DESIRABLE PROPERTIES OF

REFRIGERANTS
(i) Normal boiling point
The Normal boiling point of the refrigerant should be low.

(ii) Evaporating and condensing pressures

The evaporating and condensing pressures should be
positive and low

(iii) Critical temperature and pressure

For high COP, the critical temperature should be very high the
critical pressure should be low so as to result in low
condensing pressure. 1
 (iv) FREEZING POINT

The refrigerant freezing temperature should be lower

than the evaporating temperature i.e. refrigeration
temperature.

(v) Latent heat of vaporization

Latent heat of vaporization should be as large as
possible so as to reduce the weight of refrigerant to be
circulated in the system.

2
 (vi) VOLUME OF SUCTION VAPOUR

The volume of suction vapour required per ton of

refrigeration is an indication of the size of the compressor.

The volume of the suction volume therefore, should be low.

(vii) Coefficient of performance and power

required per TR

The COP should be high and power required per

TR should be low.
3
 (viii) Flammability
The refrigerant should not be flammable.
(ix) Toxicity: The refrigerant should not be toxic.

(X) Action of Refrigerants with Water

In general moisture should not be allowed to enter
refrigeration systems.

Quantity of water present in refrigerant should not be

more than the quantity which can be easily dissolved.

Otherwise there is a danger of ice formation and

consequent choking of expansion valve or capillary tube
4
used for throttling in the system.
(XI) Action with Oil
The solubility behaviour of a refrigerant in mineral oil may be
classified as follows

Immiscible
Miscible
Partially miscible

5
 Solubility of Refrigerants and Mineral Oils
Partially Miscible
Completely
Miscible Immiscible
High Intermediate Low
Miscibility Miscibility Miscibility

R 11 R 13 B1 R 22 R 13 NH3
R 600a

R 12 R 501 R 114 R 14 CO2

R 290
R21 R 115 R 134a
R 113
R 152a
R 500 R 502
6
12. Action with materials of construction

The refrigerant should not react with materials of

construction for example ammonia reacts with copper.

Hence copper piping is not used with ammonia. Steel

piping is therefore used with ammonia.

Fluorocarbons do not react with copper.

7
 Physical requirements
Dielectric strength
The refrigerants should have high dielectric strength i.e.
refrigerant should be good electrical insulators.

Thermal Conductivity
The thermal conductivity should be high.

8
Viscosity

The viscosity of the refrigerant should be low for a high

heat transfer coefficient.

Leak Tendency
The leak tendency should be low. Also, the detection of
the leak should be easy.

Cost of refrigerant should be low.

9
OZONE DEPLETION POTENTIAL(ODP)
The ozone depletion potential is defined as an index
that indicates the ability of refrigerants and other
chemicals to destroy stratospheric ozone molecules
based on a value of 1 for R11.

The chlorine atom present in refrigerants is

responsible for Ozone depletion.

10
It was hypothesized that the chlorine atom from the molecule would
split off by the action of sun light and the free chlorine will react
with ozone in the stratosphere, according to the following reactions

Sun light
CClF2 + Cl

O3 + Cl Sun light O2 + ClO

11
Thus ozone is depleted to O2. A single atom of Cl released

from the CFC reacts taking out 100,000 O3 molecules.

That is why, even a small concentration of CFC also

becomes important.

ODP value of different refrigerants

R11 ---- 1.0
R12 ----- 0.86
R22 ----- 0.055
R115 ----- 0.4

12
Since ozone layer filters the ultra violet rays from the
sunlight and avoid its entry into the earths atmosphere.
These rays can cause skin cancer.

Thus ozone depletion potential of the refrigerant should

be zero.

GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL (GWP)

The global warming potential of refrigerants should also
be negligible.
13
MULTIPRESSURE
SYSTEMS

14
 INTRODUCTION
 The simple vapour compression system is a two-pressure
system.
 Systems with more than two pressures may arise either due
to multistage, compound compression to minimize work, or
due to feeding of the refrigerant to a multi evaporator
system.
 Cascade systems which employ more than one refrigerant
also have multi-pressures although each refrigerant circuit
operates on a two-pressure system only.

