BECM 2101

BUILDING ENGINEERING SYSTEMS

Refrigeration System

Ayan Saha
Assistant Professor
Department of Building Engineering and Construction Management
Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET)
Khulna-9203, Bangladesh
 Introduction
The term ‘refrigeration’ may be defined as the process of removing heat from a
substance under controlled conditions.
It also includes the process of reducing and maintain the temperature of a body
below than the general temperature of its surroundings.
In other words, the refrigeration means a continues extraction of heat from a
body, whose temperature is already below the temperature of its surroundings.
Theoretically, a refrigerator is a reversed heat engine which pumps heat from a
cold body and delivers it to a hot body.
The substance which works in a heat pump to extract heat from a cold body and
to deliver it to a hot body is called refrigerant.

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 2
 Introduction
Units of Refrigeration:
The practical unit of refrigeration is expressed in terms of “tonne of
refrigeration” (written as TR). A tonne(TR) of refrigeration is defined as the
amount of refrigeration effect produced by the uniform melting of one tonne
(1000 kg) of ice from and at 0°C in 24 hours. Since the latent heat of ice is 335
kJ/kg, therefore one tonne of refrigeration,
1TR = 1000 x 335 kJ in 24 hours
= (1000 x 335) / (24 x 60)
= 232.6 KJ/min
In actual practice, one tonne of refrigeration is taken as equivalent to 210 kJ/min
or 3.5 kW i,e 3.5 KJ/sec

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 3
 Introduction
Coefficient of Performance of a Refrigerator:
The coefficient of performance (briefly written as C.O.P.) is the ratio of heat
extracted in the refrigerator to the work done on the refrigerant.
It is also known as theoretical coefficient of performance (COP). Mathematically,
Theoretical C.O.P. = Q/W
Q = Amount of heat extracted in the refrigerator (or the amount of refrigeration
produced, or the capacity of a refrigerator),
W = Amount of work done.

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 4
 Introduction
Latent Heat
• All pure substances are able to change their state. Solids become liquids and
liquids become gas.
• These changes of state occur at the same temperature and pressure
combinations for any given substance. It takes the addition of heat or the
removal of heat to produce these changes.
The heat which brings about a change of state with no change in temperature is
called latent (or hidden) heat.
Refrigerant :
Refrigerant is the working fluid in the refrigeration cycle that transfers heat and
work while undergoing different processes. It is used to produce refrigerating
effect in refrigeration system. Generally, It undergoes phase transitions from a
liquid to a gas and back again.
Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 5
 Properties of Refrigerant
An ideal refrigerant should have the following properties
• Low boiling point.
• High critical temperature
• High latent heat of vaporisation.
• Low specific heat of liquid.
• Low specific volume of vapour.
• Non-corrosive to metal.
• Non-flammable, Non-toxic and non-explosive.
• Easy to liquify at moderate pressure and temperature.
• Easy of locating leaks by odour or suitable indicator.
• Low cost. • Mixes well with oil
Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 6
 Refrigerant
Types of refrigerant : Basically 2 types –
1. Primary Refrigerant
Refrigerants, such as Dichlorodifluoromethane (CCl2F2) (R-12),
Monochlorodifluoromethane (CHClF2) (R-22), and Refrigerant 502 (R-502), are
called PRIMARY REFRIGERANTS because each one easily changes its state
upon the application of heat, and, in this act of change, absorbs and extracts
heat from the area or substance.
The primary refrigerant is so termed because it acts directly upon the area or
substance, although it may be enclosed within a system. Theses refrigerants
directly absorb heat from a system and take part of refrigerant cycle. In case of
Primary refrigerant latent heat transfer takes place.

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 7
 Refrigerant
Types of refrigerant : Basically 2 types –
1. Secondary refrigerant
SECONDARY REFRIGERANTS are substances, such as air, water, or brine.
Secondary refrigerant are cooled by primary refrigerant and then they are
circulated. They pass over and around the areas and substances to be cooled;
and they are returned with their heat load to the primary refrigeration system. In
most cases secondary refrigerant usage sensible heat transfer.
Secondary refrigerants are usually liquids, and are used to transfer heat from
the substance being cooled to a heat exchanger where the heat is absorbed by
a primary refrigerant. In an air conditioning system it could be said that air is
acting as a secondary refrigerant. As the name implies, secondary refrigerants
are those liquids, which are used for transporting thermal energy from one
location to other.
Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 8
 Classification of refrigeration system
1. Vapour Compression Refrigeration (VCR): uses mechanical energy
2. Vapour Absorption Refrigeration (VAR): uses thermal energy
3. Air Refrigeration System
4. Solar Energy based Refrigeration System
5. Steam and Vapour Jet Refrigeration System
6. Thermoelectric Refrigeration System
7. Vortex Tube Refrigeration System
8. Low Temperature Refrigeration System
9. Electrolux Refrigeration System
10. Magnetic Cooling Refrigeration System.

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 9
 Classification of refrigeration system
Air Refrigeration System: In an air refrigeration cycle, the air used as a
refrigerant. In early days, air was widely used in commercial applications
because of its availability at free of cost. Since air does not change its phase i.e.
remains gaseous throughout the cycle, therefore the heat carrying capacity per
kg of air is very small as compared to vapour systems.
Vapour Compression Refrigeration Systems: A vapour compression
refrigeration systems is an improved type of refrigeration system in which a
suitable working substance termed as refrigerant is used. The refrigerant used,
does not leave the system, but is circulated throughout the system alternately
condensing and evaporating.

