ESS-2  

ASSIGNMENT|12 MARCH 2020 

TARANA KHANDELWAL | 170BARCHI105 | 3C 
 
 
1. Discuss the role of compressor in the refrigeration cycle. Explain any 2 types 
of compressors. 
ROLE OF A COMPRESSOR 
A refrigerator compressor is the center of the refrigeration cycle. It works as a 
pump to control the circulation of the refrigerant, and it adds pressure to the 
refrigerant, heating it up. The compressor also draws vapor away from the 
evaporator to maintain a lower pressure and lower temperature before sending it 
to the condenser.  
 
SCROLL COMPRESSOR 

•​A scroll compressor has one fixed scroll which remains stationary and another 
moving or orbiting scroll that rotates through the use of swing link. 

•​When this happens, the pockets of refrigerant between the two scrolls are slowly 
pushed to the center of the two scrolls causing the reduction of the volume of the 
gas. 

•​Then discharged through the center port to the condenser. 

•​The advantage of a scroll compressor is that it has fewer moving parts. This 
advantage is translated to a smooth and quiet operation. 

RECIPROCATING COMPRESSOR 

•​ Most widely used types of the refrigerating compressors 

• ​They​ ​have piston and cylinder arrangement 

•​Back and forth motion which compresses the gas and then discharges it 

•​Compressor has more than one cylinder which is also known as multi cylinder 
compressor 

•​Common ones are the two-cylinder, four-cylinder and eight-cylinder compressors 

  
1. Discuss the working of the cooling tower. Explain how a cooling tower is a 
part of heat rejection loop. 
Cooling tower 
● The cooling tower is used to cool the water that absorbs heat from the 
compressor and the condenser. 
● When water flows through these components some water gets evaporated, 
to make up this loss some water is also added in the cooling tower. 
● The cooling tower is of evaporative type. Here the water is cooled by the 
atmospheric air and is re-circulated through the compressor and the 
condenser. 

 
2. Describe and illustrate vapour absorption type refrigeration system and its 
typical applications. Why is it more energy efficient than vapour compression 
type refrigeration system?  
The vapor absorption refrigeration system comprises all the processes in the vapor 
compression refrigeration system like compression, condensation, expansion and 
evaporation. In the vapor absorption system the refrigerant used is ammonia, water 
or lithium bromide. The refrigerant gets condensed in the condenser and it gets 
evaporated in the evaporator. The refrigerant produces cooling effect in the 
evaporator and releases the heat to the atmosphere via the condenser. 
 
Vapor Absorption Refrigeration system is applicable where waste heat or solar 
energy is available. 
 
​ADVANTAGES OF ABSORPTION SYSTEM OVER COMPRESSION SYSTEM  
 ● No moving parts except pump-motor, which is comparatively smaller than 
compressor system.  
● Quiet in operation, low maintenance cost. 
● Can work only with thermal energy as an input.  
● Can be built for huge working capacities. (even for above 1000 TR)  
 

 
 
SOURCE- 
https://www.brighthubengineering.com/hvac/65923-simple-vapor-absorption-refrigeration-system/ 
 
3. Discuss briefly the factors that affect the selection of the HVAC system in the 
building. 
The factors that affect the selection of the HVAC system in the building are: 
● Heat gained by the walls 
● Heat gained by the roof 
● Heat gained by the windows 
● Heat generated by the people 
● Heat generated by the electrical appliances 
● Heat gain from outside air 
To be considered when calculating loads: 
A. Design considerations.​ T ​ hese are the location, house size, and outdoor and 
indoor design conditions of the house and include such things as relative humidity, 
latitude, elevation, and directional orientation of the house. A house in the same 
climate or city, even of the same house plan, doesn’t necessarily have the same 
heating and cooling loads, solar gain plays a large part in cooling loads. 
B. Thermal enclosure.​ ​This includes the windows’ U-values, the home’s insulation 
values and airtightness, and external and internal shading.We need to take into 
account the window’s orientation, size, thermal conductivity, and solar heat gain 
coefficient. The better a home’s enclosure, the more the windows are going to affect 
 the loads. 
C. Internal loads.​ T​ hese include the number of people living in the home, their 
electronics, lighting and appliances, and system location and ductwork. A system 
where the ducts pass through a very hot, uninsulated attic will work out to have 
different loads than one where the ducts pass through a highly insulated attic. 
 
