Refrigeration – Definition, Applications

• Refrigeration is the process of cooling a space, substance, or system

to a lower temperature than the surrounding area

Domestic refrigeration

Commercial refrigeration

Industrial refrigeration

Transport refrigeration

Comfort air conditioning

Industrial air conditioning

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 3
 Review of Thermodynamics Concepts
• Thermodynamic cycles:
– Power cycles  Work producing :
– Refrigeration cycles Work consuming

• Refrigerator : Transfers heat from a region of low

temperature to one at a higher temperature
• This requires some net work input : Clausis
statement of second law of thermodynamics
• Working fluid used is called refrigerant
• COP = QL/Wnet, in
• Ideal refrigeration cycle is reversible, e.g. Carnot
• For given TL, TH, reversible cycle gives highest COP
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 4
 Other Definitions
• COPcarnot: The ratio of the area under the T-s diagram (= heat extracted
per unit mass, qL) to the enclosed area (= specific work, wnet, in)
• Relative COP: Ratio of actual COP to that of the theoretical (design)
refrigeration cycle
COPactual
COPrel 
COPtheoretica l

• Second law efficiency or Exergy efficiency or Refrigerating

efficiency: Ratio of actual COP to COP of corresponding reversible cycle
(same Tmax, Tmin)
COPactual
 ref 
COPreversible

• Refrigerating capacity: Heat extracted per unit time (Q L ). Unit is kW.
Old unit: ton = Cooling required to freeze 1 short ton (= 2000 lb) of water
to ice at 0 oC in 24 hours.
1 ton = 3.516 kW
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 5
 Comparisons of Cycles
ref

COPrel

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 6

 Refrigeration Cycles –
Based on Nature of Working Fluid
Gas refrigeration cycle
• refrigerant is gas throughout

Vapour compression cycle

• vapour in some portion of cycle, liquid in remaining portion
• compressed as vapour
• most commonly used
Vapour absorption cycle
• refrigerant absorbed in liquid
• liquid is compressed  saves work
Vapour adsorption cycle
• refrigerant adsorbed in a solid (surface/porous)
• pressure raised/lowered by heating/cooling – no compressor or pump
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 7
 Reverse Carnot Cycle – Ideal Gas
• Obtained by reversing Carnot heat engine
• 2 reversible isothermal and 2 reversible adiabatic processes
• QL is absorbed (from source, i.e. refrigerated space) at low temperature
• QH is rejected (to sink, i.e. surroundings) at high temperature
• Wnet is net work input = area of p-V diagram  anticlockwise direction
 Isothermal heating/cooling of gases difficult to achieve

Tsurr

Trefg

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 8

 Carnot Refrigeration Cycle with Phase Change
• Isothermal processes achieved in practice by phase
change
• Evaporation : Isothermal heat absorption,
Condensation : isothermal heat rejection
 Compressors cannot handle 2 phases (liquid erodes
metal, removes lubricant film from walls)
 Moisture content, cavitation in turbine cause erosion,
 Expansion (+) work from turbine is very less
 Difficult to stop vaporisation at ‘2’

QL TL
COP  
QH  QL TH  TL

COP improves as
TL  TH

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 9

 Ideal Vapour Compression Cycle
TH
• Jacob Perkins (1834), Alexander Twining (1850)
• Were initially driven by steam engines
• Overcomes shortcomings of Carnot cycle:
– Saturated vapour is compressed (1-2)
– Expansion is by throttling (3-4), no turbine
HP side
LP side

TL

It is reverse of Rankine cycle, except that

pump is replaced by throttling device

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 10

Vapour Compression Cycle – Processes
Process Description Final state Component
1–2 Isentropic compression Superheated vapour Compressor
2–3 Isobaric heat rejection Saturated liquid Condenser
3–4 Isenthalpic expansion Liquid + vapour Expansion valve /
equilibrium capillary tube
4–1 Isobaric heat absorption Saturated vapour Evaporator

Superheat
horn

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 11

Comparison with Carnot Refrigeration Cycle
• For the same evaporator and condenser pressures
• An increase in compressor work in the superheat horn (green)
• A reduction in positive work output due to replacement of turbine with
expansion valve (blue)
• A reduction in refrigerating effect due to throttling (blue)

Lower COP , but more practical!

