COURSE: PROBLEM SET: DATE: PREPARED BY: PAGE

ME351: Engineering Thermodynamics Class Example 01 03/23/11 Richard Ayala 1 OF 1

An ideal vapor-compression refrigeration cycle operates
at steady state with refrigerant 134a as the working
fluid. Saturated vapor enters the compressor at 2 bar,
and saturated liquid exits the condenser at 8 bar. The
mass flow rate of refrigerant is 7 kg/min. Determine

(a) The compressor power, in kW

(b) The refrigerating capacity, in tons
(c) The coefficient of performance

Solution:
States:
1 At the compressor inlet, P1 = 2 bar, saturated vapor (x = 1.00)
From Table A-11:
h1 = 241.30 kJ/kg, s1 = 0.9253 kJ/kg-K
2 At the compressor exit, P2 = 8 bar and for isentropic flow through the compressor, s2 = s1 = 0.9253 kJ/kg-K
Noting that s2 > sg @ 8 bar, the refrigerant exiting the compressor is superheated
From Table A-12:
Ta = 31C ha = 264.15 kJ/kg sa = 0.9066 kJ/kg-K

Ta = 40 C hb = 273.66 kJ/kg sb = 0.9374 kJ/kg-K
Interpolating:
hb ha
h2 s ha ( s2 sa ) = 269.92 kJ/kg
sb sa
3 At the exit of the condenser, the working fluid is saturated liquid at the condenser pressure
From Table A-11:
h3 = hf = 93.42 kJ/kg
4 Across the throttling valve the enthalpy is constant:
h4 = h3 = 93.42 kJ/kg
Cycle Analysis:
(a) Compressor power:
W c m
( h2 s h1 ) = 3.34 kW
(b) Refrigeration capacity:
m
Q ( h1 h4 ) = 4.91 tons
in
(c) The coefficient of performance for the ideal cycle is
Q h h
in 1 4 = 5.17
Wc h2 s h1