Chapter A 06 Refrigeration

Refrigeration is a process in which heat is taken from a substance at low temperature

and given to a substance at a higher temperature. On ships there are almost always at
least two refrigeration systems. Refrigeration systems could be used on ships for:
1) Cool and deep freeze chambers for storage of food
2) Air conditioning accommodation in hot climates and air conditioning control
rooms
3) Compressed air driers for work and instrument air
4) Bulk carbon dioxide fire extinguishing systems
5) Low temperature cargoes

It is a principle of thermodynamics that in a refrigeration process, to transfer heat

from a lower temperature to a higher temperature, some energy must be added.

This is illustrated above. Most refrigeration systems are Vapour compression

systems. There is also a system known as a vapour absorption system in which the
energy added is in the form of heat. This is used in some small domestic refrigerators,
which worked using a gas flame and required no electrical power.

To understand the vapour compression system we will go back to basic physics. If we

consider a liquid such as water, we can draw a graph of temperature against energy in
the liquid (Enthalpy). Energy could be added in the form of heat or mechanical work.
We can draw the line as below showing what happens if we add heat at constant
pressure.
Enthalpy of vapourization is very often simply called latent heat.

If we draw a similar graph with a whole series of lines, where each line shows what
happens at a different constant pressure we get a diagram as below.
In the diagram above: The blue line is obtained by joining together all the points at
which the enthalpy of vaporization starts and ends. At the critical point a pressure has
been reached at which there is no more enthalpy of vaporization involved. Liquid
changes directly to gas at that point or above. For water and most refrigerants the
critical point is outside the normal practical operating parameters. The green lines are
“ dryness fraction lines” or how dry the steam is. “Saturated” has a slightly different
meaning in thermodynamics to in normal English. The saturation temperature is the
temperature at which a liquid turns to a gas. So we get the rather strange term “Dry
saturated steam”. This is the state in which water has completely changed to its
gaseous state but is still at its saturation temperature. The saturation temperature
varies with pressure, as we have seen. Above the saturation temperature the gas is said
to be superheated.

We can now look at a basic diagram of a vapour compression cycle:

Above we can see a pressure / enthalpy diagram. (Specific enthalpy is enthalpy per
mass of a substance). We can see two processes shown. In the lower one heat is added
to liquid at a low pressure and changes it to gas. In the upper one heat is removed
from a gas and it changes to liquid. We can see that the temperature of the lower one
could be quite low as the saturation temperature is lower at lower pressures. The
temperature of the upper process will be higher. We can increase the gas pressure by
using a compressor. We can drop the liquid pressure by allowing it to pass through a
small hole (Orifice) back to the lower pressure. If we use a liquid with suitable
saturation temperatures we can make a vapour compression refrigeration circuit as
shown below.

In the diagram below there is a pressure enthalpy diagram in the center and the actual
equipment is shown diagrammatically in the appropriate positions round the outside.
This is with thanks to Danfoss Company and is one of the best diagrams of this
process available.

Starting at point C1: Cold gas is compressed in a compressor to pressure Pc and

temperature t. It is then cooled and condensed to liquid in a condenser. A condenser is
usually constructed in a similar way to a cooler and often is water cooled. The
condensed liquid passes to a liquid receiver. (This could be a pressure vessel under
the condenser or just the bottom part of the condenser itself). The liquid then passes
under the same pressure to an expansion valve. It drops to pressure Po and
temperature to. It passes through an evaporator in which it receives latent heat and a
small amount of superheat. It is sucked back to the compressor and so the cycle
continues. This is a slightly simplified version of the system.

If we consider the circuit above we can see that: The pressure after the compressor
will be mostly controlled by the temperature of the condenser cooling water. It is
possible to use an air-cooled condenser in small systems. In this case the cooling air
temperature has a big influence on the compressor discharge pressure. We should note
however that if any air gets in the circuit, with the refrigerant gas, it will seriously
increase the compressor discharge pressure and also the condenser will not work so
well. This can be explained in two ways:
1) By Daltons law of partial pressures. This says that if there is a mixture of
gasses in a fixed volume, then each gas will act as if it was at such a pressure
as it would be if it was the only gas there. This pressure is called the partial
pressure. The total pressure of all the gases will be their partial pressures
added together. The partial pressure of the refrigerant will be a pressure with a
saturation temperature for that refrigerant of more or less the condenser
cooling water temperature. The compressor discharge pressure will be the
 partial pressure of the refrigerant and the partial pressure of the air added
together.
2) We can simply say that if we get air in, we are using the wrong refrigerant gas
mixture, the pressure enthalpy diagram will be different, giving higher
pressures of condensation for the same temperature.

