ME-342

Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

Dr. Binita Pathak
Pre-requisite: ME-103: Engineering Thermodynamics and ME-241: Heat and Mass Transfer

Objective of the course: To provide detailed knowledge about refrigeration and air-conditioning processes

Course Content:

Unit 1: Introduction:
Society needs, History of cold production, Reversed Carnot cycle

Unit 2: Air Refrigeration System:

Limitation of reversed Carnot cycle, reversed Brayton or bell Coleman cycle,
application to aircraft refrigeration

Unit 3: Vapour compression system:

Vapour compression cycle, pressure-enthalpy diagram and calculations, effect of
operating condition on performance, actual vapour compression cycle.

Unit 4: Multi pressure System:

Multistage or compound compression with water and float, intercooling, multi-
evaporator systems with individual and multiple expansion valves, cascade system
Unit 5:
Refrigerant – classification, nomenclature and properties, Introduction to
Production of Low Temperature

Unit 6: Vapour Absorption System:

Modification to simple vapour absorption system, actual vapour absorption cycle,
absorption system calculation, lithium bromide water systems.

Unit 7: Air-conditioning:
psychometric properties, psychometric chart, psychometry of air-conditioning
process, summer and winter air conditioning, Calculation of heating and cooling
loads, design of air-conditioning systems, air duct design, refrigeration and air-
conditioning controls and equipment, cold storage system

Text Books:

1. Refrigeration & Air conditioning, C P Arora

2. Refrigeration & Air Conditioning, [Link]

Reference Books:

1. Refrigeration & Airconditioning, Stoecker & Jones

2. Heating, Ventilating & Airconditioning by McQuiston et al.
3. Fundamentals of Cryogenics Engineering by Mukhopadhyay
Introduction to Refrigeration
 Unit 1: Introduction

Refrigeration and Cooling

Cooling: Heat transferred from high temperature to lower temperature

Refrigeration: The process of achieving and maintaining a body or a space

at a temperature less than that of the surroundings.

Air Conditioning: Air conditioning is the treatment of air to simultaneously

control its temperature, moisture, quality (cleanliness),
circulation as required.

[1] Justin Lee, 2013

 Needs of the society:

(i) Food processing and preservation: Low temperature reduces bacterial activities

and hence improves the shelf life of the food. Therefore, it is possible to preserve

various food products for much longer periods under frozen conditions.

In addition, processing of food products like preparing ice-cream, coating of candy

with chocolates, brewing wine etc. also requires the maintenance of specific temperatures.

Rise in frozen food market in India

[2] Report ID: GVR-1-68038-255-6

[3] CONSUMER GOODS AND RETAIL | March, 2018 Rise in the sale of domestic refrigerators in US (in millions)
(ii) Chemical and process industries: Industrial processes like separation of gases
requires temperature as low as -150 degree Celsius. Some gases can be easily stored
by condensing to liquid state by cooling which aids in their transportation
(eg. ammonia condensed at -10 deg. Celcius prior to storing in cylinders).

Many solvents used in chemical processes need to be recovered by condensation

at low temperature.

(iii) Biomedical application: Various drugs are manufactured by centrifuging at low

temperatures (-10 deg.).
(iv) Cryogenics: Science of low temperature

Liquefied gases, cryogenic fuels, cryopreservation, etc.

Centrifuge

[4] Refrigeration Engineering Corporation

[5] acentrifuge industries
 Needs of the society:

(vi) Air-conditioning (AC): Air-conditioning is an important application of refrigeration.

Beside human comfort, AC is also essential for enhancing the life and efficiency of
electronic devices.

[6] Martin Armstrong, statista

 A brief History of Refrigeration:

Refrigeration started in the primitive days with the need to preserve food products

Chinese utilised sawed ice for refrigeration in as early as 1000 BC.

●

Greeks and Romans used to construct insulated snow cellars to store pile of snow for
●

later use “Frederic Tudor” initiated ice trade in 1806 by transporting 130 tons of ice cake
to St. Pierre harbour, Martinique.

Ice houses

[7] Frozen61
Natural Refrigeration

Evaporative cooling was practised in Egypt by moistening earthen ewers to cool water
●

inside the jars. The process of cooling water by storing in earthen pots is still common
in India.

In India, ice was furnished by evaporative cooling supported by radiation to clear sky
●

at night. A pool of water kept in a shallow earthen tray loses heat due to radiation to
the stratosphere which is at -55 deg Celsius and forms a thin layer of ice in the shallow
tray. This is known as 'nocturnal cooling'. Such a practice was also common to the
Esthonians.

Addition of salts to water reduces the temperature of the water.

●

Example, NaCl can lead to a temperature of about -20 deg. Celcius

when dissolved in water.

