2 EET vn eT ; em cles) SUE UE ELE EELBasic Refrigeration and Air Conditioning es PN Ananthanarayanan Consultant Honorary Life Member of Indian Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE) W7 INA Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited NEW DELHI McGraw-Hill Offices New Delhi New York St Louis San Francisco Auckland Bogota Caracas Kuala Lumpur Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan Montreal SanJuan Santiago Singapore Sydney Tokyo Torontoinformation contained in this work has been obtained by Tata McGraw-Hill, from sources believed to be reliable. However, neither Tata McGraw-Hill nor its authors Jguarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information published herein, and neither [Tata McGraw-Hill nor its authors shall be responsible for any errors, omissions, or Jdamages arising out of use of this information. This work is published with the lunderstanding that Tata McGraw-Hill and its authors are supplying information but are not attempting to render engineering or other professional services. If such services are required, the assistance of an appropriate professional should be sought. NA NZ] Tata McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2005, 1996, 1982, by Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited Third reprint 2006 RALCRRBKRAZQQ No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publishers. The program listings (if any) may be entered, stored and executed in a computer system, but they may not be reproduced for publication. ‘This edition can be exported from India only by the publishers, ‘Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited. ISBN 0-07-049500-9 Published by the Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, 7 West Patel Nagar, New Delhi 110 008, typeset in Baskerville Win95BT at ‘Tej Composers, WZ-391, Madipur Village, New Delhi 110 063 and printed at Ram Book Binding House, C-114 Okhla Industrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi 110 020 Cover Printer: De-UniqueContents Preface to the Third Edition xxi Preface to the First Edition xxiii Density 7 Specific Gravity J Specific Volume 7 Velocity J ‘Temperature 2 Force 2 ‘Work 2 Power 3 3 KineticEnergy 3 Potential Energy 3 Forms of Energy 3 Pressure 4 Atmospheric Pressure _ 4 ‘Vacuum —3 Heat_Z ‘Ton of Refrigeration (Abbreviated asTR) 7 Specific Heat_7 Forms of Matter 9 Sensible Heat _9 Latent Heat 9 Heat Flow _10 Expansion and Contraction _10 ‘Thermodynamic Processes 11 Boyle’sLaw 17 Charle's Law 12 Specific Heat of Gases_12 pH Value—Acidity/Alkalinity 13 Heat Transfer Coefficient 1316 19 ince of Suction and Discharge Pressures in a Vapour-compression System 19 Discharge Temperature 20 Super Heat _2/ Sub-cooling 22 The Refrigerant Cycle 26 Refrigerant Distributer 29 In Evaporator 29 InCompressor 30 InCondenser 30 In Liquid Line _3/ Pressure Drop - Liquid Lift_3/ Pressure Drops in Temperature Units 31 Mollier Diagram or Chart_34 ‘Saturated Liquid and Vapour Curves _37 Mixture Area 37 Throttling Process 40 Vaporizing Process 40 Compression Process 41 Condensing Process 42 Theoretical Horsepower 43 Coefficient of Performance (COP) _44 Heat Rejection 44 Effect on the Cycle Due to Change in Evaporator Pressure (Temperature) 45 Effect on Cycle Due to Ghange in Condensing Pressure 46 Change in Evaporating Pressure (Temperature) 46 Change in Condensing Pressure [Or Temperature] 50 G :Contents | vit Superheating of Suction Gas _5/ Discharge Gas Temperature and Superheating 54 Pressure Drop (PD.) 54 Sub-cooling 58 Components of the Mechanical Vapour Compression Refrigeration System 60 iliaries f ‘ 5 60 Auxiliaries for Plant with Water-cooled Condenser 61 General Auxiliaries 61 Lubrication 62 Properties of Refrigeration Oil 63 Viscosity 63 Acidity 64 Floc Point 64 Pour Point 64 Dielectric Strength 64 Chemical Stability 64 Moisture Content 64 OilReturn 65 Lubricantand Refrigerant Compatibility 66 ‘Ammoniaand Oil_68 Foaming of Oil and Crankcase Electric Heater 68 Liquid Flood Back to Compressor _ 68 Additives 69 OilSeparator 69 Refrigeration Oil—A Specialty Lubricant 70 Refrigerants and Brines 72 Desirable Properties 72 ‘The Pressure~ Temperature Characteristics 72 Low Freezing Point 73 Miscibility of Refrigerant with Lubricating Oil and Oil Return 74 Plant Room Ventilation 75 Properties of Refrigerants in Common Use 75 Refrigerants’ Impacton Environment 77 Ozone Layer—Its Depletion 77 Greenhouse Effect—Global Warming Potential (GWP) 78 Refrigerant Blends 80vit | Contents Zeotropic Blends 81 Alternate Refrigerants 82 Other Applications of CFCs 87 Halogen Free Refrigerants 87 Action Plan 91 Erection-service Sector 91 Short Term and Long Term Plans—Options 92 Secondary Refrigerants—Brines 94 99 Hand-expansion Valve 100 Capillary Tube 100 Constant Pressure Expansion Valve 101 Thermostatic-expansion Valve(TEV) 102 Externally-equalized TEV 105 Measuring Superheat 107 Non Adjustable Valves 108 Power Element Charges 108 ‘Straight Charge’ Valves 108 Cross-charged Valves 110 TEV—Capacity and Selection 110 Low-side Float Valve 112 High-side Float Valve 113 Pilot-operated Liquid-feed Valve 114 Float Switch 115 Level Master Control (LMC) 116 Electronic Expansion Valve (EXV) 117 Solenoid Valves 118 Evaporators 119 TY CAG Dry-expansion Evaporators 120 Flooded Evaporators 120 ‘Typesof Construction 121 Bare-tube Evaporator 121 Plate-surface Evaporators 121 Fined Evaporators 122 Secondary Refrigerant Systems 123 Chillers 123 Oil Return _124 BaudelotCooler 127Double-pipe Evaporators 127 Plate Heat Exchanger-evaporator 127 ‘Tank and Coil 127 Capacity of Evaporators 128 ‘Temperature Difference(TD) 129 Frost Formation 132 Defrosting 132 Checking Evaporator Efficiency 134 Compressor 135 Reciprocating Compressor 136 Principle of Operation of the Reciprocating Compressor _137 Compressor Capacity 149 Pressure Drop in Suction Line 156 Reciprocating Compressor asa Vacuum Pump 156 Power Requirements 157 Compressor Protective Devices _158 Discharge Line Mufflers 159 Liquid Flood Back 159 Compressor Operation at High Ambient _ 161 Capacity-control_162 Variable Speed Method 163 Compressor Cylinder Unloading 163 Gas Pressure Actuated Unloader 166 HotGasBy-pass 167 Parallel Operation of Compressors 169 ‘Three Way Service Shut off Valves 170 Rotary Compressors 171 Screw Compressor 172 ‘Twin (Double Helical) Screw Compressor 172 Principle of Compressor Operation 172 Lubrication 176 Capacity-control 177 Performance 179 Volume Ratio, Over-compression and Under-compression 180 Single Screw Compressor 187 The Suction-compression Process 182 Capacity Control 183 Scroll Compressor 184 Suction-compression Process _185 Capacity Control 187Purge and Recovery System _192 Conventional Type 193 Thermal Purge 194 Throttling Device _195 “Two-stage Compression and Economizer _197 Capacity-control_ 201 ‘TypesofCondensers 203 Air-cooled Condensers 204 Water-cooled Condensers 205 Evaporative Condenser 206 Condenser Capacity and Efficiency 208 Heat Rejection Factor (HRF) 208 Effect of Compression Ratioon the HRF 208 Effect of Fouling of Tubes 2/0 Improvements in Heat Exchangers (Applicable to Evaporators Also) 2/1 Cooling Tower 213 Load 2/4 ‘Type of Cooling Towers 215 Atmospheric (Or Natural Draft) Tower (Fig 15.1) 2/5 Mechanical Draft Towers 2/5 Cooling Pond 218 Water-quality 2/8 Bleed off 2/9 Algae 219 Ozone Treatment of Cooling Tower Water 220 Ozone and Ozone Generator 220 Properties of Air 223 Moisture or Water Vapour 224 Relative Humidity 225 Absolute Humidity 226 Dew Point 226 Water Vapour Barrier in Low Temperature Jobs 227Water Vapour Content in Air—Its Influence on Load 228 Specific Humidity 229 Dry Bulb and Wet Bulb Temperatures 229 Sling Thermometer or Psychrometer 229 Heat Content or Enthalpy of Air 230 Psychrometric Chart 233 Dry Bulb Temperature (DB) 233 Wet Bulb Temperature (WB) 233 Relative Humidity % (RH) 236 Dew Point Temperature 237 Moisture Content 237 Enthalpy or Total Heat Content 237 Specific Volume 237 Method of Using the Psychrometric Chart 238 Heating and Humidifying 243 Cooling (only) 246 Cooling and Dehumidification 247 Air Conditioning (Cooling) 249 Mixing of Air of Different Conditions 249 By-pass of Return-air 257 Evaporative Cooling 251 Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Systems General Description 253 Refrigeration Systems 253 Air Conditioning Systems 253 Comfort Conditions 254 Ventilation and ‘Indoor Air Quality’ (IAQ) 255 Chapter 19 eration Systems 262 The Domestic Refrigerator and Freezer 262 Refrigeration Equipment 264 Drinking Water Cooler 267 Refrigeration Unit 269 Central System for Drinking Water Coolers 270 Cold Storages and Low-temperature Applications 270 Quick Freezing 272 Ice Manufacturing 273 Milk Processing 274 ‘Transport Refrigeration 275xxii | Contents Multistage Compression Systems 275 Compound Systems 276 Cascade System 277 Self Contained Cascade System 278 Room Air Conditioners 280 Installation 284 Split Units 285 Dehumidifiers 286 Package Air Conditioner 286 Central Air Conditioning Plants 290 DXSystem 290 Chilled Water System 292 Chilled Water Air-washer 292 Cooling Coil System 296 Reheat 296 Cooling with Humidification 296 DX and Chilled Water Systems—A Comparison 