Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

ScienceDirect
Energy Procedia 109 (2017) 479 – 486

International Conference on Recent Advancement in Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, RAAR

2016, 10-12 November 2016, Bhubaneswar, India

"Effect of various parameters on working condition of chiller"

Anil Kumbhara, Nitin Gulhaneb, Sachin Pandurea,b,*
"aResearch & Development Center, Voltas Limited, Thane 400 601, India"
"bDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, H. R. Mahajani Marg, Matunga, Mumbai 400 019, India"

Abstract

The present work aims to find out the effect of various parameters on evaporator, compressor and condenser in vapour compression
cycle using “high performance tube manufacturer’s software” for evaporator and condenser and using “compressor selection
software of a reputed manufacturer” for compressor. The present work includes the effect of number of tubes, number of passes
and fouling factor on saturated refrigerant temperature (SST), tube side velocity, pressure drop and temperature approach in
evaporator and condenser. Effect of SST on power input to compressor, cooling capacity, condenser capacity and coefficient of
performance (COP) and also effect of condensing temperature on power input to compressor, cooling capacity and condenser
capacity is studied using software.
© 2017
© 2017TheTheAuthors.
Authors. Published
Published by Elsevier
by Elsevier Ltd. is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Ltd. This
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of RAAR 2016.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of RAAR 2016.
Keywords: vapour compression cycle; COP; SST; SCT

1. Introduction

Vapour compression system is one of the most widely used system for air-conditioning and domestic refrigerator.
It consists of four main components namely evaporator, compressor, condenser and expansion valve as shown in fig.1
[1].

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9967231356

E-mail address: sachinpandure513@gmail.com

1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of RAAR 2016.
doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2017.03.076
480 Anil Kumbhar et al. / Energy Procedia 109 (2017) 479 – 486

Fig.1 Vapour compression cycle Fig. 2 p-h diagram

In evaporator refrigerant will absorb the heat from the space to be cooled and enters into the compressor. In
compressor refrigerant pressure is increased from evaporator pressure to condenser pressure. In condenser heat
rejection will take place to atmosphere or by circulating cooling water and the condensed refrigerant is expanded in
expansion valve which full further enter into the evaporator. The cycle is represented on pressure-enthalpy chart in
Fig.2.
In present study evaporator and water cooled condenser used are shell and tube type. SST is the saturation suction
temperature at which refrigerant will absorb heat from water, which is to be cooled in evaporator. Temperature
approach is the temperature difference between chilled water outlet temperature from the evaporator and SST. For
present study evaporator used is flooded type (refrigerant is shell side and water to be cooled is tube side). In present
work we have considered a chiller operating on simple vapour compression cycle and studied the effect of various
parameters on other operating parameter using software.

Nomenclature

Condenser capacity (kW)

Cooling capacity (kW)
COP coefficient of performance
Power input (kW)
Pressure drop (kPa)
SST saturated refrigerant temperature (ºC)
SCT saturated condensing temperature (ºC)
Velocity (m∙s-1)
2. Effect of various parameters

The present work aims to find out the effect of various parameters like effect of suction temperature, condensing
temperature, number of tubes and number of passes on COP, power input, pressure drop and velocity. The effect of
various parameter is analyzed using the “high performance tube manufacturer’s software” [2] and “compressor
selection software of a reputed manufacturer” [3]. As a first step, simulations can provide valuable insight on the
system performance, since parametric analysis using experimental data has high time and cost requirements.
 Anil Kumbhar et al. / Energy Procedia 109 (2017) 479 – 486 481

From Fig.2 it can be seen that if we increase condenser pressure, compressor work will increase and evaporator
capacity will decrease, which results in decrease in COP.

2.1 EFFECT OF VARIOUS PARAMETERS ON EVAPORATOR SIDE USING HIGH PERFORMANCE TUBE
MANUFACTURER’S SOFTWARE [2]

High performance tube manufacturer’s software has developed this practical and accurate simulation tool to help
customers design and rate water-cooled condensers. The software combines thermal science and design practices using
their technical single tube experimental data. The performance of the actual heat exchanger may vary due to the
specific design of the shell and tube arrangement and the flow distribution. The complexity of a condenser operation
can be beyond the capability of heat transfer and pressure drop predictions used. In this work, the simulations were
performed for a 351.7 kW capacity chiller.
Figures 3-5 present the simulation results. In evaporator, increasing the number of tubes will increase the contact
area and as a result will increase the SST up to certain limit and remains constant thereafter. With increase in number
of tubes, tube side velocity of water will decrease which will result in decrease in tube side pressure drop, but it is not
possible to increase the number of tubes beyond certain limit as it not only the increase area, but also it will increase
the cost. As SST is increasing temperature approach will reduce which means we will get better refrigerating effect
we can see that from Fig.6.

