited as tremendous
volume of vapor is to be handled.
b) About twice as much heat must be removed in the condenser of steam jet per ton of
refrigeration compared with the vapor compression system.
c) The system is useful for comfort air-conditioning, but it is not practically feasible for water
temperature below 4 .
Gas Cycle Refrigeration:

If air at high pressure expands and does work (say moves a piston
or rotates a turbine), its temperature will decrease.

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.
Cryogenic Refrigeration

• The science and technology associated with generation of

low temperature below 123 K. Cryogenics it is the cooling of
materials to extremely low temperatures using highly
condensed gases.

• Limit to lowest temp—absolute zero (0K)

• Cryogenic region  below 120K (-153ºC)
• Cryogenic Liquids  super-freezing permanent gases to liquid
states, ex: oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and helium

• Liquid Nitrogen: most easily available

• Liquid Helium: lowest temp. <2.17K
Cryogenics involves refrigeration at temperatures below 120K(-150ᵒC).These low
temperatures, which are not natural on earth make it possible to liquefy gases such as
methane, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen. The cryogenic plant shown below is used to
produce liquefied natural gas.
• Cryogenic temperature are generally
achieved through a refrigeration cycle.
• First, the gaseous refrigerant is
compressed and heated in a
compressor.
• Next, the compressed refrigerant is
cooled . The heat from this cooling
process is used in the compressor.
• The refrigerant then travels through an
expansion valve , cooling to the point of
condensation. This condensed
refrigerant now come in contact with
the material to be cooled , bringing the
temperature of the material down to
cryogenic temperatures.
• As it cools the material, the liquid
refrigerant is in turn reheated and
undergoes the cycle again.
• Cryogenic system can be modified to fit many
situations. Such as the storage of liquid oxygen, as
shown on the right. The tank wall material must be
carefully chosen to avoid brittle failure at low
temperatures.
• The piping used for cryogenic system is usually
insulated by a vacuum, which has poor conductivity.
Below, the outer wall of this pipe has been cut away
so the vacuum chamber and inner pipe can be seen.
Applications
Space
Rocket propulsion
Cooling of Infra-Red (IR) sensor
Space simulation
Cryogenic engines are powered by using liquid hydrogen as a fuel and liquid oxygen as an
oxidizer
Cooling of IR detectors, Telescopes, cold probes, etc. are some of the applications of
cryogenics
Mechanical
Magnetic separation
Heat treatment (the lives of the tools, die casting and their dies, forgings, jigs and
fixtures, etc. increase when subjected to cryogenic heat treatment)
eg. The life of guitar strings increase by 4 to 5 times with no need for tuning
Recycling (turns the scrap into raw material by subjecting it to cryogenic temperatures.
eg. Used for rubbers, PVC
Medicine
Cryosurgery
Cryosurgery is a novel technique in which the harmful tissues are destroyed by
freezing them to cryogenic temperature
Cryosurgery has a shorter hospital stay, less blood loss, and small recovery time
It is generally used in patients with localized prostate and kidney cancer, skin
disorder, retinal problems, etc.
Food preservation
Preserving food at low temperature is a well known technique
Cooling of sea foods, meat(sea export), milk products for long time preservation is
achieved by use of
 Cell preservation
Systems are developed to preserve blood cells, plasma cells, human organs and
animal organs at cryogenics temperatures
Gas Industry
 Liquefaction
 Separation
 Storage
The transportation of gases across the world is done in liquid state. This is done by
storing the liquid at cryogenic temperature
Superconductivity
NMR,MRI
Maglev locomotion
Transformers & generators
A common use of cryogenic technology is the production of liquefied natural gas(LNG)
for use as a vehicle fuel. LNG is fed from tanks to the engine through cryogenic pumps.
LNG is very cost efficient and is used by a few metropolitan transportation system
across the United States.
 As with standard refrigeration systems , cryogenic systems can also be installed in
vehicles for the transportation of liquefied gases

Advantage
• Relatively simple system
Disadvantage
• Hazardous conditions due to extreme low temperatures
• High energy requirements to achieve low temperatures