BASIC REFRIGERATION and AIR CONDITIONING 1 (300L 1st Semester)
AIM: - To understand the basic principle of refrigeration and air conditioning system as related
to heat transfer.
Or to understand the basic thermodynamic principle involve in refrigeration and air
conditioning.
The Refrigeration system removes heat continuously from air inside a closed place and
discharge the heat outside. The two main principle for refrigeration operation are;
(i) Liquid refrigerant absorbs heat when it transforms from liquid to gas.
(ii) Gaseous refrigerant emits heat when it transforms from gas into liquid.
REFRIGERATION CYCLE
In order to operate economically, the refrigerant must be used repeatedly, therefore, all
Refrigerator and Air Conditioner are based on the same operational cycle in a closed circuit,
which is divided into four stages;
Compression
Condensation
Expansion
Evaporation
Also based on the pressure of the refrigerant, the process can be categorized into;
High Pressure side
Low pressure side.
The refrigeration cycle starts at the Compressor, the refrigerant is sucked from the evaporator
as a low-pressure gas, is compressed and moves out of the compressor as a high-pressure and
temperature gas.
At the second stage, the gas flows into the Condenser where the gas condenses into a liquid by
giving off its heat to the outside air.
The liquid then flows at high pressure to the Expansion Valve. The valve restricts the flow of
the liquid, thus lowering its pressure as it leaves the expansion valve.
At the fourth stage, the low-pressure liquid moves then to the Evaporator where heat from the
inside air is absorbed by the liquid refrigerant which eventually turn it to gas.
As a hot low-pressure gas, the refrigerant moves back to the compressor where the entire cycle
is repeated.
Fig 1: Refrigeration Cycle.
1st law of Thermodynamics: between any two equilibrium states, the
change in internal energy is equal to the difference of the heat transfer into
the system and work done by the system.
This law has more to do with modern refrigerators because it defines that it
is possible to raise the temperature of a system either by adding heat
(thermal energy) or by doing work on it.
Fig. 2: 1st Law of thermodynamics
TH -TC = Q + W
Composition of the main system
The Compressor: Compresses the refrigerant gas that leaves the evaporator thus raising its
temperature in order to create temperature difference for optimal heat transfer, it also
circulates the refrigerant in the circuit.
Condenser: receives the high-pressure and temperature gas from the compressor and convert
the gas to liquid, while emitting heat to the surrounding.
The Expansion Valve: it releases the pressure from refrigerant causing it to expand while
reducing its temperature to the lowest value in the circuit. It determines the refrigerant flow
rate through the cooling circuit and also enables the compressor to accomplish its compression
action by restricting refrigerant flow. It controls the cooling output of the evaporator to avoid
ice formation on the evaporators pipe which can prevent efficient operation.
In refrigeration system there are two main expansion valves:
1. Thermostatic expansion valve (TEV): is used to regulate the liquid refrigerant flow
entering the evaporator at a rate equivalent to the amount of refrigerant evaporated in
the evaporator. The valve provides a pressure drop in the system allowing the
refrigerant to absorb heat.
2. Capillary (Orifice) Tubes:
The Evaporator: its function is opposite that of condenser, the refrigerant turns into gas at low
pressure while absorbing heat from air inside the closed place.
The Receiver-Drier: it stores the excess refrigerant that does not take part in the cooling
process to prevent over floating the system. It removes moisture that may have accompanied
the refrigerant during filling or servicing. Moisture if accumulates in the evaporator will turn
into ice at low temperature and restrict the refrigerant flow thereby decreasing the cooling
efficiency.
The Refrigerant: is the fluid which flows inside the refrigeration system. R12 refrigerant was
used until 1994, when it was prohibited by law due to its harmful effect on the environment
and Ozone layer in particular. The TPS-3950 “Air-conditioning & Refrigeration System” works
with R134a refrigerant which is considered to be more environmentally friendly.
Equipment:
TPS-3951
TPS-3950
Procedure for TEV Mode:
1. Connect TPS-3950 power cable to the main supply.
2. Check that the high voltage ground leakage relay and semi-automatic switch are ON.
3. Set the Auto/Manual switch (located on the bottom left of the simulator) to the manual
position.
4. Turn ON the main Power switch on the main power box on the rear panel.
5. Turn ON the monitor power switch.
6. The FAULT display should display the number 00. If not, use the keys above the FAULT
display to display the number 00 (i.e no fault condition).
7. The STATE display should display the number 00 (i.e no operation program)
8. Use the keys above the STATE display to show the number 11 (i.e Basic Refrigeration
TEV experiment program) on the 7-segement STATE display and press the ENTER key
beneath the display.
9. Lower the PROGRAM switch and the raise it, the message “Program 11” should appear
on the LCD.
NOTE
The TEV programs are:
State 11 --- TEV operation with oC display.
State 12 --- TEV operation with oF display
State 13 --- TEV operation with graphic display
State 14 --- TEV operation oC display and Thermal load
State 15 --- TEV operation with oF display and Thermal load.
State 16 --- TEV operation with graphic display and Thermal load.
10. On the LCD display you should observe the following tables:
V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 RV CM OF
ON ON ON ON ON ON
S1 D1 S2 D2 SP PD E1 L1 E2 RT
20 5 LO
LP HP T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 HU T8
If “on” (lowercase) appears on the CM and OF columns, it means the compressor is on
3mins delay (for surge protection).
