Chapter 11:Refrigeration Cycles

• Objective:Analyze various
refrigeration and heat pump cycles
 Carnot Refrigerator
1Æ2 isothermal heat absorption
2Æ3 isentropic compression
3Æ4 isothermal heat rejection
4Æ1 isentropic expansion

• Technical challenges:
• 2Æ3 compression of a mixture of liquid & vapor
• 4Æ1 turbine expansion of high moisture content
Ideal Vapor-Compression
Refrigeration Cycle

• 1Æ2 Isentropic
compression
• 2Æ3 Constant pressure
heat rejection
• 3Æ4 Throttling
• 4Æ1 Constant pressure
heat absorption
Energy Analysis of Ideal Vapor-
Compression Refrigeration Cycle
• Convenient to use p-h
diagram
• win=h2-h1
(h1=hg saturated vapor at
P1)
• qL= h1-h4= h1-h3
(h3=hf saturated liquid at
P2)
• COP=qL/win
P-h Diagram for R134a

3 2

4 1
Deviation from ideal refrigeration cycle

• Impossible to control state 4

and state 1
• In practice, state 1 is slightly
superheated; state 4 is
compressed liquid
• Pressure losses in pipes
• Imperfect compression
• (instead of 1Æ2: 1Æ2’ in
fact requires less work)
• Heat transfer
 Heat Pump Systems

1.Condenser: Coils that move heat to or from the outside air.

2.Evaporator: Coils that move heat to or from the air inside the home.
3.Air handler: Fan that blows the air into the ducts of the home. Components 1, 2, 3 and 4 are found in all standard air conditioners.
4.Reversing valve:Changes the heat pump from air conditioning to heating, and vice versa. This is not part of the thermostat.

5.Compressor: This increases the pressure of the refrigerant so that it will accept the maximum amount of heat from the air.
 Choices of Refrigerant
R-11: tricholorofluoromethane: CCl3F Factors to consider
R-12:Dichlorodifluoromethane: CCl2F2 • High and low
R-134a:Tetrafluoroethane : CH2FCF3
R-22:Monochlorodifluoromethane:CHClF2
temperatures (TH, TL)
R-115:Monochloropentafluoroethane:CClF2CF3 • COP
R-502:Blend of R-22 and R-115
Ammonia: NH3 • Safety
Hydrocarbons: C3H8, C2H6 • Cost
Air:
• Environmental impacts
R-12

R-134a
Improvement of COP: Cascade
Refrigeration Systems
• +: decreases compressor work
• +: increases refrigeration
capacity
• -: cost (size and weight)
• Energy analysis: COP
• Perform analysis for two cycles
• Matching heat transfer
mA(h5-h8)=mB(h2-h3)
• COP= mB(h1-h4)/
[m A(h6-h5)+mB(h2-h1)]
 Comparison of COP and qL
Baseline R-134a Cascade R-134a

COP=3.97 COP=4.46
qL=143.7 kJ/kg qL=184 kJ/kg
Multistage Compression Refrigeration
Systems
• When both top and bottom
cycles use the same
y refrigerant, replaces the heat
(1-y)
exchanger with a mixing
chamber (flash chamber) to
save cost.
• Energy analysis:Æ needs y
• y=quality of state 6= x6
• qL= (1-y)(h1-h8)
• win=(1-y)(h2-h1)+y(h4-h9)
T • COP= qL / win
Multipurpose refrigeration
systems with single
compressor

• Two different spaces to

be cooled at different
temperatures
• Solution: throttling to
different pressures
• Total refrigeration
T capacity qL= q L,R+ q L,F
Liquefaction of gases (CO2, N2, H2..)
• TL:Cryogenic temperatures –100 oC
• Multiple cycles to achieve low
temperature
 Gas Refrigeration Cycles
• Reversed Brayton cycle
• 1Æ 2 isentropic compression
• 2Æ3 constant pressure heat rejection
• 3Æ4 isentropic expansion
• 4Æ1 constant pressure heat absorption
• COP=qL/wnet,in
• qL= h1-h4=Cp(T1-T4)
• qH= h2-h3= Cp(T2-T3)
• w net,in= Cp(T2-T3-T1+T4)
T
Regenerative Gas Refrigeration
to achieve lower T5 (or TL)

TH
T4<TH
Air conditioning system of the
Boeing 747
Absorption Refrigeration Systems
• Existence of energy at
low temp (100-200 oC)
• Reduction of
compression workÆ
pumping liquidÆ high
COP
• Binary system H2O-
NH3
• Expensive
• Toxic nature of NH3
• …
COP of Ideal Absorption Systems
• COP= QL/Qgen
QL= COP R,rev W
W= ηth,rev Qgen
QL= COP R,rev ηth,rev Qgen
• COP =ηth,rev COP R,rev
= (1-To/Ts)(TL/To-TL)
Thermoelectric generator &
refrigeration
Seebeck Effect
Thermoelectric generator &
refrigeration

Thermoelectric refrigeration
Thermal efficiency of thermoelectric
η=Welectric/QH
Reduced efficiency
ηr=η/ηCarnot
u=reduced current
=electric current/heat flux