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Unit 2.5, Expansion Valve

This document discusses different types of refrigerant system valves. It provides details on thermostatic expansion valves, which are commonly used to control systems where load changes are frequent. Thermostatic expansion valves maintain a constant degree of superheat in the vapor at the evaporator outlet to ensure the evaporator is correctly supplied with liquid refrigerant without risk of liquid carryover. The valve opening is controlled by pressure variation on a bellows responding to temperature changes sensed by a remote bulb attached to the evaporator outlet. An ideally superheated gas of 6-7°C leaves the evaporator, ensuring efficient refrigerant use and no liquid reaches the compressor.

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Swarg Vibha
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509 views

Unit 2.5, Expansion Valve

This document discusses different types of refrigerant system valves. It provides details on thermostatic expansion valves, which are commonly used to control systems where load changes are frequent. Thermostatic expansion valves maintain a constant degree of superheat in the vapor at the evaporator outlet to ensure the evaporator is correctly supplied with liquid refrigerant without risk of liquid carryover. The valve opening is controlled by pressure variation on a bellows responding to temperature changes sensed by a remote bulb attached to the evaporator outlet. An ideally superheated gas of 6-7°C leaves the evaporator, ensuring efficient refrigerant use and no liquid reaches the compressor.

Uploaded by

Swarg Vibha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Regulator or expansion valves

For Freon systems the simplest regulator is found on Domestic


Refrigerator cabinets. This consists of a length of capillary tubing. No
adjustments are possible but at design stage the length and bore of the
tube are calculated to give the pressure drop required for normal
working conditions.
Thermostatic expansion valve

These valves have the space above the bellows or diaphragm filled with
the liquid refrigerant used in the main system and connected by capillary
tube to a remote bulb. This remote bulb is fixed in close contact with the

gas line at the outlet from the evaporator and is responsive to changes in
refrigerant vapour temperature at this point. These valves are the most
commonly employed and are suitable for the control of systems where
changes in the loading are frequent. The thermostatic expansion valve is
based on a constant degree of superheat in the vapour at the evaporator
outlet, so enabling the evaporator at any load to be kept correctly
supplied with liquid refrigerant without any danger of liquid carry over
to the suction line and thence to the compressor. The aperture in the
expansion valve is controlled by pressure variation on the top of a
bellows. This is effective through the push pins and tends to open the
valve against the spring. Spring pressure is set during manufacture of the
valve and should not be adjusted. The pressure on the bellows is from a
closed system of heat sensitive fluid in a bulb and capillary connected to
the top of the bellows casing. The bulb is fastened to the outside of the
evaporator outlet so that temperature changes in the gas leaving the
evaporator are sensed by expansion or contraction of the fluid.
Ideally the gas should leave with 6 or 7C of superheat. This ensures
that the refrigerant is being used efficiently and that no liquid reaches the
compressor. A starved condition in the evaporator will result in a greater
superheat which through expansion of the liquid in the bulb and
capillary, will cause the valve to open further and increase the flow of
refrigerant. A flooded evaporator will result in lower superheat and the
valve will decrease the flow of refrigerant by closing in as pressure on
the top of the bellows reduces. Saturation temperature is related to
pressure but the addition of superheat to a gas or vapour occurs after the
latent heat transaction has ended. The actual pressure at the end of an
evaporator coil is produced inside the bellows by the equalizing line and
this is in effect more than balanced by the pressure in the bulb and
the outside of the bellows is the result of saturation temperature plus
superheat. The additional pressure on the outside of the bellows resulting
from superheat overcomes the spring loading which tends to close the
valve.
For larger systems where a significant pressure drop exists across the
evaporator it is necessary to fit a Equalizing line or Balance line. This
is a small bore tube which feeds the outlet pressure back to the
thermostatic valve motor element. Therefore the measured temperature
is directly related to the superheat temperature at outlet pressure.

Superheat is measured at the point where the sensing bulb is located on


the evaporator outlet; superheat is the difference between the
temperature at the bulb and the evaporating pressure/evaporating
temperature at the same point.

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