Multistage Refrigeration

System
Multi-Pressure System
Multi-Pressure System
• A multi- pressure system of vapor compression refrigeration cycle is an
arrangement of compressor and other components to attain a certain
purpose.
• It has two or more low-side pressure which is the pressure between
expansion valve and the intake to the compressor.
• Several model or arrangement of compressor will be illustrated in this
chapter to evaluate the performance of multi- pressure system.
• The two function often integral to multi-pressure system are the removal
of flash gas, inter-cooling and saving of compressor power consumption.
Removal of Flash Gas
• A saving in the power requirement of a refrigeration system results
if the flash gas that develops in the throttling process between the
condenser and evaporator is removed and recompressed before
complete expansion.
• The vapor is separated from the liquid by an equipment called the
flash tank.
• The separation occurs when the upward speed of the vapor is low
enough for the liquid particles to drop back into the tank. Normally,
a vapor speed of less than 1 m/s will provide adequate separation.
Intercooling
• Intercooling between two stages of compression reduces the work of compression
per kilogram of vapor.
• Intercooling in a refrigeration system can be accomplished with a water-cooled heat
exchanger or by using refrigerant.
• The water-cooled intercooler may be satisfactory for two-stage air compression, but
for refrigerant compression the water is usually not cold enough. The alternate
method uses liquid refrigerant from the condenser to do the intercooling. Discharge
gas from the low-stage compressor bubbles through the liquid in the intercooler.
Refrigerant leaves the intercooler as saturated vapor.
• Intercooling with liquid refrigerant will usually decrease the total power requirements
when ammonia is the refrigerant, but not when refrigerant 12 or 22 is used.
Example I: A two-stage compression with inter-cooling between compressor has a
considerable power saving compared with standard vapor compression system.
Fig.2-1 shows a) System diagram and b) P-h diagram of the system.

• The intercooler pressure will be determined

in between the condenser pressure and the
evaporator pressure so that the work of
compression in each stage are equal. Thus,
the high limit and low limit Pi, will be
computed from the foregoing equations.

intersect the S-curve at isentropic compression

• The work of each compressor will be balance by
equating the following enthalpies on the P-h
diagram.
Example 2-1: A two stage compressor with intercooler uses ammonia refrigerant. The condensing temperature is
35°C and the evaporating temperature is 0°C. If the intercooler temperature is to be maintain at 18° C, determine
the following:
1.0 The real value of intercooler pressure at equal work of compression.
2.0 The COP of the system of refrigeration compared with standard system using single compression.

Enthalpies at each point:

 Pi = P at hi and s3

h5 = h at ti and Pi
h6= h at s5 and Pc

h4= h at s3 and low limit Pi For two Compressor the total work is = 2x 78 = 156 KJ/Kg,
compared with single compressor whose
h5= h at ti and low limit Pi
Work is WKS = 1622-1461.7 = 160.3 KJ/Kg
h6= h at s5 and Pc
h6= h at s5 and Pc
Application of multi- pressure system
• Multi-pressure system of refrigeration are commonly applied in
Dairy Factory where one evaporator operates at about -35°C to
harden the Ice Cream, while the other evaporator operates at
2°C to cool the milk.
• Another important application may be in process industry where
3 or more stage compressor are prepared with inter-cooling or
removal of flash gas.
• Removal of flash gas result saving in power requirement as
compared to standard vapor compression system since the
COP increases.
Single Evaporator, single compressor, with flash tank for flash gas removal
Fig.2-2 System and P-h diagram of the model
a) System Diagram of the model: b) P-h diagram of the model

Supposed on the above Model with flash tank, removed flash gas will be throttled to
lower the pressure necessary to mixed the low-pressure vapor from the evaporator at
the compressor suction port, the remaining liquid will enter the expansion valve as
saturated liquid at the flash tank pressure, allowing enthalpy difference from 4-5, larger
than the standard cycle and increasing the Refrigerating effect.
Example 2-2: From the model, the condensing temperature of Ammonia refrigerant is 35°C and the evaporating
temperature is 0°C. Let the throttle valve maintain the flash tank pressure at 760 Kpa and determine the
following:
a) Enthalpy at all section of the system, KJ/Kg
b) Mass flow rate of refrigerant vapor leaving the flash tank, Kg/sec at 100Ton of refrigeration capacity.
c) Work of compression at compression index n=1.3.
d) COP of the System.

Tc = 35°C
m1 + m2
m1
m1 + m2
P=760 kPa
m2

m2 Te = 0°C
 Tc = 35°C
m1 + m2
m1
m1 + m2
P=760 kPa
m2

m2 Te = 0°C

From equation 1 and 2, we obtained:

: Equation 1

Equation 2:
 Tc = 35°C
m1 + m2
m1
m1 + m2
P=760 kPa
m2

m2 Te = 0°C

@ statepoint 7 : h7=1462.89 kJ/kg and P7 = Pe at 0C = 430.43 kPa

Problem 1

A refrigerant 22 system has a capacity of 180 Kw at an evaporator temperature of -30°C when the condensing
pressure is 1500 Kpa.
a) Calculate the power requirement for a system with single compressor.
b) Compute the total power required by the two compressor in the system shown in Fig.2-5 below where there is
no inter-cooling but there is flash gas removal at 600 kPа.
Problem 2

A two-stage refrigerant 22 system that uses flash gas and inter-cooling serves a single low temperature
evaporator as shown in Fig. 2-7 below. The evaporating temperature is -40°C and the condensing temperature is
30°C. The pumping capacity of high and low stage compressor is given in compressor performance as 2.1 and 1.6
kg/sec respectively. Determine the following.
a) The refrigerating capacity of the system.
b) The intermediate pressure in the inter-cooler.
Problem 3

In a refrigerant 22 refrigeration system the capacity is 180 Kw at a temperature of -30°C. The vapor from
evaporator is pumped by one compressor to the condensing pressure of 1500 Kpa. Later the system is revised to
a two-stage compression operating the cycle, with inter-cooling but no removal of flash gas at 600 Kpa.

a) Calculate the power required by single compressor of the original system.

b) Calculate the power required by the two compressor in the revised system.