15
MULTISTAGE OR COMPOUND COMPRESSION

 Multistage or compound compression with interstage

cooling is an effective method of reducing work of
compression by working on isentropic closer to the
saturation curve.

 It is, however, desirable to employ compound

compression only when the pressure ratio between the
condenser and evaporator is greater than 4 or 5.

16

This will happen either as a result of high condensing temperature, and/or a very low evaporator temperature.

Multistaging is necessary to reduce the power consumption and also to increase the refrigerating capacity in high condensing
temperature and/or low evaporator temperature applications.

17
The two methods employed for cooling between stages
are Water intercooling and flash intercooling with flash
gas removal.

18
 FLASH GAS REMOVAL

• In compound compression the throttling expansion of

the liquid may also be done in stages.

• Thus the liquid from the condenser first expands into a

flash chamber at the intermediate pressure, and then
the liquid from the flash chamber enters evaporator
through another expansion valve.

19
20
 A

Figure
21
In a system without a flash chamber, the liquid expands straight to
the evaporator pressure (up to state point 10).
This is wasteful of energy as the vapor is flashed at the intermediate
pressure is also throttled at the evaporator pressure and is, therefore,
required to be again recompressed to the intermediate pressure.

22
23
 A system with a flash chamber, thus, eliminates the undesirable throttling of the vapor

generated at the intermediate pressure.

 Flash gas removal with multistage compression, therefore, results in power economy, and

is always desirable whichever be the refrigerant used.

24
 FLASH INTERCOOLING
• For flash intercooling, the compressed vapors from the
lower stage are led and bubbled through the liquid in
the flash chamber.

• The vapors are thus cooled to the saturation

temperature at the pressure of the flash chamber and a
part of the liquid evaporates which goes to the higher
stage along with the vapors from the lower stage.

25
Two stage compression system with flash intercooling

26
Flash inter-cooling thus enables the higher stage compression to
take place along the steeper isentropic, nearer the saturated vapor
line.
It is found that in the case of ammonia, the mass of the liquid
evaporated for flash intercooling is very small because of its high
latent heat of vaporization and the isentropic become very flat at
high temperatures.

27
 Hence flash inter-cooling will decrease the power requirement.

 Flash intercoolers, are, therefore, commonly used in multistage

ammonia plants.

28
29
CHOICE OF INTERMEDIATE PRESSURE
It is very well known that for minimum total work, the intermediate
pressures are given by the stage pressure ratio which should be

r ( Pc / Pe)1/ n

Where n is the number of stages.

In a two stage system, this gives a geometric mean value for the
intermediate pressure

Pi  PcPe
30
 In refrigeration systems, complete inter-cooling is impossible as it
is done by ambient water or air.

 Also, it is seen that the discharge temperature of the low-stage is

much lower than the discharge temperature of the higher stage,
therefore, the pressure ratio of the lower stage can be increased,
with a corresponding reduction in the pressure ratio of the higher
stage.

Pi  Pc Petc / te

31
It is however, realized that the choice of intermediate pressure is
not very critical.
It is different from the optimum, then the work of one stage will be
increased while that of another stage will be decreased.
In the final analysis, the total work will not be much different from
the minimum.

32
COMPLETE MULTISTAGE COMPRESSION
SYSTEM

It may be noted that a part of the heat of low stage compression can be
removed by water intercooling, in case the discharge temperature from
the stage is substantially higher than the cooler water temperature.

