- a collection of simulation tools for

refrigeration -

Tutorial - Version 1.46

Authors:
Arne Jakobsen
Bjarne Dindler Rasmussen
Morten Juel Skovrup
Simon Engedal Andersen

Department of Energy Engineering

Technical University of Denmark
(DTU)
[email protected] www.et.dtu.dk/CoolPack

May 2001
CoolPack – en samling af køletekniske simuleringsprogrammer

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 SysSim

CoolPack – a collection of simulation programs for refrigeration

Table of Contents

1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................3

2 DESCRIPTION OF COOLPACK...........................................................3

3 COOLPACK CONTACT......................................................................5

4 INSTALLATION................................................................................7

5 EXERCISES.................................................................................... 8
5.1 OVERVIEW OF EXERCISES IN THIS TUTORIAL........................................8
EXERCISE 1: FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS IN COOLPACK ..................................9
EXERCISE 2: FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS IN EESCOOLTOOLS ........................10
EXERCISE 3: FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS IN REFRIGERATION UTILITIES ..........15
EXERCISE 4: SHORT EESCOOLTOOLS EXERCISE..........................................19
EXERCISE 5: SHORT REFRIGERATION UTILITIES EXERCISE............................21
EXERCISE 6: CREATION OF PROPERTY PLOTS AND DRAWING REFRIGERATION
CYCLES.....................................................................................................23
EXERCISE 7: ONE-STAGE CYCLE WITH DRY EXPANSION EVAPORATOR ..............26
EXERCISE 8: ONE-STAGE CYCLE WITH FLOODED EVAPORATOR .......................28
EXERCISE 9: DESIGNING A ONE-STAGE REFRIGERATION SYSTEM ....................30
EXERCISE 10: ENERGY ANALYSIS OF A SYSTEM WITH ON/OFF-TYPE CAPACITY
CONTROL..................................................................................................35
EXERCISE 11: LIQUID FLOW IN PIPES (PRESSURE DROP AND HEAT TRANSFER)
................................................................................................................37
EXERCISE 12: TRANSIENT COOLING OF GOODS IN A REFRIGERATED ROOM .....39
6 CONCEPTS, SHORTCUTS, AND OTHER HINTS.......................41

7 OVERVIEW OF PROGRAMS IN COOLPACK..............................43

7.1 PROGRAMS IN REFRIGERATION UTILITIES..........................................43
7.2 PROGRAMS IN EESCOOLTOOLS: CYCLE ANALYSIS (C-TOOLS).............43
7.3 PROGRAMS IN EESCOOLTOOLS: DESIGN...........................................43
7.4 PROGRAMS IN EESCOOLTOOLS: EVALUATION (E-TOOLS)...................44
7.5 PROGRAMS IN EESCOOLTOOLS: AUXILIARY TOOLS (A-TOOLS)............44
7.6 Programs in Dynamic...................................................................45

Printouts from catalogs (used in exercise 9) can be found

in the separate appendix.

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1 INTRODUCTION
This tutorial gives a general introduction to CoolPack and contains a
number of exercises demonstrating how the programs in CoolPack should
be used.
The exercises are organized in groups representing the various types of
investigations for which CoolPack can be used. The first exercises are
introductory, focussing on how to use the various types of programs in
CoolPack and how to navigate between them. The following exercises are
more detailed and aimed at demonstrating the use of CoolPack for
analyzing refrigeration systems.
Once you have become familiar with the programs in CoolPack, we hope
that you will use CoolPack for solving the refrigeration-oriented tasks
related to your job/education. If you have any comments or questions
about CoolPack we encourage you to contact us – your comments and
ideas will be very helpful to us in making CoolPack an even better
program.

2 DESCRIPTION OF COOLPACK
The development of CoolPack started in spring of 1998 as a part of a
research project. The objective of this project was to develop simulation
models to be used for energy optimization of refrigeration systems. The
users of these models would be refrigeration technicians, engineers,
students etc. in short all the persons with influence on the present and
future energy consumption of refrigeration systems.
The first idea was to make a general and comprehensive simulation
program that would give the user all the flexibility he/she could wish for
in terms of handling many different system designs and investigation
purposes. Some of the characteristics of very general and flexible
programs are that they require many user inputs/selections and that their
numerical robustness is rather low. Experience with this type of
programs has shown that this type of simulation programs is far from
ideal for the main part of the users mentioned above. Since most of these
users have limited time for carrying out the investigation, general and
comprehensive programs will in many cases be very ineffective to use
and they are therefore often discarded by the users.
The idea behind the development of CoolPack is different from the idea
described above. Instead of creating a large, general and comprehensive
simulation program we have chosen to create a collection of small, easy
to use, and numerically robust simulation programs.
The typical simulation program in CoolPack deals with only on type of
refrigeration system and has a specific investigation purpose. It therefore
only requires the user inputs/selections necessary to describe operating
conditions etc. and not any inputs for describing the system design or for
specifying the input/output structure associated with the simulation
purpose.
When developing the programs for CoolPack we have focused on making
the underlying system models as simple, relevant and numerically robust

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as possible. We have preserved some flexibility in that the user can select
refrigerant and also specify inputs (like pressure) in more than one way
(saturation temperature or pressure).
The programs in CoolPack covers the following simulation purposes:
 Calculation of refrigerant properties (property plots, thermodynamic
& thermophysical data, refrigerant comparisons)
 Cycle analysis – e.g. comparison of one- and two-stage cycles
 System dimensioning – calculation of component sizes from general
dimensioning criteria
 System simulation – calculation of operating conditions in a system
with known components
 Evaluation of operation – evaluation of system efficiency and
suggestions for reducing the energy consumption
 Component calculations – calculation of component efficiencies
 Transient simulation of cooling of an object – e.g. for evaluation of
cooling down periods

To make it easier to get an overview of the programs in CoolPack we have

chosen to divide the programs into three main groups (Refrigeration
Utilities, EESCoolTools and Dynamic). Figure 2.1 gives an overview of the
content in these groups.

CoolPack
Refrigeration
EESCoolTools Dynamic
Utilities
Refrigerant property Cycle analysis Cooling down of an
plots and cycles object/room.
System dimensioning (One-stage system)
Refrigerant calculator
System simulation
Secondary fluid
calculator Operation analysis

Psychrometric charts Component calculations

Refrigerant properties
Comparison of
refrigerants

Figure 2.1: Overview of the main groups in CoolPack.

The group Refrigeration Utilities consist of 3 refrigerant oriented

programs, primarily used for calculating the properties of primary and
secondary refrigerants, creating property plots for primary refrigerants
(like p-h, T-s and h-s diagrams) and for calculating the pressure drop for
flow of secondary refrigerants in pipes. Furthermore, it is possible to
create property plots for humid air (psychrometric charts).

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The programs in Refrigeration Utilities group have been released

previously as independent programs. The first versions of the
programs were released in 1996 and they have since then been
expanded significantly with new refrigerants, more property plots etc.
Apart from the built in property functions the current version can also
use the very accurate property functions used in the RefProp program.
If you have RefProp ver. 6.01 you will now be able to create high
quality property plots based on RefProp data for refrigerants. Se the
on-line help in the programs.

The group EESCoolTools contains a large collection of programs for both

refrigeration systems and components. We have chosen to divide this
group into four subgroups as shown on Figure 2.2. The groups also
represent the four phases of designing a refrigeration system.
The programs in these four groups have almost the same type of user
interface, making it easier to combine their use and also use them for
comparisons.
The name EESCoolTools consists of the three words EES, Cool and
Tools:
 "EES" refers to the name of the program we have implemented our
simulation models in (Engineering Equation Solver - EES). EES is
developed by S.A. Klein and F.L. Alvarado, and is sold by F-Chart
Software in Wisconsin, USA. You can get more information about
EES and F-Chart Software on the Internet at www.fchart.com
 "Cool" refers to the fact, that the simulation models are related to
the area of refrigeration.
 "Tools" refers to that the programs are thought to be tools enabling
you to make faster and more consistent (energy) design and
analysis.

