THE IDEAL VAPOR-COMPRESSION

REFRIGERATION CYCLE
 VAPOR-ABSORPTION
REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS
 VARC
• The compressor has been replaced by a complex
absorption mechanism consisting of
• an absorber,
• a pump,
• a generator,
• a regenerator,
• a valve, and a rectifier.
• Absorption refrigeration systems involve the
absorption of a refrigerant by a transport medium.
 Air Refrigeration cycle
❖ Air is used as working fluid/Refrigerant.
❖ No change of phase through out.
❖ Heat carrying capacity/kg of air is very
small compared with other refrigerant
systems. High pressure air readily
available in the Aircraft .
❖ Low equipment weight
• The performance of refrigerators and heat pumps is
expressed in terms of the coefficient of
performance (COP), defined as

• Tons of refrigeration the cooling capacity of a

refrigeration system that is, the rate of heat removal
from the refrigerated space.
• A ton of refrigeration is defined as the quantity of
heat to be removed in order to freeze 1 ton (1000 kg)
of liquid water at 0°C (32°F) into ice at 0°C in 24 h
is said to be 1 ton.
• One ton of refrigeration is equivalent to 211 kJ/min
• Latent heat it represents the amount of energy
needed to vaporize/condense a unit mass of
saturated liquid–vapor mixture at a given
temperature or pressure. (kJ/kg)
• There is no change of temperature but a change of
state.

• Sensible heat it represents the amount of energy

needed to increase/decrease the temperature a unit
mass of an object by 1K without changing it’s
thermodynamic phase. (kJ/kg-k)
• There is no change of state but a change of
temperature.
Refrigerants
 What is a Refrigerant?
• “Refrigerant is the fluid used for heat transfer in
a refrigerating system that absorbs heat during
evaporation from the region of low temperature
and pressure, and releases heat during
condensation at a region of higher temperature
and pressure.”
• In principle, any fluid can be used as a
refrigerant.
 Classification of refrigerants

Refrigerant

Primary Secondary
Refrigerants Refrigerants

Used directly Liquids that are

Undergo Not undergo
as working phase change
used for
transport energy phase change
fluid
 Primary refrigerants
❖ These are the refrigerants which cool the
substance or space directly by absorbing latent heat.
❖ It absorbs heat during evaporation in the
evaporator and releases heat energy during
condensation in condenser.
❖ It is also known as direct expansion system
Eg. Ammonia, Freon, SO2, CO2 etc.
❖ These fluids provide refrigeration by undergoing
a phase change process in the evaporator
 Secondary refrigerants
❖ There may be certain situations in which we cannot allow
the refrigerant to come in direct contact with the items being
refrigerated, and then the refrigerant used is termed as a
secondary refrigerant.
❖ In refrigeration plant a secondary coolant is used as cooling
medium which absorb heat from refrigerated space and
transfer to primary refrigerant in evaporator.
❖ Substances that take away heat from the medium to be
cooled and give it to the boiling refrigerant are called
secondary refrigerants
❖ Used as intermediate fluid between evaporator and the
substance or space to be cooled. They cool the substance
and the space by absorbing their sensible heat. Also called
indirect expansion system.
Classification of Primary
Refrigerant

