Compressors for

refrigeration
 A compressor is the most important and often
the costliest component (typically 30 to 40
percent of total cost) of any vapour compression
refrigeration system (VCRS).
 The function of a compressor in a VCRS is to
continuously draw the refrigerant vapour from
the evaporator, so that a low pressure and low
temperature can be maintained in the evaporator
at which the refrigerant can boil extracting heat
from the refrigerated space. The compressor
then has to raise the pressure of the refrigerant
to a level at which it can condense by rejecting
heat to the cooling medium in the condenser.
Classification of compressors

 Based on working principle

1. Positive displacement type
2. Rotodynamic type

 Based on arrangement of compressor

motor or external drive
1. Open type
2. Hermetic type
3. Semi hermetic type
 Positive displacement type
In positive displacement type compressors, compression is
achieved by trapping a refrigerant vapour into an enclosed
space and then reducing its volume. Since a fixed amount of
refrigerant is trapped each time, its pressure rises as its
volume is reduced. When the pressure rises to a level that is
slightly higher than the condensing pressure, then it is
expelled from the enclosed space and a fresh charge of low-
pressure refrigerant is drawn in and the cycle continues.
 Rotodynamic type
In roto-dynamic compressors, the pressure rise of refrigerant
is achieved by imparting kinetic energy to a steadily flowing
stream of refrigerant by a rotating mechanical element and
then converting into pressure as the refrigerant flows through
a diverging passage. Unlike positive displacement type, the
roto-dynamic type compressors are steady flow devices,
hence are subjected to less wear and vibration .
 Open type
In open type compressors the rotating shaft of the
compressor extends through a seal in the crankcase for an
external drive. The external drive may be an electrical
motor or an engine.

The compressor may be belt driven or gear driven. Open

type compressors are normally used in medium to large
capacity refrigeration system for all refrigerants and for
ammonia (due to its incompatibility with hermetic motor
materials).

Open type compressors are characterized by high

efficiency, flexibility, better compressor cooling and
serviceability. However, since the shaft has to extend
through the seal, refrigerant leakage from the system
cannot be eliminated completely.
Open Type Compressor
 Hermetic type
1. In hermetic compressors, the motor and the compressor
are enclosed in the same housing to prevent refrigerant
leakage. The housing has welded connections for
refrigerant inlet and outlet and for power input socket. As
a result of this, there is virtually no possibility of
refrigerant leakage from the compressor.
2. All motors reject a part of the power supplied to it due to
eddy currents and friction, that is, inefficiencies. Similarly
the compressor also gets heated-up due to friction and
also due to temperature rise of the vapor during
compression.
3. In Open type, both the compressor and the motor
normally reject heat to the surrounding air for efficient
operation. In hermetic compressors heat cannot be
rejected to the surrounding air since both are enclosed in
a shell. Hence, the cold suction gas is made to flow over
the motor and the compressor before entering the
compressor. This keeps the motor cool .
Advantages:
1. Complete prevention of leakage of refrigerant.
2. More Compact.
3. Require less space.
4. Less noisy.

Demerits:
The wiring of motor may get damaged in presence of
moisture.
The maintenance is difficult.
The evacuation and charging the refrigerant a separate pump
is needed.
Reciprocating compressor

 Reciprocating compressor is the workhorse of the

refrigeration and air conditioning industry.
 It is the most widely used compressor with
cooling capacities ranging from a few Watts to
hundreds of kilowatts. Modern day reciprocating
compressors are high speed (≈ 3000 to 3600
rpm), single acting, single or multi-cylinder (upto
16 cylinders) type.
 Reciprocating compressors consist of a piston moving back and
forth in a cylinder, with suction and discharge valves to achieve
suction and compression of the refrigerant vapor. Its construction
and working are somewhat similar to a two-stroke engine, as
suction and compression of the refrigerant vapor are completed in
one revolution of the crank.