33
Two stage compression system with flash gas
removal and water and flash inter-cooling

34
 CASCADE SYSTEM
Tamb = 45 °C
50 °C
Condenser
7
. 6
m htc
HIGH TEMPERATURE CIRCUIT
Expansion
Device Cascade condenser
8 5
-3°C HT Compressor

Tamb = 45 °C
3
2°C
. LOW TEMPERATURE CIRCUIT
m ltc

1 2
4
Evaporator
-50°C LT Compressor
Expansion
Device 35
 CASCADE SYSTEM
50°C
Condenser
7
. 6
m htc
High temperature circuit

Expansion
Device Cascade condenser
8 5
-3°C Compressor

3
. 2°C
m ltc Low temperature circuit

1 2
4 -50°C
Evaporator

Expansion Compressor
Device

36
 P
Condenser
7
.
6
m htc
High temperature circuit

Expansion Tc1 2
Device Cascade condenser 3
8 5
Compressor
.
3 m ltc
. Te1
m ltc Low temperature circuit 4 1

1 2 h
4
Evaporator

Expansion Compressor
Device

37
 P
Tc2
Condenser 7 6
7
.
6 .

m htc m htc
High temperature circuit

Expansion Tc1 2
Device Cascade condenser 3
8 5 Te2 A
Compressor 8 5
.
3 m ltc
. Te1
m ltc Low temperature circuit 4 1

1 2 h
4
Evaporator

Expansion Compressor
Device

38
 CASCADE SYSTEMS
The use of a single refrigerant in a simple vapor compression cycle for
the production of low temperature is limited by following reasons:

1) Solidification temperature of the refrigerant.

2) Extremely low pressures in the evaporator and large suction volume

if a high boiling refrigerant is selected.
3) Extremely high pressures in the condenser if a low boiling refrigerant
is selected.

4) Very high pressure ratio pc/pe and therefore a low coefficient of

performance.

5) Difficulties encountered in the operation of any mechanical

equipment at very low temperatures.

39
• We know that multistage compression is employed when low
evaporator temperatures are required and when the pressure ratio
pc/pe is high.

• Refrigerant-22 is used in a two stage system upto -50°C and in a

three stage system upto about -65°C.
Condenser
7
. 6
m htc High temperature circuit

Expansion
APPLICATIONS OF CASCADE SYSTEM Device Cascade condenser
8 5
Compressor

Testing of materials at very low temperature 3

.
Low temperature circuit
m ltc
Blood storage = -88 C
1 2
4
Evaporator
Expansion Compressor
Device

40
 If vapor compression system are to be used for the production of
low temperatures, the common alternative to the stage compression
is the cascade system in which a series of refrigerants, with
progressively lower boiling points are used in series of single stage
units.
 The systems provides a solution to all the problems mentioned
Condenser
above except the last one. .
7
6
m htc High temperature circuit

Expansion
Device Cascade condenser
8 5
Compressor

3
.
Low temperature circuit
m ltc

1 2
4 Evaporator

Expansion Compressor
Device

41
 Condenser Tc2
7 7 6
. 6
.
m htc High temperature circuit m htc
Expansion
Device P
Cascade condenser
8 5 Tc1 2
Compressor 3
Te2 A
3 8 5
. .
m ltc Low temperature circuit m ltc

1 2 Te1
4 4 1
Evaporator

Expansion Compressor
Device h

The cascade system combines two or more vapor

compression units as shown in figure the high temperature
cascade produces refrigeration at a certain low temperature te2.
The low temperature cascade produces refrigeration at a still

further low temperature te1,

42
 Condenser Tc2
7 7 6
. 6
.
m htc High temperature circuit m htc
Expansion
Device P
Cascade condenser
8 5 Tc1 2
Compressor 3
Te2 A
3 8 5
. .
m ltc Low temperature circuit m ltc

1 2 Te1
4 Evaporator
4 1

Expansion Compressor
Device h

 Using the refrigerating effect of high temperature cascade at

temperature te2 for rejecting heat in its condenser at temperature

tc1,which in the limit is equal to te2.

43
 In practice however, there is a certain
Condenser
7
overlap between these temperatures, 6
.
m htc
that is the temperatures t c1 is about
High temperature circuit
Expansion
Device Cascade condenser
8 5
5°C higher than the temperature t e2. Compressor

3
 It is also to be noted that each cascade .
Low temperature circuit
m ltc
works on separate refrigerant. 2
1
4
Evaporator
 Each refrigerant can be chosen in such
Expansion Compressor
Device
a way that it operates best within the
required comparatively narrow
temperature limits.

