A Refrigeration System

1.0.Introduction:

The term refrigeration means cooling a space, substance or system to

lower and/or maintain its temperature below the ambient one (while
the removed heat is rejected at a higher temperature).In other words,
refrigeration is artificial (human-made) cooling.Energy in the form of
heat is removed from a low-temperature reservoir and transferred to a
high-temperature reservoir. The work of energy transfer is traditionally
driven by mechanical means, but can also be driven by heat,
magnetism, electricity, laser, or other means. Refrigeration has many
applications, including household refrigerators, industrial freezers,
cryogenics, and air conditioning. Heat pumps may use the heat output
of the refrigeration process, and also may be designed to be reversible,
but are otherwise similar to air conditioning units.[1]

Fig.:A
Refrigerator outside(Source:goodhousekeeping)
2.0.Unit of Refrigeration and Coefficient of
Performance (COP) of refrigerator:
Unit of Refrigeration indicates the rate of removal heat. The unit of
refrigeration is expressed in terms of ton of refrigeration (TR). One ton
of refrigeration is defined as the amount of refrigeration effect (heat
transfer rate) produced during uniform melting of one ton (100kg) of
ice at 0°C to the water at the 0°C in 24 hours.

The coefficient of performance or COP (sometimes CP or CoP) of a

refrigeration system is a ratio of useful heating or cooling provided to
work required.Higher COPs equate to lower operating costs. The COP
usually exceeds 1, especially in heat pumps, because, instead of just
converting work to heat (which, if 100% efficient, would be a COP of 1),
it pumps additional heat from a heat source to where the heat is
required. For complete systems, COP calculations should include energy
consumption of all power consuming auxiliaries. COP is highly
dependent on operating conditions, especially absolute temperature
and relative temperature between sink and system, and is often
graphed or averaged against expected conditions.[3] Performance of
Absorption refrigerator chillers is typically much lower, as they are not
heat pumps relying on compression, but instead rely on chemical
reactions driven by heat
Equation:

The equation is:

COP=W/Q

where

1.Q is the useful heat supplied or removed by the considered system.

2.W is the work required by the considered system.

The COP for heating and cooling are thus different, because the heat
reservoir of interest is different. When one is interested in how well a
machine cools, the COP is the ratio of the heat removed from the cold
reservoir to input work. However, for heating, the COP is the ratio
which the heat removed from the cold reservoir plus the input work
bears to the input work:

where

1.Q(cooling) is the heat removed from the cold reservoir.

2.Q(Heating) is the heat supplied to the hot reservoir. [2]

3.0.Difference between a Heat Engine,Refrigerator and Heat
Pump:
All three devices work on the basis of heat flow.

3.1.In a heat engine, heat is transferred from a higher temperature

level called source to a lower temperature level called sink. Work is
obtained during this process.

3.2.A refrigerator is a reversed heat engine. Heat is transferred from

the lower temperature level to higher temperature by applying external
work to maintain the temperature below atmospheric temperature.

3.3.A heat pump is similar to a refrigerator. The only point of difference

between the two is of the operating temperatures. The working
temperatures in a refrigerator are of the colder level and atmosphere,
whereas working temperatures in heat pump are of hotter level and
atmosphere.[3]

4.0.Drawing of the model Diagram of a Refrigeration System:

Fig.:A Refrigeration
system Diagram(sourc:bartltttltd)
5.0.Working Principle of A refrigeration System:
A refrigerator is, basically, a heat engine in which work is
done on a refrigerant substance so it could collect energy
from a cold region; deliver it in a higher temperature
region and with that cooling the cold region even more.
Basic elements of a refrigerator are compressor which is
connected to the outer, hotter, pipe system (called
condenser coils) that is connected to the expansion valve
which is connected to the inner, colder, pipe system
(evaporator coils) which is connected back to
compressor. They all hold refrigerant substance and
evaporator coils are placed in a thermally isolated ”box”
whose role is to keep its inside cold.
Refrigerant “starts” as a gas (remember - it’s a cycle) at a
compressor which rises the pressure which heats the gas.
Compressed gas passes through the condenser coils
(outer ones), on the back of refrigerator, which are made
so the gas will lose the high temperature in them and
start turning into a liquid because it is under a high
pressure. Liquid refrigerant comes to an expansion valve.
Because it’s a cycle, between the valve and the
compressor is a low-pressure area - compressor is pulling
the liquid refrigerant out of expansion valve into the
evaporator coils. Because of the low pressure liquid
refrigerant starts boiling and evaporating. Refrigerant,
now a gas, goes through evaporator coils and because it
needs energy so it could evaporate it “drains” it from the
surrounding area and makes it colder. From evaporator
coils refrigerant gas goes into compressor and cycle
repeats.
Early mechanical refrigeration systems used sulfur
dioxide, methyl chloride and ammonia as refrigerants but
stopped using sulfur dioxide, methyl chloride because
they were toxic. Some other older machines used methyl
formate, chloromethane, or dichloromethane.
Chlorofluorocarbons were used since the 1950s but were
banned since the late 1970s because of the concerns
about depletion of the ozone layer. They were
substituted with perfluorocarbons and
hydrofluorocarbons but they also came under criticism.
They are now mostly replaced with fluorinated
greenhouse gases.[4]
6.0.Properties of A Refrigerant:
6.1.Low boiling Point
6.2.High Critical Temperature
6.3.High latent heat of vaporisation
6.4.Low specific heat of liquid
6.5.Low specific volume of vapour
6.6.Non-corrosive to metal
6.7.Non-flammable
6.8.Non-explosive
6.9.Non-toxic
6.2.0.Low cost
6.2.1.Easy to liquify at moderate pressure and
temperature
6.2.2.Easy to locating leaks by odour or suitable indicator
6.2.3.Mixes well with oil.[5]
7.0.Application of Refrigeration:
7.1.In chemical industries, for separating and liquefying
the gases.
7.2.In manufacturing and storing ice.
7.3.For the preservation of perishable food items in cold
storages.
7.4.For cooling water.
7.5.For controlling humidity of air manufacture and heat
treatment of steels.
7.6.For chilling the oil to remove wax in oil refineries.
7.7.For the preservation of tablets and medicines in
pharmaceutical industries.
7.8.For the preservation of blood tissues etc.,
7.9.For comfort air conditioning the hospitals, theatres,
etc.
8.0.Conclusion:
As the conclusion, i can say that,refrigerator consists with two
compartments one of frozen item and the others is requiring
refrigeration but not freezing. It can throw all the heat from the loads
inside the compartments and it make it cooled long lasting life.A
refrigeration System is use in various perposes like medical and food
industry.

Reference:
[1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigeration#cite_ref-1-
International Dictionary of Refrigeration,
http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.php

[2] https://www.nuclear-power.net/nuclear-
engineering/thermodynamics/thermodynamic-cycles/heating-and-air-
conditioning/coefficient-of-performance-cop-refrigerator-air-
conditioner/

https://www.grundfos.com/service-support/encyclopedia-search/cop-
coefficient-ofperformance.html

[3] http://engineering.myindialist.com/2009/difference-between-a-
heat-engine-refrigerator-and-heat-pump/

[4]https://www.danfoss.com/en/about-danfoss/our-
businesses/cooling/the-fridge-how-it-works/

[5]https://chemicalengineeringsite.in/desirable-properties-
refrigerants/amp/

Name:Titu Nath

Roll:1905087