297 ‘Treated Fresh Air 300 Chilled Water Distribution to the Coils 300 Reverse-return System 302 Chilled Water for Industrial Processing 304 Humidification and Evaporative Cooling 304 Humidification Process 305 Saturation or Air-washer Efficiency 307 Humidification Plant for Textile Mills/Textile Processing 312 Desert Coolers 314 Dehumidification By Desiccants 314 Fans 317 Classes of Fans 318 TypesofFans 318 Centrifugal Fans 319 Axial-flow Fans 321 Measuring Instruments 322 Fan Performance 327 System Resistance Characteristic Curves 329 Static Efficiency 331 Centrifugal Fans or Blowers 332 Forward Curved Blade Blowers 333Fan Laws 334 Speed 334 Diameter of Fan 335 Air Distribution System 336 Air-handling Units 339 Constant Air Volume (CAV) and Variable Air Volume Systems (VAV) 341 Air Filtration 343 Air Filters 343 Fitting and Maintenance of Filters 346 Duct Systems 348 Changes in Direction 349 Change in Velocity Due to Contraction/Expansion in Duct Size 349 Elbows 353 Heat Gain or Loss in Ducts 355 Aspect Ratio 355 Duct Design 359 Equal Friction Method 359 Velocity Reduction Method 359 Static Regain Method 360 Duct Fabrication 360 Clean Rooms 363 Classification 363 Air Flow Pattern in Clean Rooms 365 Conventional or Non-laminar Flow Clean Rooms 365 Laminar Air Flow Pattern 365 Construction 367 Air Filters 367 Thermal Insulation 369 Water Vapour Barrier 370 Selection of Insulating Material 370 Insulating Materials 371 Vapour Barrier 373 Method of Laying 374 Duct Insulation 374xiv | Contents _ Chilled Water Piping/Refrigerant Suction Line 374 Cold Storages 375 Acousticand Vibration Elimination Properties 376 Controls 377 ‘Operating Controls 378 “Two Position or Snap Action Controls—Thermostatic Switch 380 Proportioning Thermostat—Electrical Type 382 Pneumatic Controls 384 Microprocessor-based Controls 386 Control ofthe System Capacity 386 Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) 386 Fluid Flow (Controlled) Devices 387 Evaporator (or Back) Pressure Regulating Valve 390 Safety Controls 391 Pressure Switches—High Pressure and Low Pressure Switches 391 Fusible Plug and Pressure Relief Valve 391 Antifreeze Thermostat 392 Oil Safety Switch 392 Electrical Overloads 393 ‘Time Delay Relay (TDR) 394 Motor Winding Protection Thermostat and Bearing Thermostat 394 Flow Switch 394 Fire Damper and Smoke Damper 394 Building Automation System (BAS) or Building Management System 395 Vapour Absorption Refrigeration 398 Ammonia-absorption Machines 400 Lithium Bromide Absorption (Chilled Water) System 401 Lithium Bromide 401 Lithium Bromide Equilibrium Diagram 403, Lithium Bromide Absorption System 403 Judging the Performance of the System 410 The Double Effect or Two-stage Absorption Machine 415 Purge 418 Capacity-control 422 Controls 424 Crystallization 424 Decrystallization 427 Operation and Maintenance 428ae? Heat Load 430 Apparatus Dew Point (ADP) 432 Heat Load Estimation 432 Comfort Air Conditioning and Effective Temperature 433 Heat Load Estimation Form 434 A. Effective Room Sensible Heat Gain (ERSH) 434 B, Effective Room Latent Heat Gain(ERLH) 439 C. Effective Room Total Heat Gain (ERTH) 440 D. Outside Air Heat 440 E, Return Duct HeatGain 441 F Grand Total Heat (GTH) 441 Diversity of Cooling Loads 441 Determination of Air Quantity (M°/Min. or Cfm) 442 Cold Storage and Low-temperature Applications 445 100% Fresh Air Applications 447 Heat Load Estimation for Humidification Plant 449 Equipment Selection 451 DX Chiller Selection 454 Flooded Chiller 454 Compressor Selection 455 Condenser Selection 458 Water-cooled Condenser Selection 459 Evaporative Condenser 461 Air-cooled Condenser 462 Selection of the Thermostatic Expansion Valve (TEV) 462 Determination of PD. Acrossa TEV 464 Sizing of the Refrigerant Pipes 464 System Balance 465 Energy Saving through Design, Operation and Maintenance 467 Design Aspects 467 Gold Storage and Low-temperature Applications 470 ‘Thermal Energy Storage System 470 Chilled Water System 471 Operation and Maintenance 471 Normal Working Pressures 473 Operation 475xvi | Contents Heat Recovery System and Heat Pump 479 Heat Recovery System 480 Equipments for Heat Recovery 480 Heat Pump 486 For Either Cooling or Heating ata Time 486 Simultaneous Cooling and Heating Applications 488 Refrigerant Piping 491 Pressure Drop 491 OilReturn 492 U-loopor Trap 494 Suction Line 494 HotGas Line 496 Liquid Line 496 Laying of Refrigerant Lines 497 Parallel Operation of Compressors 500 ‘Water Piping 505 Installation, Erection and Field Practices 507 Pipe Work 507 Flared Joints 508 Soldered/Brazed Joints 509 Steel Pipes 511 Joints 512 Pipe Supports 512 Erection 513 House-keeping 514 Refrigerant Piping 514 Compressor 516 Air Cooled Condenser-Installation 516 Water Piping 517 Cold Storages and Low-temperature Installations 517 Air-handling Unit (AHU) and Ducting 518 Duct 520 Controls and Control Circuits 521 Alignmentof Drives 521 Pressure Testing 524 Evacuation and Dehydration 526 Standing Vacuum Test 526 Chilled Water Systems 526Pump Piping Layout 527 Common Condensate Drain for Multiple AHU's 528 Special Tools and Measuring Instruments 529 Leak Detector 529 Electronic Leak Detector 529 Thermometers 530 Vapour Pressure Thermometer (Dial Thermometer) 530 Resistance Thermometer 531 Pressure Gauges 531 Electric Meters 531 Instruments for Air Side Measurement 532 Liquid Flow Meters 533 Evacuation and Dehydration 534 Vacuum 535 Dehydration 536 Vacuum Pump 538 Air Ballast in Vacuum Pumps 539 Vacuum Pump Oil 539 Vacuum Pump Connecting Points and Pipes 539 Standing Vacuum Test 540 Commissioning and Evaluation of System Performance 541 Test Operations on Commissioning 543 Performance of Plant 546 A. What the Plantis Expected to Achieve 546 B. Designed Conditions and Details 546 Operation and Routine Maintenance 552 Operating Procedures 552 Starting Sequence and Importance/Significance of Each Step 553 Stopping Sequence 556 Routine Maintenance 556 fe ycageieag Preventive Maintenance, Service and Troubleshooting 559 Maintenance 560 Anticipation of Failure 560xviii | Contents Operating Plant at Design Efficiency 560 Compressor 561 A. Reduction of Volumetric Efficiency 561 B. Clearance Volume 567 C. Suction Vapour Superheating 568 Care of Other Components of the System 569 Air-cooled Condenser 569 Water-cooled Condenser 569 Checking Condenser 570 Descaling of Condenser Water Tubes 571 Evaporator 572 Preventive Steps 572 Evaporator Efficiency 573 Electrical Circuits and Controls 573 Starer and Control Contacts 574 ‘Troubleshooting 575 Case Studies 576 Case Study No. 1 576 Case Study No.2 576 Case Study No.3 577 Case Study No.4 577 Case Study No.5 578 Case Study No.6 578 Case Study No.7 578 Case Study No.8 580 Case Study No.9 580 Case Study No. 10 580 Case Study No. 11 581 Case Study No. 12 581 Case Study No. 18 581 Case Study No. 14. 582 Case Study No. 15 582 Tips for Analyzing the Case Studies 583 Hermetic/Semi-Hermetic Compressor—Reoperating A Burnt System Causes of Burn Out 584 Voltage Fluctuation 584 Low Refrigerant Charge 584 Quality of Oil and Refrigerant 585 High Discharge Pressure 585 Effects of Burn Outon the System 585 Filter-drier Cleaning Procedure 586=a 603 Tabie No. A.1 Metric terms 603 A.2 Conversion factors 604 A.3 Conversion table (Feet to Metres) 607 AA Temperature conversion chart. 610 AS. Properties of solids 611 A.6 (IP & Metric units) Refrigerant properties at saturation (in IP & Metric units) :R 11, R 12, R 22, R717, R123, Rl34a_ 613 ALT Friction loss in round ducts’ 637 A.8 Equivalent duct sizes—round to rectangular 638 A.9 Wire and sheet metal gauges 639 10. Dry saturated steam table 639 A.11 Outdoor design data 640 A12 Apparatus dew point ADP 646 A.13 Check list for cooling and estimates 650 Liquid chilling load calculation method 651 A.14 Brine and glycol chilling load 652 A.15 Mean effective temperature difference (METD) 656 A.16 Equivalent length of non ferrous valves and fittings 660 A.17. Dimensions of type L copper tubing 660 A.18. Friction loss for closed piping systems (water) 661 19. Friction loss for open systems (water) 662 4.20 Equivalent length of fittings and values. 