Fridge System

2007

FRIDGE AND AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEMS

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Fridge System

2007

Course content
I. II. Vapour-compression theoretical graphs Typical System

III. Components IV. Typical System of Air Conditioning Unit

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Fridge System

2007

FRIDGE SYSTEM
I. Vapour-compression theoretical graphs:

A) Absolute temperature - Entropy:

A-B, Isobaric He at absorp tion in th e e vaporator. B-C, Isentropic compression in the c ompressor (friction less a diabatic compression in ide al cycle ). C-D, Isobari c Heat removal in conde n ser. D-A, Constan t enth alpy exp ansion in expans ion v alve . Heat ener gy equivale nt of work done = Heat en ergy re jecte d- he at en ergy receive d. Coeffi ci ent of p erforman ce = heat ener gy rece ived/ Heat en ergy equiva lent of work done . Th e coeff icient o f performance for Freon is about 4 .7 It should be noted that under-cooling increases the heat rece ived by moving po int A to the left incr easing th e r efrigerant effect . B) p-h diagram (Mollier)

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Fridge System

2007

II.

Typi cal system

The system shown above and described below is typical of that fitte d on many ships other th an it is more common to have two low temperat ure rooms rather than one .

III. Components
Rooms: o Cold rooms / Meat Room -Low temperature room typica lly

working at -17 o C. o Veg/ handling room-typically working a t +4 o C.

Compressor: Ge neral ly it is of the sin gle sta ge, rec iprocat in g type. Larger systems have mult iple cyl in ders w ith an unloa ded system us in g SMIP 4

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Fridge System

2007

the suction press ure as its signal . Refr iger ant is compressed in the compressor to a pressure depen de nt upon the temperat ure of the cooling wat er to the condenser , and to a l esser extent the vol ume of gas in the system. As the temp erature of th e c ooling w ater ris es so does the minimum temperat ure of the refr igerant liquid rise , a nd w ith it the corresponding saturat ion pressur e. o Compressor safety devi ces The compressor is protecte d by three s afe ty switches: The OP swit ch or Oil Di fferen tial Pr essure switch compares the measured l ubricat in g oil pressur e to the Suction (crankcas e) press ure. Should the different ia l pressur e fall bel ow a pre-set minimum (about 1.2 bars) then the compressor will trip a nd require a manua l reset to restart. The HP or High Pressure swit ch is fitted to the outl et of the compressor before the isolat ing v alv e. On over pressur isat ion (dep en dent on th e refriger ant, up to about 24 bars for R22) the sw itch will tr ip th e compressor an d a man ual res et is r equir ed b efore restart . The LP or Low Pressure switch when activate d ( at about 1 bar for R22) will trip the compressor an d req uire a manual res et before the compressor can be restart ed. Compressor control devi ces This normally takes the form of an LP cut out press ure switch w ith automatic r eset on press ure r ise. The cut out set point is just above the LP trip point say at about 1.4 bars. A n a djustable differe ntia l is set to about 1.4bar to give a c ut in pressur e of a round 2 .8 bars .

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Fridge System Oil Separator The purpos e of the oil separator, s ituate d on the compressor discharge line, is to return oil entra in ed in the gas, b ack to the compressor sump . The oil r eturn may be float controll ed as shown, electr ic solenoid controll ed on a t imer, or unco ntrolled with a small bore capillary t ube al lowin g cont in uous r eturn . With all of these methods a shut off valv e is fitt ed betwe en separator a nd compressor to allow for ma inten ance .

2007

The oil gas mix enters the separ ator where it is made to change direct ion , the heavier oil drop lets te nd to fall to the bottom. Condenser Genera lly a water cooled tube cooler. A safety valve an d ve nt are fitt ed. The p urpose of the ve nt is to ble ed off no n-conde nsable s uch as a ir which can enter the system when the suction pressure is allow ed to fall below atmospheric or can be containe d within the top up gas. Th e prese nce of noncondensabl e is ge neral ly indicate d by a compressor discharge pressur e consider ably above the s aturat ion pressur e of the refr igerant . The coolant flow to the conde nser is som etimes temperat ure re gul ated to prevent too low a temperature in the condenser which can affect pla nt effic iency due to the re duct ion in pressur e. Below the conde nser, or sometimes as a s eparate un it, is the reservo ir. Its purpose is to allow accur ate ga uge of the level of refr iger ant in the system. In addition to this it also al lows a spac e f or the refrigerant l iquid wh en the system is 'pumpe d down' . Th is refers to t he evacuat ion of the refr igerant gas to the condens er to al low mainte nance on the fridge system w ithout loss . For systems not fitted with a r eservoir , a sight glass is sometimes incorporate d on the s ide of the condenser . Care should be give n to ensur in g that th e l iquid level is not too high as th is re duc es th e surfac e ar ea of the cooling pipes avail able for con dens in g the liq uid an d can lea d to increas ed disch arge pressures . Sight Glass Often of the Bulls eye form. This al lows the operator to ensure that it is only liquid, and not a l iquid/ gas mix go ing to the expa nsion valv es. On some designs a water in dicator is incorporat e d, this is a coloure d rin g in contact with the l iquid, when water is detecte d it changes colo ur.