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Selection of cycle and

Cycle Analysis specification of
(C-Tools) primary parameters

Use of dimensioning
Dimensioning criteria for dimensioning
(D-Tools) of components

Calculation of operating
System Simulation conditions with selected
(S-Tools) components

Energy analysis based on

Evaluation measurements
(E-Tools)

Figure 2.2: EESCoolTool subgroups

The group named Dynamic contains the dynamic programs in CoolPack.

So far only a single program is available. With this program it is possible
to simulate the cooling down of an object/room under various conditions
and with on/off-capacity control of the compressor.
The dynamic element is modeled and solved using a DAE solver
application called WinDALI. WinDALI is based on the DALI-program
developed in 1985, at what at that time was called the Refrigeration
Laboratory at the Technical University of Denmark (now a part of
Department of Energy Engineering). The present version of WinDALI is
freeware an is well documented. If you are interested in making your
own dynamic simulation models, you are welcome to have a copy of
WinDALI – all you have to do is to contact us.
The individual programs in CoolPack are described further in Chapter 6
of this tutorial.

3 COOLPACK CONTACT
CoolPack was developed as part of a research project called SysSim (an
abbreviation for “Systematic Modeling and Simulation of Refrigeration
Systems”). This project was financed by the Danish Energy Agency. The
project administrator is Arne Jakobsen ([email protected]).
CoolPack will be updated continuously, and you will always be able to
download the latest version from www.et.dtu.dk/coolpack. Here you can
also find news about the program and technical support. CoolPack is
freeware and you are welcome to pass on you copy of the program to

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colleagues and friends. We encourage all who use CoolPack to register so

that we can inform them about new versions and CoolPack-related
arrangements.
In the process of updating and expanding CoolPack we need your
feedback. All comments and suggestions are welcome and are also highly
appreciated! General questions, comments or requests for support should
be directed to [email protected] or they can be faxed to us on +45
4593 5215.
The development of CoolPack is performed by Team CoolPack consisting
of the following members:
Name Telephone E-mail
Arne Jakobsen +45 4525 [email protected]
4129 k
Bjarne Dindler
Rasmussen
Morten Skovrup +45 4525 [email protected].
4120 dk
Simon Engedal
Andersen

The members of Team CoolPack can also be contacted directly by

telephone or e-mail – the numbers and addresses can be found in the
table above.
You can contact all team members through the mail: [email protected]

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4 INSTALLATION
CoolPack will run under the following operating systems:
 Windows 95
 Windows 98
 Windows NT4.0
 Windows 2000 Professional
Your screen setting should be at least 16 bit color – if you choose 256
colors some of the background colors will appear “grumsy”.
If you downloaded CoolPack from the Internet you should have CoolPack
in a single file called COOLPACK:EXE. This file is a self-extracting file
containing the installation files. When you run this file its content will be
expanded into a temporary folder (default is C:\TEMP). From this
temporary folder start the file SETUP.EXE and the installation program
will guide you through the installation procedure.
If you received CoolPack on CD-rom the installation should start
automatically when the CD is inserted into the CD-drive. If this doesn’t
happen you should start the file SETUP.EXE on the CD-rom. The
installation program will guide you through the installation procedure.
Note #1: CoolPack and Windows 95:
If no icons appear in the CoolPack toolbars you should update your
version of Windows 95.
If you received CoolPack on CD-rom you will find a folder called Win_Upd
on this CD-rom. In this folder you will find a file 401COMUPD.EXE which
contain the update files necessary. Run this file from CD-rom – the
program will guide you through the update procedure. You will have to
restart you PC before you can use CoolPack.
If you downloaded CoolPack from the Internet you can find the update
files necessary on the following address www.et.dtu.dk/coolpack
Note #2: CoolPack and Windows 95/98:
On PC’s with Windows 95 or 98 the number of EESCoolTool programs
that can be active at the same time is limited. The maximum number of
active EESCoolTool programs depends on the available resources –
typically only three EESCoolTools can be active on the same time. If you
try to have more than three active EESCoolTools you might risk ending
up in a situation where you get an error message like “The program has
performed an illegal operation and will be shut down”. If this happens
you should close some of the active (but not used) programs and try
opening the requested program again.
For Windows NT4.0 and Windows 2000 Professional this limitation
doesn’t exist.

The installation program will generate a shortcut to CoolPack so that you

can start CoolPack via the START-button.

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5 EXERCISES
Exercises 1, 2 and 3 introduce the various types of programs and
demonstrate how to navigate in and between programs in CoolPack.
Exercises 4 and 5 give a more detailed demonstration of the use of the
models introduced in exercises 2 and 3.
Exercises numbered 6 and higher can be selected according to interest
and preferences. These exercises are organized so that you will first find
a description of the problem/exercise and on the following page you will
find a suggested solution to the problem.
For some of the exercises you might not get the exact same results as
stated in the solution. The problem might be "open"; meaning that you
have to assume or evaluate temperatures and/or temperature differences
as a part of the exercise. In these cases, you will probably not make the
exact same assumptions as we have, and therefore the results you get
might differ slightly from the suggested solution.
For exercise 9 you will need the separate appendix with printouts from
catalogues.

5.1 Overview of exercises in this tutorial

Introductory exercises
1. Fundamental concepts in CoolPack
2. Fundamental concepts in EESCoolTools
3. Fundamental concepts in Refrigeration Utilities
4. Short EESCoolTools exercise
5. Short Refrigeration Utilities exercise
Exercises for Refrigeration Utilities
6. Creation of property plots and drawing refrigeration cycles
Exercises for EESCoolTools – Cycle Analysis
7. One-stage cycle with dry expansion evaporator
8. One-stage cycle with flooded evaporator
Exercises for EESCoolTools – Design and Dimensioning
9. Designing, dimensioning and optimizing a one-stage refrigeration system
Exercises for EESCoolTools – Energy Analysis
10.Energy analysis of a system with on/off-type capacity control
Exercises for EESCoolTools – Special investigations
11.Liquid flow in pipes (pressure drop and heat transfer)
Exercises for Dynamic
12.Transient cooling of goods in a refrigerated room

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Exercise 1: Fundamental concepts in CoolPack

Start CoolPack as described in the Installation-section. When the
program has started you will se a welcome screen with a short
introduction to the main programs in CoolPack.
The programs in CoolPack are divided into three main groups:
Refrigeration Utilities, EESCoolTools, and Dynamic. The main group
EESCoolTools has been divided further into four subgroups: Cycle
analysis, Design, Evaluation, and Auxiliary.
These six program groups each have a tab on the toolbar in the upper
part of the screen, to the right of a group of buttons that control the
appearance of this screen. By clicking on a tab the icons for the programs
in this group will be shown on the toolbar. A program in a group is
started by clicking (single click) on the program icon.
Figure 5.1 shows the icons for the three programs in the group
Refrigeration Utilities. If you point the mouse on one of these icons (don’t
click), you will see a small pop-up text with the title of the program.

Buttons for configuring

the CoolPack interface Tabs and buttons for
starting the individual
programs in this group
of programs

Figure 5.1: Main screen in CoolPack

When a program is started this main part of CoolPack will still be active,
but it will be placed in the background. You will always be able to return
to this window by clicking on its icon in the Windows Taskbar. You can
several programs in CoolPack active at the same time. You can swap
between active programs by pressing the ALT-key (holding it down) and
also press the Tab-key.