663 A21 Sewer c ities 663 Retrofitting CFC systems with alternate refrigerant 664 * Calculating the system refrigerant charge and storage capacity of water-cooled condenser 665 Suggested history sheet for an air conditioning plant 666 Specimen log sheets for plant room readings DX and chilled water plant 668 Common electrical drawing symbols 670 Indian Standards (I.S.) for refrigeration air conditioning and ventilation 673 Some important institutes, societies, associations connected with air conditioning and refrigeration all over the world 675Preface to the Third Edition The first edition of Basic Refrigeration and Air Conditioning was published in 1982. It dealt with the fundamentals, their application and the practical aspects — a small book to help the ACR installation-service personnel. The appreciation and suggestions from the wide circle of users of the book, including knowledgeable professionals, gave the impetus for bringing out the second edition (in 1996). It was a highly enlarged edition, presenting the topics in greater depth with a number of additional chapters to cover the wider aspects of the subject combined with a fair insight into application design and systems. Now this third edition reflects the epochal changes brought about in the industry in the wake of the discovery of the ozone hole, reasons for its depletion and equally weighty aspect of ‘global warming’/ ‘green house effect’— all calling for fast preventive action to arrest further deterioration of the protective umbrella of ozone layer in the stratosphere and global warming [Montreal Protocol and Kyoto Agreement]. Thus the chapters on Refrigerants & Brines and Lubrication have been completely rewritten to cover the developments due to the phase out of the CFC refrigerants, introduction of substitute refrigerants and associated changes in the lubricants for compatibility with the alternate refrigerants. As a corollary to these changes, the chapter on Hermetic (sealed) Compressor Unit has been revised completely, detailing the ‘special filter-drier’ procedure for system cleaning adopted by the industry, in reoperating a burnt system instead of the earlier practice of cleaning with R 11(a CEC) circulation, which obviously is not conducive to the environment and hence not acceptable. Also the chapter on ‘Controls’ has been completely rewritten, to cover this topic in depth, highlighting the necessity of controls, the various types of (electrical, pneumatic, electronic & microprocessor-based) controls. Apart from the complete revision of some chapters, fresh text has also been added in most of the other chapters, to elaborate specific topics. Some of the important additions are: Electronic expansion valve; Twin and Single screw compressors; Scroll compressor; Indoor Air Quality (IAQ); Variable air volume (VAV) systems; Dehumidification with desiccant; Frost free refrigerator; Liquid lift, Pressure drop in liquid lines, Liquid sub-cooling, Economizer; Compression Ratio, Refrigerant tables in IP & metric units, etc. Conscious effort has been made to retain simple and easy-to-read English — a style which has drawn appreciation from the users and comments such as “the author has to be complimented for extensive coverage of the subject and that too in simple English” from the reviewers. The magnitude of expansion of the refrigeration and air conditioning industry has been phenomenal, with a variety of equipment and applications, all of which cannot be covered ina single_zait | Preface tothe Third Baton book of this nature. Therefore the stress and aim of this edition, as for the earlier ones, has been to bridge the gap between basic theoretical concepts and practical aspects and to be an instrument to understand the subject for students, the practicing personnel, young entrant engineers, etc. I am indebted to the constructive reviews and valuable suggestions from experienced and knowledgeable professionals and also for the very cooperative approach of the publishers, both of which have immensely helped me in this humble endeavour. 1 hope this third edition will become an even better learning tool and will get still warmer reception from the students and the industry. PN AnanthanarayananPreface to the First Edition This book is meant for students as well as young engineers and servicemen in the field of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning. ‘An imaginative and experienced engineer/serviceman should be able to tell from the various pressure and temperature readings whether the system is operating satisfactorily or not. By analysing these readings, he can get to the root cause of the problem and decide on the corrective action without depending on mere guesswork or hit-and-miss methods. Experience, no doubt, isa great teacher and a valuable asset. However, the supreme importance ofa sound working knowledge of underlined principles should not be overlooked. Without it, mere experience cannot goa long way. I have endeavoured in this book to explain in simple language the basic principles of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning and also how these principles can be intelligently applied in the working field. The worked out examples which form a part of this book demonstrate the application of theory to practical problems, It is my belief that the engineer/serviceman will greatly benefit by analysing live-case studies. With this end in view, a number of case studies have been included in the book. A few of these case studies have also been analysed for the purpose of guidance. Each and every case study should be analysed in group discussions. A few questions are appended to each chapter for self-assessment. PN AnanthanarayananChapter 1 Fundamentals For an understanding of refrigeration and air conditioning, itis necessary to know some fundamen- tal concepts, technical/scientific terms, definitions and measurements. The important points are briefly reviewed in this chapter. DENSITY The density of a material is the weight per unit volume of the material. Density is expressed as grams per cubic centimetre or pounds per cubic foot. The density of water is I g/cc. or 62.4 Ib/cu. ft. SPECIFIC GRAVITY The specific gravity or relative densi density of water at 4° C, i.e. y of a substance is the ratio of the density of the substance to the density of the substance density of water ‘Thus, if the specific gravity of steel is 7.8, its density will be: 7.8 x 62.4 = 486.72 Ib/cu. ft in the FPS system or 7.8% I = 7.8 g/cc in the metric system. Since the density of water in the metric system is I g/cc, the density and specific gravity of a substance in the metric system are numerically the same. Specific gravity = SPECIFIC VOLUME The specific volume of a substance is the volume occupied by unit weight of the material, i.e. ce/g. or cu. fib. By definition it will be clear that specific volume is the reciprocal of density ic. Specific volume = oy VELOCITY Velocity is the rate of change of position of the body along a straight line in a particular direction. This is expressed as the distance covered by the body in unit time.In the metric system: metre per minute or metre per second In the FPS system: feet per minute (fpm) or feet per second (fps) ‘TEMPERATURE ‘Temperature is an indication of the level of heat in a substance. A substance at a temperature of 10°C has more heat in it than the same substance at a temperature of 0°C. The temperature of a substance however does not give an idea of the amount of heat the substance has. A thermometer is an instrument used for the measurement of temperature. Two temperature scales are in common use today: the Fahrenheit scale and the Celsius or centigrade scale. Celsius (Centigrade) Scale The melting point of ice is 0°C and the boiling point of water is 100°C. The interval between these two points is divided into 100 equal divisions and each division is called one degree celsius (1°C). Fahrenheit Scale The melting point ofice is fixed as 32°F and the boiling point of water is taken as 212°F. The interval between the twois divided into 180 equal divisions and cach divisions is called one degree Fahrenheit (1°F). Absolute Temperature (Rankin) Scale ‘The absolute zero on this scale (expressed as °R) is —460°F. So to arrive at the absolute temperature of a substance expressed in °F, add 460 to the given temperature, e.g. absolute temperature of ice melting is 32°F + 460 = 492°R. Absolute Temperature (Kelvin) Scale ‘The absolute zero on this scale is (~) 273°C. So the melt- ing point of ice on the Kelvin absolute scale is 0°C + 273 = 273 K. When we want to move an object, we push it or pull it, ie., we use force. Anything that: (1) sets a body in motion or (2) brings a moving body to rest or (3) changes the direction of a moving body is ‘force’. Force is measured in weight units such as pound or kilogram. The unit of force is that, which when applied toa body of unit mass (kg or Ib) gives ita unit acceleration (m/s/s or fi/s/s). The unit of force is ‘Newton’ in SI system and ‘Pound’ in the ‘FPS’ system. ‘WORK When a force acting on a body moves the body, ‘work’ is said to be done. The amount of work done is the product of the force and distance through which the body is moved. The work done is expressed in the same unit of force and distance. If the force used is expressed in pounds, the distance should be in foot and work then is expressed as foot-pound. In the metric system it is gm- cm or ‘erg’. Seen) ‘Awater pump pumps 400 gallons (imperial) of water in 10 minutes against a net height of 80 ft. Find the work done by the pump in 10 minutes: Weight of 400 gal. of water pumped = 400 x 10 = 4000 Ib Work done = 4000 Ib x 80 ft (distance ) = 3,20,000 ft Ib W=Fxd_Rindamencals | 3. POWER Power is the rate of doing work. So power is the work done divided by the time required to do the work. Power is expressed in terms of ‘horsepower’. One horsepower is defined as the power re- quired to do work at the rate of 33,000 fi Ib/min. or 550 ft Ib/s. In the example of the water pump, we found that 3,20,000 fi Ib of work was done in 10 min. by the pump in lifting 400 gal. of water. Hence, 3,20,000 10 x 33,000 In SI units = (0.97 x 746) joules/second Horsepower required = = 0.97 hp The energy of a body is its capacity to do work. It is measured by the total amount of work that the body can do. Energy is of two kinds: (1) kinetic energy (2) potential energy. Kinetic Energy This is the energy a body possesses by virtue of motion or velocity, such as a speeding bullet, the moving parts of a machine, etc. The amount of kinetic energy a body possesses is determined by the equation, Mxv? 2B where K = kinetic energy in ft Ib, M = weight of the body in Ib, V = velocity in fi/s and g = acceleration due to gravity (32.2 fi/s*). Potential Energy This is the energy a body possesses by virtue ofits position. A body situated at a height is said to have potential energy. The potential energy of a body is given by the equation, P=MxZ the vertical distance above where P = potential energy in ft-lb, M = weight of the body in Ib and some reference point. 