Gas Cycle Refrigeration

At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:

➢ Describe various air cycle refrigeration systems

➢ State the assumptions made in the analyses of air cycle systems

➢ Show the cycles on T-s diagrams

➢ Perform various cycle calculations

➢ State the significance of Dry Air Rated Temperature

 Introduction

Air cycle refrigeration systems belong to the general class of gas cycle

refrigeration systems, in which a gas is used as the working fluid. The gas

does not undergo any phase change during the cycle, consequently, all the

internal heat transfer processes are sensible heat transfer processes. Gas cycle

refrigeration systems find applications in air craft cabin cooling and also in

the liquefaction of various gases.

 Air Standard Cycle Analysis

Air cycle refrigeration system analysis is considerably simplified if one makes the following assumptions:
i. The working fluid is a fixed mass of air that behaves as an ideal gas
ii. The cycle is assumed to be a closed loop cycle with all inlet and exhaust processes of open loop cycles
being replaced by heat transfer processes to or from the environment
iii. All the processes within the cycle are reversible, i.e., the cycle is internally reversible
iv. The specific heat of air remains constant throughout the cycle

An analysis with the above assumptions is called as cold Air Standard Cycle (ASC) analysis. This analysis
yields reasonably accurate results for most of the cycles and processes encountered in air cycle refrigeration
systems. However, the analysis fails when one considers a cycle consisting of a throttling process, as the
temperature drop during throttling is zero for an ideal gas, whereas, the actual cycles depend exclusively on
the real gas behavior to produce refrigeration during throttling
 Basic concepts

The temperature of an ideal gas can be reduced either by making the gas to do work in an isentropic

process or by sensible heat exchange with a cooler environment. When the gas does adiabatic work in

a closed system by say, expanding against a piston, its internal energy drops. Since the internal

energy of the ideal gas depends only on its temperature, the temperature of the gas also drops during

the process, i.e.,

where m is the mass of the gas, u1 and u2 are the initial and final internal energies of the gas, T1 and T2

are the initial and final temperatures and cv is the specific heat at constant volume.
If the expansion is reversible and adiabatic, by using the ideal gas equation
Pv = RT and the equation for isentropic process P1v1 γ = P2v2 γ the final
temperature (T2) is related to the initial temperature (T1) and initial and final
pressures (P1 and P2) by the equation:

where γ is the coefficient of isentropic expansion given by:

Isentropic expansion of the gas can also be carried out in a steady flow in a
turbine which gives a net work output. Neglecting potential and kinetic energy
changes, the work output of the turbine is given by:
Ramming action in aircrafts
Compressor intake section
Compressor intake section
 Advantages of air refrigeration system in aircrafts
The main considerations involved in an aircraft application in order of importance are weight, space and
operating power. Though the power per ton of refrigeration is considerably more for air-cycle refrigeration than
for a vapour-compression system. The advantages of air cycle with regard to its application in aircraft
refrigeration are as follows:
➢ Small amounts of leakages are tolerable with air as the refrigerant.
➢ Air cycle in its simplest form as an open system requires only one heat exchanger.
➢ Availability of the refrigerant in mid air is also an important consideration.
➢ Cabin pressurization and air conditioning can be combined into one operation.
➢ Initial compression of the air is obtained by the ram effect, viz., conversion of the high kinetic energy of the
ambient air relative to the aircraft into enthalpy and hence pressure rise. The power for this, however, is
derived from the engine of the aircraft since the process in the ram causes a drag on the engine.
➢ Air is cheap, safe, non-toxic and non-flammable. Leakage of air is not a problem
➢ Cold air can directly be used for cooling thus eliminating the low temperature heat exchanger (open systems)
leading to lower weight.
➢ The aircraft engine already consists of a high speed turbo-compressor, hence separate compressor for cooling
system is not required. This reduces the weight per kW cooling considerably. Typically, less than 50% of an
equivalent vapour compression system.
➢ Design of the complete system is much simpler due to low pressures. Maintenance required is also less.
 Necessity of aircraft air-conditioning
➢ Energy release from occupants, human beings even at rest releases about 300 kJ/h per person.

➢ Large internal heat generation due to control devices and electrical equipment etc. Medium size aircraft requires 10
to 15 kW of energy for the control devices.

➢ Ramming action causes the increase in incoming air temperature. Aeroplane moving with a speed of 300 m/s in an
environment having Pa = 0.3 bar, Ta = -10°C, ramming action with 90% efficiency will give a temperature rise of
the order of 40°C.

➢ There is heat transfer to the cabin because of direct solar radiation through glass panes and through the aeroplane
body facing the sun.

➢ Heat generation due to dissipation of fast moving air relative to airplane (skin friction) caused by the fast moving
aircraft (about 300 m/s).