SST Vs No. of tubes Velo. Vs No. of tubes

7.2 3

7 2.5
6.8
2
6.6
SST (°C)

6.4 1.5
Velocity (m/s)

6.2 1
6
0.5
5.8
5.6 0
100 500 900 1300 1700 2100 100 500 900 1300 1700 2100
No.of tubes No. of tubes

Fig.3 SST Vs No. of tubes Fig.4 Velocity Vs No. of tubes

482 Anil Kumbhar et al. / Energy Procedia 109 (2017) 479 – 486

Pressure drop Vs No. of tubes Temp. approach Vs No. of tubes

80 1.4
70 1.2

Temp. Approach (°C)

60 1
Pressure Drop (Kpa)

50 0.8
40
0.6
30
0.4
20
10 0.2
0 0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 0 500 1000 1500 2000
No. of tubes No. of tubes

Fig.5 Pressure drop Vs No. of tubes Fig.6 Temp. Approach Vs No. of tubes

In order to increase the refrigerating saturation temperature the other method is to increase the number of
passes as shown in Fig.7 which results in decrease in temperature approach (Fig.8), but the disadvantage is that it
results in increase in velocity and pressure drop (Fig.9,10) which will increase power consumption.

SST Vs No. of passes

Temp. approach Vs No. of passes
6.8
1.4
6.7
6.6 1.2
Temp. Approach (°C)

6.5
6.4 1
SST (°C)

6.3 0.8
6.2
6.1 0.6
6 0.4
5.9
5.8 0.2
5.7
0
0 5 10 15 20
0 5 10 15 20
No. of passes
No. of passes

Fig.7 SST Vs No. of passes Fig.8 Temp. Approach Vs No. of passes

 Anil Kumbhar et al. / Energy Procedia 109 (2017) 479 – 486 483

Pressure drop Vs No. of passes Velocity Vs No. of passes

20000 20
18000 18
Pressure Drop (Kpa)

16000 16

Velocity (m/s)
14000 14
12000 12
10000 10
8000 8
6000 6
4000 4
2000 2
0 0
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
No. of passes No. of passes

Fig.9 Pressure drop Vs No. of passes Fig.10 Velocity Vs No. of passes

2.2 EFFECT OF VARIOUS PARAMETERS ON COMPRESSOR USING COMPRESSOR SELECTION SOFTWARE

OF A REPUTED MANUFACTURER [3]

Compressor selection software of a reputed manufacturer RC2 series semi-hermetic screw compressor is used
specially for air-conditioning and refrigeration application. Each compressor is with new developed screw rotor profile
which gives high capacity and high efficiency in all operating conditions.
From above graphs Fig. 11-14 we can see that if we increase SST, power input to compressor increases, then it is
constant, but the increase is very small as compared to increase in cooling effect. So the net result is increase in COP.

Power Input Vs SST Cooling Capacity Vs SST

63.45 366
364
Cooling capacity (kw)

63.4
Power Input (kw)

362
63.35
360
63.3 358
63.25 356
354
63.2
352
63.15 350
5 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.8 6 6.2 6.4 6.6 348
SST (°C) 5 5.5 6 6.5
SST (°C)

Fig.11 Power input Vs SST Fig.12 Cooling capacity Vs SST

484 Anil Kumbhar et al. / Energy Procedia 109 (2017) 479 – 486

Condenser Capacity Vs SST COP Vs SST

Condenser capacity (kw) 430 5.8
428
426 5.75
424
5.7
422

COP
420 5.65
418
416 5.6
414
412 5.55
410 5.5
5 5.5 6 6.5 5 5.5 6 6.5
SST (°C) SST (°C)

Fig.13 Condenser capacity Vs SST Fig.14 COP Vs SST

2.3 EFFECT OF VARIOUS PARAMETERS ON CONDENSER SIDE USING HIGH PERFORMANCE TUBE
MANUFACTURER’S SOFTWARE [2]

From Fig.15 it can be seen that with increase in condensing temperature heat rejection in condenser will
decrease, power consumption in compressor will increase (Fig.16) and refrigerating effect will decrease (Fig.17) hence
COP will decrease (Fig.18), we can also check these results from p-h chart from Fig.2. From Fig.19 it can be seen that
if we increase fouling factor, then condensing saturation temperature will increase which results reduction in COP.