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When starting your second EESCoolTool you will receive a message

saying that EES is already running and you will then be asked if you wish
to open another copy. This message is just a precaution that should help
Windows 95 and 98 users in preventing the opening of too many
EESCoolTools. If the PC runs low on resources like RAM opening many
EESCoolTools may lead to the system becoming unstable.

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Exercise 2: Fundamental concepts in EESCoolTools

Start the first program in the group named "CoolTools: Cycle analysis" –

the icon looks like this .

All CoolTools start up in the main diagram window (in this case a stylistic
log(p),h-diagram). This is shown on figure 5.2. In the upper left part of
the screen you will see a column of function buttons – these can be used
to start a calculation, save and load inputs to/from a file, or to access the
on-line help-function. The help-function contains a description of the
program and may also contain further diagrams.
In addition to the main diagram window a number of sub-diagram
windows may exist. You can access sub-diagram windows by using the
gray buttons in the left side of the screen.

Function

Buttons for access

to sub-diagram
windows

Figure 5.2: Main diagram window for an EESCoolTool

Click on the button “Cycle Spec.”
You will now see one of the sub-diagram windows in this program – figure
5.3 shows this window. In a sub-diagram window you will also find
function buttons and navigation buttons for access to the other sub-
diagram windows. You can access the main diagram window by clicking
on the small button with the icon in the lower right part of the screen.
Alternatively, you can also use the key combination Ctrl+D to return to
the main diagram window.

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Access to other sub- Return to Function

diagram windows main diagram buttons
window

Figure 5.3: Sub-diagram window in an EESCoolTool

The program you have opened is a program for analysis of refrigeration
cycles (abbreviated C-Tool). In this type of tools all the primary inputs are
gathered in the sub-diagram window with the title “Cycle Spec.” The
inputs are grouped according to the phenomena they describe. Every
group has a title giving the connection between the inputs and outputs
found in this group. In Figure 5.3 you will see a group titled “Cycle
Capacity” where the input for the capacity and the outputs related to
capacity like mass and volume flow are found.
Inputs are marked as small boxes with green text/numbers on white
background. There are two different types of inputs. The first type is the
simple where numbers are entered from the keyboard.
The second type contains a list of selectable
inputs, typically selectable text items. The list
will first appear when you click (single click) on
the small gray button with the small black
arrow. Figure 5.4 shows the drop-down list
from which you can select the refrigerant. For
long lists scroll bars will appear.
Try selecting R134a as refrigerant

Figure 5.4: Drop-down

list

Outputs (both text and numbers) are normally given in a dark blue color.
If changes are made to the inputs, all output will change color to gray in
order to indicate that the outputs on screen may no longer represent the

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solution to the inputs on screen. The change you made previously when
selecting a new refrigerant caused all outputs to change color to gray.
A calculation is started by clicking on the function button labeled “CALC”
or by pressing the F2-key.
Start calculations by clicking the “CALC” button or by pressing the F2
key.
A small window will appear informing you about the progress of the
calculation process. As long as calculations are performed the button in
this window will be labeled “Abort”. When a solution has been found the
name will change to ”Continue”. When you see the name change to
“Continue” you have performed your first calculation in CoolPack – in this
case you have calculated the main parameters and all state points in a
one-stage refrigeration cycle – congratulations!!!
The current window contains a number of input boxes, where the values
for typical cycle specification parameters can be entered. In the top part
of the window the conditions for the evaporator and the condenser are
specified. Below, a group of variables titled "Cycle capacity" appears. The
cycle capacity can be specified in several ways. The direct and most
simple way is specifying the refrigeration capacity in [kW], but indirect
ways of specifying the capacity using the mass flow in [kg/s] or volume
flow in [m3/h] of refrigerant is also possible. You choose between the
different ways of specifying the capacity by selecting one of the text-
options from the drop-down list. The default selection is “Ref. Capacity
[kW]”. To the right of these inputs the values of the different variables
specifying the cycle capacity are echoed.
Select the “Volume flow [m3/h] :” option and type in a value of 15 in the
input box to the right
Similarly to specifying the cycle capacity, other phenomena (like
compressor performance, compressor heat loss and suction line
superheat) can be specified in multiple ways. In all cases the specification
variable is chosen from a drop-down list and the actual input value is
entered in the input field to the right of the drop-down list. Please note
that in most cases changing the input variable will require the input value
to be changed also.
Calculate again (press F2 or click on the CALC button).
Inspect the new results
Try changing some of the other inputs and calculate again (try any
combination of inputs you like…).
If you end up in a situation where you have specified one or more inputs
to which no solution can be found, you can always close the model and
reload it with default inputs. Either click on the small gray window close
button (the one with the X) in the titlebar of the main window or click on
the “File”-menu. You will then see a list of commands – in the lower part
you will se the names of other programs and the current program. Click
on the name of the current program and the program will be reloaded
with default inputs.

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When you feel that you have become familiar with the use of this model
you can return to the main diagram window. You can do this by either
clicking on the small “Home” button in the lower left corner of the
window or by pressing the “Ctrl” and “D” keys on the keyboard.
Go to the main diagram window
In most of the CoolTools more than one subdiagram window exist. You
can open the other subdiagram windows by clicking on the gray buttons
in the left side on the main diagram window.
Press the button "State Points" to enter one of the other subdiagram
windows.
The values of temperature, enthalpy, pressure and density at all state
points are given in a table. The state point numbering can be seen either
from the log(p),h-diagram in the main diagram window or from the pipe
diagram found in the Help.
It is not necessary to return to the main diagram window to move from
one subdiagram window to another. Use the gray buttons in the lower left
part of the screen.
Click on the gray button titled “Auxiliary”
In the Auxiliary subdiagram window you can find information about the
necessary dimensions of the main pipes in the system, you can calculate
the compressor displacement required for the capacity you have specified
(using a volumetric efficiency for the compressor) and you can calculate
the possible heating of a flow of water in a desuperheater. Note the
current results and try changing some of the inputs in this window –
recalculate and evaluate the new results.

The main diagram window and all subdiagram windows can be printed. In
the menu "File" choose "Print". Default print setting is to print only the
main diagram window. If you want to print any of the subdiagram
windows then you must deselect the item "Diagram" and re-select
“Diagram” again. Then a menu appears from which you can choose to
print one or more of the diagram windows in the program.

You can also copy the active (current) diagram to a word processor using
the "Edit” menu, or by using the built in Windows possibility to make
screen dumps using the Print Screen key (PrtSc). In a word processor
you can insert the screen dump by pressing Ctrl + V.

From within a program there are shortcuts to other CoolTools related to

the active CoolTool. Open the “File” menu and look at the list of Tool-
names in the bottom part of the menu. Clicking one of these names will
close the active tool and bring up this new tool directly. If you don’t want
to start a new CoolTool but want another type of tool (or close CoolPack)
choose “Exit” from the “File” menu or use the standard windows buttons
in the upper right corner.

A list of all the shortcuts in CoolTools is given below.