 The suction side of the compressor is connected to the exit of

the evaporator, while the discharge side of the compressor is
connected to the condenser inlet. The suction (inlet) and the
discharge (outlet) valves open and close due to pressure
differences between the cylinder and inlet or outlet manifolds
respectively.
 The pressure in the inlet manifold is equal to or
slightly less than the evaporator pressure. Similarly
the pressure in the outlet manifold is equal to or
slightly greater than the condenser pressure. The
purpose of the manifolds is to provide stable inlet and
outlet pressures for the smooth operation of the
valves and also provide a space for mounting the
valves.

 In actual compressors, a small clearance is left

between the cylinder head and piston to
accommodate the valves and to take care of thermal
expansion and machining tolerances. As a thumb
rule, the clearance C in millimetres is given by:

C = (0.005L + 0.5) mm, where L is stroke length in

mm
 Rotary compressor

 Rollertype rotary compressor.

 Vane type rotary compressor.
Rolling piston (fixed vane) type
compressors
 Rolling piston or fixed vane type compressors are used in
small refrigeration systems (upto 2 kW capacity) such as
domestic refrigerators or air conditioners.
 These compressors belong to the class of positive
displacement type as compression is achieved by reducing
the volume of the refrigerant.
 In this type of compressors, the rotating shaft of the roller
has its axis of rotation that matches with the centerline of
the cylinder, however, it is eccentric with respect to the
roller.
 A single vane or blade is positioned in the non-rotating
cylindrical block. The rotating motion of the roller causes a
reciprocating motion of the single vane.
 Rotary vane type compressors have low mass-to-
displacement ratio, which in combination with compact size
makes them ideal for transport applications.

 The compressors are normally oil-flooded type, hence, oil

separators are required. Both single-stage (upto –40oC
evaporator temperature and 60oC condensing temperature)
and two-stage (upto –50oC evaporator temperature)
compressors with the cooling capacity in the range of 2 to
40 kW are available commercially.

 The cooling capacity is normally controlled either by

compressor speed regulation or suction gas throttling.
Currently, these compressors are available for a wide range
of refrigerants such as R 22, ammonia, R 404a etc.
 Screw compressor
 The screw type compressor consists of two mating helically
grooved rotors, one male and the other female. Generally
the male rotor drives the female rotor. The male rotor has
lobes, while the female rotor has flutes or gullies.

 The frequently used lobe-gully combinations are [4,6], [5,6]

and [5,7]. For this [4,6] combination, when the male rotor
rotates at 3600 RPM, the female rotor rotates at 2400 RPM.
 Centrifugal compressor
 Centrifugal compressors also known as turbo-
compressors belong to the roto-dynamic type of
compressors.
 In these compressors the required pressure rise
takes place due to the continuous conversion of
angular momentum imparted to the refrigerant
vapour by a high-speed impeller into static
pressure.
 Unlike reciprocating compressors, centrifugal
compressors are steady-flow devices hence they
are subjected to less vibration and noise.
 low-pressure refrigerant enters the compressor through the
eye of the impeller (1). The impeller (2) consists of a
number of blades, which form flow passages (3) for
refrigerant.
 From the eye, the refrigerant enters the flow passages
formed by the impeller blades, which rotate at very high
speed. As the refrigerant flows through the blade passages
towards the tip of the impeller, it gains momentum and its
static pressure also increases. From the tip of the impeller,
the refrigerant flows into a stationary diffuser (4).
 In the diffuser, the refrigerant is decelerated and as a result
the dynamic pressure drop is converted into static pressure
rise, thus increasing the static pressure further.
 The vapour from the diffuser enters the volute casing (5)
where further conversion of velocity into static pressure
takes place due to the divergent shape of the volute. Finally,
the pressurized refrigerant leaves the compressor from the
volute casing (6)
 Condenser
 Condensers and evaporators are basically heat exchangers in which the
refrigerant undergoes a phase change. Next to compressors, proper
design and selection of condensers and evaporators is very important for
satisfactory performance of any refrigeration system. Since both
condensers and evaporators are essentially heat exchangers .

