Proceedings of the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Laboratory, Blended B.

Tech (IIIrd ME)

IIT Jodhpur, India

Experiment No 2
AUTHOR-AYUSH BHADAURIA(UG201212008)

ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
TO
WORKING
OF
COOLERS,ELECTROLUX REFRIGERATOR.

WATER

INTRODUCTION
Every water coolers, has a reservoir inside the casing that
holds water. This reservoir is where the water is cooled prior to
being dispensed.
The reservoir is kept topped up either from a large plastic
water bottle, or from a water mains supply.
Mains, or plumbed in, water coolers often have a water
filter between the incoming water supply and the reservoir to
improve the quality of the water.
Once the water is in the reservoir it's time to cool the
water.
There are two main ways of cooling the water: using a
refrigerant or using thermoelectricity.
The most popular type of refrigerator which employs vapor
absorption system is the electrolux refrigerator. It works on
three fluid absorption system. A three fluid system employs a
refrigerant, a solvent and an inert gas, and eliminate the aqua
pump from the system thus making it completely free from
moving parts.
The whole plant is separated into two section, the "low
side" in which evaporation is effected by a steadily maintained
low pressure and a high side" where the reclamation of the
refrigerant in a liquid state is achieved under the influence of
high pressure and heat.
Refrigeration systems consist of four major components;
these are the compressor, condenser, expansion device (usually
a TX valve) and evaporator. The most commonly used
expansion device is a thermostatic expansion valve (TX valve)
which expands the liquid refrigerant to lower its pressure and
temperature before the refrigerant enters the evaporator.
.

EXPERIMENTAL AND METHODOLOGY

The principle involved makes use of the properties of gasvapor mixtures. If a liquid is exposed to an inert atmosphere, it
will evaporate until the atmosphere is saturated with the vapor
of the liquid. This evaporation requires heat which is taken
from the surroundings in which the evaporation takes place. A
cooling effect is thus produced. The partial pressures of the
refrigerant vapor (in this case ammonia) must be low in the
evaporator, and higher in the condenser. The total pressure
throughout the circuit must be constant so that the only
movement of the working fluid is by convection currents. The
partial pressure of ammonia is kept low in requisite parts of the
circuit by concentrating hydrogen in those parts.
The ammonia liquid leaving the condenser enters the
evaporator and evaporates into the hydrogen at the low
temperature corresponding to its low partial pressure. The
mixture of ammonia and hydrogen passes to the absorber into
which is also admitted water from the separator. The water
absorbs the ammonia and the hydrogen returns to the
evaporator. In the absorber the ammonia therefore passes from
the ammonia circuit into water circuit as ammonia in water
solution. This strong solution passes to the generator where it is
heated and the vapor given off rises to the separator. The water
with the vapor is separated out and a weak solution of ammonia
is passed back to the absorber, thus completing the water
circuit. The ammonia vapor rises from the separator to the
condenser where it is condensed and then returned to the
evaporator. The actual plant includes refinements and practical
modifications (which are not included here). The following
points are worth noting: The complete cycle is carried out
entirely by gravity flow of the refrigerant. The hydrogen gas
circulates only from the absorber to the evaporator and back.
With this type of machine efficiency is not important since the
energy input is small. It has not been used for industrial
applications as the C.O.P. of the system is very low.
Thermostatic expansion valve or TEV is one of the most
commonly used throttling devices in the refrigerator and air
conditioning systems. The thermostatic expansion valve is the
automatic valve that maintains proper flow of the refrigerant in

Copyright 2015 by IITJ, ME

Proceedings of the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Laboratory, Blended B.Tech (IIIrd ME)
IIT Jodhpur, India

the evaporator as per the load inside the evaporator. If the load
inside the evaporator is higher it allows the increase in flow of
the refrigerant and when the load reduces it allows the
reduction in the flow of the refrigerant. This leads to highly
efficient working of the compressor and the whole refrigeration
and the air conditioning plant. The thermostatic expansion
valve also prevents the flooding of the refrigerant to the
compressor ensuring that the plant would run safely without
any risk of breakage of the compressor due to compression of
the liquid. The thermostatic expansion valve does not controls
the temperature inside the evaporator and it does not vary the
temperature inside the evaporator as its name may suggest.
Beside the capillary tube, the thermostatic expansion valve is
used widely in the refrigeration and air conditioning systems.
While the capillary tube is used in the small domestic systems,
the thermostatic expansion valve is used in the systems of
higher capacities. It is commonly used in the industrial
refrigeration plants, high capacity split air conditioners,
packaged air conditioners, central air conditioners and many
other systems.