❖ Halo-carbon Refrigerant
❖ Azeotrope Refrigerant
❖ Inorganic Refrigerant
❖ Hydro-carbon Refrigerant
 Halocarbon Refrigerants
• Halocarbon Refrigerant are all synthetically produced and were
developed as the Freon family of refrigerants.
• They are fluorocarbons of methane and ethane series.
• They only contain carbon and 1 or more of these halogens (chlorine,
bromine, fluorine)
• Non toxic, non-flammable, non-explosive, non- corrosive, non-
irritant to human body and eyes ,odorless and colorless
• Will not react with lubricating oil and food product stored in the
refrigerated space.
• Has excellent thermodynamic properties
• Only disadvantage is ozone layer is damaged.
Examples :
CFC’s : R11, R12, R113, R114, R115
HCFC’s : R22, R123
HFC’s : R134a, R404a, R407C, R410a
 Inorganic Refrigerants
• Inorganic refrigerant were exclusively used
before the introduction of halocarbon. These
refrigerant are still in use due to there inherent
thermodynamic and physical properties.
✓Carbon Dioxide
✓Water
✓Ammonia
✓Air
✓Sulphur dioxide
 Ammonia (NH3) R-717
• Used for commercial purposes. Mainly in cold stored and
ice plants.
• The boiling temperature of NH3 at atmospheric pressure is
-33 ºc and melting point from solid is -78ºC.
• The low boiling points makes it possible to have
refrigeration considerably below 0ºC without using
pressure below atmospheric in the evaporator.
• Its latent heat of vaporization at -15ºC is 1315 kj/kg
• It is colorless gas with a sharp pungent smell
• Has good thermodynamic properties
• It is neutral to all metals, highly soluble in oil.
• Volatile and non toxic but in higher concentration.
 Sulphur Dioxide (SO2)
• Previously used in household refrigerators
• Toxic, non-explosive and non-flammable, non-
corrosive
• Irritant to human body
• Non mixable with oil
• Has pungent odour and low latent heat value
 Azeotrope Refrigerants
• This group of refrigerants consist of mixture of
different refrigerants which can not separated under
pressure and temperature and have fixed
thermodynamic properties.
• A stable mixture of two or several refrigerants
whose vapour and liquid phases retain identical
compositions over a wide range of temperatures.
• Azeotropic mixtures are designated by 500 series
• Examples : R-500 :( 73.8% R12 and 26.2% R152)
R-502 : (8.8% R22 and 51.2% R115)
R-503 : (40.1% R23 and 59.9% R13)
 Hydrocarbons
• Most of the hydrocarbon refrigerant are successfully used
in industrial and commercial installation.
• They possess satisfactory thermodynamic properties but
are highly flammable and explosive.
• They are considered to be the most environmentally safe
and efficient refrigerants available.
• Growing use in very small commercial systems like car
air-conditioning system
Examples: R170, Ethane, C2H6
R290 , Propane C3H3
R600, Butane, C4H10
R600a, Isobutane, C4H10
Blends of the above Gases
Classification of fluids used as refrigerants
Cont…
• Synthetic refrigerants are non-toxic and
nonflammable. However, compared to the natural
refrigerants the synthetic refrigerants offer lower
performance and they also have higher Global
Warming Potential (GWP). As a result, the synthetic
refrigerants face an uncertain future.
• The most commonly used natural refrigerant is
ammonia. This is also one of the oldest known
refrigerants. Ammonia has good thermodynamic, thermo
physical and environmental properties. However, it is
toxic and is not compatible with some of the
common materials of construction such as copper,
which somewhat restricts its application.
 Designation of refrigerants
• Since a large number of refrigerants have been
developed over the years for a wide variety of
applications, a numbering system has been
adopted to designate various refrigerants.
• From the number one can get some useful
information about the type of refrigerant, its
chemical composition, molecular weight etc
• All the refrigerants are designated by R followed
by a unique number.
 (i) Fully saturated, halogenated
compounds
✓ These refrigerants are derivatives of alkanes (CnH2n+2)
such as methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6).
✓ These refrigerants are designated by R XYZ, where:
X+1 indicates the number of Carbon (C) atoms
Y-1 indicates number of Hydrogen (H) atoms,
Z indicates number of Fluorine (F) atoms
✓ The balance indicates the number of Chlorine atoms.
✓ Only 2 digits indicates that the value of X is zero.
Ex: R 22
• X = 0 ⇒ No. of Carbon atoms = 0+1 = 1
derivative of methane (CH 4)
• Y = 2 ⇒ No. of Hydrogen atoms = 2-1 = 1
• Z = 2 ⇒ No. of Fluorine atoms = 2
• The balance = 4 – no. of (H+F) atoms ⇒ 4-(1+2)
=1
• ∴ No. of Chlorine atoms = 1
• ∴The chemical formula of R 22 = CHClF2
Solve R12 and R134a
 (ii) Inorganic refrigerants
• These are designated by number 7 followed by
the molecular weight of the refrigerant
(rounded-off).
• Ex.: Ammonia: Molecular weight is 17, ∴ the
designation is R 717
• Carbon dioxide: Molecular weight is 44, ∴ the
designation is R 744
• Water: Molecular weight is 18, ∴ the
designation is R 718
• SO2
• S molecular weight = 32
• O molecular weight = (16)2 = 32
• Molecular weight of SO2 = 32+32 =64
• R 764
 (iii) Mixtures
Azeotropic are designated by 500 series, where as zeotropic
refrigerants are designated by 400 series.
Azeotropic mixtures:
R500: Mixture of R 12 (73.8 %) and R 152a (26.2%)
R502: Mixture of R 22 (48.8 %) and R 115 (51.2%)
R503: Mixture of R 23 (40.1 %) and R 13 (59.9%)
R507A: Mixture of R 125 (50%) and R 143a (50%)
Zeotropic mixtures:
R404A : Mixture of R 125 (44%), R 143a (52%) and R 134a (4%)
R407A : Mixture of R 32 (20%), R 125 (40%) and R 134a (40%)