Two air conditioning system compressors on a ship with condensers

We will now look at the parts of a typical refrigeration system:

Compressors
These typically work in much the same way as one stage piston air compressors.
However they tend to have at least 2 cylinders and often many more acting in parallel.
They also obviously have to have a gas suction pipe instead of sucking air from the
atmosphere. Usually the compressor crankcase is connected to the suction chamber
and so is at gas suction pressure. There therefore has to be a gas tight mechanical seal
on the drive shaft. A drawing of such a compressor is shown below:
The above compressor has 8 cylinders in a radial formation, only 2 of which are
shown in the drawing. The compressor could look like the one shown below:

Compressor safety cut out devices usually include, a high delivery pressure cut out
and a differential oil pressure cut out. The differential oil pressure switch measures
the difference between the oil pressure and the suction pressure. Remembering that
the crankcase pressure is the same as the suction pressure we can see that the
differential pressure is more or less the pressure pushing oil into the various bearings.

The above type of compressor is used for reasonably large systems. There can
sometimes be shaft seal leakages. They can be isolated taken to pieces and overhauled
if necessary.

Small systems such as those in domestic refrigerators tend to use sealed compressors
these can not normally be overhauled but do not tend to suffer from leaks. Typical
sealed compressors are shown below:

A small compressor and motor in a sealed pressure vessel

Diagrammatic view of sealed compressor

A 3rd and not very common type of compressor is one that can be stripped down for
overhaul and has the motor enclosed inside the compressor assembly.

Evaporators
These are basically heat exchangers. They normally consist of tubes containing
refrigerant surrounded by air or what ever it is that is being cooled down. Normally
the tubes will be fitted with external fins to help heat transfer. In cold rooms or air
conditioning systems air is normally blown past the tubes by a fan. A typical cold
room evaporator is shown below:

The fan has been swung out of the way to let the tubes be seen.
Expansion valves
In modern ships refrigeration systems the expansion valve is one of the automatic
control elements. Its function is to allow liquid to drop to a lower pressure, so that it
evaporates and expands. The expansion valve controls the degree of superheat in
the refrigerant after the evaporator. To do this it senses the temperature of the
refrigerant after the evaporator and also the refrigerant pressure in the evaporator. If
the superheat is too low the expansion valve shuts a bit. If the superheat is too high it
opens a bit. Below is a drawing of a typical expansion valve and a picture of one.

There is a bulb on the end of a capillary tube. The bulb is attached to the outside of
the evaporator out let pipe. The bulb contains liquid and gas. The gas pressure will be
the pressure corresponding to the saturation temperature of the liquid in the bulb. This
pressure acts on the diaphragm “1”. It acts against both the outlet pressure from the
expansion valve and a spring”2”. If the superheat goes up, the bulb temperature will
go up. The pressure on top of the diaphragm will tend to move it down. Moving it
down will open the expansion valve more. We can see that if, for example, the
refrigerant pressure is higher but the superheat is the same then the bulb temperature
and pressure will go up but the pressure of gas under the diaphragm will also go up
and balance the forces on the diaphragm. The spring compression is factory set to
give a certain superheat. In this way the expansion valve controls the superheat after
the evaporator. It could be possible that the expansion valve spring setting could have
to be adjusted when the system is first installed. Normally after that it should not be
adjusted.

As the expansion valves have small valve openings and are where the refrigerant
temperature drops, this tend to be a place where any small quantity of water in the
system freezes. This will block the expansion valve and stop that evaporator working
properly. It is then necessary to shut that part of the circuit off and remove the ice.

With some types of refrigerant, any moisture tends to cause some oxidation of some
materials. This can result in a brown oxide powder, which sometimes blocks the
expansion valves or small filters in them.

