Vapour Compression Refrigeration Systems:

oThe basis of modern refrigeration is the ability of liquids to absorb

enormous quantities of heat as they boil and evaporate.
oProfessor William Cullen of the University of Edinburgh
demonstrated this in 1755 by placing some water in thermal contact
with ether under a receiver of a vacuum pump.
oThe evaporation rate of ether increased due to the vacuum pump
and water could be frozen.
oThis process involves two thermodynamic concepts, the vapor
pressure and the latent heat.
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o A liquid is in thermal equilibrium with its own vapor at a
pressure called the saturation pressure, which depends on
the temperature alone.

o If the pressure is increased for example in a pressure

cooker, the water boils at higher temperature.

o The second concept is that the evaporation of liquid

requires latent heat during evaporation.

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oIf latent heat is extracted from the liquid, the liquid gets cooled.

oThe temperature of ether will remain constant as long as the vacuum

pump maintains a pressure equal to saturation pressure at the desired
temperature. This requires the removal of all the vapors formed due to
vaporization.

oIf a lower temperature is desired, then a lower saturation pressure will

have to be maintained by the vacuum pump. The component of the
modern day refrigeration system where cooling is produced by this
method is called evaporator.
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oIf this process of cooling is to be made continuous the vapors have to be
recycled by condensation to the liquid state.

oThe condensation process requires heat rejection to the surroundings.

oIt can be condensed at atmospheric temperature by increasing its

pressure.

oHence, a compressor is required to maintain a high pressure so that the

evaporating vapours can condense at a temperature greater than that of
the surroundings.

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Figure below shows the basic components of a vapor
compression refrigeration system.

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As shown in the figure the basic system consists of an evaporator,
compressor, condenser and an expansion valve.
 The refrigeration effect is obtained in the cold region as heat is
extracted by the vaporization of refrigerant in the evaporator.
 The refrigerant vapor from the evaporator is compressed in the
compressor to a high pressure at which its saturation temperature is
greater than the ambient or any other heat sink.
 Hence when the high pressure, high temperature refrigerant flows
through the condenser, condensation of the vapor into liquid takes
place by heat rejection to the heat sink.

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To complete the cycle, the high pressure liquid is made to flow through an
expansion valve.
In the expansion valve the pressure and temperature of the refrigerant
decrease.
This low pressure and low temperature refrigerant vapor evaporates in the
evaporator taking heat from the cold region. It should be observed that the
system operates on a closed cycle.
The system requires input in the form of mechanical work.
It extracts heat from a cold space and rejects heat to a high temperature
heat sink.

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A refrigeration system can also be used as a heat pump, in
which the useful output is the high temperature heat rejected at
the condenser.

Alternatively, a refrigeration system can be used for providing

cooling in summer and heating in winter. Such systems have
been built and are available now.

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Vapor compression refrigeration processes

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Ideal refrigeration cycle:
 1 - 2 Isentropic compression
 2 -3 Constant pressure heat removal
 3 - 4 Constant enthalpy (throttling)
 4 - 1 Constant pressure heat addition

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 Vapor-Compression Cycle Analysis
• The working process of a simple vapor compression cycle with saturated vapor
entering the compressor and saturated liquid leaving the condenser.

Compression Process 1-2

• Isentropic compression with rise of pressure from P1=Pe to P2=PC. The
work input to the compressor
WC = h2 -h1
Condensation process 2-3
• Superheated enters the condenser at state 2 and gives up heat to a heat sink a system at lower
temperature than the vapor until it is saturated liquid at state 3.
• Super heated vapor at state 2 is cooled at constant pressure P2 to state 3.
• The quantity of heat removed is:

2q3 =h2 -h3

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The throttling Process 3-4
• The irreversible expansion process, which is represented by dotted
line ,takes place from state 3 to state 4, Here:
h3 =h4
Evaporating Process 4-1
• The quantity of heat by the circulating medium from the
confinement to be cooled is:

q h -h4
4 1= 1

Vapor compression cycles are better analyzed on p-h diagram and

the above process in fig below is shown in p-h diagram below.
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A two-stage cascade refrigeration system with the same
refrigerant in both stages

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Example .1

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Example .2

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Example .3

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 Example .4
Consider a two-stage cascade refrigeration system operating
between the pressure limits of 1.2 MPa and 200 kPa with refrigerant-
134a as the working fluid. The refrigerant leaves the condenser as a
saturated liquid and is throttled to a flash chamber operating at 0.45
MPa. Part of the refrigerant evaporates during this flashing process,
and this vapor is mixed with the refrigerant leaving the low-pressure
compressor. The mixture is then compressed to the condenser
pressure by the high-pressure compressor. The liquid in the flash
chamber is throttled to the evaporator pressure and cools the
refrigerated space as it vaporizes in the evaporator. The mass flow
rate of the refrigerant through the low-pressure compressor is 0.15
kg/s. Assuming the refrigerant leaves the evaporator as a saturated
vapor and the isentropic efficiency is 80 percent for both
compressors, 71
Determine,
a) The mass flow rate of the refrigerant through the high-pressure
compressor,
b) The rate of heat removal from the refrigerated space, and
c) The COP of this refrigerator. Also, determine
d) The rate of heat removal and the COP if this refrigerator
operated on a single-stage cycle between the same pressure limits
with the same compressor efficiency and the same flow rate as in
part (a).

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Example 5
A refrigerator uses refrigerant-134a as the working fluid and
operates on an ideal vapor-compression refrigeration cycle
between 0.12 and 0.7 MPa. The mass flow rate of the refrigerant is
0.05 kg/s.
1. Show the cycle on a T-S diagram with respect to
saturation lines.
2. Determine
a) The rate of heat removal from the refrigerated space
and the power input to the compressor,
b) The rate of heat rejection to the environment, and
c) The coefficient of performance.

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