<F2> Solve model (calculate)

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<Ctrl>+<G> Update initial guesses

<Ctrl>+<D> Return to main diagram
<Ctrl>+<P> Go to Print-menu
Shortcuts
<Ctrl>+<Q> End program (quit)
<Ctrl>+<C> Copy current diagram to
clipboard

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Overview of buttons:

Description of function Button and

icon
Return to main diagram window

Calculate, corresponds to pressing the F2-key

Save inputs in a file

Load inputs from a file

Activate the help-function

Go to sub-diagram window with cycle

specification
Go to sub-diagram window with auxiliary
calculations
Go to sub-diagram windows with overview of
state points

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Exercise 3: Fundamental concepts in Refrigeration

Utilities

Click on the Refrigeration Utilities tab in the main CoolPack window. You
will the see three icons. The first icon represents the main program in
this group. The other two icons represent small and handy programs for
calculation of specific properties for refrigerants and secondary fluids.
The main program in this group can be used to draw high quality
property plots for a large number of refrigerants. Further, you can plot
refrigeration cycles on these diagrams and have the program calculate
enthalpy differences between state points, COP, etc. This program has so
many features, especially when it comes to formatting of property plots,
so that it is not practical to list them all in this introductory exercise.
Please refer to the built in help in the program for more information
about its features and for help in general.

Start the program by clicking on the icon

If you move the mouse pointer across the various buttons in the upper
toolbar, then short descriptions will appear.
Click on the button to draw a log(p),h-diagram
A list of refrigerants is then displayed
Select R290 (propane) and click on the OK button.

”Co-ordinates” for the

position of the mouse
pointer

Figure 5.5: Log(p),h-diagram in Refrigeration Utilities

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A log(p),h-diagram of R290 is now being draw using default values for

formatting of the plot (number of curves for constant temperature,
entropy, quality and specific volume and default values for line colors
etc.) Notice, that as you move the mouse pointer around in the plot area
the "thermodynamic” coordinates like pressure, temperature etc. of the
mouse pointer position are displayed in the lover left corner. If you click
the mouse button while the pointer is inside the plot area, the
"thermodynamic” coordinates will be copied to a local clipboard. Use the
“Options” menu, “Show log…” command to view the coordinates.
For refrigerant mixtures like the R400-series, calculating the refrigerant
properties in the two-phase region takes more time than the calculations
for a pure substance. Therefore, when you select a refrigerant mixture,
like R404A, you will be prompted for selecting/deselecting lines of
constant quality, entropy and temperature for the two-phase region.
Deselecting the lines for constant entropy and quality speed up the
calculation (and plotting) process significantly.
Having drawn a log(p),h-diagram, you can specify a refrigeration cycle
and have the state points plotted on the diagram.
Choose the item ”Input cycle" from the ”Options” menu.
Currently, you can choose between four different refrigeration cycles.
Choose “One-stage cycle”, and enter appropriate values for evaporation
temperature and condensing temperature etc. Disregard the pressure
drops etc. for now. Click on the “Update” button when done.

Figure 5.6: Cycle input window

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In the right part of the screen the values for the specific performance are
shown.
Click on the ”Show info” button.
In this window more information about the cycle is given and it is a
possible to specify the cycle capacity (either as cooling capacity, mass
flow or power consumption, etc.) One and only one of these variables
should be given. The values of the other variables are calculated
automatically.

Figure 5.7: Dimensioning of a refrigeration cycle

Input a value for the cooling capacity (Qe) and click the “Update” button.
Click the “OK” button to draw the cycle (state points) on the diagram.
You can always inspect the specifications of the cycles you draw by
choosing the “Show cycle info..” item from the “Options” menu. For
comparison multiple cycles can be drawn in the same diagram.

A list of useful shortcuts in Refrigeration Utilities is given below.

Double-click Format selected text or curve

Double-click below x-axis Format x-axis
Mouse Double-click to the left of the y-axis Format y-axis
Right-click Stop drawing of polyline
Down, left, up, and right - arrows Move cursor
<Space> Just like a left mouse click
<Enter> Like double-click
Keyboard <Esc> Stop drawing of polyline (like
mouse right-click )
<+> on numeric keyboard Increase step size using arrows
<-> on numeric keyboard Decrease step size using arrows
Keyboard + <Ctrl> + left button (or space) Select curve
<Shift> + Left button (or space) Select text
Mouse <Ctrl> + <Shift> + Left button + Drag Move selected text
<Alt> + Right button below x-axis or left Auto max-min coordinates on axis
of y-axis

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(Keyboard + <Alt> + Left button + Drag Select new max-min coordinates of

axis
Keyboard)
<Ctrl>+<S> Save plot
<Ctrl>+<I> Save picture
<Ctrl>+<P> Print
Shortcuts to <Ctrl>+<X> End
menu commands <Ctrl>+<L> Select next curve-type being closest
to the cursor position
<Ctrl>+<C> Copy to clipboard

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Exercise 4: Short EESCoolTools exercise

Specify the following one-stage cycle with dry a dry expansion
evaporator. The evaporation temperature is –30.0 °C, the superheat is
10.0 K, the condensing temperature is 25.0 °C, the subcooling is 2.0 K,
the refrigeration capacity is 100 kW, the isentropic efficiency is 0.7, the
heat loss from the compressor is 7% and no unuseful superheat or
pressure loss occur in the suction line. Pressure losses in the discharge
line is likewise disregarded and no internal heat exchanger is present.
The refrigerant is R134a.

1. What is the value of the COP?

Make the following changes: The heat ingress in the suction line is 1000
W, the mass flow rate is 0.4 kg/s, the heat loss from the compressor is 1.0
kW and the thermal efficiency of the internal heat exchanger is 0.4.

2. What is the pressure ratio (compressor outlet/inlet) and what is the

new value of the COP?

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Exercise 4: - Suggested solution

Use the CoolTool with the title “One stage system - Dry expansion
evaporators”. You find it in the program group “CoolTools: Cycle
analysis”.

It is represented by the following icon.

Enter the relevant values in the cycle-specification subdiagram window.

1. COP should be 2.451
2. Enter the new information. COP will then become 2.439. The pressure
ratio is found in the subdiagram window ”State points” and should be
7.863.

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Exercise 5: Short Refrigeration Utilities exercise

An exercise in creating Log(p),h - diagrams

1. Draw a log(p),h-diagram for the refrigerant R717 (ammonia)

2. On this diagram, draw a one-stage cycle using the following data:
Evaporation temperature = -35.0 °C
Superheat = 8.0 K
Isentropic efficiency = 0.7
Condensing temperature = 30 °C
Subcooling =2K
3. Does the cycle look OK? Check the discharge gas temperature…is it
within acceptable limits?

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Exercise 5: Suggested solution

Use the main Refrigeration Utilities program. You can find it in the
program group “Refrigeration Utilities”.

It is represented by the following icon.

1) Choose the “File” menu and select the “New” item and then the
“Log(p),h – diagram” option or click on the button. Select R717 and
click the “OK” button.

2) To draw the cycle, choose “Options” and the “Input cycle” item, or
click on the button. Type in the data specified and when done click
the “Draw cycle” button.

3) The cycle is not realistic – the discharge gas temperature is above

200 C (place the mouse pointer on the state point and look at the
coordinates in the lower left corner). R717 (ammonia) is not a suitable
refrigerant for a one-stage compression from –35 C to 30 C. Try
drawing a log(p),h-diagram for R404A instead and then draw a new
cycle with the same specifications. In this case the discharge gas
temperature becomes only app. 65 C. Try other refrigerants….which
one will give the highest COP?