Condenser Capacity Vs Condensing SCT Power Input Vs Condensing SCT

425 71
Condenser Capacity (kw)

70
420
Power Input (kw)

69
415 68
67
410
66
405 65
64
400
63
395 62
34 36 38 40 42 34 36 38 40 42
Condensing SCT (°C) Condensing SCT (°C)

Fig.15 Condenser capacity Vs Cond. SCT Fig.16 Power input Vs Cond. SCT
 Anil Kumbhar et al. / Energy Procedia 109 (2017) 479 – 486 485

Cooling capacity Vs Condensing SCT COP Vs Condensing SCT

Cooling capacity (kw) 360 6
355 5
350
4
345

COP
3
340
2
335
330 1
325 0
34 36 38 40 42 34 36 38 40 42
Condensing SCT(°C) Condensing SCT (°C)

Fig.17 Cooling capacity Vs Cond. SCT Fig.18 COP Vs Cond. SCT

Sat. Ref. Temp. Vs Fouling factor

35.2
35.1
35
34.9
SRT (°C)

34.8
34.7
34.6
34.5
34.4
34.3
34.2
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
Fouling Factor (m²k/kw)

Fig.19 Cond. SCT Vs Fouling Factor

2.4 EFFECT OF SUB-COOLING

From graph 20 & 21 it can be concluded that with increase in sub-cooling there is very small, i.e. negligible increase
in refrigerant condensing temperature upto 5°C then it remains constant and there is no effect of sub-cooling on
pressure drop.
486 Anil Kumbhar et al. / Energy Procedia 109 (2017) 479 – 486

Condensing SCT. Vs Subcooling Press. Drop Vs Subcooling

35 90
34.95 80
34.9

Press. Drop (kpa)

70
34.85 60
SCT (°C)

34.8 50
34.75 40
34.7 30
34.65 20
34.6 10
34.55 0
0 2 4 6 8 0 2 4 6 8
Subcooling (°C) Subcooling (°C)

Fig.20 Condensing SCT Vs Sub-cooling Fig.21 Pressure drop Vs Sub-cooling

3. Conclusion

From above software results, we studied the effect of various parameter on other operating parameter in case of
evaporator, condenser and compressor.
With increase in SST refrigerating effect will increase. For 1ºC increase in SST, cooling capacity increases nearly
by 4 % (Simulated between 12 - 7 ºC temperature of water to be cooled). Heat rejected in condenser increases almost
linearly with increase in SST because with increase in SST cooling capacity will increase hence heat rejected will also
increase.
COP increases with increase in SST because as SST increases refrigerating effect will increase and power
consumption also increases, but it is very small as compared to increase in cooling capacity so the net result is increase
in COP. There is almost 3.61 % increase in COP per ºC increase in SST (Simulated between 12 - 7 ºC temperature of
water to be cooled). With increase in saturated condensing temperature, cooling capacity decreases. Up to 36 ºC there
is small decrease in cooling capacity, but above 36 ºC there is drastic change in cooling capacity which results in
decrease in COP. There is almost 1.3 % decrease in cooling capacity per ºC increase in saturated condensing
temperature (Simulated between 36.66 – 43.44 ºC saturated condensing temperature).
Heat rejected in condenser decreases with increase in saturated condensing temperature it is almost 0.7 % per ºC
increase in condensing temperature (Simulated between 36.66 – 43.44 ºC saturated condensing temperature). With
increase in saturated condensing temperature there is almost 3.23 % decrease in COP per ºC increase in saturated
condensing temperature (Simulated between 36.66 – 43.44 ºC saturated condensing temperature).
For 1 ºC increase in saturated condensing temperature the increase in power input to compressor is 1.92%.
(Simulated between 36.66 – 43.44 ºC saturated condensing temperature).

Reference

[1] Prof. M Ramgopal, lesson on Vapour compression refrigeration systems, version 1 ME, IIT Kharagpur
(http://nptel.ac.in/courses/112105129/10).
[2] High performance tube manufacturer’s software
file:///D:/Mechanical%20Software/Wlv%20software/EvaporatorInstallerInhouse/wlvevphelp.htm
[3] Compressor selection software of a reputed manufacturer (4.3.3 (AVI))
http://www.hanbell.com/service_program_eng.asp