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Fridge System Filter Dr ier

2007

It can be either a compacted solid cartridge or bags of desicca nt. Th e main purpose of this un it is to remove the mois ture from the refr igerant . Moisture caus es two main problems. Firstly it can free ze to ic e in th e evaporator an d cause blocka ge. S econdly it can form acids by reaction w ith the Freon refrigerants . Th is acid attacks the copper in the l ines a nd depos its its in other parts of the system. Th is ca n become partic ular ly troublesome when it is de posit ed on the compresso r mechanical s eal f aces le adin g to damage an d le akage . Fine partic les wh ich coul d possibl e block the ex pans ion va lve are removed. Topp ing up the re frigeran t A fill in g conn ection is fitte d in w ay off th e filter dryer, either directly onto it or on the inlet lin e after the inlet sh ut off valve. This a llows addit iona l refrigerant to b e introduc ed into the syste m via the dryer el ement. The normal procedure is to shut or partially shut the in let to the filter . The compressor is now sucking from the system and deliver in g to the condenser wh ere the gas l iquefies. The f ilter dryer is on the o utlet from the condenser there fore with its in let valve s hut the liquid lev el begins to rise in the reservoir . As the on ly gas enter in g th e system is now comin g from the top up line, the compressor will te nd to reduce the suction s ide pr essure as it evacuat es the system into the con dens er. The in let va lve can be br iefly op ene d to allow more refrigerant into the system. Thermost at and Solenoid Valv e: These two elements form the ma in t emper ature control of the col d rooms. The Thermostat is set to the des ired temp erature a nd given a 3 to 4 degre e diff erent ial to prevent cycl ing. When the temperature in the room reaches the pre-set l evel the thermostat switch makes and the room solenoid is e nergise d allowin g gas to the refrigera nt l iquid to th e ex pans ion valv e. A manual override switch is fitt ed as w ell as a relay operat ed iso lating contact which shut th e sole noid when the defrost system is in use . System operation: Assume that the rooms are all warm and the compressor is runn ing w ith all the solenoid valves open sup plying ref riger ant to the respective ex pans ion valve an d ev aporator.

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Fridge System

2007

Should on e or two rooms be down to tem peratur e the soleno ids close th us reduc in g the volume of gas return in g to the compressor. The suct ion pr essur e drops an d the compressor unloa ds. If more rooms shut down then th e suct ion pressure will drop to cut out point and t he compressor will stop. When the rooms warm the solenoids op en a ga in, refr igerant p asses back to the compressor, the suction press ure rises and compressor starts. With more rooms openin g, the suct ion pr essure incr eases a nd the compressor loads up more cylinders . Thermost ati c ex pansion valv eThe pur pose of this valve is to eff icie ntly drop the pressure of the refr igerant. It achieves th is by pass ing the liquid thro ugh a var iabl e orif ice giv in g a constant enthalpy press ure drop . The refr igera nt at lower pressure has a correspon din g lower b oiling point (saturat ion allowin g temper ature ). heat to be Un der-cool ing absorbed in the the condenser increas es the effic ie ncy of the plant by more dur in g vapouris ation process. By this process of boilin g (vapor izat ion) and latent heat absorption i.e. chan ge of state, the refrigerant removes heat from the cold rooms. The e xpans ion process is controlle d by t he action of the bellows an d p ush p ins act ing o n the orif ice valve pl ate. The be llows is controlle d by a bulb which measur es the temperature of the gas at out let from t he evaporator. To e nsure no l iquid passes through to the compressor, the ex pansio n valve is set so that the gas at outlet from the evapor ator has 2 to 3 degrees of superheat . For larger systems where a sign ifica nt pressure drop e xists across the evaporator it is n ecessary to f it a ' B alance line '. This is a small bore t ube which fee ds the out let pressur e back to the thermostatic valv e 'motor' element . Therefore the meas ure d temp erature is directly relat ed to the superhe at temperat ure at out let pr essure .
Note Carefu l no te sh ou ld be taken th at sy st em t emp erature s are se t by th e room so lenoi d and not by th e expan sion va lve wh ich are genera lly fa ctor y se t an d do no t re quire a dju st men t.