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Exercise 6: Creation of property plots and drawing

refrigeration cycles

Setting up the program preferences and drawing property plots

A) Program preferences
Add name, company, address, and phone number to program preferences

B) Log(p),h-diagrams
1 Draw a Log(p),h-diagram for R290 (propane)
2 Draw a one-stage refrigeration cycle with the following specifications:
Evaporating temperature = -20 C
Superheat =8K
Pressure drop in evaporator = 1 K
Pressure drop in suction line = 1 K
Pressure drop in discharge line =2K
Isentropic efficiency = 0.7
Heat loss from compressor = 15 % of power consumption
Condensing temperature = 35 C
Subcooling =2K
Pressure drop in condenser = 0.1 bar
Pressure drop in liquid line = 0.01 bar
3 Calculate the necessary displacement rate of the compressor if the
refrigerating capacity is 100 kW (assume a volumetric efficiency of
0.85)
4 Copy the calculated results to a word processor (e.g. WordPad).
5 Delete the numbers on the isochores in the two-phase region
6 Add numbers to the state points in the refrigeration cycle
7 Copy the Log(p),h-diagram to a Word processor
8 Copy the refrigeration cycle to a Log(p),h-diagram for R22
9 Save the diagrams as plots
10 Save the diagrams as image

C) Mollier-diagrams (moist air)

1 Draw a Mollier diagram (I,x-diagram) for moist air at a pressure of 2
bar
2 Note the coordinates (I, x) for the following two state points (T,) =
(25 C, 70 %) and (T,) = (5 C, 100 %)
3 Draw a line between the two state points
4 Print the diagram

D) Refrigerant calculator
1 Find the specific volume, specific enthalpy, and specific entropy of
R407C on the dew-point curve at a temperature of –10 C.
2 If the specific entropy is 1900 J/(kgK) and the pressure is 4 bar and
the refrigerant is R134a what is the specific enthalpy? (See the online
help for solution method).

Hints and help

Use the on-line help
Read the document shown under Help – Version info.
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Exercise 6: Suggested solution

Use the main Refrigeration Utilities program. You can find it in the
program group “Refrigeration Utilities”.
It is represented by the following icon.

A) Program preferences
Choose File – Preferences and type in the information about name,
company, etc. Remember to select which parts of the this information
that should be included on the diagrams.

B) Log(p),h-diagram
1 Choose File – New –Log(p),h-diagram or click on the button. Choose
R290 (propane) and click on the OK-button.
2 Choose Options – Input cycle or click on the button and type in the
cycle specifications. Click on the Draw Cycle button.
3 Choose Options – Show cycle info, type in 100 for the refrigeration
capacity QE [kW] and a volumetric efficiency of 0.85. The compressor
displacement rate necessary is calculated.
4 Click on the Copy button and choose OK to include the coordinates of
the state points. Click on OK to close this dialog. Start your word
processor and choose paste (set the font to Courier New).
5 Go back to the Refrigeration Utilities program. The isochores (and all
other iso-lines) can be formatted in two different ways:
- Choose one curve of the curve types you want to format by
holding the Ctrl-key down and clicking on this curve. Choose the
menu Format – Selected curve type to format all curves of the
same type as the selected. If you choose the menu Format –
Curve only the selected curve will be formatted.
- Choose the menu Format – Two-phase area – Isochores
6 Choose Draw – Text and click on the diagram where you want the text
to be placed. Repeat for all the other state point. The text can be
moved by:
- Selecting the text by holding the Shift-key down and clicking on
the text
- Hold the Ctrl-key and the Shift-key down and drag the text with
the mouse
7 Choose Edit – Copy to clipboard, go to the word processor and choose
paste
8 Choose Options – Edit Cycle, click on the refrigeration cycle and click
on the OK-button. Click on the Copy Cycle button and close the dialog
by clicking on the Cancel button. Draw the new Log(p),h-diagram for
R22, click on the button and choose Paste Cycle. The data for the
refrigeration cycle has now been copied to the new Log(p),h-diagram.
Click on Draw Cycle to view the cycle.
9 Choose the menu File – Save plot
10 Choose the menu File – Save Image

C) Moist air diagram

1 Choose File – New – I,x-diagram or click on the button. Type in 2 for
the Total pressure and click on OK.
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2 Locate the two state point by pointing with the mouse and read the
coordinates in the lower right corner. When a point has be located
click on it – this will save the coordinates in a log-file. The coordinates
of the “clicked” points can be read/copied by choosing Options – Show
log. This feature is also available in the other types of diagrams.
3 There are two ways of doing this:
- Choose the menu Edit – Draw polyline, click on the two points
and right-click to terminate the command.
- Choose Options - - Input curve data and type in the data for T and
.
4 Print the diagram by clicking on the button.

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Exercise 7: One-stage cycle with dry expansion

evaporator
A new cold storage room is to be constructed. You have estimated the
cooling demand to be approx. 15 kW. The dimensioning evaporation
temperature is -6.0 C and the superheat is controlled to be 5.0 K. The
dimensioning condensing temperature is 35.0 C and the subcooling is
believed to be 2.0 K. At this stage pressure losses in pipes are
disregarded and there is no suction gas heat exchanger. From experience
you know that the isentropic efficiency of your compressor is approx. 0.7.
The heat loss from the compressor can be estimated to be equal to 10 %
of its power consumption.

1. Which of the following three refrigerants (R134a, R404A, R717)

should be chosen if the criterion is maximum COP?

Now you consider using a suction gas heat exchanger. Using catalog data
you can estimate the thermal efficiency of the suction gas heat exchanger
to be app. 0.3.

2. Which of the three refrigerants will now give the highest COP?

You choose to continue your investigations using R134a and keeping the
suction gas heat exchanger.

3. How high will COP become if TC (the condensing temperature) is

lowered by 5.0 K?

So far the heat ingress in the suction line has been disregarded - but
reasonable assumption is that a 5 K heat up in the suction line occurs
(use TC = 35.0 C).

4. What will COP become in this case?

Now you insulate the suction line so the heat ingress in this pipe can be
disregarded.

5. What will COP become, when there are pressure losses in the suction
line and the discharge line corresponding to 1.0 K in both lines?

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Exercise 7: Suggested solution

Use the CoolTool with the title “One stage system - Dry expansion
evaporators”. You find it in the program group “CoolTools: Cycle

analysis”. It is represented by the following icon.

Enter the relevant values in the cycle-specification subdiagram window.

Since no suction gas heat exchanger is used you must omit this
component for the model. You can do this by specifying a thermal
efficiency of 0 (zero) or by selecting “No SGHX”.

1. Perform the calculations selecting one of the three refrigerants – note

the COP calculated. Repeat this for the other two refrigerants. R717
will have the highest COP of 3.831.
2. Type in a thermal efficiency of 0.3 for the suction gas heat exchanger.
Now R134a will have the highest COP of 3.794.
3. Type in a condensing temperature of 30.0 C. COP then becomes
4.444.
4. Type in the non-useful superheat specified. COP will drop to 3.703.
5. Type in the pressure losses and adjust the non-useful superheat back
to 0.0 K. COP then become 3.596.

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Exercise 8: One-stage cycle with flooded evaporator

A friend has given you an old ammonia compressor as a birthday present.
On the birthday card is says that the isentropic efficiency has been
determined to be 0.55. It further says that at an evaporating temperature
(TE) of –5.0°C, a condensing temperature (TC) of 35.0°C, and a subcooling
of 2.0 K, the compressor will have a volume flow 100.0 m3/h in the suction
inlet. The superheat in this situation was probably 5.0 K.

You would like to use this compressor in a one-stage system with a

flooded evaporator.

1. What can you expect in terms of COP and refrigerating capacity from
this system? Assume no pressure drops in the suction and discharge
lines. Assume further that the heat loss from this compressor is 10.0%
of the power consumption.
2. If the circulation number for the refrigerant in the evaporator is 1.1
what will the mass flow in the evaporator?

When thanking your friend for the birthday present he mentions that the
heat loss from the compressor is probably a bit optimistic. Instead of
using the 10 % heat loss stated on the card, you should use a value for
the discharge gas temperature of 120 °C.

