ME 4751: Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION AND BASIC CONCEPTS

Lecture slides by
Dr. Ibrahim Balarabe Mansir
 1-1: Introduction
What is Refrigeration?
• It is the process of extracting heat from a lower-temperature
heat source, to a higher-temperature heat sink.
• The process of cooling of bodies or fluids to temperatures
below that of the surroundings.

Areas of Applications:
• Food processing, preservation and distribution.
• Chemical and process industries.
• Special applications such as cold treatment of metals,
medical, construction, ice skating etc.
• Comfort air-conditioning.
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 1-1: Introduction – Cont.

Q: Which of the following can be considered as a

refrigeration process?

a) Cooling of hot metal from 1000oC to room temperature.

b) Cooling of a cup of water by mixing it with an ice.

c) Cooling of human body using a ceiling fan.

d) Cooling of a hot cup of coffee by leaving it on a table.

e) Cooling of hot water by mixing it with tap water.

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 1-1: Introduction – Cont.
What is Air Conditioning?
• Air Conditioning refers to the treatment of air to control
its temperature, moisture content, cleanliness, odor and
circulation, as required by occupants, processes, or
products in the space.

Areas of Applications:
• Industrial, such as in textiles, printing, manufacturing,
computer rooms, power plants, vehicles etc.
• Comfort –commercial, residential etc.
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 1-2: Review of Fundamental Principles
Introduction

• Refrigeration and air conditioning processes:

compression, expansion, cooling, heating, humidification,
de-humidification, air purification, air distribution etc.

• These processes involve exchange of mass, momentum

and energy.

• These exchanges are subject to fundamental

thermodynamics laws.

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1-2: Review of Fundamental Principles – Cont.
Fundamental Laws of Thermodynamics
• The Zeroth law states that when two systems are in thermal
equilibrium with a third system, then they in in thermal
equilibrium with each other.
• The First law is a statement of law of conservation of energy.
• It states that energy cannot be created or destroyed by any
process, it can only change form.
Ein – Eout = ∆Esystem
• The Second law states that processes follow a certain
direction but not in the opposite direction.
• It also asserts that energy has quality as well as quantity.
• It has two main statements:
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1-2: Review of Fundamental Principles – Cont.
Fundamental Laws of Thermodynamics
Kelvin–Planck statement of the second law
• It is impossible for any device that operates on a cycle to receive
heat from a single reservoir and convert all of it to work.
• No heat engine can have a thermal efficiency of 100%.

A heat engine that violates the Kelvin–Planck statement of the second law. 7
1-2: Review of Fundamental Principles – Cont.
Fundamental Laws of Thermodynamics
Clausius statement of the second law
• It is impossible to construct a device that operates in a cycle
that transfer heat from a lower-temperature body to a higher-
temperature body without work from external source.

A refrigerator that violates

the Clausius statement of
the second law.
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1-2: Review of Fundamental Principles – Cont.
Heat Engine, Refrigerator and Heat Pump
Heat Engine a device that operates in a thermodynamic cycle that
converts part of heat from a high-temperature source to work and
reject the remaining heat to a low-temperature sink.

A Steam Power Plant 9

1-2: Review of Fundamental Principles – Cont.
Heat Engine, Refrigerator and Heat Pump
Refrigerator a device that operates in a thermodynamic cycle that
transfers heat from a low-temperature medium to a high-temperature
one by consuming some external work.
• The objective of a refrigerator is to
remove heat (QL) from the
refrigerated space.
• The efficiency of a refrigerator is
expressed in terms of the
coefficient of performance (COP).

Typical refrigeration system

and its operating conditions
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1-2: Review of Fundamental Principles – Cont.
Heat Engine, Refrigerator and Heat Pump
Heat Pump is similar to a refrigerator, however, here the required
output is the heat rejected to the high temperature body
• The objective of a heat pump
is to supply heat QH into the
warmer space.
• The efficiency of a heat pump
is also expressed in terms of
the COP.

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1-2: Review of Fundamental Principles – Cont.
Carnot (Reversible) Heat Engine, Refrigerator and Heat Pump

• For reversible cycles, QH / QL= TH / TL. (where TH and TL are in K)

• No heat engine can have a higher efficiency than a reversible
heat engine operating between the same high-and low-
temperature reservoirs.
• No refrigerator or heat pump can have a higher COP than
reversible ones operating between the same temperature limits.

Carnot heat engine Carnot refrigerator Carnot heat pump

Any heat engine Any refrigerator Any heat pump

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1-2: Review of Fundamental Principles – Cont.
Review Exercises:
1. A Carnot heat engine operates between a source at 1000 K and a sink at 300 K. If the
heat engine is supplied with heat at a rate of 800 kJ/min, determine (a) the thermal
efficiency and (b) the power output of this heat engine. Answers: (a) 70%, (b) 9.33kW
2. A refrigerator manufactured by one manufacturing company works between 40°C and
-5°C. The manufacturer claims that coefficient of performance of that refrigerator is
7.0. Do you agree with this statement? Answer: No
3. A Carnot refrigerator operates in a room in which the temperature is 22°C and
consumes 2 kW of power when operating. If the food compartment of the refrigerator
is to be maintained at 3°C, determine the rate of heat removal from the food
compartment. Answer: 29 kW
4. A refrigerator is to remove heat from the cooled space at a rate of 300 kJ/min to
maintain its temperature at -8°C. If the air surrounding the refrigerator is at 25°C,
determine the minimum power input required for this refrigerator. Answer: 0.623 kW
5. An air-conditioning system operating on the reversed Carnot cycle is required to
transfer heat to a house at a rate of 15 kW to maintain its temperature at 25°C. If the
outdoor air temperature is 5°C, determine the power required to operate this air-
conditioning system. Answer: 1.007 kW
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