Back pressure regul ator v alve This valve is fitt ed to the higher temper ature rooms, vegetable a nd flo ur (+5 o C) only an d not to the Meat a nd F ish rooms (-20 o C). SMIP 8

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Fridge System They serve two ma in purposes :

2007

Firstly when all soleno id valves are ope ned they act as system ba lanc ing divert ers, they restrict the l iquid flow to the rooms which can be kept at the higher t emperatur e an d del iver the bulk t o the colder rooms. Secondly they serve to limit the pressur e drop across the exp ansion va lve by givin g a set min imum pressure in the evaporator coil. This in turn l imits the temperat ure of the refr igerant thereb y prevent ing del icate foo dstuffs such as vegetabl es from being damage d by havin g air at very low temperat ures blown over them. Ultimately they may also be set to provide a sa fety limit t o the room temperature by restr ict ing th e press ure to give a correspo nding minimum sat uration temperat ure of 0 o C. Oil recti fier In some installat ions there is a te nde ncy for oil to collect in the evaporator under speed certa in of con dit ions and such as low load when the movement agit ation of the evaporat in g refrigerant are ins uff icient to keep the o il movin g. To prevent loss of oil from the sump to the system, a n oil rectifier may be fitted. The oil heat is a utomatica lly exchan ger in ble d which from the evaporator to a liquid refr igerant mixe d with the oil is va porise d. The heat for vaporis in g the refrigerant is obta ine d by pass ing warm liquid Freon from the condenser , through the heat e xchanger. Vapo ur an d oil ar e passe d to the compressor where oil ret urns to th e sump whil e th e Freon p asses to the compressor suction . The r egulator is th ermostatical ly controlle d va lve wh ich op erates in the same way as the exp ansion valve o n the main system. It automat ically bleeds the o il from the evaporator so tha t the gas le aves the heat e xchan ger in a sup erheate d con dit ion.

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Fridge System Defrost system

2007

Moisture fr eezes onto the evaporator eve ntual ly caus in g a restr iction an d reduc in g the eff iciency of th e p lant . This must be per iodical ly removed. For Veg an d Flo ur rooms, were not r estric ted to 0 o C minim um by the back pressure v alve , this is carr ie d out o nce p e r day. For the Meat an d Fish rooms this has to be carried out two or more times. Due to the low temperat ure in the rooms it is necessary to f it a dra in h ea ter. When on defrost the solenoid valve is shut and the fan is off. On some systems at end of defrost the solenoid val ve is opened momentarily before the fan is st arted. This a llows moistur e to be snap frozen onto the surfac e of the element , creatin g a rough incr ease d surf ace area and thereby incr easing the heat transfer rate .
Note Care sh ou ld be tak en after loading an y grea t quanti ty of s tore s e specia lly in to th e ve ge table rooms. Th e fre sh s tore s t end to sw eat and icing up of th e e vapora tor can bec ome rapid. Th e on ly solution is cons tant moni toring and d efros ting as soo n as nec es sary.

Effects of under and over ch arge The effects of overcharge are a f ull condenser/rec eiver gauge glass . System pressures are not affecte d unt il highly overcharged when a poss ibil ity of excessive HP pressur e exists . Underch arge caus es failure to mainta in col d room temperatures an d compressor cycling. Compressor cyclin g is caus ed by there being ins uff icient gas to ma inta in t he compressor loaded even with all room solenoids ope n. In extreme the compressor will c ut in an d o ut. Undercharge is detecte d by low levels in the condenser/rece iver gauge glass/ bubbles in l iquid s ight gl ass, compressor cycling and low s uction pressur es.

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Fridge System

2007

IV.

Typical System of Air Conditioning Unit

Table of relationship between saturation temperature and pressure [oC]

Bar R12 R22 R502 -0.5 -46 -51 -57 0 -30 -41 -46 1 -12 -24 -28 2 -1 -14 -19 4 17 0 -4 6 28 11 7 8 39 20 17 10 48 28 24 12 56 35 31 14 63 41 38 16 68 46 43 18 73 51 47 20 78 55 51

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