Refrigeration and Air

Conditioning(MEng5212)
ARBA MICH UNIVERSITY
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
 Chapter-3
VAPOUR COMPRESSION REFRIGERATION
SYSTEMS
 Vapour Compression Cycle
• In a vapour compression refrigeration system, refrigeration is
obtained as the refrigerant evaporates at low temperatures.
• The input to the system is in the form of mechanical energy
required to run the compressor.
• 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.
• 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)
• Heat transfer rate remains high (temperature of working
fluid much lower than what is being cooled)
 The Carnot Refrigeration Cycle
• Carnot refrigeration cycle is a completely reversible cycle.
• It is used as a model of perfection for a refrigeration cycle
operating between a constant temperature heat source and
sink.
• It is used as reference against which the real cycles are
compared.
• The basic Carnot refrigeration system for pure vapour
consists of four components: compressor, condenser,
turbine and evaporator.
Schematic of Carnot T-S diagram of Carnot
refrigeration system refrigeration cycle
• The cycle involves two isothermal heat transfer processes (processes
4-1 and 2-3) and two isentropic work transfer processes (processes
1-2 and 3-4).
• Heat is extracted isothermally at evaporator temperature Te during
process 4-1, heat is rejected isothermally at condenser temperature
Tc during process 2-3.
• Work is supplied to the compressor during the isentropic
compression (1-2) of refrigerant vapour from evaporator pressure Pe
to condenser pressure Pc, and work is produced by the system as
refrigerant liquid expands isentropically in the turbine from
condenser pressure Pc to evaporator pressure Pe.
• All the processes are both internally as well as externally reversible,
i.e., net entropy generation for the system and environment is zero.
Applying the first and second laws of thermodynamics to the
Carnot refrigeration cycle:
• For the reversible, isothermal heat transfer processes 2-3 and
4-1:

• Where Te and Tc are the evaporator and condenser

temperatures respectively.

• The Coefficient of Performance (COP) is given by:)

 Fig: Pressure-Enthalpy diagram
• COP can also be expressed as:
• Therefore , the coefficient of performance of a refrigeration machine is
.

the ratio of the energy removed at the evaporator (refrigerating effect)

to the energy supplied to the compressor.
• The best possible performance giving the highest COP would be
obtained from a system operating on a Carnot cycle. Under such
conditions the refrigeration cycle would be thermodynamically
reversible, and both the expansion and compression processes would
be isentropic.
• Dry compression with a single compressor is possible if the isothermal
heat rejection process is replaced by isobaric heat rejection process.
• Similarly, the isentropic expansion process can be replaced by an
isenthalpic throttling process.
• A refrigeration system, which incorporates these two changes is known
as Evans-Perkins or reverse Rankine cycle. This is the theoretical cycle on
which the actual vapour compression refrigeration systems are based.
Standard Vapour compression refrigeration system
 Standard Vapour Compression Refrigeration System (VCRS)
• The standard single stage, saturated vapour compression refrigeration
system consists of the following four processes:
• Process 1-2: Isentropic compression of saturated vapour in compressor
• Process 2-3: Isobaric heat rejection in condenser
• Process 3-4:Isenthalpic expansion of saturated liquid in expansion
device
• Process 4-1: Isobaric heat extraction in the evaporator
• By comparing with Carnot cycle, it can be seen that the standard vapour
compression refrigeration cycle introduces two irreversibilities:
• Irreversibility due to non-isothermal heat rejection (process 2-3) and
• Irreversibility due to isenthalpic throttling (process 3-4).
• As a result, one would expect the theoretical COP of standard cycle to be
smaller than that of a Carnot system for the same heat source and sink
temperatures. Due to these irreversibilities, the cooling effect reduces
and work input increases, thus reducing the system COP.