4000 gal. (imperial) of water is stored in a tank located 100 ‘ft above the ground: The potential ‘energy of the water in relation to the ground is, (4000 x 10 tb) x 100 ft = 40,00,000 ft-lb Forms of Energy All energy can be classified as either kinetic or potential. However, energy may appear in different forms, such as mechanical, electrical, chemical, heat, etc. They can be readily converted from one form to another. For example electrical energy is converted to heat energy in an electrical heater,4 | Basie Refrigeration and Air Conditioning electrical energy is converted to mechanical energy in a motor, solenoid valve, etc. mechanical energy, chemical and heat energy are converted into electrical energy in the generator, battery and thermocouple respectively. PRESSURE Pressure is the force exerted per unit area. Whenever a force is evenly distributed over an area, the pressure at any point on the contact surface is the same and can be calculated by dividing the force by the toal area over which the force is applied. Pressure is expressed in units, such as pounds per square inch (psi), pounds. per square foot (psf), grams per square centimetre (g/cm*), kilograms per square centimetre (kg/cm*), kilograms per square metre (kgm’), etc. Seen A water tank 4 ft long, 3 ft wide and 5 ft high is filled with water up to a height of 4 ft. Find the Pressure exerted by the water on the bottom of the tank. Quantity of water = 4 x 3 x 4 = 48 cu. ft Weight of water = 48 x 62.4 = 2995.2 Ib Area of the bottom of the tank = 4x 3 x 144 = 1728 sq. in. Pressure exerted by the water = 202 = 1.73 Ib per sq. in. ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE We live at the bottom of a sea of air mixed with water vapour, some fifty miles deep. Both water vapour have weight. A column of this air, one square centimeter (one square inch) in cross section extending upwards to about 80 kin (50 miles) weighs 1.033 kg (14.696 Ibs). So every square cm (square in) of land, sea, person or article bears a weight of 1.033 kg (14.7 Ibs). Thus we say that the atmospheric pressure at the sea level is 1.033 kg/em* [14.7 Ib per square inch (psi)]- Actually the weight of the air-water vapour mixture does not remain constant but varies somewhat, depending on the temperature, amount of water vapour, ete. But forall practical purposes the atmospheric pres- sure at the sea level is taken as 1,033 kg/cm* (14.7 psi). As we go up a mountain, obviously the weight of the air exerted becomes less, thus the atmospheric pressure becomes less on a mountain. Using the same argument as we go down below the sea level, say, inside a mine, the atmospheric pressure increases. Roughly for every 300 metres (thousand feet) change in altitude from sea level, the atmo- spheric pressure varies by about 0.035 kg/cm” (0.5 psi). Atmospheric pressure is measured with the help of a barometer (Fig. 1.1). Barometer is a glass tube about 36” long closed at one end is filled with mercury. The open end of the tube is covered with a finger and then inverted into an open dish containing mercury. When the finger is removed from the tube end, the mercury column in the tube falls down to a certain height leaving an almost perfect vacuum in the closed end of the tube. The pressure exerted by atmospheric air on the surface of the mercury in the dish causes the column of mercury in tube to stand. Therefore, the height of the mercury column in the barometer gives a measure of the atmospheric pressure. At sea level the mercury column will be 76 cm (29.921”). The weight of 76 cc (29.92 cu. in) of mercury is 1.033 kg (14.696 Ib). Thus the atmospheric pressure at sea level can push up a column of mercury in avacuum tube to a height of 29.921” or 760 mm. So we say that the atmospheric pressure at sea level is 1.033, kg/cm? (14.7 psi) or 760 mm (29.921”) of mercury, writ- ten as 760 mm or 29.921” Hg. ‘Hg’ stands for the latin name hydrargyrum for mercury. Thus 1 psi pressure equals 29.921/14.696 = 2.036” (51.7 mm) of the mer- cury column, VACUUM Referring to Fig. 1.1 of the barometer, we find that the space above the mercury column in the tube is devoid of anything (air or any other material) this space is said to be under vacuum. However in scientific and technical parlance the word vacuum is used to indicate how low the pressure inside a closed space is with respect to (Fig 4.1) Barometer SSS atmospheric. By some means let us allow a very slight amount ofair ora gasinto the space at the top of the barom- eter. This air or gas will exert some pressure, There- fore, the mercury column which was at 760 mm ‘Space filed with air of one pound per square inch pressure and the space is said to be (29.921”) height will now fall slightly—to the extent Poorer vacuum to the pressure of air or gas admitted into the top of oa the tube. Let us assume that the pressure of the air space has a pressure of admitted is one psi, which is equal to 51.7 mm Efe 2.096" (6.17 mm) Hg (2.036”) Hg. So the mercury column will falldown — §|§ por eeuere heh sbeotute by 51.7 mm (2.036") due to the pressure ofthe air 3/8 admitted and the height of the mercury columnwill = © 5 now be 760 - 51.7 = 708.3 mm (29.921 ~2.036= 8/8 27.885”) (Fig. 1.2). The space above the mercury & ‘Atmospheric column in the tube is no more a perfect vacuum but pressure has some air or gas though the pressure of the air or gasinside is very much below atmospheric pressure. And the space, in technical terms tobe under a ‘vacuum of 708.3 mm (27.885) of mercury’. This (Fig. 1.2) Illustrating vacuum with barometer means that the space has a pressure less than atmo- spheric by 708.3 mm (27.885) Hg or in other words, the space has a pressure of 51.7 mm (2.036”) Hg (760 — 708.3 = 51.7 mm) (29.921 - 27.885 = 2.036”) only as against the atmospheric pressure of 760 mm (29.921”) Hg. So when we use the word ‘vacuum in refrigeration trade, we make a comparison between the pressure of space and the atmosphere. For example, we draw a vacuum ina refrigeration system and read on the vacuum gauge a figure of 711.2 mm (28”) Hg. This means the system is not under a perfect vacuum but there is still slight air or gas left inside which exerts a pressure of 29.921 - 28 = 1.921” Hg. (48.8 mm Hg.) or 1.921/2.036 = 0.94 psi (0.066 kg/cm’). In the technical field we use the word ‘vacuum’ to denote the pressure ofa space which is below atmospheric pressure and the word ‘gauge pressure’ for pressures above atmospheric. In both, Mercury6 | Basie Refrigeration ant AtrConationing atmospheric pressure is referred to as the base at ‘zero’. So when we say that a system has a pre of 2.11 kg/sq.cm gauge (30 psi gauge) we mean that the system has a pressure of 2.11 kg/cm? above atmospheric and the actual or true pressure is 2.11 kg/cm* plus the atmospheric pressure of 1.03 kg/cm’, i.e. 3.14 kg/cm? (30 psi + 14.7 psi = 44.7). The ‘true’ pressure is referred to as the absolute pressure (to distinguish it from gauge pressure) and is written as kg/em® A (PSIA) and the gauge pressure is abbreviated as kg/cm?G (psig). ‘The commercial gauges which are commonly used show the atmospheric pressure as ‘zero’ and the pressure readings give pounds per square inch or kilograms per square centimetre and vacuum gauges indicate inches of Hg or millimetres of Hg. There are gauges which have both vacuum and pressure readings incorporated and these are called ‘compound gauges’. (1) The gauge reading of a refrigerant cylinder is 150 PSIG. Whats the absolute pressure ? Absolute pressure = 150 + 14.7 = 164.7 PSIA (2) Acompound gauge fixed on a system reads 200 mm vacuum. What is the absolute pressure of the system (atmospheric pressure (assumed) = 760 mm) ? Absolute pressure of the system = 760-200 = 560 mm Hg (22.05? Hg) = -560_ 2 = 22.05 = 795.72 7 0-76kolom"A or = Dong = 10.8 PSIA Micron In refrigeration and many other scientific and industrial applications, very high vacuum has to be drawn in the systems. To facilitate expressing the extremely small absolute pressures (vacuum) correctly, the smaller unit ‘micron’ is used. A micron isa millionth part ofa metre which in turn is equal to 1000 mm. So one micron is 10° _ 1 FoF = ph 7 2.001 mm By employing the small unit ‘micron’, we avoid the use of decimals. For example instead of saying that the system has an absolute pressure of 0.1 mm Hg we can express itas 100 micron Hg (0.10 