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 12
 Question !!
You are designing a refrigerator for use at NITC
using a new eco-friendly refrigerant. What
factors determine the evaporator and condenser
pressures?

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 13

 p-h diagram
• Easy to represent the 2 isobaric and 1 isenthalpic processes
• h – axis is linear scale, p – axis is logarithmic scale
• Same vertical distances represent equal pressure ratios
• Dh for each process or component gives the work/heat exchange
(neglecting KE, PE changes)
• SFEE for any component (x), per unit mass basis :
Dhx = qin, x + win, x
• e.g. refrigerating effect, qL = Dhevap = h1 – h4
• specific work input, wnet, in = Dhcomp = h2 – h1

qL h h
• Thus, COP   1 4
wnet ,in h2  h1
 L  m ref h1  h4 
• Refrigerating capacity, Q

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 14

 Effect of Suction Vapour Superheat
• Suction vapour – vapour passing from evaporator to compressor
• In practice, it is difficult to stop the heat absorption in evaporator exactly
at the saturated vapour condition. Some sensible heat gets added.
 Ensures dry compression : no liquid in compressor, lube oil film stays intact
 Greater refrigerating effect (h1’ – h4)
 Increases specific work input (since
w = v.dp and v1’ > v1)
 Compressor exit temperature is
higher – bigger superheat horn,
more deviation from Carnot

• Superheating improves COP of

some refrigerants, reduces it for
others

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 15

 Effect of Liquid Sub-cooling
• Cooling the liquid refrigerant (after condensation) to below its saturation temp
• i.e. from 3 – 3’ . Achieved using :
a) bigger capacity condenser (more QH),
b) a separate sub-cooler after the condenser: cooling is by low temp air/water, or
c) regeneration: cooled by vapour exiting evaporator, which in turn is superheated

 Greater refrigerating effect (h1 – h4’)

 Expansion device handles more liquid,

less vapour. Can be made compact

 Cost, design complexity may not justify

the benefit

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 16

 Real and Ideal Cycles
• Exit of evaporator (pt 8): superheated vapour
• 8 – 1 : Pressure drop, heat gain in suction line (long) T
• How does this affect compressor work?
• Actual compression is not isentropic : has friction,
heat transfer  polytropic
• 1 – 2 : friction dominates heat loss (Ds > 0)
• 1 – 2’ : heat loss dominates friction (Ds < 0)
• Reduction in entropy is beneficial! s

• 2 – 3 : pressure drop, heat loss in delivery line

• 3 – 4 : pressure drop in condenser
• 4 – 5 : subcooling (is beneficial)
• 6 – 7 : minor pressure drop
• How would the actual p-h diagram look like?

Deviation due to friciton (pressure drop), heat

exchange, superheating, subcooling
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 17
 Refrigerants
• Numbering as per ANSI/ASHRAE 34-2013
• Inorganic
– NH3, H2O, CO2, SO2, N2O3 …
– Naming : R-(700+Molecular weight)
– e.g. NH3 is R-717, H2O is R-718 etc.
• Organic (saturated HC derivatives)
– Mostly derivatives of CH4, C2H6, obtained by replacing H atoms with F, Cl
– CFC (Cholofluorocarbons or Freons), HCFC (hydrochlorofluorocarbons), HFC
(hydrofluorocarbons), HC (hydrocarbons)
– CFCs and HCFCs (to a lesser extent) have high COP, but damage ozone layer
– HFCs and HCs don’t affect ozone layer, but cause global warming, inflammable
– Naming: CmHnFpClq is named R-(m-1)(n+1)(p)
– e.g. CH2FCl is R-31, C2HF3Cl2 is R-123 etc.
• Azeotropes
– Mixtures of compounds (not separated by distillation)
– R-500 series
• Unsaturated organic compounds
– R-1000 series
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 18
 Vapour Compression Refrigeration
A refrigerator uses refrigerant-134a as the working fluid and operates on an ideal
vapor-compression refrigeration cycle between 0.14 and 0.8 MPa. If the mass flow
rate of the refrigerant is 0.05 kg/s, determine (a) the rate of heat removal from the
refrigerated space and the power input to the compressor, (b) the rate of heat
rejection to the environment, and (c) the COP of the refrigerator.

The T-s diagram of the refrigeration cycle is shown.

