AIR CONDITIONING TECHNOLOGY

PART 12
IN LAST months article we completed our review of Thermostatic Expansion Valves
(Internally and Externally Equalised).
The following completes our study of
expansion devices.

HAND OPERATED EXPANSION VALVE

This type of expansion valve is simply a hand-operated needle valve. The valves are
normally dedicated to large capacity systems with a fixed or very stable thermal load
since any change required in refrigerant flow must be achieved by manually adjusting
the valve setting. This clearly requires constant attendance by an engineer.
The liquid refrigerant flow across the valve is purely dependant upon the difference
between the entering pressure (high pressure from the condenser / receiver) and the
pressure at the outlet of the valve (low pressure within the evaporator), coupled with
the degree of needle / orifice opening. This type of valve is unable to provide any
real degree of variation in refrigerant liquid flow to suit variations in evaporator load
and cannot automatically protect the compressor against excessive liquid flooding.
The Hand Operated Expansion Valve must also be closed when the compressor is
stopped to prevent liquid flooding of the compressor since liquid refrigerant will
continue to flow through the evaporator until system pressures have equalised. If the
evaporator fan has also been stopped, there will be no thermal load to continue the
evaporation of this liquid.
A Hand Operated Expansion Valve is often used to regulate the flow of oil from an oil
separator back to the compressor crankcase and can also be used in Low Pressure
Float Control Systems.

AUTOMATIC EXPANSION VALVE (CONSTANT PRESSURE)

This type of valve regulates the flow of liquid refrigerant to maintain a constant
evaporating pressure and temperature. The valve has an adjustable spring pressure
to allow the desired evaporating pressure to be set.
A schematic illustration of the valve is shown in Figure 1.
FIGURE 1

A constant evaporating pressure within the evaporator is achieved by

increasing or decreasing the amount of refrigerant within the evaporator. If the
evaporator pressure falls due to decreasing load, the spring overcomes the
pressure under the bellows and forces the valve to increase the refrigerant
flow. The increased flooding of the evaporator leads to more evaporation of
liquid, which increases the evaporator pressure until the pressure below the
bellows is in equilibrium with the spring pressure above.
When the evaporator pressure rises due to increasing load, the spring
pressure is partially overcome and the needle valve starts to close. The
reduction in liquid refrigerant within the evaporator results in reduces
evaporation and a subsequent drop in evaporator pressure until equilibrium
with the spring pressure is attained.
Unfortunately, this type of refrigerant flow control causes the evaporator to be
short of refrigerant when the thermal load is high as only a small quantity of
liquid needs to be present to produce the required evaporating pressure. The
remainder of the evaporator is under utilised and could give rise to excessive
superheat with detrimental effects on compressor motor windings. As the
thermal load diminishes, the evaporator is filled with an increasing amount of
liquid refrigerant in an attempt to bring the evaporating pressure up to the
required setting by exposing more evaporator surface area to liquid refrigerant.
Should the load fall to a very low level, evaporator flooding may occur leading
to compressor damage, particularly if the system is over-charged with
refrigerant.
The Hand Operated Expansion Valve results in poor system efficiency and is
therefore not very often used in commercial systems. When the thermal load
is high, the liquid refrigerant quantity in the evaporator is low. Since the valve
will have been set for a desired evaporating temperature, this will remain
constant irrespective of system load. If the evaporator pressure were allowed
to rise with an increase in thermal load, as with other types of refrigerant flow
controls, the compressor efficiency would be greater due to higher suction
pressure.
The constant evaporating temperature characteristic of this type of valve make
it useful for small refrigerators and low temperature storage cabinets. The
Automatic Expansion Valve can also be applied where the evaporating
temperature must run close to 0.0 Deg C without freezing.
The Hand Operated Expansion Valve always closes fully when the
compressor is stopped as refrigerant liquid in he evaporator continues to
vaporise with an attendant increase in pressure. This ultimately overcomes
the spring pressure causing the needle valve to close. When the compressor
is started, the suction and evaporating pressure fall until the spring pressure
open the needle valve at the desired pressure setting.

ELECTRONIC EXPANSION VALVE

The application of electronics to refrigeration and air conditioning systems has
brought tremendous benefits to these industries offering a finer degree of
control and system protection. The Electronic Expansion Valve provides the
following benefits:

Precision refrigerant flow control using PI (Proportional-Integral) control

algorithms.

Compensation for changes in liquid sub-cooling ahead of the expansion

valve.

Rapid response to sudden and substantial changes in thermal load.

Low superheat levels allow greater utilisation of evaporator coil leading

to maximum efficiency whilst maintaining adequate protection for
compressor motor cooling.

Electrical connection between the key components offers greater

flexibility with regard to positioning.

Many electronic expansion valves utilise a modulating voltage signal from a

controller to an actuator, which in turn controls the valve. As the supply
voltage is increased, the pressure in the actuators container in increased and
the increased valve opening permits greater refrigerant flow. Fine control
results and the valve close completely when the control voltage is removed.
Technology now available permits the valve to precisely controlled by PWM
(Pulse Width Modulation). Over a period of 6 seconds, a signal is transmitted
from the controller to the valve coil. This causes the valve to open and then
close allowing a given amount of liquid refrigerant / saturated flash gas to pass
into the evaporator and it is the relationship between the opening and closing
times that determines the capacity of the valve. At high thermal load, the
valve will remain open for most of the 6-second period and at low load, the
valve will remain closed for the major part of the 6-second cycle. When no
refrigeration is required, the valve will shut altogether and act as a liquid line
solenoid valve.
Figures 2 & 3 show the Electronic Expansion Valve manufactured by Danfoss.
FIGURES 2 & 3

FIGURE 4