S1 --- Room temperature set point (Default S1 is 20oC or 68oF)
D1 --- Room temperature difference (Default D1 is 5oC or 9oF), D1 is determined in order
to prevent system from oscillating.
S1 is the required temperature, when the cooling chamber temperature goes below this
the Compressor stops momentarily. The Compressor turn ON when the cooling chamber
temperature reaches S1+D1
V1 –V7 ---
E1 --- Evaporator fan while E2 is Condenser fan
LP --- low Pressure (suction pressure measured by pressure sensor 1)
HP --- High Pressure (compression pressure measured by pressure sensor 2)
T1 --- compressor inlet temperature (measured by temp sensor 1)
T2 -- compressor outlet temperature (measured by temp sensor 2)
T3 – condenser outlet air temperature (measured by temp sensor 3)
T4 -- condenser inlet air temperature (measured by temp sensor 4)
T5 – evaporator outlet air temperature (measured by temp sensor 5)
T6 – evaporator inlet temperature i.e cooling chamber (measured by temp sensor 6)
11. Immediately after operating the refrigeration, the suction pressure which is high initially
should be going down as the system is cooling. At the stabilization point the suction
pressure (LP) is almost unchanged, record the values as required in Table 2.
12. Observe what happens when the cooling chamber temperature reaches S1, record the
values.
13. Wait until the compressor turn ON again, press the “*” to change the Evaporator fan
“E1” from LO to HI, wait for the system to reach stabilization point and record the
values.
14. Press the “*” key again to change the E1 from HI to LO, change the STATE number to 14
(or 16 for oF) to activate the thermal load into the chamber, the suction pressure should
increase slowly, wait until the system is stable and record the values.
15. Change the E1 speed to HI and record the stabilization values.
16. Change the STATE number to 11 or 12, wait till the Compressor stops working, record
the values.
17. Press the “*” key while the compressor is still off to change E1 to HI, record the value at
stabilization point.
18. Use the values recorded to populate the table below.
S/N COMP LOAD E1 LP HP T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6
1 ON OFF LO
2 ON OFF HI
3 OFF OFF LO
4 OFF OFF HI
5 ON ON LO
6 ON ON HI
7 OFF ON LO
8 OFF ON HI
19. Using MS Excel use the above data to show all possible relationship on graph.
BASIC REFRIGERATION and AIR CONDITIONING 2 (300L 2nd Semester)
AIM: - To understand how the capillary mode works and it is difference with the TEV mode.
CAPILLARY MODE:
The Capillary Tube is designed to lower the cooling liquid pressure by the same amount the
compressor raised it during the compression process. The pressure drops on the tube depends
on:
The internal diameter of the tube.
Tube length
The flow speed
The cooling material specific weight.
The friction coefficient between cooling material and Tube
Procedure for Capillary Mode:
1. Change the STATE number to 21 (Capillary mode 21-26) and press ENTER, then lower
the PROGRAM switch and raise it.
The Capillary Program are:
State 21 --- capillary operation with oC display.
State 22 --- capillary operation with oF display
State 23 --- capillary operation with graphic display
State 24 --- capillary operation oC display and Thermal load
State 25 --- capillary operation with oF display and Thermal load.
State 26 --- capillary operation with graphic display and Thermal load.
2. On the LCD display you should observe the following tables:
V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 RV CM OF
ON ON ON ON ON
S1 D1 S2 D2 SP PD E1 L1 E2 RT
33 17 LO
LP HP T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 HU T8
If “on” (lowercase) appears on the CM and OF columns, it means the compressor is on
3mins delay (for surge protection).
SP – Setting low Pressure
PD – Low Pressure Difference
3. Observe the temperature and pressure value and wait for the system to stabilize, record
the value as required.
4. Change the STATE to 23 and press ENTER, the monitor displays the LP and T6 every
2seconds and displays them graphically on the screen, observe that
5. Change the STATE number to 26 and press ENTER to activates the Thermal load to the
Evaporator, the suction pressure should go up slowly.
6. Change E1 speed from ‘LO’ to ‘HI’ by pressing “*”, observe this and record the new
stabilization point values.
7. Change E1 speed back to LO, wait for the system to stabilize and record the values.
8. Change the STATE number to 24 and press ENTER, record the stabilization values.
9. Change E1 speed to HI, and record the new stabilization point values.
10. Change E1 speed back to LO, change STATE number to 25 and press ENTE, record the
stabilization values.
11. Change the STATE number to 21 or 22, wait until the compressor stops working, record
the values.
12. Open the cooling chamber window, wait until the compressor turns ON, record the
values.
13. Change the STATE number to 00 and press ENTER, Lower the PROGRAM switch and
raise it, all devices should shut OFF.
14. Fill the following Tables with the values of the stabilization points.
S/N COMP LOAD E1 LP HP T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6
1 ON OFF LO
2 ON OFF HI
3 OFF OFF LO
4 OFF OFF HI
5 ON ON LO
6 ON ON HI
7 OFF ON LO
8 OFF ON HI
15. Using MS Excel use the above data to show all possible relationship on graph.