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 10
 Vapour Compression Refrigeration Systems:
Naming:
Since low pressure vapour refrigerant from the evaporator is changed into high
pressure vapour refrigerant in the compressor, therefore it is named as vapour
compression refrigeration system.
The vapour compression refrigeration system is nowadays used for all purpose
refrigeration. It is generally used for all industrial purposes from a small
domestic refrigerator to a big air conditioning plant.
The first vapour compression system was developed in 1834 by Jacob Perkins
using hand operation.

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 11
 Vapour Compression Refrigeration Systems:
Advantages and Disadvantages of Vapour Compression Refrigeration System
over Air Refrigeration System:
Advantages:
1. It has smaller size for the given capacity of refrigeration.
2. It has less running cost.
3. It can be employed over a large range of temperatures.
4. The coefficient of performance is quite high.
Disadvantages:
1. The initial cost is high.
2. The prevention of leakage of the refrigerant is the major problem in vapour
compression system.
Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 12
 Vapour Compression Refrigeration Systems:
Mechanism of a Simple Vapour Compression Refrigeration System
1.Compressor: The low pressure and
temperature vapour refrigerant from
evaporator is drawn into the compressor
through the inlet or suction valve A, where it
is compressed to a high pressure and
temperature. This high pressure and
temperature vapour refrigerant and is
discharged into the condenser through the
delivery or discharge valve B.

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 13
 Vapour Compression Refrigeration Systems:
2. Condenser: The condenser or
cooler consists of coils of pipe in
which the high pressure and
temperature vapour refrigerant is
cooled and condensed and changes
to liquid of high pressure and
temperature . The refrigerant, while
passing through the condenser,
gives up its latent heat to the
surrounding condensing medium
which is normally air or water.

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 14
 Vapour Compression Refrigeration Systems:
3. Receiver: The condensed liquid
refrigerant from the condenser is
stored in a vessel known as receiver
from where it is supplied to the
evaporator through the expansion
valve or refrigerant control valve.

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 15
 Vapour Compression Refrigeration Systems:
4. Expansion valve: It is also called throttle
valve or refrigerant control valve. The
function of the expansion valve is to allow
the liquid refrigerant under high pressure
and temperature to pass at a controlled rate
after reducing its pressure and temperature.
Some of the liquid refrigerant evaporates as
it passes through the expansion valve, but
the greater portion is vaporized in the
evaporator at the low pressure and
temperature.

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 16
 Vapour Compression Refrigeration Systems:
5. Evaporator: An evaporator
consists of coils or pipe in which the
liquid vapour refrigerant at low
pressure and temperature is
evaporated and changed into vapour
of low pressure and temperature. In
evaporation, the liquid vapour
refrigerant absorbs its latent heat of
vaporization from the medium which
is to be cooled.

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 17
 Vapour Compression Refrigeration Cycle
Self Study: Article 36.6 of R.S. Khurmi
Compression process; Condensing process; Expansion process; Vaporizing
process

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 18
 Vapour Absorption Refrigeration Cycle
The idea of a vapour absorption refrigeration system is to avoid compression of
the refrigerant.
Some liquids like water have great affinity for absorbing large quantities of
certain vapours (NH3) and reduce the total volume greatly.
In this type of refrigeration system, the vapour produced by the evaporation of
the refrigerant, in the cold chamber, passes into a vessel containing a
homogeneous mixture of ammonia and water (aqua–ammonia). In this chamber
the vapor is absorbed which maintains constant low pressure, thus facilitating
its further evaporation.
An absorber, generator and pump in the absorption refrigerating system replace
the compressor of a vapor compression system.

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 19
 Vapour Absorption Refrigeration Cycle

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 20
 Vapour Absorption Refrigeration Cycle
Figure shows the schematic diagram of a vapor absorption system.
 Ammonia vapor is produced in the generator at high pressure from the
strong solution of NH3 by an external heating source.
 The water vapor carried with ammonia is removed in the rectifier and only
the dehydrated ammonia gas enters into the condenser. High pressure NH3
vapor is condensed/cooled in the condenser.
 The cooled NH3 solution is passed through a throttle or expansion valve
and the pressure and temperature of the refrigerant are reduced below the
temperature to be maintained in the evaporator.

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 21
 Vapour Absorption Refrigeration Cycle
 The low temperature refrigerant enters the evaporator and absorbs the
required heat from the evaporator and leaves the evaporator as saturated
vapor.
 Slightly superheated, low pressure NH3 vapor is absorbed by the weak
solution of NH3 which is sprayed in the absorber.
 Weak NH3 solution (aqua–ammonia) entering the absorber becomes strong
solution after absorbing NH3 vapor and then it is pumped to the generator
through the heat exchanger or regenerator.
 The pump increases the pressure of the strong solution to generator
pressure. The strong NH3 solution coming from the absorber absorbs heat
form high temperature weak NH3 solution in the heat exchanger.

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 22
 Comparison between Vapor Compression and Absorption system

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 23
 Problem

Problem 35.1-35.7: R.S.Khurmi

Ayan Saha, Assistant Professor, Dept. of BECM, KUET BECM 2101: Building Engineering Systems 24
THANK YOU