mm. Hg/0.001 mm = 100 micron Hg). There are mercury (McCleod gauge) and electronic gauges to measure very low absolute pressures in systems under vacuum. These gauges show the absolute pressure inside a system in microns. These micron gauges are used to measure the vacuum of a system during and after evacuation. After a refrigeration system is deeply evacuated, the reading on the micron gauge showed 50 micron. This means that pressure of the air or gas left in the system after evacuation has a pressure of 50 microns = 50 x 0.001 = 0.05 mm Hg = 0.002" Hg absolute or 760 —0.05 = 759.95 mm Hg vacuum or 29.921” —0.002” = 29.919” Hg vacuumSince refrigeration systems should be evacuated toa high level of vacuum, micron gauges should be used to measure the absolute pressure in the evacuated system. Heat is a form of energy. When we talk of heat we generally think of something hot. Thatis, we really think of ‘temperature’ instead of heat, for it is by its temperature that we recognize that an object has heat in it. Ifit had absolutely no heat, its temperature would be ‘absolute zero’ which is about 273°C below 0°C or 460°F below 0°F of the ordinary thermometers used. Thus ice at - 10°C has some heat in it, but has less heat or is colder than ice at 0°C. The temperature reading of a substance, however, does not give an idea of the amount of heat (it only shows that the substance has more heat in it than the same substance ata lower temperature); just as the height of water in a tank cannot give us an idea of the amount of water in the tank. To know the quantity of water in the tank, we should also know the area of the tank. Similarly, to ascertain the amount of heat in a substance, we should know other factors, such as mass (weight) and specific heat, in addition to temperature. Units of Heat To measure the amount of heat, we have heat units: calorie in the metric (cgs) system and the ‘British thermal unit’ (BTU) in the British (fps) system. One calorie is the amount of heat to be added (removed) to raise (lower) the temperature of one gram of water by one degree celsius (1°C). As calorie is a small unit, kilocalorie (kcal) is used. One kilocalorie is equal to 1000 calories, ie., it is the amount of heat to be added (removed) to raise (lower) the temperature of one kilogram of water by 1°C. One BTU is defined as the amount of heat to be added (removed) to raise (lower) the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit (1°F). 1 kilocalorie (kcal) = 3.97 BTU Ton of Refrigeration (Abbreviated as TR) This term is used to indicate the capacity of the refrigeration and air conditioning system and is equal to the heat removal required to freeze one metric tonne of water at 0°C(32°F) into ice in 24 hours, that is, a heat removal rate of : (2000 Ib) x (144 Btu /Ib) 24hrs (144 Buub-latent heat of solidification of water at 32°F) = 12,000 Btu/hr or 3024 kcal/hr or 3.52 kilo-watt (kW) (It should be noted that the word ‘ton’ in ton of refrigeration’ should be spelled only as ‘on’, as it represents the heat unit as distinguished from the weight unit spelled as ‘tonne’). (2000 Ib being the weight of one metric tonne of water) Specific Heat The heat required to be added/removed to raise/lower the temperature of unit mass ofa substance by unit degree varies from substance to substance. Water requires the highest amount of heat as com- pared to any other substance. The heat required to raise the temperature of unit mass ofa substance by unit degree as compared to that required by water is the ‘Specific Heat’ of that substance. Since by definition the heat unit (calorie or BTU) is the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of unit mass of water (1 gm or 1 Ib) by unit degree (I°C or I°F), the specific heat of a substance is theheat required (calorie or BTU), to raise the temperature of its unit mass (1 gm/I Ib) through unit degree (1°C or 1°F). ie. calorie/gm (BTU/Ib) Thus when we say that steel has a specific that of 0.118, we mean that steel takes only 11.8% of heat compared to water to raise its temperature by one degree. Specific heat, being a comparison (ratio) between two items, is a numerical value and is therefore the same in both FPS and metric systems. The specific heat of some of the commonly used substances are given below: Aluminium 0.23 Asbestos 0.195, Brick 0.22 Concrete 0.27 Copper 0.093 Ice (at 20°F) 0.48 Mercury 0.033 Sea water 0.94 Air ‘Steam (at | psi) 0.45 Calcium R-12 (gasat 110°F) 0.141 chloride brine (20% solution) R-22 (gas at 110°F) 0.1558 Sodium 0.81 R-11 (gas at 110°F) 0.1374 chloride brine (20% solution) McMeel rd How much heat will have to be removed or added: 1. To cool 1000 litres of water from 10°C to 5°C Weight of 1000 litres of water = 1000 kg Heat to be removed to cool water from 10°C to 5°C, ie. by 5°C (specific heat of water = 1) = 1000 kg x 5°C x 1 = 5000 kcal ‘To cool 300 US gal of water from 53°F to 45°F Weight of 300 US gal. of water = 300 x 8.33 Ibs Heat to be removed to coo! 300 gal. of water from 53°F to 45°F, i.e. by 8°F = 2500 Ibs x 8 x 1 = 20000 BTU ‘To coo! 1000 litres of calcium chloride brine from 2°C to—3°C (specific heat of brine = 0.73, specific gravity of brine = 1.182) Weight of 1000 litres of brine = 1000 x 1.182 = 1182 kg Heat to be removed to cool from 2°C to - 3°C, i.e. by 5°C = 1182 x 5x 0.73 = 4314.3 kcal To.cool 100 kg of potatoes from 25°C to 5°C Specific heat of potato 0.86 = 100 x 20 x 0.86 = 1720 kcal 5. To raise the temperature of 1000 litres of water from 25°C to 50°C 1000 (kg) x 1x 25 = 25000 kcal fe » >Fundamentals | 9 Forms of Matter Matter exists in three different forms—solid, liquid and vapour or gas. Take water for instance: up to 0°C (32°F), it exists as a solid (ice): at 0°C (32°F) it becomes a liquid (water) in which condition it exists up to 100°C; and at 100°C (212°F) it turns into its gaseous form, i.e. steam. Sensible Heat When a solid is heated, it gets warmer. This heat can be felt by touching the substance or measured with a thermometer. Hence it is called ‘sensible heat’, ie. heat that can be detected by the sense of touch. Let us again take the example of ice (water in solid form) at a temperature of - 10°C. Ice at -10°C when heated, rises in temperature up to 0°C (32°F). The heat absorbed by the ice to raise its temperature from — 10°C to 0°C is therefore sensible heat and it takes about 0.48 kal of heat to raise the temperature of 1 kg of ice by 1°C or 0.48 BTU for 1 Ib of ice through 1°F (0.48 is the specific heat ofice). Latent Heat Any further heat added to ice at 0°C changes the ‘solid’ ice to ‘liquid’ water. During this change of state, the temperature remains constant, ie. 0°C (82°F). It requires a great deal of heat energy for this change of state, and the quantity of heat needed for the change is called ‘latent heat of fusion’. One kg of ice at 0°C requires about 80 kcal of heat for changing its state to water at 0°C (144 BTU per Ib ofice). The liquid water at 0°C (82°F) when heated rises in temperature, taking sensible heat (one kcal for one kg of water for I°Crise or one BTU for one lb of water for 1°F rise in temperature). This holds true up to 100°C (212°F). At 100°C (212°F) any further addition of heat does not raise the tempera- ture of water, but instead goes to change the liquid water to its gaseous form, namely steam. This heat is called ‘latent heat of vaporization’. One kg of water requires 538.75 kcal of heat to change its state from the liquid to the gaseous state at 100°C/212°F (970 BTU/b of water). Enthalpy Enthalpy, also known as ‘total heat content’ is the measure of heat contained in a sub- stance. Enthalpy of vapour is the sum total of sensible heat and latent heat. Enthalpy tables for refrigerants are based on an arbitrary base of - 40°C (— 40°F). Boiling Point ‘The temperatures of 0°C (32°F) and 100°C (212°F) at which ice changes into water (melting point) and water into steam (boiling point) respectively, apply at the atmospheric pressure at sea level only. If the pressure on the surface of a liquid is higher than the atmospheric pressure, the boiling point of the liquid also goes higher, and if the pressure is less than atmospheric, the boiling point becomes lower. For example, if the pressure of water is 0.7 kg/cm* the boiling point will be 113.9°C or if the pressure is reduced below atmospheric, say 508 mm vacuum, the boiling point will be 71.7°C. When we say that the boiling point of R-12 is- 21°F (29°C), it means that R 12 will boil at this temperature if its pressure is equal to the atmospheric pressure, i.e. 0 gauge Pr. at sea level. Thus asthe pressure on a liquid rises, the lemperature at which the liquid will boil also rises. Conversely, as the pressure on a liquid becomes less, the temperature at which the liquid will boil is lowered. ‘Thus for every pressure there is a corresponding temperature for a liquid. This however holds good only if the liquid and its vapour are in communication (such as in a closed container) and itis known as ‘saturated condition’.10 | BasieRefrigeratimand ArCondiiontng Therefore, by varying the pressure of vapour in an enclosed space above the liquid, the boiling point of the liquid (or condensing temperature