Also, if we dispense too much water from the water cooler

the water comes out warm. This happens when you have
emptied the reservoir because it takes some time for the fresh
water to be cooled within the reservoir.
Electrolux Refrigerator has certain advantages and
disadvantages1. No pump or compressor is required. 2. No mechanical
troubles, maintenance cost is low. 3. No lubrication problem; no
wear and tear. 4. Completely leak proof. 5. Noiseless. 6. No
chance of pressure unbalancing and no need of valves. 7.
System may be designed to use any available source of thermal
energy-process steam, exhaust from engines or turbines, solar
energy etc. 8. Easy control, simply by controlling heat input.

RESULTS
The water cooler system works in almost exactly the same
way as our fridge at home. A compressor compresses a gas, this
causes the temperature of the gas to rise, the gas is then passed
to a condenser where the heat from the gas dissipates and the
gas cools down until it becomes a liquid. Once the gas is cold it
is forced through an expansion valve which causes it to drop in
pressure and become even colder. At this point the gas is
present in the evaporator which absorbs the heat from the water
held in the reservoir. This then heats the refrigerant which then
starts the cycle again. The cycle is kept going using electricity
to drive a pump.
Basic Operation In order to understand the principles of
thermostatic expansion valve operation, a review of its major
components is necessary. A sensing bulb is connected to the
TEV by a length of cap- illary tubing which transmits bulb
pressure to the top of the valves diaphragm. The sensing bulb,
capillary tubing, and diaphragm assembly is referred to as the
thermostatic element. The thermostatic element on all standards
Sporlan TEVs is replaceable. The diaphragm is the actuating
member of the valve. Its motion is transmitted to the pin and
pin carrier assembly by means of one or two pushrods, allowing
the pin to move in and out of the valve port. The superheat
spring is located under the pin carrier, and a spring guide sets it
in place. On externally adjustable valves, an external valve

1) Reduce the pressure of the refrigerant: The first and the

foremost function of the thermostatic expansion valve is to
reduce the pressure of the refrigerant from the condenser
pressure to the evaporator pressure. In the condenser the
refrigerant is at very high pressure. The thermostatic expansion
valve has a constriction or orifice due to which the pressure of
the refrigerant passing through it drops down suddenly to the
level of the evaporator pressure. Due this the temperature of the
refrigerant also drops down suddenly and it produces cooling
effect inside the evaporator.
2) Keep the evaporator active: The thermostatic expansion
valve allows the flow of the refrigerant as per the cooling load
inside it. At higher load the flow of the refrigerant is increased
and at the lower loads the flow is reduced. It wont happen that
the load on the evaporator is high and the flow of the
refrigerant is low thereby reducing the capacity of the
evaporator. The thermostatic expansion valve allows the
evaporator to run as per the requirements and there wont be
any wastage of the capacity of the evaporator. The TEV
constantly modulates the flow to maintain the superheat for
which it has been adjusted.
3) Allow the flow of the refrigerant as per the
requirements: This is another important function of the
thermostatic expansion valve. It allows the flow of the
refrigerant to the evaporator as per the load on it. This prevents
the flooding of the liquid refrigerant to the compressor and
efficient working of the evaporator and the compressor and the
whole refrigeration plant

DISCUSSION
The thermoelectric method of cooling the water relies on
the Peltier effect a Peltier device uses a thermoelectic effect,
this means that when electricity passes through the Peltier
device heat is transported from one side of the device to the
other. This results in cooling on one side of the device and this
is used to cool the water inside your water cooler.

Disadvantages: 1. More complicated in construction and

working. 2. C.O.P. very low. 3. The major disadvantages of this
type of refrigerator are that if it is spoiled once, it cannot be
repaired and has to be replaced fully.
The thermostatic expansion valve performs following
functions

Instructor:Dr Anand Krishnan Plappally

Copyright 2015 by IITJ, ME

Proceedings of the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Laboratory, Blended B.Tech (IIIrd ME)
IIT Jodhpur, India

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I thank MBM Engineering College, Jai NarainVyas
University, for providing us lab space, equipments and other
documentation to help us through the lab. We are grateful to
Workshop, IIT Jodhpur for their services.
REFERENCES
Book[1]Refrigeration and Air Conditioning by Ananthanarayanan.
Webwww.wikipedia.com
PHOTOS-

Expansion valve

Water Cooler

Copyright 2015 by IITJ, ME

ANNEX a
PUT SOME THING EXTRA IF REQUIRED HERE

Put text of Annex here

Photos

Dimensions of each part/ Solid works model of the

Refrigerator / compressor parts