44
 The high temperature cascade uses

a high boiling refrigerant such as NH3 Condenser

7
6
or R-22, whereas the low .
m htc
High temperature circuit
Expansion
temperature cascade uses a low Device Cascade condenser
8 5
boiling refrigerant such as CO2,
Compressor

3
ethylene, methane, etc., depending .
Low temperature circuit
m ltc
on the requirements. 1
2
4
Evaporator
 The use of the low boiling and,
Expansion Compressor
Device
therefore, a high pressure refrigerant
ensures a smaller compressor
displacement in the low temperature
cascade and a higher C.O.P.

45
The cascade systems was 1st used by
Condenser
Pictet in 1877 for the liquefaction of 7
6
.
m htc
oxygen employing SO2 and CO2 as Expansion
High temperature circuit

Device Cascade condenser

intermediate refrigerants. Another set of 8 5
Compressor

refrigerants commonly used for the 3

.
Low temperature circuit
m ltc
liquefactions of the gases in three stage
2
1
4
cascade system is ammonia, ethylene and Evaporator

Expansion Compressor
methane. Device

Ammonia is also used in the high

temperature cascade for the manufacture
of solid CO2.

46
 An additional advantage of cascade is that oil from one compression
cannot wander to the other compressors as it generally happens in
multi stage systems.
 In the systems shown in figure, the high and low temperature
systems have to be balanced with each other.
 This means that the heat absorbed in the high temperature cascade
evaporator must be equal to the heat rejected in the low
temperature cascade condenser.

47
 Condenser Tc2
7 7 6
. 6
.
m htc High temperature circuit m htc
Expansion
Device P
Cascade condenser
8 5 Tc1 2
Compressor 3
Te2 A
3 8 5
. .
m ltc Low temperature circuit m ltc

1 2 Te1
4 Evaporator
4 1

Expansion Compressor
Device h

48
 Condenser Tc2
7 7 6
. 6
.
m htc High temperature circuit m htc
Expansion
Device P
Cascade condenser
8 5 Tc1 2
Compressor 3
Te2 A
3 8 5
. .
m ltc Low temperature circuit m ltc

1 2 Te1
4 Evaporator
4 1

Expansion Compressor
Device h

49
50
 Optimum Coupling Temperature
Between Cascade Circuits:
 The intermediate temperature between the two cascade circuits,

such as te2 tc1, may be called the coupling temperature.

 For optimum sizing of the two circuits, Schmidt has shown that
the optimum coupling temperature can be approximately
represented by the square-root of the condensing temperature in
warm, and evaporating temperature in cold circuit.

51
• This is based on the assumption that the Carnot COP of
the two circuits is the same, as shown in equation

Te1 Te 2

Tc1  Te1 Tc 2  Te 2

So that when , Te2 = Tc1 we have

Te 2  Tc 2 Te1 T c1

52
• Schmidt derives a more accurate relation in terms of the
coefficients of the vapour pressure curves of the two
refrigerants. This derivation is based on the condition
that the pressure ratios of the compressors in each
circuit are the same. Thus
Pc1 Pc 2

Pe1 Pe 2

• Then if the pressure-temperature relationships of the two

substances are governed by the relation

53
 b
log p a 
T

 1 1
log pc1  log pe1 b1   
 Tc1 Te1 

 1 1 
log pc 2  log pe 2 b2   
T T
 c2 e2 
b1  1 1  1 1
And from equation we obtain,    
b2  Tc1 Te1  Tc 2 Te 2

54
• Where from Te2 = Tc1 becomes

b1  b2
Te 2  Tc1
 b2 b1 
  
T
 c2 Te1 

• A more appropriate semi-empirical relation is suggested

in following equation:-

b1  1.05b2
Te 2   10
 b2 b1 
  
 Tc 2 Te1 

55