R407B : Mixture of R 32 (10%), R 125 (70%) and R 134a (20%)
R410A : Mixture of R 32 (50%) and R 125 (50%)
 Thermodynamic Properties Of
Refrigerant
Boiling and condensing temperature and pressures
The boiling temp of refrigerant at atmospheric pressure should be low.
• The evaporator and condensing temperatures determine the
pressures
• The maximum condensing temperature is largely affected by
climatic condition
• It is desirable to select a refrigerant whose saturation pressure (at
min. operating temperature) is a few pounds above atmospheric
pressure.
• If the boiling temperature of the refrigerant is high at
atmospheric pressure then compressor has to operate at high
vacuums.
• Both evaporator and condenser pressure should be positive and
it should be near to atmospheric pressure.
• Two important parameters that need to be
considered in the selection of a refrigerant are the
temperatures of the two media (the refrigerated
space and the environment) with which the
refrigerant exchanges heat.
• To have heat transfer at a reasonable rate, a
temperature difference of 5 to 10°C should be
maintained between the refrigerant and the
medium with which it is exchanging heat.
• If a refrigerated space is to be maintained at -
10°C, for example, the temperature of the
refrigerant should remain at about -20°C while it
absorbs heat in the evaporator.
• The lowest pressure in a refrigeration cycle
occurs in the evaporator, and this pressure
should be above atmospheric pressure to
prevent any air leakage into the refrigeration
system. Therefore, a refrigerant should have a
saturation pressure of 1 atm or higher or higher
at -20°C in this particular case.
• The temperature (and thus the pressure) of the
refrigerant on the condenser side depends on the
medium to which heat is rejected.
• Lower temperatures in the condenser (thus higher
COPs) can be maintained if the refrigerant is
cooled by liquid water instead of air.
• The use of water cooling cannot be justified
economically, however, except in large industrial
refrigeration systems.
• The temperature of the refrigerant in the condenser
cannot fall below the temperature of the cooling
medium (about 20°C for a household refrigerator)
• The saturation pressure of the refrigerant at this
temperature should be well below its critical
pressure if the heat rejection process is to be
approximately isothermal.
 Thermodynamic Properties Of
Refrigerant
Freezing temperature
• Should have low freezing temperature . Since the freezing
temperature of most of refrigerant is below -35 ºC.
Critical temperature
• As much as possible the critical temperature of the refrigerant
should be very high and well above the maximum condensing
temperature in order to have a greater heat transfer at a constant
temperature.
Discharge temperature
• High discharge temperatures from the compressor should be
avoided
• It causes some refrigerant breakdowns as well as poor lubrication
effectiveness
Latent heat of vaporization
• Heat which converts the refrigerant from the liquid state
to vapour
• It should be as large as possible to reduce the weight of
the refrigerant to be circulated in the system.
• This reduces initial cost of the refrigerant. The size of the
system will also be small and hence low initial cost.
Density
• High vapour density (Low specific volume of vapour)
refrigerants are preferred
Viscosity
• Low viscosity of the liquid refrigerant is desired to
reduce the pressure drop in the lines
 Chemical properties of refrigerants
Toxicity
• Rated based on its effect on human beings over
specified periods
• Should be non toxic and non irritation
Flammability and explosion hazard
• Should be non-flammable and non-explosive
Refrigerant odours
• Can be both an asset and a hazard
• Makes it easy to detect the leaks but at the same
time may contaminate
• Food stuffs in storage
Non-corrosiveness
 Other properties
• Should not react with lubricating oil
• Should not react with moisture
• Should not contaminate the food
materials kept inside the refrigerating
system
Thermal conductivity
• For a high heat transfer co-efficient a
high thermal conductivity is desirable.
 Other properties
• Availability and low cost
• Ease of handling
• High C.O.P.
• Low power consumption per tonne of
refrigeration.
• Chemical stability: The refrigerants
should be chemically stable as long as
they are inside the refrigeration system.
Environmental Effects of Refrigerants
• At present the environment friendliness of the refrigerant
is a major factor in deciding the usefulness of a particular
refrigerant. The important environmental and safety
properties are:
• a) Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP): According to the
Montreal protocol, the ODP of refrigerants should be zero,
i.e., they should be non-ozone depleting substances.
• Refrigerants having non-zero ODP have either already
been phased-out (e.g. R 11, R 12) or will be phased-out in
near-future (e.g. R22).
• Since ODP depends mainly on the presence of chlorine or
bromine in the molecules, refrigerants having either
chlorine (i.e., CFCs and HCFCs) or bromine cannot be
used under the new regulations
 b) Global Warming Potential (GWP):
Refrigerants should have as low a GWP value as
possible to minimize the problem of global
warming.
• Troposphere the lowermost layer of the
atmosphere, traps heat by a natural process due to
the presence of certain gases which contributes a
temperature rise.
• Refrigerants with zero ODP but a high value of
GWP (e.g. R134a) are likely to be regulated in
future.
 End of Chapter 2
Next Lecture
Chapter 3: Vapor-Compression
Refrigeration Cycles