3. What is the heat loss of the compressor in terms of % of the power

consumption and in kW if the temperature of the discharge gas is 120
C?

The results don’t seem right so you contact your friend again to discuss
your results. He admits that the isentropic efficiency stated on the card is
wrong, but he is very sure that the power consumption was 22.0 kW at
the conditions mentioned on the card.

4. What is the isentropic efficiency if the power consumption is 22.0 kW?

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Exercise 8: Suggested solution

Use the Tool ”One stage cycle – Liquid overfeed evaporators”. You find it
in the program group “CoolTools: Cycle analysis”.

It is represented by the following icon

Type in the values stated in the subdiagram window ”Cycle

Specifications”.
1. COP becomes 3.075 and the refrigerating capacity becomes 86.2 kW.
2. Enter the circulation number instead of the evaporator outlet quality
and calculate. The circulating mass flow of refrigerant becomes 0.074
kg/s.
3. Enter the temperature of the discharge gas instead of the heat loss
factor fQ. The heat loss becomes 28.9 % or 8.11 kW.
4. Enter the power consumption instead of the isentropic efficiency. The
new isentropic efficiency becomes 0.7. This change also makes the
heat loss of the compressor more realistic.

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Exercise 9: Designing a one-stage refrigeration system

A company wants to construct a frost room for short time storing of ice
cream. They would like you to make some preliminary calculations of the
power consumption of such a refrigeration plant – they need these
specifications so that the electrical system in this part of the factory can
be designed accordingly.

1) To answer the question, you have to perform a simple power

consumption calculation for a relevant type of refrigeration system.

Your answer to this question was so excellent (and also given so fast) that
the company wants you to design and, eventually, construct this
refrigeration system.
2) Use your own criteria (temperature differences, etc.) for
dimensioning the main components (compressor, evaporator,
condenser and pipes). The efficiency of the compressor should be
set to market average.
3) Use the copies of catalogues (appendix) to select the main
components.
4) Calculate the operating conditions for the system with the selected
components. Remember to check for any program messages about
the operating conditions calculated!!! Are the pressure drops in the
pipes acceptable – how much will the power consumption change if
the discharge line is made larger (one “dimension” larger)?

Your proposal for system design is satisfactory for the company. However,
they would like to know how much larger the power consumption would
be if a smaller (and also less expensive) evaporator was selected.
5) How much larger will the power consumption be and how much
lower will the COP be if smaller evaporators are selected (use the
data for an evaporator one “dimension” less than the one you have
selected). Is it still possible to maintain the requested room
temperature?
6) What will happen if one of the compressors wreck – what will the
room temperature then become?

You have the following information about the room, its dimensions and
the design conditions:
Room temperature must be maintained at –27 C, and the refrigerating
capacity must me dimensioned from a temperature of 23 C in the
surroundings of the room. The transmission coefficient of the room (its
kA-value determining the heat transfer through walls, ceiling and floor) is
130 W/K. The internal heat load is 1.0 kW. The system must be designed
with a DX-evaporator and an air-cooled condenser. The dimensioning
ambient condition (for the condenser) is 28 C. A high degree of safety is
required, so at least two equally sized compressors must be used. The
refrigerant is R404A.

In the appendix you will find the following documents:

Compressor catalogue (Bitzer), 3 pages
Evaporator catalogue (LU-VE), 2 pages
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Condenser catalogue (Friga-Bohn), 1 page

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Exercise 9: Suggested solution

1) The system is too small to be a designed as a two-stage system –
therefore a one-stage system is selected.

Use the CoolTool with the title “One stage system with DX evaporators”.
You find it in the program group “CoolTools: Design”. It is represented by

the following icon

When R404A is selected as refrigerant, it is usually an advantage to use a

suction gas heat exchanger (SGHX).

The demand for cooling can be calculated as 7.5 kW (50 K  130 W/K +
1.0 kW = 7.5 kW), the evaporating temperature can be set to –35 C (TD
= 8 K), condensing temperature can be set to 38 C (TD = 10 K), useful
superheat can be set to 7 K, subcooling out of condenser can be set to
2 K, thermal efficiency of the suction gas heat exchanger can be set to
0.3, pSL = 0.5 K, pDL = 0.5 K, TSH,UNUSEFUL = 3 K

Results:
Power consumption: App. 5.7 kW COP = 1.319

2) In the main diagram window of the CoolTool you have just used you
will find a button with the title “Dimension Tool”. Click this button and a
tool for dimensioning one-stage systems will be loaded.

Use the cooling demand calculated previously and use ”reasonable”

temperature differences for evaporator (TD = 8 K) and condenser (TD =
10 K). The load on the evaporator can be assumed to be 100 % sensible
(SHR = 100 %) – but remember that in most catalogues data are stated
for SHR = 80 %. When converting the capacities required to catalogue
conditions, SHR should be set to 80 %. The air drawn through the
condenser has an inlet temperature of 28 C.

Results:
Compressors: QE = 10.08 kW when converted to –30 C/+40 C/
+25 C
Corresponding to VS = 40.66 m3/h
Two compressors selected - 5.04 kW capacity pr.
compressor
Evaporators: QE = 18.39 kW at TDM (or LMTD) = 10 K and
SHR = 80 %
Two evaporators selected - 9.19 kW capacity pr.
evaporator)
Condenser: QC = 17.30 kW at TDM (or LMTD) = 10 K or
QC = 18.71 kW at TD = 15 K
Pipes: Discharge line (Ø 11.6 mm, copper)
Liquid lines #1 and #2 (Ø 13.7 mm, copper)
Suction line (Ø 34.0 mm, copper)

3) From catalogues the following components are selected:

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Compressors: Bitzer 2Q-4.2Y (two compressors)

At –30/40/25: QE = 5.030 kW, W = 3.24 kW
At –10/30/25: QE = 14.800 kW, W = 4.38 kW

Evaporators: LU-VE HC 93-5 (two evaporators)

At TDM = 10 K: QE = 9.250 kW, VAIR = 3900 m3/h
Alternatively two LU-VE HC 69-5 can be selected
At TDM = 10 K: QE = 6.900 kW, VAIR = 4200 m3/h

Condenser: Friga-Bohn WA 21 8P (one)

At TD = 15 K: QC = 19.350 kW, VAIR = 6992
m3/h

Pipes: Discharge line: 1/2” Copper (Ø12.70 mm)

Liquid line #1: 1/2” Copper (Ø12.70 mm)
Liquid line #2: 1/2” Copper (Ø12.70 mm)
Suction line: 1 3/8” Copper (Ø34.93 mm)

4) In the main diagram window of the CoolTool you have just used you
will find a button with the title “System Tool”. Click this button and a tool
for calculating the operating conditions in a one-stage systems will be
loaded. Before data for components can be entered, a few simple
calculations must be performed.

The compressor efficiencies must be calculated using a compressor Tool.

You will find this in the group CoolTools: Auxiliary. It is represented by
the following icon . In the system tool an internal model for the
compressor can be used to calculate the characteristics when the
efficiencies are know for a single operating condition. Alternatively, fixed
values for the compressor efficiencies can be used. In this case, the
catalogue contains the right data (operating conditions) for the internal
model to be used.

Enter the following data in the compressor Tool:

TE = –10 C, TC = 30 C, T1 = 25 C, TSH,UNUSEFUL = 0 K, TSC = 0 K,
QE = 14.800 kW, W = 4.38 kW, VS = 22.14 m3/h

The results are:

Isentropic efficiency (IS) = 0.648
Volumetric efficiency (VOL) = 0.876

If fixed values for the efficiencies are to be used in the system Tool then
enter the following compressor data in the compressor Tool:
T0 = –35 C, TC = 40 C, T1 = 25 C, TSH,UNUSEFUL =0 K, TUK = 0 K,
Q0 = 3.740 kW, WK = 2.76 kW, VS = 22.14 m3/h

The results are:

Isentropic efficiency (IS) = 0.635
Volumetric efficiency (VOL) = 0.663

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For the evaporators (LU-VE HC 93-5) the UA-value must be calculated.