The compressor power, Win  m h2  h1 
The refrigerating capacity (heat absorbed in
evaporator) , Qin  m h1  h4 
Heat rejection rate in condenser, Q out  m h2  h3 

The specific enthalpies can be obtained either

from the tabulated saturation data or the T-s or h-s
diagrams of the refrigerant (R134 a).

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 19

 R134a Table - Saturated

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 20

 R134a Table - Superheated

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 21

 Solution - Continued
For the evaporator pressure of 0.14 MPa, h1 = enthalpy of saturated vapour = hg =
239.16 kJ/kg
For the condenser pressure of 0.8 MPa, h3 = enthalpy of saturated liquid = hf = 95.47
kJ/kg
Since expansion is isenthalpic, h4 = h3 = 95.47 kJ/kg
To find h2, we need to make use of the fact that the compression is isentropic, hence
s2 = s1 = sg (saturated vapour entropy) at 0.14 MPa = 0.94456 kJ/kg K
Use the superheated vapour table/diagram of R134a at 0.8 MPa pressure to obtain
the enthalpy at the point where entropy is 0.94456 kJ/kg K. This usually requires
interpolation.
It is observed that at 0.8 MPa, h = 275.39 kJ/kg when s = 0.94456 kJ/kg K.
Hence h2 = 275.39 kJ/kg

Now, power input of compressor = Win  m h2  h1   1.81 kW

Refrigerating capacity = Qin  m h1  h4   7.18 kW

COP  Qin / Win  3.97

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 22
 Gas Refrigeration Cycles
• Reversing a power cycle produces refrigeration : Carnot,
Rankine …
• A gas refrigeration cycle is the reverse of Joule-Brayton cycle
• Also called Bell-Coleman cycle
• Working fluid is gas (e.g. air) throughout
• Hence no condenser, evaporator
• Processes:
1 – 2: isentropic compression
2 – 3: isobaric heat rejection
3 – 4: isentropic expansion
4 – 5 : isobaric heat absorption

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 23

 T-s Diagram of Bell-Coleman Cycle

What would happen if we

replace the turbine
(process 3-4) with a
throttling device?

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 24

 COP of Gas Refrigeration Cycle
• COP = qL / (wcomp,in – wturb,out)
• qL = h1 – h4
• wcomp,in = h2 – h1
• wturb,out = h3 – h4
• Compared to reverse Carnot,
– refrigerating effect is lower (area under 4-1)
– work input (enclosed area) is higher
 Hence COP < COPR,Carnot Prove that:
 Simple, lightweight components COP = 1/[rp(g-1)/g - 1]
 No liquid-related issues – freezing, corrosion etc.
 Ideally suited for air conditioning, aircraft refrigeration
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 25
 Gas Refrigeration Cycle with Regeneration

T4 can be lower than Tambient

Can provide extremely low temperatures
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 26
 Aircraft Cooling System
QH To GT
• Uses open Bell-Coleman cycle combustor
• Compressed air is readily available 3 2
from the gas turbine compressor
(pt 2)
• Plenty of surrounding air available
for heat rejection (2-3)
• Power from the turbine is fed to the 1
suction fan for coolant air Ambient air
• Cooled air from turbine (pt 4) is
directly fed to the cabin
• Eliminates the low temperature
Fan
heat exchanger, reduces weight
• Maintains cabin air pressurised and
fresh
4
To cabin
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 27
 Aircraft Cooling System – T-s Diagram
2

Cabin pressure
3
Ambient pressure
T 1
4

Why is the cabin at a higher pressure than ambient?

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 28

 Presence of Water Vapour in Air
• Atmospheric air is described as consisting of:
– Dry air : a mixture of O2, N2 etc. ; Fixed composition
– Water vapour : Quantity varies
• The amount of water vapour in atmospheric air is very small
• But still it plays a major role in human comfort
• Temperature of conditioned air varies from -10 to 50 oC
• Air can be treated as an ideal gas in this range (why?)
• Maximum partial pressure of water vapour is 12.35 kPa
• i.e. water vapour can also be treated as an ideal gas (why?)
• Properties of moist air are called ‘psychrometric properties’
• Study of these properties is called ‘psychrometry’

Subscript ‘a’ is dry air, ‘v’ is water vapour

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 29
 Pressure, Enthalpy of Air
T

• patm (or simply p) = pa + pv

• pv is called vapour pressure
• For ideal gases, enthalpy is f(T) only
• for -10 oC < T < 50 oC, cp,a  1.005, cp,v  1.82 kJ/kg.oC
• ha = 1.005*T ; hv = hv,0 + cp,v*T = 2501 + 1.82*T
• where 0 oC is taken as reference temp, T is in oC
• Also, hv  hg (sat. vapour enthalpy) at T (see figure)

What is the specific enthalpy of atmospheric air?