The above system is normal for smaller evaporators. It assumes that the refrigerant
pressure is going to be the same before as after the evaporator, or at least that there
will be a small and constant pressure drop involved. For a small evaporator this is
good enough. For a larger evaporator there will be a variable drop of refrigerant
pressure through the evaporator. This problem can be overcome by fitting a balance
connection as shown below:

Control systems
If the expansion valve controls the superheat after the evaporator what controls
the temperature?
Below is a diagram of a refrigeration system for several cold storage rooms, which
have to be kept at different temperatures. The temperature of each room is controlled
by an individual temperature switch (KP 62). At least the bulb of the temperature
switch, if not the whole unit, is inside that room. If the temperature is too high then
the temperature switch operates and starts the evaporator fan and opens a solenoid
valve (S3) in the liquid line before the expansion valve. When the temperature of the
room has been reduced to the correct temperature, the temperature switch detects this
and stops the refrigerant flow at the solenoid valve and stops the fan. We can see that
in this way the different parts of the system for different rooms will be cutting in and
out. At some point all the rooms will be at the correct temperature and all the solenoid
valves will be shut. The compressor will then reduce the suction pressure below
normal. When this happens a low suction pressure control switch will operate and
stop the compressor. When one or more room temperature rises, one or more solenoid
valves will be opened and refrigerant will flow through the evaporator(s) and cause
the suction pressure of the compressor to rise again. The low suction pressure control
switch will detect this and again start the compressor.
The temperatures in the above diagram are possible but not probable in a ship’s cold
storage rooms. Typically there could be one vegetable room kept at about +8ºC and
two different freezer rooms at about minus 20ºC. In that case a back-pressure valve
(such as KVP above) would be fitted after the vegetable room evaporator. This is
because for different evaporator temperatures we want different evaporator refrigerant
pressures but the different evaporators all discharge refrigerant to the same
compressor suction. We could run the vegetable room evaporator at a low pressure
and get cold air blowing out for a short time at minus 20ºC to cool the room. While
this would work the very cold air could hit the vegetables. There would then be a
danger that they would be frozen and spoiled. The back-pressure valve would keep
the vegetable room evaporator pressure and thus temperature up in the correct range.

Defrosting
After some time, generally depending on humidity and how often the cold room doors
are opened, lower temperature evaporators tend to get a coating of snow or ice. This
stops the air flow and insulates the evaporator pipes. It is then necessary to defrost the
evaporator. This is normally done automatically but the frequency and often length of
defrost time can be adjusted. Defrosting is normally done by the control system
shutting the solenoid valve before the evaporator, stopping the fan and energizing a
small electrical heater under the evaporator pipes. It can also be done by stopping the
fan and passing hot gas through the pipes by means of special valves.
For reasons, which have been mentioned above, it is important to keep both air and
moisture out of the refrigerant. Air tends to be kept out if the compressor suction
pressure is above atmospheric pressure and if correct repair and maintenance methods
are used. However the compressor suction pressure, in a correctly set up system,
depends on which refrigerant is used.

Moisture should not normally get into the refrigerant but sometimes it does. It only
takes a small quantity of moisture to cause problems. A drier is usually fitted in the
line between the condenser and the expansion valves. This will contain a dessicant
(water absorbing substance) such as Silica Gel or activated alumina. Some driers can
be reactivated by drying them out in a hot dry place. It is usual to have a moisture
indicating sight glass fitted in the line next to the drier. This can show that the liquid
is correctly flowing without gas bubbles and there is a small indicator that changes
colour if water is present.

Leakages sometimes do occur. It only takes a very small leakage for the system to
become under charged. If this happens the part of the system that should contain
liquid contains an increasing quantity of gas and so the removal of latent heat in the
evaporator takes place less and less. In other word it does not refrigerate properly. The
cure is simply to find the leak, stop the leak and add some refrigerant. For this reason
spare bottles of refrigerant should be on the ship ready for use. Generally when the
system is properly charged up and running in a stable way, the sight glass near the
drier should not show bubbles and the liquid receiver should be about half full of
liquid refrigerant. Very often there is a sight glass on the liquid receiver to check this.