From the catalog it is known that:
QE = 9.250 kW at TDM = 10 K
Use the evaporator Tool to calculate the UA-value. You will find this in the

group CoolTools: Auxiliary. It is represented by the following icon.

Since catalog data are stated for SHR = 80 %, the UA-value based on the
sensible cooling can be calculated as UASENSIBEL = 0.740 kW/K.
For the alternative evaporators (LU-VE HC 69-5) it is know that
QE = 6.900 kW at TDM (or LMTD) = 10 K
Use the evaporator Tool to find UASENSIBEL = 0.552 kW/K
For the condenser the UA-value can be calculated using the condenser
Tool. You will find this in the group CoolTools: Auxiliary. It is represented

by the following icon .

From the catalogue it is know that:
QC = 19.350 kW at TD = 15 K
UA-value for the condenser. The result is UATDM = 1.886 kW/K

Type in these values for efficiencies and UA-values in the system Tool, but
note that:
- For the compressors, the internal model is selected using IS = 0.648
and VOL = 0.876. The compressor displacement rate is 22.14 m 3/h (from
catalogue).
- In Tool A.1.2 up to five evaporators can be active, but note that the
program assumes that each evaporator is placed in its own room. In this
example there are two evaporators in the same room, so it is necessary to
divide the room into two equally large sections (kA-room = 0.065 kW/K)
and internal heat load (Q INTERN = 0.5 kW). Values for TAMB = 23 C, VAIR =
3900 m3/h, TSH = 7 K can be entered and for the p’s 0.5 K is used.
For the condenser the UA-value of 1.886 kW/K is used, the subcooling is
set to 2 K, pressure drop to 0.5 K, volume flow of air is 6992 m 3/h, and
inlet temperature is 28 C.

The pipes have already been specified in the previous answer:

Discharge line: 1/2” Copper (Ø12.70 mm)
Liquid line # 1: 1/2” Copper (Ø12.70 mm)
Liquid line # 2: 1/2” Copper (Ø12.70 mm)
Suction line: 1 3/8” Copper (Ø34.93 mm)

Remember that the number of active compressors and evaporators must

be set to two (in the main window) before calculations are stated.

Main results:
QE = 7.4 kW at TE = -32.4 C
QC = 12.1 kW at TC = 37.5 C
W = 5.5 kW COP = 1.534

When the subdiagram window for the evaporators is opened, it is seen

that the chosen value for superheat is too large. It can simply not be
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obtained with the UA-value and air flow used (the difference between
evaporating temperature and room temperature is only 6.2 K, and this is
not enough for superheating the refrigerant the 7 K specified). In reality,
the expansion valve will adjust automatically so that the 7 K superheat
can be achieved, and this is done by lowering the evaporation
temperature and use a larger part of the surface for superheating. This
will have the consequence that the UA-values calculated are too large. If
you experience this situation, then try to reduce the UA-value by app.
10%. This will achieve a larger difference between evaporation
temperature and room temperature and make it possible to obtain the
superheat specified.

If the discharge line is increased (to 5/8” copper, Ø 15.88 mm) then the
power consumption will only change slightly (even though the condensing
temperature drops from 37.5 to 37.4 C. COP will increase form 1.534 to
1.551. Pressure drop in discharge line drops from 1.43 K to 0.47 K.

5) If the (LU-VE HC 69-5) evaporators are used it has been found that
UATDM = 0.690 kW/K. Use 0.69 kW/K for UA-value and 4200 m3/h for air
flow, and find that the refrigerating capacity drops to 7.3 kW and the
room temperature rises to –25.1 C. This indicates that the compressors
are then too small…

6) The operating conditions with only one active compressor can be found
by setting the number of active compressors to one. The consequences
are that the refrigerating capacity drops to 6.5 kW and the room
temperatures rise to –18.9 C.

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Exercise 10: Energy analysis of a system with on/off-type

capacity control
The following information about the system is available to you:

The displacement of the compressor is either 80.0 m3/h or 35.0 m3/h. The
plant owner can't exactly remember which one of these displacements
that is true since the compressor was replaced a few years ago, while he
was on holiday. But he is quite certain that the cooling capacity is approx.
10 kW.

The refrigerant is R134a (it says so on the label of the receiver), the
compressor inlet temperature is approx. 10.0 C. From measurements
(feeling with your hand on the evaporator surface) you estimate the
evaporation temperature to be –15.0 C. The system is used to refrigerate
a cold storage room and maintain a room temperature of app. 5 C. The
superheat is estimated (from experience) to be 8.0 K.
The ambient temperature is 20.0 C, and you know that the air-cooled
condenser is dimensioned properly with a low power consumption in
mind. You measure the power consumption of the compressor to be 3.0
kW.

1. Find out whether the compressor displacement is most likely 80.0 m 3/h
or 35.0 m3/h?
2. Would you consider the compressor to be efficient?
3. Calculate the yearly savings in kWh when the following energy saving
ideas are implemented:
a) The UA-Value for the evaporator is increased by 10 %
b) The cooling demand is reduced by 25 %
c) Both action a) and b)

Assume the number of operation hours pr. year to be 4000 h.

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Exercise 10: Suggested solution

Use the CoolTool with the title “Analysis of operation and energy saving
options – constant compressor capacity, no suction gas heat exchanger”.
You find it in the program group “CoolTools: Evaluation”. It is

represented by the following icon.

Enter the relevant values in the cycle-specification subdiagram window.

The condensing temperature can be estimated to be 30 C and the heat
loss from the compressor to be 10 %.

1. When choosing a displacement of 80 m 3/h you obtain a volumetric

efficiency of 0.39. This must be considered to be extremely low and
therefore unrealistic. When choosing 35 m3/h as displacement you
obtain a volumetric efficiency of 0.88, which seems much more
realistic.

2. The calculated compressor isentropic efficiency is 0.76, which is

rather high - so the compressor can be considered to be efficient.

3. Energy savings are investigated in the subdiagram window "Changes".

When increasing the UA-value of the evaporator by 10 % and typing in
the number of annual operation hours (4000 h), it appears that you
could save app. 691 kWh/year. A reduction of the cooling demand by
25 % gives an annual saving of app. 4978 kWh, while both actions lead
to a total saving of approx. 5319 kWh.

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Exercise 11: Liquid flow in pipes (pressure drop and heat

transfer)
A pipe with R404A as pure liquid is to be led through a room with the
temperature 35 C. The relative humidity of the air in the room is 80 %.
The pressure of the refrigerant corresponds to a saturation temperature
of 25 C and the liquid is subcooled 1 K. The mass flow rate is 0.35 kg/s
and the length of the pipe is 15 m.

1. Find an acceptable pipe diameter and insulation thickness, making it

possible to have a subcooling of 0.8 K in the pipe exit.

The liquid passes through a suction gas heat exchanger and is cooled to
15 C. Thereafter the refrigerant pipe is led through the same room for a
distance of 10 m.

2. Is the pipe still well enough insulated? Does water vapor condense on
its surface?

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Exercise 11: Suggested solution

Use the CoolTool with the title “Pressure drop and heat transfer for liquid
flow in pipes”. You find it in the program group “CoolTools: Auxiliary”.