Fig. Comparison between Carnot and standard VCRS

Analysis of Standard Vapour Compression Refrigeration System
(VCRS)
• A simple analysis of standard vapour compression refrigeration system
can be carried out by assuming:
➢ Steady flow;
➢ Negligible kinetic and potential energy changes across each
component, and
➢ No heat transfer in connecting pipe lines. The steady flow energy
equation is applied to each of the four components.
• Evaporator: Heat transfer rate at evaporator or refrigeration capacity, 𝑄ሶ
is given by:
• Where 𝑚ሶ is the refrigerant mass flow rate in kg/s, h1 and h4 are the
specific enthalpies (kJ/kg) at the exit and inlet to the evaporator,
respectively
• (h1 − h4 ) is known as specific refrigeration effect or simply refrigeration
effect, which is equal to the heat transferred at the evaporator per
kilogram of refrigerant.
• The evaporator pressure Pe is the saturation pressure corresponding to
evaporator temperature Te, i.e.,

• Where h2 and h1 are the specific enthalpies (kJ/kg) at the exit and inlet to
the compressor, respectively.
• (h 2 − h1 ) is known as specific work of compression or simply work of compression, which is
equal to the work input to the compressor per kilogram of refrigerant.
• Condenser: Heat transfer rate at condenser, 𝑄ሶ 𝑐 is given by:

• Where h3 and h2 are the specific enthalpies (kJ/kg) at the exit and inlet to the condenser,
respectively.
• The condenser pressure Pc is the saturation pressure corresponding to condenser
temperature Tc , i.e.,

• Expansion device:

• The exit condition of the expansion device lies in the two-phase region, hence applying the
definition of quality (or dryness fraction), we can write:
• Where x4 is the quality of refrigerant at point 4, hf,e, hg,e,
hfg are the saturated liquid enthalpy, saturated vapour
enthalpy and latent heat of vaporization at evaporator
pressure, respectively.
• The COP of the system is given by:
 𝐾𝐽
• Where is called as volumetric refrigeration effect ( 3 )of
𝑚
refrigerant)
• Use of Pressure-enthalpy (P-h) charts:

Fig. Standard vapour compression refrigeration cycle on a P-h chart

 Actual Vapour-Compression Cycle
• An ideal, simple, reversible vapour-compression cycle is not a practical proposition. The
departure from reversibility arises from the irreversible nature of the throttling expansion
process, pressure losses in the evaporator, condenser and pipelines, heat transfer through
finite temperature differences and a measure of irreversibility in the compression process.

Fig. Simple saturation refrigeration cycle on a temperature-entropy diagram

• There is more than enough heat
transfer surface in the condenser to
change the refrigerant from a
superheated vapour to a saturated
liquid. In this case the liquid is sub-
cooled to a temperature less than its
saturated temperature for the
prevailing pressure.
• A consequence of this is that any loss
of position head (because the
condenser might be at a lower level
than the expansion valve), or any
frictional pressure drop in the liquid Fig. Pressure-enthalpy diagram of a
line, is less likely to cause the liquid simple, actual, vapour-compression cycle
showing superheat at evaporator outlet
to flash to gas before it reaches the and sub-cooling at condenser outlet.
expansion valve.
 ACTUAL VAPOR-COMPRESSION REFRIGERATION CYCLE
• An actual vapor-compression refrigeration cycle differs from the ideal one in several
ways, owing mostly to the irreversibilities that occur in various components.
• Two common sources of irreversibilities are fluid friction (causes pressure drops)
and heat transfer to or from the surroundings. The T-s diagram of an actual vapor
compression refrigeration cycle is shown below:
• Note: The compression process in the ideal cycle is internally reversible and
adiabatic, and thus isentropic. The actual compression process, however,
involves frictional effects, which increase the entropy, and heat transfer, which
may increase or decrease the entropy, depending on the direction.
• Therefore, the entropy of the refrigerant may increase (process 1-2) or
decrease (process 1-2’) during an actual compression process, depending on
which effects dominate.
• The compression process 1-2’ may be even more desirable than the isentropic
compression process since the specific volume of the refrigerant and thus the
work input requirement are smaller in this case.
• Therefore, the refrigerant should be cooled during the compression process
whenever it is practical and economical to do so.
• Thermostatic expansion valve is the most versatile expansion valve and is most
commonly used in refrigeration systems. A thermostatic expansion valve maintains a
constant degree of superheat at the exit of evaporator; hence it is most effective for dry
evaporators in preventing the slugging of the compressors since it does not allow the
liquid refrigerant to enter the compressor.

Fig. Schematic of a Thermostatic Expansion Valve (TEV)