of the gas) can be varied at will. Mechanical refrig- eration has been made possible by the practical application of this physical law. Heat Flow Heat can flow only from a material at higher temperature to a material at a lower temperature, just as water can flow only from a higher to a lower level. Therefore, to cool (or refrigerate) a substance or space, the cooling medium should be at a lower temperature than the space or the substance to be cooled. A low boiling point liquid can be made to boil inside a coil (evaporator) ata suitable temperature by maintaining an appropriate pressure. The latent heat of vaporization of the liquid is taken from the surrounding space, thus producing refrigeration. ‘The gas formed in the evaporator can be condensed back into a liquid for reuse by raising its pressure. By raising the gas pressure, the condensing point (temperature) can be raised to such a level that the normal outside air or water can cool and take away the latent heat of vaporization, thus condensing the vapour back to liquid. The compressor in a vapour-compression cycle is used to compress the low pressure gas from the evaporator to high pressure. It is then condensed in the condenser. Heat transfer is accomplished by conduction, convection or radiation. Conduction The transfer of heat through a material is by conduction, e.g. if we heat one end of a metal rod, the heat travels through the rod from the hotter end to the cooler end. A material that transmits heat easily with very little resistance is called a ‘conductor’ of heat. Copper, silver, aluminium and steel are all good conductors. ‘Amaterial that does not conduct heat easily is called an ‘insulator’. Examples are: cork, glasswool, cotton, wool, expanded polysterene, etc. Convection This occurs only in fluids, ie. liquid and gas. When a material is heated it expands in volume and becomes lighter: If water is heated in a vessel, the bottom layer gets heated and becomes lighter, thus rises up, and the top layer being colder moves down. This sets up a continuous motion. Radiation Heat jumps across the space between two objects, one of which is higher in temperature than the other. The heat flow from the sun to the earth is an excellent example of radiation. A black- coloured object radiatevabsorbs more heat than a polished/white object. The refill of a thermos flask is polished to minimise the heat gain/loss by absorption/radiation. EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION When a solid is heated, it expands. This principle is used to shrink-fit two components, such as the coupling on a motor shaft, rotor to the compressor shaft in some types of hermetic compressors, bimetallic element in an electrical relay, etc. In the case of liquids, heat increases the volume. This principle is used in mercury or alcohol thermometers Ifa refrigerant cylinder is filled up to the brim with a liquid refrigerant in a cool room and if it is taken toa warm place or exposed to the sun, the liquid gets warmer and expands. Since the steel cylinder does not expand at the same rate as the liquid, hydraulic pressure builds up inside theFundamentals | 11 cylinder, which can be quite high enough to burst the cylinder, causing heavy damage by flying splinters and even casualties. Therefore, refrigerant cylinders should be filled only to 80% of is total liquid holding capacity. THERMODYNAMIC PROCESSES When a substance, in any of the physical state—solid, liquid or gas—is heated, it expands i.e., its volume increases and thus its density decreases. Similarly when a substance is cooled, it contracts or its volume decreases. Water, however, behaves differently between the temperatures 0°C (32°F) and 4°C (39.2°F). When water at 0°C is heated, instead of expanding, it contracts. This contraction continues until the temperature of water reaches 4°C (39.2°F). Thereafter, further heating will result in expansion. Similarly, water at 5°C when cooled contracts, but on attaining 4°C (39.2°F), any further cooling will make the water expand and not contract until the temperature touches 0°C (32°F). Thus water has maximum density at 4°C (39.2F). When it is cooled below 0°C (32°F), solidi- fication (formation of ice) occurs accompanied by further expansion, reducing the density of ice to alevel below that of water. As the temperature of water on the surface in a lake or ocean reaches 4°C, it becomes denser, and hence drops down, pushing the warm water from below. This process goes on till the whole mass of the water is at 4°C. When the surface temperature goes below 4°C, the surface layer becomes lighter because of expansion and thus does not go below and the top layers gradually freeze as the tempera- ture falls to 0°C. Thus water in a lake or ocean freezes at the surface while the water below remains as liquid at 4°C. This property of water enables the aquatic animals to live comfortably even in the severest of winter. The property of water to expand on solidification creats a tremendous expansive force, sufficient to burst water pipes in winter and in refrigeration water chillers. Like solids and liquids, gases also expand on heating. However, there is a difference in the case of gas, because of its pressure. In the case of gas, there are three variables: (1) pressure, (2) volume and (8) temperature. Before proceeding further on the properties of gas, it is necessary to understand the difference between gas and vapour. There is a certain temperature for every liquid/gas which is called itscritical temperature. When a gas is above its critical temperature, any amount of increase in pressure cannot iquefy it. When the temperature is below its critical point, the gas can be liquefied without lowering its temperature by merely increasing the pressure. Vapour is defined as that which can be liquefied by only increasing its pressure, while to liquefy gas, not only an increase in its pressure but also a lowering of its temperature is required. For example, alcohol, petrol, refrigerants, etc., are vapours; hydrogen, oxygen, etc., are gases. Thus vapour behaves as gas above its critical temperature, and gas behaves as vapour below its critical temperature. In the following pages, the gas laws are described. In mechanical refrigeration, our concern is with vapour and not gases Boyle’s Law ‘This law gives us the relation between pressure (P) and volume (V) when temperature (7) is kept constant. The law states that at constant temperature, pressure varies inversely with the volume of the gas. In other words, if volume increases two times, pressure comes down by half. This means that [r x Vol = const = constant PxV= cometwhere, P: Absolute pressure T: Absolute temperature V: Volume Charle’s Law (1) This gives the relation between volume and temperature, with the pressure kept constant. The law states that at constant pressure, volume varies as the temperature of the gas, i.e., Vv = = constant 7 (2) Pressure varies as temperature if the volume of the gas is kept constant, i, P = =constant T Combining these three laws, we have the general gas law, giving the equation, PY T constant where, P: Absolute pressure T: Absolute temperature ‘The gas laws are applicable only to gases (i.e. superheated condition) and not to vapour (i.e. under saturated condition or in other words where liquid and its vapour exists together such as in aclosed vessel). SPECIFIC HEAT OF GASES: ‘The quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of unit mass of a gas through 1°, with the volume of gas kept constant, is known as the ‘specific heat at constant volume’. Again, the heat required to raise the temperature of unit mass of a gas by 1° with the pressure remaining constant is called the ‘specific heat at constant pressure’. When a gas passes from an initial condition to some final condition, it said to have undergone a process. These change can occur in many ways and two are of interest to us, namely isothermal and adiabatic. When during the process, there is no change in the temperature of gas, itis called an ‘so-thermal process’. eae (1) The evaporation of a refrigerant liquid in the evaporator at constant temperature. (2) The condensation of gas in a condenser at constant temperature. During the process, if there is no absorption or rejection of heat, it is called an ‘adiabatic proces’. The compression of a gas in a compressor is very near an adiabatic process. Critical Pressure and Critical Temperature As explained under Boiling Point’ above, at satura- tion, any refrigerant (or for that matter any liquefiable gas) has a definite ‘pressure - temperature’ relationship and so its change of state from liquid to gas (or gas to liquid) can be achieved, at thatpressure and temperature, by adding (or removing) its latent heat of vapourization by heating (or cooling it). However beyond a particular pressure, known as its ‘“ritical pressure’ a gas cannot be liquefied at all by cooling it to any extent Again, above a particular temperature, known as its ‘critical temperature’ it cannot be liquefied at all by increasing its pressure to any extent. pH VALUE—ACIDITY/ALKALINITY Every liquid, because of impurities dissolved in it, becomes acidic or alkaline