 In condensers the refrigerant vapour condenses by rejecting heat to an

external fluid, which acts as a heat sink. Normally, the external fluid does
not undergo any phase change, except in some special cases such as in
cascade condensers, where the external fluid (another refrigerant)
evaporates

 condenser is an important component of any refrigeration system. In a

typical refrigerant condenser, the refrigerant enters the condenser in a
superheated state. It is first de-superheated and then condensed by
rejecting heat to an external medium. The refrigerant may leave the
condenser as a saturated or a sub-cooled liquid, depending upon the
temperature of the external medium and design of the condenser.
 Classification of condensor

 Aircooled condenser
 Water cooled condenser
 Evaporative condenser
Air cooled condenser
 As the name implies, in air-cooled condensers air is the external
fluid, i.e., the refrigerant rejects heat to air flowing over the
condenser. Air-cooled condensers can be further classified into
natural convection type or forced convection type
1. Natural convection type
2. Forced convection type

1. Natural convection type

a) In natural convection type, heat transfer from the condenser is
by buoyancy induced natural convection and radiation. Since the
flow rate of air is small and the radiation heat transfer is also not
very high, the combined heat transfer coefficient in these
condensers is small. As a result a relatively large condensing
surface is required to reject a given amount of heat. Hence these
condensers are used for small capacity refrigeration systems like
household refrigerators and freezers
b). The natural convection type condensers are either plate
surface type or finned tube type. In plate surface type
condensers used in small refrigerators and freezers, the
refrigerant carrying tubes are attached to the outer walls of
the refrigerator.

c). The whole body of the refrigerator (except the door) acts
like a fin.

d). The finned type condensers are mounted either below the
refrigerator at an angle or on the backside of the refrigerator.
In case, it is mounted below, then the warm air rises up and
to assist it an air envelope is formed by providing a jacket on
backside of the refrigerator. The fin spacing is kept large to
minimize the effect of fouling by dust and to allow air to flow
freely with little resistance
 Forced convection type
 In forced convection type condensers, the circulation of air
over the condenser surface is maintained by using a fan or
a blower. These condensers normally use fins on air-side
for good heat transfer. The fins can be either plate type or
annular type
 Forced convection type condensers are commonly used in
window air conditioners, water coolers and packaged air
conditioning plants
 These are either chassis mounted or remote mounted. In
chassis mounted type, the compressor, induction motor,
condenser with condenser fan, accumulator, HP/LP cut- out
switch and pressure gauges are mounted on a single
chassis. It is called condensing unit of rated capacity
 The remote mounted type, is either vertical or roof
mounted horizontal type.
 Water cooled condenser