There are several ways of detecting leakages including:

1) Mix a bit of soap powder or liquid with water. Put it in an ordinary spray
bottle and spray it on all parts and fittings where leakage is likely. Any
leakage will make bubbles
2) By using an electronic gas detecting instrument suitable for the refrigerant in
use. This measures concentrations of gas in air. It is easy to detect that there is
a leak in this way but sometimes not so easy to find the exact location. Very
often the easiest way is to use a gas detector and then locate the exact location
of the leak with soap bubbles.
3) Another type of gas detector consists of a small blow torch with a piece of
copper in the flame path. The flame makes the copper red hot. Air is sucked
up a tube by the blow torch. If certain refrigerant gasses come into contact
with the copper the flame changes colour to green or bright bluish green. This
only works with some refrigerants. Some refrigerants are flammable and so
such a detector definitely should not be used for them.

Refrigerated Cargoes
For many years refrigerated cargoes have been carried by ships. In the past some
ships were constructed with large cargo refrigeration systems and specially insulated
holds. The modern tendency is to carry refrigerated cargoes in refrigerated containers.
These have their own refrigeration systems. Usually they are connected to the ships
electrical power supply system on arrival on the ship. Many normal container ships
can carry a number of these. Usually the condensers of refrigerated containers are air
cooled so they have to be carried in a suitable place above deck.
 Ventilation regulators

End view of a refrigerated container

Some ships are built to carry a full load of refrigerated containers. One such ship is
shown below:
The above ship “Dole Chile” is built to carry refrigerated containers. It has its own
container discharging gantry cranes.

Dole Chile
 Container Capacity - 2,000 TEU
 Main Engine - Sulzer RTA slow speed diesel, 23,920KW @ 97RPM
 Maximum Service Speed – 21 Knots
 Auxiliary Power – Total 15,000KW from 5 diesel generators- 6,6KV

TEU means “Twenty foot Equivalent Units” 2000 TEU could be 2000 twenty foot
long containers or 1000 Forty foot long containers or any combination in between.

When carrying such a large number of refrigerated containers, a large power is

required for them and they generate a tremendous amount of heat. Some refrigerated
containers carried on large container ships have water cooled condensers. These are
connected to a cold water supply and return system on the ship by flexible hoses with
quick connectors.

The most difficult refrigerated cargoes usually carried are chilled fruit and vegetable
cargoes. Chilled cargoes are carried a bit above 0ºC. Fruit and vegetables are actually
living and breathing plants. Most of them die if frozen and then quickly go bad. Most
fruit ripens and then eventually deteriorates. When fruit breathes it generates carbon
dioxide (CO2) and ethylene, therefore some ventilation and change of air is needed. If
there is too much ventilation in hot climates, it will not be possible to keep the
temperature correct. We can say that with fruit and vegetable cargoes temperature
has to be kept exactly correct and ventilation correctly regulated. If we look at the
picture of the refrigerated container we can see two ventilation regulators.

A technology has been developed to slow down the ripening of bananas and improve
their delivery quality. It consists of adding nitrogen (N 2) to the atmosphere inside the
container. “Dole Chile” has a nitrogen generator for this purpose. While nitrogen is
not toxic there is a clear danger of not having enough oxygen to breathe in some areas
when it is used.

Refrigerants
There are many substances that can be used as refrigerants. Most of them have some
sort of problem. The most used refrigerants have been various compounds of
Hydrogen (H), Carbon (C) and Fluorine (Fl). These are grouped into CFC, HCFC and
HFC compounds. They are the given a number which relates to their chemical
composition as below and has the prefix R (for refrigerant). This system was started
by the Du Pont Company and is widely used.

The two cheapest and most useful refrigerants were R12 and R22. Unfortunately these
refrigerants are very harmful to the atmosphere if they leak. The worst were CFC
compounds, which have been banned internationally. HCFC compounds are being
phased out. They are not permitted in new installations and it is almost impossible to
get spare bottles of refrigerant. That leaves HFC compounds only, such as R 134a.
Unfortunately the ideal refrigerant does not exist or has not yet been found. There are
several good refrigerants but all the best ones are to some extent polluting to the
atmosphere. Some refrigerants in use ashore are either toxic or flammable or both.
Because of this it is forbidden by most authorities to discharge refrigerants to the
atmosphere when working on refrigeration equipment. To allow access to for example
compressors, as much of the refrigerant as possible must be transferred to another part
of the system such as the condenser. The remaining refrigerant must be pumped out
with a special pump to gas bottles. The refrigerant in these bottles is normally
returned to the manufacturers for recycling.