according to the impurities in it. pH’ is an arbitrary symbol in the form of numerals (0 to 14) to identify the degree of acidity or alkalinity of the liquid. pH values below 7.0 and moving towards ‘0’ denote an increas- ingly acidic condition while values from 7.0 to 14.0 are increasingly alkaline and value 7.0 is taken asa ‘neutral’ condition. Most natural waters have a pH of 6 to 8. A liquid with a pH value below 7.0 becomes corrosive (being acidic) and attacks the materials , it comes in contact with. Alkalinity is the important characteristic of water for determining its scale- forming tendency; e.g., when pH of water exceeds 7.5 or 8.0, the calcium carbonate dissolved in it, precipitates more readily as scale on the water tubes. pH is measured with anelectrometric pH meter’; colour indicators are also available. The pH scale is logarithmic in nature; that means it is not linear in proportion; e.g.,a solution having a pH of 5.0 is 10 times acidic compared to one at a pH of 6.0 ‘i.e. when the pH value rises from 5 to 6, the increase is only 20% (.0,2 times), while the increase in acidity is 10 times’. Heat Transfer Coefficient Heat transfer occurs when heat flows from a substance ata higher temperature level to another at a lower temperature. The rate at which heat flows or heat transfer occurs from one substance to another, is the ‘heat transfer coefficient’ or ‘overall conductance factor’ or ‘U factor of the heat transfer surface. Itis expressed in heat units per unit area (A) of the heat transfer surface, per unit degree of temperature difference (TD) between the substances -in metric scale: kcal /m?/*C or in fps scale: Buu/ft?? F. Examples: The heat transfers from (i) the substance to be cooled to the refrigerant inside the evaporator-or-(ii) from the hot refrigerant inside a condenser to the air or water passing over the condenser etc. The heat transfer capacity = A X TD X U factor [A = area of the heat transfer surface]Chapter Refrigeration ‘The word! refrigerate’ means to chill or freeze a substance, i.e to lower its temperature by removing some of its heat . Thus Refrigeration is the process of removing heat from a substance and rejecting the heat so removed to the atmosphere which is at a higher temperature level. Heat flows from a body at a higher temperature to another ata lower temperature. Butit requires external energy to make the heat flow from a lower temperature toa higher temperature level. This can be illustrated by the simple example of the flow of water between two tanks (Fig. 2.1). Consider two tanks A and B kept at two levels, say tank d kept ata height of 10 metres from the ground level and tank B kept one metre above the ground. Water will flow naturally by gravity from the higher tank to the tank B keptat the lower level. But what if the water is to be transferred from the lower tank B to the higher tank A. The only way to do this is to take a bucket, place it at a level lower than tank B and allow water to flow down from tank B and fill the bucket. Thereafter the bucket will have to be raised above the higher tank A and the water poured from the bucket to tank. By repeating this process, all the water in the lower tank B can be transferred to the higher tank A. Itis obvious that some mechanical work has to be done for lifting the bucket from the lower level to the higher level. In the same way to make heat flow from a lower temperature level, say a refrigerator, toa higher temperature level, i.e. atmosphere or natural water, external energy has to be used and we also need a substance as a carrier of heat. By analogy with the water tank example, the refrigerator at the low temperature level is tank B, atmospheric air or natural water at the higher temperature level is tank A and the heat carrier substance is the bucket. As we had to bring the bucket below tank B to allow water to flow from the tank to the bucket, the heat carrier substance has to be at a lower temperature than the refrigerator, so that heat can flow from the refrigerator to the heat carrier substance. Again, just as we had to empty the bucket to use it again for removing water from tank B, the heat from the carrier has to be discarded so that it can be used again to remove the heat from the refrigerator. For this we have to raise the temperature of the carrier substance to a higher level than that of atmo- spheric air or water to allow heat from the carrier to flow out to atmospheric air or water. This again is similar to raising the bucket to a level higher than the top tank 4 to pour out the water. The carrier substance used to carry the heat is called a ‘refrigerant’.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.Chapter 4 Pressure-temperature Relation, Superheat and Sub-cooling We have seen that as pressure changes, the boiling point of a liquid or condensing temperature of the vapour/gas also changes. We have also seen asa corollary from the example of water in Chapter 1 that for every pressure exerted on the surface of the liquid, there is a corresponding boiling point for the liquid (or condensing temperature for the gas). Boiling points of majority of refrigerants are below normal out side temperature; so they exist as gas. They are held in liquid state by keeping them under pressure, such as in a cylinder, receiver, etc. REFRIGERANT TABLES The thermodynamic properties of refrigerants are given in the tables appearing in Appendix (Table A.6). These tables give the following information: . Boiling temperature and corresponding pressures in absolute pressure or gauge pressure. . Volume (in m*/kg or f°/b) and density (in kg/m* or Ib/fl*) for liquid and vapour (under saturated condition) . Enthalpy (amount of heat contained) of liquid and vapour in kcal/kg BTU per pound. The difference between the enthalpies of vapour and liquid gives the latent heat of vaporization. ro » These tables, particularly the pressure-temperature portion, are absolutely essential, for analyz- ing the performance of plant. Therefore, every serviceman/engineer should possess these tables. In the following pages the use of these tables is described. SIGNIFICANCE OF SUCTION AND DISCHARGE PRESSURES IN AVAPOUR-COMPRESSION SYSTEM From the pressure-temperature chart of R-12 we read against 0°C (32°F) a pressure of 2.1 kg/cm”G (30 psig). This means that liquid R-12 will boil ata temperature of 0°C (32°F), if the pressure on the20 | Basic Refrigeration and AirConalttioning surface is 2.1 kg/cm?G (30 psig). So when a refrigeration system is working with a suction pressure (suction pressure is almost equal to the pressure existing in the evaporator, neglecting the pressure drop in the suction line) of 2.1 kg/cm*G (30 psig) we can conclude that the liquid refrigerant is boiling in the evaporator at a temperature of 0°C (32°F) (Fig. 4.1). Again we read from the same table of R-12, that the pressure corresponding to a temperature of 48.9°C (120°F) is 11.1 kg/m?G (157.65 psig), ic., liquid R-12 will boil at a temperature of 48.9°C (120°F) if the pressure above its surface is 11.1 kg/cm*G (157.65 psig). This also means that gaseous R-12 ata pressure of 11.1 kg/cm2G (157.65 psig) can condense into a liquid if it is cooled below the corresponding temperature of 48.9°C (120°F). So when a refrigeration system is working with a discharge pressure (disregarding the pressure drop in the discharge line, the discharge pressure is equal to the pressure existing in the condenser) of 11.1 kg/cm?G (157.65 psig) it means that the gaseous R-12 is being condensed at a temperature of 48.9°C (120°F) in the condenser Fig. 4.1). Discharge Pr. 187.65 PSIG (11.1 kg. cm®G) so R-12 gas condenses in the condenser at 120°F (48.9°C) Suction Pr. 30 PSIG (2.1 kg/om?G) 80 R-12 boils at 32°F (0°C) in the evaporator Throtting Evaporator device Fig. 4.1) Significance of suction and discharge pressures in a vapour compression system Discharge Temperature ‘The temperature of the discharge vapour coming out of the compressor, however, is much more than the condensing temperature of 48.9°(120°F). This is because the gas gets super-heated while on its way from the evaporator to the compressor. It also gets superheated in the compressor during compression. In the condenser this superheat will have to be removed first before the latent heat from the vapour can be removed to condense the vapour. The first few pipes of the condenser are utilized for desuper-heating the discharge vapour. Saturated Condition Ina closed container, such asa cylinder, ifa quantity of refrigerant is available in the liquid form, a pressure gauge connected to the cylinder will show a pressure corresponding to the temperature of the liquid. This temperature will be the same as the temperature of the room in which the cylinder is kept For example, a R-22 cylinder with a temperature of a 26.6°C (80°F) will show a pressure of 10.1 kg/cm*G (143.63 psig). Ifthe temperature of the room (or the cylinder) goes up, to si (90°F) it will be noticed that the pressure will also go up. The reasons for the increase in pressure isPressure-temperature Relation, Superheat and Sub-cooling | 21 thatas the temperature goes up, some of the R- 22 liquid in the cylinder is boiled or