1. Double pipe or tube-in-tube type

2. Shell-and-coil type
3. Shell-and-tube type
Double Pipe or tube-in-tube type:
 Double pipe condensers are normally used up to
10 TR capacity.
 In these condensers the cold water flows through
the inner tube, while the refrigerant flows
through the annulus in counter flow.
 Headers are used at both the ends to make the
length of the condenser small and reduce
pressure drop. The refrigerant in the annulus
rejects a part of its heat to the surroundings by
free convection and radiation.
 The heat transfer coefficient is usually low
because of poor liquid refrigerant drainage if the
tubes are long.
Double pipe (tube-in-tube) type condenser
Shell-and-coil type
 These condensers are used in systems up to 50
TR capacity. The water flows through multiple
coils, which may have fins to increase the heat
transfer coefficient.
 The refrigerant flows through the shell. In
smaller capacity condensers, refrigerant flows
through coils while water flows through the shell.
 Figure shows a shell-and-coil type condenser.
When water flows through the coils, cleaning is
done by circulating suitable chemicals through
the coils
Shell-and-tube type:
 This is the most common type of condenser used in systems
from 2 TR upto thousands of TR capacity. In these
condensers the refrigerant flows through the shell while
water flows through the tubes in single to four passes.
 The condensed refrigerant collects at the bottom of the
shell. The coldest water contacts the liquid refrigerant so
that some subcooling can also be obtained.
 The liquid refrigerant is drained from the bottom to the
receiver. There might be a vent connecting the receiver to
the condenser for smooth drainage of liquid refrigerant.
 The shell also acts as a receiver. Further the refrigerant also
rejects heat to the surroundings from the shell. The most
common type is horizontal shell type
 Vertical shell-and-tube type condensers are usually used
with ammonia in large capacity systems so that cleaning of
the tubes is possible from top while the plant is running
Evaporative condensers:
 In evaporative condensers, both air and water are used to
extract heat from the condensing refrigerant. Figure 22.7
shows the schematic of an evaporative condenser.
 Evaporative condensers combine the features of a cooling
tower and water-cooled condenser in a single unit. In these
condensers the water is sprayed from top part on a bank of
tubes carrying the refrigerant and air is induced upwards.
 There is a thin water film around the condenser tubes from
which evaporative cooling takes place. The heat transfer
coefficient for evaporative cooling is very large.
 The water spray countercurrent to the airflow acts as cooling
tower. The role of air is primarily to increase the rate of
evaporation of water. The required air flow rates are in the
range of 350 to 500 m3/h per TR of refrigeration capacity
 Evaporative condensers are used in medium to large
capacity systems. These are normally cheaper compared to
water cooled condensers, which require a separate cooling
tower.
Advantages and disadvantages
 Air-cooled condensers are simple in construction since no
pipes are required for air. Further, the disposal of warm air is
not a problem and it is available in plenty.
 The fouling of condenser is small and maintenance cost is
low. However, since the specific heat of air is one fourth of
that of water and density is one thousandth of that of water,
volume flow rates required are very large.
 The thermal conductivity is small; hence heat transfer
coefficient is also very small .
 Also, air is available at dry-bulb temperature while water is
available at a lower temperature, which is 2 to 3 oC above
the wet-bulb temperature. The temperature rise of air is
much larger than that of water, therefore the condenser
temperature becomes large and COP reduces. Its use is
normally restricted to 10 TR although blower power goes up
beyond 5 TR .
 The air-cooled condensers cost two to three times more
than water-cooled condensers. The water-cooled condenser
requires cooling tower since water is scarce in municipality
areas and has to be recycled.
 Water from lakes and rivers cannot be thrown back in
warm state since it affects the marine life adversely.
Increased first cost and maintenance cost of cooling tower
offsets the cost advantage of water-cooled condenser.
Fouling of heat exchange surface is a big problem in use of
water.
 Evaporator

 An evaporator, like condenser is also a heat

exchanger. In an evaporator, the refrigerant boils
or evaporates and in doing so absorbs heat from
the substance being refrigerated. The name
evaporator refers to the evaporation process
occurring in the heat exchanger
Natural and Forced Convection
Type
 The evaporator may be classified as natural convection type or
forced convection type. In forced convection type, a fan or a
pump is used to circulate the fluid being refrigerated and make it
flow over the heat transfer surface, which is cooled by
evaporation of refrigerant.

 In natural convection type, the fluid being cooled flows due to

natural convection currents arising out of density difference
caused by temperature difference. The refrigerant boils inside
tubes and evaporator is located at the top.

 The temperature of fluid, which is cooled by it, decreases and its

density increases. It moves downwards due to its higher density
and the warm fluid rises up to replace it.
Refrigerant Flow Inside or Outside
Tubes
 The heat transfer phenomenon during boiling inside and
outside tubes is very different; hence, evaporators are
classified as those with flow inside and outside tubes.