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 30

 Specific Humidity
• Means to quantify the amount of water vapour in air
• Specific humidity (absolute humidity or humidity ratio or
moisture content) : Mass of water vapour per mass of dry air
• Unit : kg/kg d.a. or g/kg d.a. [varies from 0 – 30 g/kg d.a]

mv 0.622 pv
w  [Derive]
ma p  pv
• Enthalpy of (moist) atmospheric air:
h = ha(T) + w*hv(T) kJ/kg d.a.

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 31

 Relative Humidity
• If we keep adding water vapour to air isothermally, w and pv
increase. At some stage, pv = pv,sat at that T. Air is now ‘saturated’.
Any vapour added further condenses. [Show this on a T-s plot]
• Comfort depends on the amount of moisture in air (w)
• But comfort is more dependent on the ratio of the actual
amount of water vapour in air relative to the maximum quantity
of water vapour the air can hold (moisture capacity) at that T
• Relative humidity: Ratio of mass of vapour in air to mass of
vapour in saturated air (measured at constant V, T).
mv p
 or RH   v
mv ,sat pv ,sat [Derive]
wp w pa
 
0.622  w  pv ,sat 0.622 pv ,sat  = 100% for saturated air
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 32
 Degree of Saturation
• It is the ratio of the specific humidity at a given
condition to the maximum possible (i.e. saturation)
specific humidity

w pv 1  pv ,sat / p 
 
w sat pv ,sat  1  pv / p 

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 33

 State of Atmospheric Air
• Described in terms of:
a. Temperature
• Called dry bulb temperature (DBT or Tdb)
• Measured using an ordinary thermometer
b. Humidity
• Directly measured by mechanical/electronic devices -
hygrometer
Principle: water vapour gets absorbed by some materials
and changes their mechanical/electronic properties
• Indicated by some temperature indices

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 34

 Dew Point Temperature
• Air can hold less moisture at lower T, i.e. lower moisture capacity (pv,sat, mv,sat)
• Upon reducing temp, excess moisture tends to condense
• e.g. water droplets on the surface of a cooled soft drink can
• DPT or Tdp : temperature at which condensation begins when air is cooled at
constant pressure
• Until condensation starts, w remains
constant (as the water vapour content is
unchanged, pv = const)
• Air remains saturated during
condensation [what will be the path
after point 2?]
•  increases as moisture capacity drops
• Suggest a method to measure Tdp

Tdp = Tdb for saturated air ( = 100%) ; Deviation indicates 

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 35
 Adiabatic Saturation Temperature
• Atmospheric air enters a long passage
containing water
• Water: absorbs latent heat from air,
vaporises
• Air: w increases, T decreases
• Air exits as saturated (long passage)
• T at this condition is AST or Tas
• Makeup water added to compensate
for vaporisation
• Air undergoes a nearly isenthalpic
process – energy lost as heat is
brought back by water vapour!
Tas ≥ Tdp (Why?)
When are they equal ?
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 36
 Wet Bulb Temperature
• Thermometer bulb is covered with a wet wick
• Air moves over the wick (either by swinging the
thermometer, or using a blower)
• Some water gets vaporised, absorbs latent heat
from remaining liquid
• Liquid temperature drops, heat flows in from air
• At a stage, heat inflow is balanced by loss of
latent heat
• Wick in thermal equilibrium – this T is WBT or Twb
• For dry air-steam mixture at 1 atm, Twb  Tas

Twb = Tdb at saturated condition ( = 100%)

Tdb – Twb = Wet bulb depression, a measure of 
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 37
 Psychrometric Chart
• Designing air-conditioning
equipment requires knowledge of
psychrometric properties of air
• Psychrometric chart helps in
estimating these properties
• Usually w vs. Tdb at 1 atm
• How is the saturation line drawn?
• Tdp = const  w = const
• Twb = const  h  const

The condition of atmospheric air can be located on the chart

when any two independent properties are known
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 38
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 39
 Exercise
• Using the psychrometric chart, determine the following
properties of air at 1 atm, 35°C, and 40% RH:
• (a) the specific humidity, (b) the enthalpy, (c) the wet-bulb
temperature, (d ) the dew-point temperature, and (e) the
specific volume.