4. Discuss the various components of heat load estimation for a building.  
● Air conditioners are rated by the number of British Thermal Units (Btu) of 
heat they can remove per hour. Another common rating term for air 
conditioning size is the "ton”. 
● 1 Ton = 12,000 Btu per hour. 
● A 12,000 Btu air conditioner can cool between 450 and 550 square feet of 
floor space. 
● 25 Btu to cool 1 square foot of room floor area. 
● Room air conditioners range from 5,500 Btu per hour to 14,000 Btu per 
hour. 
● 1 btu / hour =0.29307107 watts. ​It is defined as the amount of heat required 
to raise the temperature of one ​pound​ of water by one degree ​Fahrenheit​. 
 

6. Compare window AC vs split AC. Include capacity range, features and 

installations. 

WINDOW AC 

● All components are enclosed in a single box 

● Most commonly used and cheapest type 
● Cool rooms rather than the entire home 
● Units are reliable and simple-to-install 
● Capacity up to 5 tons 
● Less expensive to operate than central units 
● Their efficiency is generally lower than that of central air conditioners 
● Can be plugged into any 15- or 20-amp, 115-volt household circuit that is not 
shared with any other major appliances 

SPLIT AC 

● The split air conditioner comprises two parts the outdoor unit and the indoor 
unit. 
● Outdoor unit consists of a compressor, condenser and expansion valve. 
● Indoor unit consists of an evaporator or cooling coil and cooling fan. 
● The split air conditioner can be used to cool one or two rooms. 

​7. Explain the difference in application of Packaged AC and Centralised AC in a 

building. 

PACKAGED AC 
 ● They are used where the cooling loads extend beyond 20 tons cooling 
multiple rooms or a large space in your home or office 
● All the components are housed in a same box 

(A) Cooled air is thrown by the high capacity blower, and it flows through 
the duct laid through various rooms. 

(B) Compressor and condenser are housed in one casing. The compressed 
gas passes through individual units, comprised of the expansion valve and 
cooling coil, located in various rooms. 

2 types PACS- air/ water cooled 

CENTRALISED AC 

● Circulate cool air through a system of supply and return ducts. Supply ducts 
(i.e., openings in the walls, floors, or ceilings covered by grills) carry cooled 
air from the air conditioner to the home. 
● This cooled air becomes warmer as it circulates through the home; then it 
flows back to the central air conditioner through return ducts. 
● This unit is used primarily to cool big buildings, houses, offices, entire hotels, 
factories, etc. The central air conditioning system comprises a huge 
compressor that has the capacity to produce hundreds of tons of air 
conditioning. If you have a big area to cool, central air conditioning may be 
the only way to go. 

8. Discuss various components of Direct Expansion type and Chilled Water Type 
cooling system. 

Direct Expansion Type 

● DX system the air used for cooling the room or space is directly passed over the 
cooling coil of the refrigeration plant. 
● Cooling efficiency of the DX plants is higher 
● Not always feasible to carry the refrigerant piping to the large distances 
● Usually used for cooling the small buildings or the rooms on the single floor 

The Plant Room 

● The plant room comprises the important parts of the refrigeration system, 
the compressor and the condenser. 
● The water used for cooling the compressor 
● The condenser is cooled in the cooling tower kept at the top of the plant 
room, though it can be kept at other convenient location also. 