 In natural convection type evaporators and some other

evaporators, the refrigerant is confined and boils inside the
tubes while the fluid being refrigerated flows over the
tubes. The direct expansion coil where the air is directly
cooled in contact with the tubes cooled by refrigerant
boiling inside is an example of forced convection type of
evaporator where refrigerant is confined inside the tubes
 In many forced convection type evaporators, the
refrigerant is kept in a shell and the fluid being chilled is
carried in tubes, which are immersed in refrigerant. Shell
and tube type brine and water chillers are mainly of this
kind .
Flooded and Dry Type
 The third classification is flooded type and dry type.
Evaporator is said to be flooded type if liquid refrigerant
covers the entire heat transfer surface. This type of
evaporator uses a float type of expansion valve.
 An evaporator is called dry type when a portion of the
evaporator is used for superheating the refrigerant vapour
after its evaporation
Natural Convection type evaporator
coils
 These are mainly used in domestic refrigerators and cold
storages. When used in cold storages, long lengths of bare
or finned pipes are mounted near the ceiling or along the
high sidewalls of the cold storages. The refrigerant from
expansion valve is fed to these tubes.
 The liquid refrigerant evaporates inside the tubes and cools
the air whose density increases. The high-density air flows
downwards through the product in the cold storage.
 The air becomes warm by the time it reaches the floor as
heat is transferred from the product to air. Some free area
like a passage is provided for warm air to rise up. The
same passage is used for loading and unloading the
product into the cold storage.
 The advantages of such natural convection coils are that the coil
takes no floor space and it also requires low maintenance cost. It
can operate for long periods without defrosting the ice formed on
it and it does not require special skill to fabricate it

 the disadvantage is that natural convection heat transfer

coefficient is very small hence very long lengths are required
which may cause excessive refrigerant side pressure drops unless
parallel paths are used. The large length requires a larger
quantity of refrigerant than the forced convection coils .
Flooded Evaporator
 This is typically used in large ammonia systems. The
refrigerant enters a surge drum through a float type
expansion valve. The compressor directly draws the flash
vapour formed during expansion.
 This vapour does not take part in refrigeration hence its
removal makes the evaporator more compact and
pressured drop due to this is also avoided. The liquid
refrigerant enters the evaporator from the bottom of the
surge drum.
 This boils inside the tubes as heat is absorbed. The mixture
of liquid and vapour bubbles rises up along the evaporator
tubes. The vapour is separated as it enters the surge drum.
The remaining unevaporated liquid circulates again in the
tubes along with the constant supply of liquid refrigerant
from the expansion valve
Shell-and-Tube Liquid Chillers
 The shell-and-tube type evaporators are very efficient and require
minimum floor space and headspace. These are easy to maintain,
hence they are very widely used in medium to large capacity
refrigeration systems. The shell-and-tube evaporators can be
either dry type or flooded type.
 As the name implies, a shell-and-tube evaporator consists of a
shell and a large number of straight tubes arranged parallel to
each other. In dry expansion type, the refrigerant flows through
the tubes while in flooded type the refrigerant is in the shell. A
pump circulates the chilled water or brine. The shell diameters
range from 150 mm to 1.5 m.
 The number of tubes may be less than 50 to several thousands
and length may be between 1.5 m to 6 m. Steel tubes are used
with ammonia while copper tubes are used with freons. Ammonia
has a very high heat transfer coefficient while freons have rather
poor heat transfer coefficient hence fins are used on the
refrigerant side. Dry expansion type uses fins inside the tubes
while flooded type uses fins outside the tube.
 Dry-expansion type require less charge of refrigerant and have
positive lubricating oil return. These are used for small and
medium capacity refrigeration plants with capacity ranging from 2
TR to 350 TR. The flooded type evaporators are available in larger
capacities ranging from 10 TR to thousands of TR.
Flooded Type Shell-and-Tube
Evaporator
 flooded type of shell and tube type liquid chiller where the liquid
(usually brine or water) to be chilled flows through the tubes in
double pass just like that in shell and tube condenser. The
refrigerant is fed through a float valve, which maintains a
constant level of liquid refrigerant in the shell. The shell is not
filled entirely with tubes as shown in the end view of Fig.
 This is done to maintain liquid refrigerant level below the top of
the shell so that liquid droplets settle down due to gravity and are
not carried by the vapour leaving the shell. If the shell is
completely filled with tubes, then a surge drum is provided after
the evaporator to collect the liquid refrigerant .
 Shell-and-tube evaporators can be either single pass type or
multipass type. In multipass type, the chilled liquid changes
direction in the heads. Shell-and-tube evaporators are available in
vertical design also. Compared to horizontal type, vertical shell-
and-tube type evaporators require less floor area.
 The chilled water enters from the top and flows downwards due
to gravity and is then taken to a pump, which circulates it to the
refrigeration load. At the inlet to tubes at the top a special
arrangement introduces swirling action to increase the heat
transfer coefficient.
Direct expansion type, Shell-and-
Tube Evaporator
 liquid chiller with refrigerant flowing through the tubes and
water flowing through the shell. A thermostatic expansion
valve feeds the refrigerant into the tubes through the cover
on the left. It may flow in several passes through the
dividers in the covers of the shell on either side. The liquid
to be chilled flows through the shell around the baffles.
 The presence of baffles turns the flow around creating
some turbulence thereby increasing the heat transfer
coefficient. Baffles also prevent the short-circuiting of the
fluid flowing in the shell. This evaporator is of dry type
since some of the tubes superheat the vapour.
 To maintain the chilled liquid velocity so as to obtain good
heat transfer coefficient, the length and the spacing of
segmental baffles is varied. Widely spaced baffles are used
when the flow rate is high or the liquid viscosity is high.
 The number of passes on the refrigerant side are decided
by the partitions on the heads on the two sides of the heat
exchanger. Some times more than one circuit is also
provided. Changing the heads can change the number of
passes. It depends upon the chiller load and the refrigerant
velocity to be maintained in the heat exchanger.
Shell-and-Coil type evaporator
 These are of smaller capacity than the shell and tube chillers.
These are made of one or more spiral shaped bare tube coils
enclosed in a welded steel shell. It is usually dry-expansion type
with the refrigerant flowing in the tube and chilled liquid in the
shell. In some cases the chiller operates in flooded mode also
with refrigerant in the shell and chilled water flowing thorough
the spiral tube.