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 40

 w

Tdp Twb Tdb

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 41

 Air Conditioning – Human Comfort
• 3 main factors : Temperature (Tdb), humidity () and air motion
• Energy interactions in a room - Heat Load
– Heat from/to the surroundings (solar radiation etc.)
– Heat generated by human body (metabolism) & transfer to air
(convection)
– Heat generated by appliances (electric heating, friction)
• The human body can exchange sensible and latent heat with air
• More latent heat exchange during physical work – perspiration
• Relative humidity affects dehydration of body, skin dryness
• Air motion helps in removing heat and moisture from body
• Other factors: cleanliness of air, odour, noise etc.
Comfort zone:
Tdb  22 – 27 oC ;   40 – 60% ; Vair  15 m/min
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 42
 Sources of Room Heat Load

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 43

 Basic Elements of an A-C system
• Fans
– For moving air
• Ducts and outlets
– Supply (into the room) and return (from the room)
– Supply employs fans/jets . Return is via suction fans
• Filters
– For removing dust etc. Placed in return duct.
– Types: mechanical cleaned/ replaceable cell/ electrostatic
• Conditioning apparatus
– Refrigerating plant, heating components, humidifiers, dehumidifiers
– Use finned coils, electric heater, water/steam spray etc. to alter T, w
– Placed after filter
• Control system
– Regulating temperature, humidity, air speed, ventilation

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 44

 Air Conditioning Processes
• Cooling
• Heating
• Dehumidifying
w
• Humidifying
And combinations of these

Summer Air Conditioning:

– Cooling and dehumidifying
– Extent of dehumidification depends on the climate Tdb

Winter Air Conditioning:

– Heating and humidifying

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 45

 Mass and Energy Balance
A-C Q
equipment
• Mass balance, dry air

Air in Air out

• Mass balance, water

Water in Water out

• Energy balance

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 46

 Adiabatic Mixing of Air Streams
• Assume steady flow m a , 2
• Conservation of dry air mass:
m a , 3
m a ,3  m a ,1  m a , 2
• Conservation of water mass:
m a ,1
m a , 3w3  m a ,1w1  m a , 2w2
m a ,1w1  m a , 2w2
 w3 
m a , 3
• Conservation of energy:
m a ,1h1  m a , 2 h2
h3 
m a , 3
m a ,1T1  m a , 2T2
T3 
m a , 3
4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 47
 Sensible Heating Factor (SHF)
• The heat supplied/removed consists of a sensible component (changes Tdb)
and a latent component (changes w) i.e. Q = QS + QL
• Consider heating and humidification from A to C
• A-B: sensible heat addition; QS = hB – hA
• B-C: latent heat addition; QL = hC – hB
• QS = cp,a(TC – TA) + wA*cp,v(TC – TA)
 1.005(TC – TA)
• QL = hfg(wC – wA)  2501(wC – wA)
where w is in kg/kg d.a
QS h  hA
SHF   B
QS  QL hC  hA
• Typically, SHF > 0.7 in dry climates
and SHF < 0.65 in humid climates

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 48

 Example
• A stream of air flowing at 10 kg/s (State 1: Tdb = 35oC, w = 25 g/kg d.a)
mixes with another stream flowing at 8 kg/s (State 2: Tdb = 20oC, w = 10
g/kg d.a). Find the flow rate and conditions of the mixed stream. Also find
the SHF for the transition from state 1 to 2 and show the process on the
psychrometric chart.
• ṁmix = ṁ1 + ṁ2= 18 kg/s
m 1T1  m 2T2
Tmix   28.3o C
m mix
m w  m 2w2
wmix  1 1  18.3 g/kg d.a
m mix
• Qs = cpa(T2 – T1) = -15.075 kJ/kg
• QL = hfg(w2 – w1) = -37.515 kJ/kg
• SHF = QS/(QS + QL) = 0.287

4/6/2025 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NITC 49