The Air Handling Unit Room 

● The refrigerant leaving the condenser in the plant room enters the 
thermostatic expansion valve and then the air handling unit, which is kept in 
 the separate room 
● The air handling unit is a large box type of unit that comprises of the 
evaporator or the cooling coil, air filter and the large blower 
● Coil type covered with the fins to increasing the heat transfer efficiency from 
the refrigerant to the air  
● 2 types of ducts connected to the air handling unit: for absorbing the hot 
return air from the rooms and for sending the chilled air to the rooms to be 
air conditioned 

Air Conditioned Room 

● The ducts from the air handling room are passed to all the rooms that are to 
be cooled 
● The ducts are connected to the grills or diffusers that supply the chilled air 
to the room 
● AHU and the refrigerant piping cannot be kept at very long distance since 
there will be lots of drop in pressure of the refrigerant along the way 
● For the long piping, large amounts of refrigerant will be needed which 
makes the system very expensive and also prone to leakage of the 
refrigerant. 
● 5- 15 tons in small buildings/ the no of rooms on single floor 

Chilled water type 

● In case of the chilled water system the refrigeration system is used to first 
chill the water, which is then used to chill the air used for cooling the rooms 
or spaces. 
● Ordinary water or brine solution is chilled to very low temperatures of 6-8 
degree C by the refrigeration plant. 

Chiller package 

● The evaporator is also called as the chiller, because it chills the water. 
● The water chilled in the chiller is pumped to various parts of the building that 
are to be air conditioned. 
● The amount of water passing into the chiller is controlled by the flow switch. 
● In the central air conditioning plant room all the components, the 
compressor, condenser, thermostatic expansion valve, and the chiller are 
assembled in the structural steel framework making a complete compact 
refrigeration plant, known as the chiller package. 

Cooling tower 

● The cooling tower is used to cool the water that absorbs heat from the 
compressor and the condenser. 
● When water flows through these components some water gets evaporated, 
to make up this loss some water is also added in the cooling tower. 
● The cooling tower is of evaporative type. Here the water is cooled by the 
atmospheric air and is re-circulated through the compressor and the 
 condenser.  

9. Explain the main features and construction details of ducted and non 
ducted systems in air conditioning. 

DUCTED AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM 

SOURCE: ​http://www.mitsubishielectric.com.au/ducted-air-conditioning.html 

A ​ducted air conditioning system​ has its internal ​unit​ (fancoil) installed within the 
roof space of the home. A series of ​ducts​ run from the ​air conditioning unit​ to 
each of the rooms in the home, allowing you to cool or heat each room using 
individual controls, or 'zoning' 

Air is sent through ducts from one central location to heat and cool all rooms. 

All rooms are air conditioned uniformly at the same temperature settings. 

​NON-DUCTED AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM 

  

SOURCE: ​https://www.ajmadison.com/guides/air_conditioner/ductless-splits/ 

A ​ductless​ heat pump or ​air conditioner​ typically consists of a wall-mounted 

indoor ​unit​ combined with an outside compressor. It's most often used in a 
situation where a window ​AC unit​ or baseboard heating would be considered, such 
as a new addition to a house 

SOURCE: ​https://www.daikin.com/products/ac/modals/ductless_duct/ 

Indoor units are placed in each room for individual heating and cooling 

Each indoor unit operates independently to enable individual temperature settings. 

10. ​What is sick building syndrome? Mention and explain the methods 
adopted to mitigate this problem while designing buildings 

A condition affecting office workers, typically marked by headaches and respiratory 

problems, attributed to unhealthy or stressful factors in the working environment 
such as poor ventilation​. 

Since awareness of SBS developed in the 1970s, researchers have tried to pinpoint 
the precise causes, however, no one single cause has been identified. The most 
common risk factors believed to contribute to SBS include: 

● Inadequate ventilation. 
● Low humidity. 
● Inadequate sound insulation 
● High levels of noise created by piping or air-conditioning systems. 
● Fluctuations in room temperature. 
● Airborne particles such as dust, carpet fibres and fungal spores. 
● Airborne chemical pollutants such as cleaning products, ozone from photocopiers 
and printers, carbon monoxide, asbestos and external fumes such as traffic 
exhaust. 
● Poor lighting. 
● Electrostatic charges. 
● Poor standards of cleanliness. 
● Inadequate display screen equipment, causing glare or flicker. 
● Psychological factors such as stress or low staff morale.