➢ Aircraft while cruising at an altitude At high altitudes of 8 to 12 km, the outside pressure will be sub-atmospheric.
When air at this low pressure is compressed and supplied to the cabin at pressures close to atmospheric, the
temperature increases significantly. For example, when outside air at a pressure of 0.2 bar and temperature of 223
K (at 10000 m altitude) is compressed to 1 bar, its temperature increases to about 353 K. If the cabin is maintained
at 0.8 bar, the temperature will be about 332 K. This effect is called as ram effect. This effect adds heat to the
cabin, which needs to be taken out by the cooling system.
 Types of aircraft air refrigeration systems

1. Simple air refrigeration system

2. Simple air refrigeration with evaporative cooling

3. Boot strap air refrigeration system

4. Boot strap air refrigeration with evaporative cooling system

5. Regenerative air refrigeration system

6. Reduced ambient air refrigeration system

 Simple aircraft refrigeration cycle with ram compression

Figure shows the schematic of an open system simple

aircraft refrigeration system and the operating cycle on
T-s diagram. As shown in the T-s diagram, the outside
low pressure and low temperature air (state 1) is
compressed due to ram effect to ram pressure (state 2).
During this process its temperature increases from 1 to
2. This air is compressed in the main compressor to
state 3, and is cooled to state 4 in the air cooler. Its
pressure is reduced to cabin pressure in the turbine
(state 5), as a result its temperature drops from 4 to 5.
The cold air at state 5 is supplied to the cabin. It picks
up heat as it flows through the cabin providing useful
cooling effect. The power output of the turbine is used
to drive the fan, which maintains the required air flow
over the air cooler. This simple system is good for
ground cooling (when the aircraft is not moving) as fan
can continue to maintain airflow over the air cooler.
Simple aircraft refrigeration cycle with ram compression

By applying steady flow energy equation to the ramming process, the temperature
rise at the end of the ram effect can be shown to be:

where M is the Mach number, which is the ratio of velocity of the aircraft (C) to
the sonic velocity a , i.e.,

Due to irreversibilities, the actual pressure at the end of ramming will be less than
the pressure resulting from isentropic compression. The ratio of actual pressure
rise to the isentropic pressure rise is called as ram efficiency, ηRam, i.e.,

The refrigeration capacity of the simple aircraft cycle discussed, is given by:
Simple aircraft refrigeration cycle with evaporative cooling
 Bootstrap air refrigeration system
Bootstrap system is a modification of the simple system. It
consists of two heat exchangers (air cooler and aftercooler), in
stead of one air cooler of the simple system. It also
incorporates a secondary compressor, which is driven by the
turbine of the cooling system. This system is suitable for high
speed aircraft, where in the velocity of the aircraft provides the
necessary airflow for the heat exchangers, as a result a
separate fan is not required. Ambient air state 1 is pressurized
to state 2 due to the ram effect. This air is further compressed
to state 3 in the main compressor. The air is then cooled to
state 4 in the air cooler. The heat rejected in the air cooler is
absorbed by the ram air at state 2. The air from the air cooler
is further compressed from state 4 to state 5 in the secondary
compressor. It is then cooled to state 6 in the after cooler,
expanded to cabin pressure in the cooling turbine and is
supplied to the cabin at a low temperature T7. Since, the
system does not consist of a separate fan for driving the air
through the heat exchangers, it is not suitable for ground
cooling. However, in general ground cooling is normally done
by an external air conditioning system as it is not efficient to
run the aircraft engine just to provide cooling when it is
grounded.
Bootstrap aircraft refrigeration cycle with evaporative cooling
 Regenerative air refrigeration system

➢ The regenerative system also has two heat

exchangers, but does not require ram air for
cooling the air in the second heat exchanger.
➢ It is a modification of the simple system with
the addition of a secondary heat exchanger in
which the air from the primary heat exchanger
is further cooled with a portion of the
refrigerated air bled after expansion in the
turbine.
➢ It provides lower turbine discharge
temperatures, but at the expense of some
weight and complications.
➢ It is used for ground cooling as well as high
speed aircrafts.
 Reduced ambient air refrigeration system
➢In the reduced ambient system there are two
expansion turbines-one in the cabin air stream
and the other in the cooling air streams.
➢Both turbines are connected to the shaft driving
the fan which absorbs all the power.
➢The turbine for the ram air operates from the
pressure ratio made available by the ram air
pressure.
➢The cooling turbine reduces the temperature of
cooling air to level of static temperature of
ambient air.
➢Thus, primary compressed air can be cooled to,
say T4 below the stagnation temperature T2 and
a little above the static temperature T1.
➢It is used in Supersonic aircraft and Rockets.
 Dry air rated temperature (DART)
The concept of Dry Air Rated Temperature is used to compare different aircraft refrigeration cycles. Dry Air
Rated Temperature is defined as the temperature of the air at the exit of the cooling turbine in the absence of
moisture condensation. For condensation not to occur during expansion in turbine, the dew point temperature
and hence, moisture content of the air should be very low, i.e., the air should be very dry. The aircraft
refrigeration systems are rated based on the mass flow rate of air at the design DART. The cooling capacity is
then given by:
Where m is the mass flow rate of air, TDART and Ti are the
dry air rated temperature and cabin temperature, respectively.
A comparison between different aircraft refrigeration systems
based on DART at different Mach numbers shows that:
➢ DART increases monotonically with Mach number for all
the systems except the reduced ambient system
➢ The simple system is adequate at low Mach numbers
➢ At high Mach numbers, i.e. above a speed of 1000 kmph,
either bootstrap system or regenerative system should be
used
➢ Reduced ambient temperature system is best suited for very
high Mach number, supersonic aircrafts and rockets.