 The water in the shell gives a large amount of thermal storage

capacity called hold-up capacity. This type is good for small but
highly infrequent peak loads. It is used for cooling drinking water
in stainless steel tanks to maintain sanitary conditions. It is also
used in bakeries and photographic laboratories
 This type does not have thermal storage capacity, the
liquid must be instantaneously chilled whenever required.
In the event of freeze up the water freezes in the tube,
which causes bursting of the tubes since water expands
upon freezing. When water is in the shell there is enough
space for expansion of water if the freezing occurs. The
flooded types are not recommended for any application
where the temperature of chilled liquid may be below 3oC.
Double pipe type evaporator
 This consists of two concentric tubes, the refrigerant flows
through the annular passage while the liquid being chilled flows
through the inner tube in counter flow. One design is shown in
Fig. 23.4 in which the outer horizontal tubes are welded to
vertical header tubes on either side.
 The inner tubes pass through the headers and are connected
together by 180o bends. The refrigerant side is welded hence
there is minimum possibility of leakage of refrigerant. These
maybe used in flooded as well as dry mode. This requires more
space than other designs. Shorter tubes and counter flow gives
good heat transfer coefficient.
 It has to be insulated from outside since the refrigerant flows in
the outer annulus which may be exposed to surroundings if
insulation is not provided
Direct expansion fin-and-tube type
 These evaporators are used for cooling and dehumidifying the air
directly by the refrigerant flowing in the tubes. Similar to fin-and-
tube type condensers, these evaporator consists of coils placed in
a number of rows with fins mounted on it to increase the heat
transfer area.
 Various fin arrangements are used. Tubes with individual spiral
straight fins or crimpled fins welded to it are used in some
applications like ammonia. Plate fins accommodating a number of
rows are used in air conditioning applications with ammonia as
well as synthetic refrigerants such as fluorocarbon based
refrigerants The liquid refrigerant enters from top through a
thermostatic expansion valve .
 This arrangement makes the oil return to compressor better
rather than feeding refrigerant from the bottom of the coil. When
evaporator is close to the compressor, a direct expansion coil is
used since the refrigerant lines are short, refrigerant leakage will
be less and pressure drop is small.
 If the air-cooling is required away from the compressor, it is
preferable to chill water and pump it to air-cooling coil to reduce
the possibility of refrigerant leakage and excessive refrigerant
pressure drop, which reduces the COP.
Expansion device
 An expansion device is another basic component of a refrigeration
system. The basic functions of an expansion device used in refrigeration
systems are to:

1. Reduce pressure from condenser pressure to evaporator pressure, and

2. Regulate the refrigerant flow from the high-pressure liquid line into the
evaporator at a rate equal to the evaporation rate in the evaporator

 The expansion devices used in refrigeration systems can be divided into

fixed restriction type or variable restriction type. As the name implies, in
fixed restriction type the flow area remains fixed, while in variable
restriction type the flow area changes with changing mass flow rates.
 Variable restriction type expansion valve
1. Automatic or constant pressure expansion valve
Application of AEC
Thermostatic expansion valve
 Thermostatic expansion valve is the most versatile expansion valve and is
most commonly used in refrigeration systems. A thermostatic expansion
valve maintains a constant degree of superheat at the exit of evaporator;
hence it is most effective for dry evaporators in preventing the slugging of
the compressors since it does not allow the liquid refrigerant to enter the
compressor.
 This consists of a feeler bulb that is attached to the evaporator exit tube so
that it senses the temperature at the exit of evaporator.
 The feeler bulb and the narrow tube contain some fluid that is called power
fluid. The power fluid may be the same as the refrigerant in the
refrigeration system, or it may be different.
 The pressure of the power fluid Pp is the saturation pressure
corresponding to the temperature at the evaporator exit.
 If the evaporator temperature Te and the corresponding saturation
evaporator pressure is Pe, then the purpose of TEV is to maintain a
temperature Te+ΔTs at the evaporator exit, where ΔTs is the degree of
superheat required from the TEV.

 To compressor

Feeler bulb

Fp Fp
evaporator
bellows

Fs Fe

needle

From condenser
Capillary Tube
 A capillary tube is a long, narrow tube of constant diameter. The
word “capillary” is a misnomer since surface tension is not
important in refrigeration application of capillary tubes. Typical
tube diameters of refrigerant capillary tubes range from 0.5 mm
to 3 mm and the length ranges from 1.0 m to 6 m.
 The pressure reduction in a capillary tube occurs due to the
following two factors:
1. The refrigerant has to overcome the frictional resistance offered
by tube walls. This leads to some pressure drop, and
2. 2. The liquid refrigerant flashes (evaporates) into mixture of
liquid and vapour as its pressure reduces. The density of vapour
is less than that of the liquid. Hence, the average density of
refrigerant decreases as it flows in the tube. The mass flow rate
and tube diameter (hence area) being constant, the velocity of
refrigerant increases. The increase in velocity or acceleration of
the refrigerant also requires pressure drop.
Advantages of capillary tubes
 1. It is inexpensive.
 2. It does not have any moving parts hence it does not require
maintenance
 3. Capillary tube provides an open connection between condenser
and the evaporator hence during off-cycle, pressure equalization
occurs between condenser and evaporator. This reduces the
starting torque requirement of the motor since the motor starts
with same pressure on the two sides of the compressor. Hence, a
motor with low starting torque (squirrel cage Induction motor)
can be used.
 4. Ideal for hermetic compressor based systems, which are
critically charged and factory assembled.
Disadvantages of capillary tubes
 1. It cannot adjust itself to changing flow conditions in response
to daily and seasonal variation in ambient temperature and load.
Hence, COP is usually low under off design conditions.
 2. It is susceptible to clogging because of narrow bore of the
tube, hence, utmost care is required at the time of assembly. A
filter-drier should be used ahead of the capillary to prevent entry
of moisture or any solid particles
 3. During off-cycle liquid refrigerant flows to evaporator because
of pressure difference between condenser and evaporator. The
evaporator may get flooded and the liquid refrigerant may flow to
compressor and damage it when it starts. Therefore critical
charge is used in capillary tube based systems. Further, it is used
only with hermetically sealed compressors where refrigerant does
not leak so that critical charge can be used. Normally an
accumulator is provided after the evaporator to prevent slugging
of compressor
t