vaporized because the pressure on the surface before the temperature was raised was only 10.1 kg/em?G (143.63 psig) which corresponds to a boiling temperature of 26.7°C (80°F). The boiling, however, will cease as soon as the pressure reaches 11.8 kg/cm*G (168.4 psig) the satura- tion pressure for R-22 at $2.2°C (90°F). The relationship of pressure and tempera- ture of a refrigerant holds good only when some liquid is available in the container. This is called the ‘saturated condition’ (Fig. 4.2). ‘SUPER HEAT Let us assume that the cylinder in our example had only a very small quantity of R-22 liquid and that even the last drop of liquid had boiled off just when the temperature touched 32.2°C (90°F). At that time the pressure would have been 11.8 kg/cm*G (168.4 psig)—the satura- tion pressure at 32.2°C (90°F). Any further in- crease in the temperature of the cylinder above 32.2°C (90°F) will only heat up the vapour inside the cylinder, as there is no liquid left to boil. So the temperature of the vapour will rise above its initial saturation temperature. ‘The vapour is then, said to be ‘superheated’ (Fig. 4.3). If the temperature of the cylinder rises (so does the temperature of the vapour inside) to say, 37.8°C (100°F), the vapour is superheated by 5.6°C (10°F) from its saturation temperature of 32.2°C (90°F). The superheated vapour will obey the gas law. So there will be an increase in pressure on superheating; but the increase will be very small, compared to the increase, had it been a saturated vapour. 143.63 PSIG i 168.4 PSIG Qin) @ (11.8 kgiem2@) — pressure 90°F (92.2°C) 22 Liquid Refrigerant cylinder (Fig. 4.2) Saturation temperature and pressure of a refrigerant Suction pressure 68.5 PSIG (4.8 Kgl’) All liquid boiled off ‘Suction fine temp. 50°F (10°C) So gas superheated by 10°F (5.5°C) — Liquid tine y 226 PSIG (18.9 Kofem?G)- 110°F (43.3°C) (without sub cooling) 226 PSIG (18.9 Kolem?G)- 96°F (95.5°C) (with sub cooling) Fig. 4.3 ) Supetheating of refrigerant in evaporator 68.5 PSIG (14.8 Kg/om®6) 40°F (4.44°C) R22 bolling at 40°F (4.44°C) Ina refrigeration system we have saturated condition in the evaporator and liquid receiver (or the bottom portion of the condenser) and a superheated condition in the suction and discharge lines. When we say that an expansion valve is adjusted for a superheat of 5.55°C (10°F) we mean that in the suction line at the place where the expansion valve bulb is mounted, there is no liquid at all, but, that the vapour at this place also is superheated by 5.55°C (10°F) above its saturation point. If the refrigerant in the evaporator is boiling at a temperature of 4.4°C (40°F) with the expansion valve adjusted to maintain a superheat of 5.55°C (10°F), it means that all the liquid refrigerant boiled off before reaching the suction outlet of the evaporator and the vapour got heated up by 5.55°C (10°F)from its saturation point of 4.4°C (40°F) by the time the vapour reached the point where the bulb is mounted. The vapour temperature became 10°C (50°F) but the pressure of the vapour remained at 4.85 kg/em°G (68.5 psig) only, since the suction pressure is kept constant by the operation of the compressor. Therefore, to find out the superheat adjustment of the expansion valve in a system, we have to find the difference between the temperature of the suction line (at the place where the expansion valve bulb is mounted) and the saturation temperature corresponding to the evaporator pressure (or approximately the suction pressure). In our example, the suction pressure is 4.8 kg/cem*G (68.5 psig) corresponding to the saturation temperature is of 4.4°C (40°F). If the suction line temperature is 10°C (50°F) the superheat is 10 - 4.4 = 5.6°C (50 - 40°F = 10°F). To measure this superheat fairly accurately, thermowells are provided in the suction line at the place where the expansion valve bulb ismounted. SUB-COOLING Ifthe temperature of the refrigerant liquid is less than its saturation temperature, the liquid is said tobe in asub-cooled condition. If the pressure of a liquid, say R-22, is 18.8 kg/cm?G (195.9 psig) from the tables we can find that its saturation temperature is 37.8°C (100°F). But if the liquid is cooled to 35°C (95°F) without allowing the pressure to drop down below 13.8 kg/cm’G (195.9 psig) by some means, the liquid is said to be sub-cooled by 37.8 ~ 35 = 2.8°C (100-95 = 5°F). This condition can exist at the bottom portion of a condenser or in the liquid line where a heat exchanger is used. The pressure will be kept constant in the condenser by the compressor: The liquid can get sub-cooled below the saturation temperature in the condenser because the temperature of the water/air at the inlet to the condenser being low. In the liquid suction heat exchanger the liquid gets sub-cooled below the saturation temperature because of the cooling of the liquid line by the cold suction vapour. Asis obvious, the pre-requisite for the sub-cooling ofa liquid and the superheating of a vapour is that the liquid and vapour should not be in contact with each other. Liquid sub-cooling is obtained in water-cooled and air-cooled condensers which have separation arrangement between liquid and vapour. Also, the liquid can get sub-cooled at the bottom of the condenser as it is away from the point of contact with the vapour. Likewise the suction vapour gets supetheated in moving away from the point of contact with the liquid in the evaporator.Pressure-temperature Relation, Superheat and Sub-cooling | 28 (able 4.1) Pressure-temperature Chart (at Saturation) mm. Hg vacuum* kg/em?.G Temp.°C RU R123 R12 R 4a R22 R77 -40 723" 731.6" 277" 375.7" 0.05 223° -30 694* 715.1* 6.6" 127.1* 0.65 0.19 -20 642" 668.4 0.51 0.32 -10 569* 606.8* 12 1.01 0 458* 5144+ 2.12 1.95 2 436° 4gi* 2.33 217 4 406" 466* 2.55 241 6 388° 440° 2.78 2.65 8 336* 411" 3.03 2.92 10 303* 380.6" 3.28 3.19 12 266* 347.8" 3.55 3.48 14 230* 312.8* 3.83 3.79 16 185* 275.4¢ 417 4.11 18 lait 235.6% 4.43 444 20 96" 193.2* 4.75 4.79 22 45% 148.03* 5.08 5.16 24 0.01 100.1* 5.43 5.56 26 0.09 5.79 5.95 28 0.17 6.16 6.38 30 0.25 6.55 6.82 32 0.32 6.96 7.28 34 0.42 7.38 7.76 36 0.52 7.82 8.26 ; 38 0.62 8.27 8.79 13.96 40 0.74 8.74 9.33 14.82 42 0.85 9.23 9.9 15.72 44 0.96 / 9.73 10.49 16.65 46 1.09 0.88 10.25 11.10 17.63 48 121 1.00 10.80 11.74 18.64 50 1.36 113 11.40 12.40 19.70 55 71 1.49 12.90 14.96 22.67 60 2.14 1.88 14.53 16.12 25.64 65 2.6 2.33 16.29 18.33 29.20 70 3.13 2.82 18.20 20.55 32.76 75 3.69 3.39 20.20 23.19 36.81 80 4.30 3.96 22.41 25.82 41.21 85 4.97 4.65 24.79 28.81 45.98 90 5.71 5.34 27.35 32.06 51.5 95 6.50 6.16 30.10 35.60 56.74 100 7.37 6.99 33.06 39.48 _ —a You have either reached 2 page thts unevalale fer vowing or reached your ievina tit for his book.Pressure temperature Relation, Superheat and Sub-cooling | 25 Table 4.2) Contd. psig Temp °F RU _ R123 R12 Ri34a R22 R717 160 45.7 41.84 265.12 299.99 429.8 _ 170 54.7 50.58, 398.3 340.81 482.5 _- 130 64.7 60.42 334.3 385.64 540.1 =Chapter The Refrigerant Cycle The refrigerant, explained in Chapter 3 'Refrigeration cycle’ changes from liquid to vapour and back to liquid state in passing through evaporator to condenser and back to evaporator with corre- sponding changes in pressure-temperature. This chapter discusses these changes in detail. Whenever a refrigerant-liquid or vapour(for that matter any fluid)flows through a pipe or pas- sages in an equipment, it suffers a pressure drop which will have an effect on the performance of the plant. For simplicity of explanation, however these pressure drops are ignored at this stage of the explanation(the effect of the pressure dropsis dealt in a succeeding chapter) AR 22 plant for air conditioning application is taken as an example for the explanation. Sees The working pressure-temperature details are: Evaporator temperature: 4.4°C(40°F)—saturation pressure: 4.8 kg/cm? G(68.5 psig) Condensing temperature:43.3°C(110°F)—saturation pressure: 15.9 kg/cm*G(226 psig). As the refrigerant liquid enters the evaporator, its pressure has to be reduced to the saturation pressure of the refrigerant corresponding to the required evaporator temperature(4.4°C(40°F) in our example]. The pressure reduction is accomplished as the high pressure liquid refrigerant passes through an ‘orifice ora throttling device’ (such as an expansion valve, capillary tube or float valve tc).Also the liquid which is at 43.3°C(110°F),has to be cooled downto the evaporator temperature of 4.4°C(40°F). From the thermodynamic tables of R 22 we can find that heat content (enthalpy) of the liquid at 43.3°C(110°F)is 23.58 kcaV/kg(42.44 Btu/lb) while at 4.4°C (40°F) itis 11.92 kcal/kg(21.42 Btu/lb) and the difference between the two, ie 23.58 -11.92 = 11.66 kcal/kg(42.44- 21.42 = 21.02 Btullb) is the heat that has to be removed from the liquid to cool it down to the evaporator temperature 4.4°C(40°F). The cooling occurs automatically when the liquid passes through the throttling device. Just at the outlet of the throttling device due to the reduction in pressure, a portion of the liquid refrigerant boils taking its latent heat of vaporization from the liquid itself, thereby effecting the cooling of the refrigerant to 4.4°C(40°F).