It is represented by the following icon

Enter the relevant values in the cycle-specification subdiagram window.

1. Try different pipe diameters until you obtain a suitable velocity of the
refrigerant and thereby reasonable pressures drop. A copper pipe with
the diameter of 1 1/8” is adequate. Then try adjusting the insulation
thickness in order to maintain a suitable subcooling. 10 mm of
Armaflex will ensure a subcooling of 0.83 K in the outlet.

2. Enter the new values. The surface temperature of the pipe drops
below the dewpoint temperature of the air - water vapor will condense
on the insulation surface. An insulation thickness of 20 mm will
increase the surface temperature sufficiently (above the dewpoint
temperature) to avoid the condensing of water vapor.

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Exercise 12: Transient cooling of goods in a refrigerated

room
You have been given the task of dimensioning a small cold storage room
for 100 boxes of beer. The beer should be cooled from a temperature of
25 C to 5 C in no less than 8 hours. The owner of the plant is an
environmentalist and demands that R717 (ammonia) is used as
refrigerant.

The following parameters have to be determined:

 The displacement of the compressor (m3/h)
 The UA-value of the evaporator
 The UA-value of the condenser
 The UA-value of the room (heat transfer through building
element from the surroundings)

You can assume that it is the capacity of the beers that govern the
dynamics of the room temperature.

The UA-values of the heat exchangers has to be dimensioned so that the

corresponding temperature differences are approx. 10 K.

What will the total compressor energy consumption (in kWh) be for
cooling down the 100 boxes of beer, and what will the average COP be?

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Exercise 12: Suggested solution

Use the program for calculation of transient cooling of a room or an
object. You will find it in the program group “Dynamic”. It is represented

by the following icon

As an introduction try to get familiar with variables specified in the tabs:

Initial, Control, Load, Evaporator, Compressor and Condenser

Select NH3 from the list of refrigerants with is accessible once the
"Initial" tab is activated. Type in an initial temperature of 25 C in this tab
also.

The mass and the heat capacity of the object to be cooled can be
specified in the tab "Load". The mass of 100 boxes of beer corresponds to
approx. 1100 kg of water having a cp of 4.2 kJ/(kgK).

As it is possible to operate with different surrounding temperatures for

the condenser and the load (room), these have to be specified
individually. Both should be 25 C and constant. The latter is achieved by
setting the amplitude to 0 (zero) for the 24-hours sine wave shaped
reference curve.

In the tab called “Control” choose the maximum temperature to be 6 C

and the minimum temperature to be 4 C.

The superheat can be assumed to be 5.0 K, while the subcooling could be

2.0 K.

Click "Start" to activate the simulation. Select which variables to show in

the plot window. Try varying the displacement of the compressor and the
respective UA-values such that TLOAD has reached 5 C after approx. 8
hours.

The following values of the parameters lead to a reasonable cooling time:

 Load UA-value = 75 W/K (Heat transmission to room from the
surroundings)
 Evaporator UA-value = 400 W/K
 Condenser UA-value = 500 W/K
 Compressor displacement of 4.5 m 3/h (isentropic and volumetric
efficiencies, and heat loss are kept as the default values)

It can be very instructive to recognize that a larger evaporator leads to a

smaller compressor and vice versa.

In the tab called "Output" integrated values for energy consumption and
COP are available. Before you note these make sure that the end time of
your simulation is approx. 8 hours ("initial" tab). In this case the energy
consumption of the compressor will be approx. 6.8 kWh and the average
COP will be approx. 5.1.
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6 CONCEPTS, SHORTCUTS, AND OTHER HINTS

Concepts
In some contexts two different COP's are defined: COP and COP*.
In both cases the actual power consumption of the compressor is used.
The difference arises from the definition of the "useful cooling". For COP
it is the cooling-effect transferred in the evaporator which is used,
whereas for COP* a cooling-effect based on the change of enthalpy from
the compressor inlet to the condenser outlet is used. In the latter case a
heat up in the suction line will increase the calculated COP. COP* can be
interpreted as a calculation seen from the compressors point of view, as it
can't distinguish between a heat input in the evaporator and a heat input
in the suction line.

Screen
A resolution of 800 x 600 pixels or better is recommended. All
EESCoolTools are designed for a screen resolution of 800 x 600.

EESCoolTools
The main diagram window is activated by pressing Ctrl+D. This is also
used when returning from a subdiagram window.

All inputs are indicated by boxes: 

Pressing F2 activates calculations. Before this is done all output variables
will be grayed out or won’t have any values. This is represented by
asterisks (****) or (????).

The numerical solver seeks to reduce the maximum residual below a

certain limit (default 10-6).
If you already have obtained a solution with one set of input values, it
might be advantageous to update the values of start guesses before you
change some of the input values. Pressing "Ctrl+G" does this.

When printing diagram windows there is a possibility to select the

individual diagrams. This is done in the following way. In the print menu
you first deselect the diagrams and the select them again (). Then a
menu pops up, where you can choose the specific diagrams you want to
print.

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7 OVERVIEW OF PROGRAMS IN COOLPACK

7.1 Programs in Refrigeration Utilities

Description Icon
Refrigeration Utilities can be used for calculation of
refrigerant properties and creation of high quality
property plots
Heat transfer fluids is a small handy program used for
calculating thermodynamic and thermophysical (transport)
properties of heat transmission-fluids (secondary fluids).
Refrigerant calculator is a small handy program used for
calculating thermodynamic and thermophysical properties
of refrigerants.

7.2 Programs in EESCoolTools: Cycle analysis (C-Tools)

Description Icon
One-Stage Cycle analysis: Dry expansion evaporator

One-Stage Cycle analysis: Flooded evaporator

One-Stage Cycle analysis: Two systems with common

condenser
One-Stage Cycle analysis: Two systems, cooling of liquid in
low temperature system
Two-Stage Cycle analysis: Cooling of suction gas by liquid
injection
Two-Stage Cycle analysis: Open intercooler, flooded
evaporators
Two-Stage Cycle analysis: Closed intercooler, flooded
evaporators
One-Stage Cycle analysis: Transcritical cycle with CO2

Two-Stage Cycle analysis: Transcritical cycle with CO2

Two-Stage Cycle analysis: Cascade system

7.3 Programs in EESCoolTools: Design

Description Icon

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Design package for One-Stage systems with DX-

evaporators, containing:
 One-Stage Cycle analysis
 System dimensioning: Calculation of component sizes
 System energy analysis: Calculation of operating
conditions
 System energy analysis: Calculation of operating
conditions – multiple parallel coupled compressors and
evaporators

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7.4 Programs in EESCoolTools: Evaluation (E-Tools)

Description Icon
Energy analysis of a one-stage system with DX-
evaporators.
- Constant compressor capacity
Energy analysis of a one-stage system with DX-
evaporators.
- Stepwise variable compressor capacity

7.5 Programs in EESCoolTools: Auxiliary Tools (A-Tools)

Description Icon
Compressor

UA-value for an evaporator

UA-value for a condenser

Cooling and dehumidification of moist air

Pressure drop and heat transfer in gas pipes

Pressure drop and heat transfer in liquid pipes

Thermodynamic and thermophysical properties of a

refrigerant
Comparison of three refrigerants using a one-stage cycle

Calculation of cooling demand for a refrigerated room

Calculation of cooling demand for liquid coolers

Calculation of cooling demand for refrigerated display

cabinets
Calculation of cooling demand for an air-conditioned room

Calculation of properties for humid air

Calculation of Life Cycle

(New Tool in version 1.45)

7.6 Programs in Dynamic

Description Icon
General model for the cooling of a room with goods
(ON/OFF-control of compressor)
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