Nocturnal cooling
 Limitations with Natural Refrigeration methods:

 Expensive: Storage and transportation of ice

 Depends on meteorological conditions: Evaporative cooling works when the

surrounding air is dry and so it is not favourable in coastal regions

 Nocturnal cooling requires a clear sky, otherwise radiations are reflected

elsewhere

 Salts used for cooling has to be recovered by evaporation of water for a cyclic process.
Some of the important developments in the field of Artificial Refrigeration
1748: “William Cullen” of University of Glasgow produced cold by evaporating ether in partial
vacuum, although he was credited with the first documentation of artificial refrigeration in
1755, after he joined the University of Edinburgh. [Boiling point of ether: 34.5 deg. Celcius]

1790: Thomas Harris and John Long patented a refrigerating machine in Great Britain.

1805: A closed cycle compression refrigeration system was proposed by Oliver Evans of
Philadelphia.

1823: Michael Faraday proposed the use of sulphuric acid-water systems for heat pumping
applications. In addition, he also invented periodic solid absorbent machines.

Prof. Cullen Oliver Evans

 Methods to produce cold

“All Refrigeration processes involve Cooling”

 Sensible cooling: by bringing the product/space to be cooled in contact with a

substance at colder temperature (coolant) [specific heat of ammonia is around 2.2
kJ/kgK]

 Endothermic mixing of substances: by adding salts/sugar to water reduces the

temperature of water due to endothermic mixing of solutes to the solvent

 Phase change: Phase change involves large amount of heat transfer (example;
latent heat of vaporization of ammonia at -20 deg. C: 1330 kJ/kg)

 Expansion of substances: by using an expansion device like a valve or turbine.

Throttling of a liquid always reduces temperature but in case of gases may or may
not decrease. In case of real gas, it is given by Joule-Thomson coefficient.
 Some important notes

 First Law of thermodynamics applied to a closed system:

 First Law of thermodynamics applied to an open system

• ∆𝐸𝐶𝑉 = 𝑄𝑖𝑛 − 𝑄𝑜𝑢𝑡 + 𝑊𝑖𝑛 − 𝑊𝑜𝑢𝑡 + 𝑚𝑒𝑖𝑛 − 𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑣2
• e = u + pv + + 𝑔𝑧
2
{net energy transferred to the system}
𝑓
 Reversible process: 𝛿𝑄
∆𝑆 = 𝑆𝑓 − 𝑆𝑖 =
𝑇
𝑖

 Thermodynamic Relations:

 Isentropic Process: Reversible and Adiabatic

 Unit of refrigeration: Ton Refrigeration (TR)

“Equivalent to the production of cold at the rate at which heat is to removed from 1 US Ton of
water at 320F (Fahrenheit) to freeze it to ice at 320F in 24 hours”

1 TR=3.51667 kW 1 kcal ~ 3.968 Btu ~ 4.1868 kJ

Important Cycles
 Carnot Cycle

• A reversible cycle is a hypothetical cycle in which all the processes

constituting the cycle are reversible

• Reversible cycles provide upper limits on the performance of real

cycles. Heat engines and refrigerators that work on reversible cycles

serve as models to which actual heat engines and refrigerators can be

compared

• The Carnot cycle is composed of four reversible processes—

two isothermal and Two adiabatic

(T1, P1 , V1) (T1, P2 , V2) (T3, P3 , V3) (T3, P4 , V4)
(T1, P2 , V2) (T3, P3 , V3)
(T3, P4 , V4) (T1, P1 , V1)

insulate
insulate (T3-dT3)
(T1+dT1)
1 2 3 4

Isothermal heat addition: 1-2

Adiabatic expansion: 2-3

Isothermal heat rejection: 3-4

Adiabatic compression: 4-1

 Reversed Carnot (Reversible Refrigeration) System

All processes are considered to be reversible

●

Assumes Isothermal heat transfer

●

For a refrigeration process:

●

WE
Wc

1
Carnot Heat Engine Reversed Carnot Heat Engine
𝑾𝒏𝒆𝒕,𝒐𝒖𝒕 (Carnot Refrigerator)
𝜼𝒓𝒆𝒗 =
𝑸𝑯
𝑸𝑯 − 𝑸𝑳 𝑸𝑳
= 𝑪𝑶𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒗,𝒓𝒆𝒇 =
𝑸𝑯 𝑾𝒏𝒆𝒕,𝒊𝒏
𝑸𝑯
𝑸𝑳 𝑪𝑶𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒗,𝒑𝒖𝒎𝒑 =
𝜼𝒓𝒆𝒗 = 𝟏 − 𝑾𝒏𝒆𝒕,𝒊𝒏
𝑸𝑯