MM 321 Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

The University of the South Pacific

School of Engineering and Physics
MM 321 – Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

Lab 1: Study on an Automotive Cooling System

Lab Group: data set 1

Student Name: Shanil Sahai, Winji Tamata, Sahil Roshiv Sharma
Student ID#: S11173716, S11119842, S11171799

AIM
The aim of this experiment study and learn how an air-cooling system functions and find the compressor power and
Coefficient of performance (COP) of the system

INTRODUCTION
This experiment was conducted using a table-top air automotive cooling system. This air automotive system was
powered by motor gaining its source from a connected battery. The cycle begins when the refrigerant is compressed
adiabatically in the compressor. The pressure and temperature of the refrigerant will increase. Then refrigerant will
enter in the Condenser. Heat will be rejected from the refrigerant to the atmosphere in Condenser at constant
pressure. Then, the refrigerant will enter in expansion device where expansion takes place which result in reduction
of temperature and pressure of refrigerant. This low temperature refrigerant will enter into evaporator and by its
evaporation cooling will be produced at constant pressure. The heat absorbed in evaporator is termed as
Refrigeration effect. This low temperature refrigerant vapor enters in compressor and cycle is repeated. Different set
of data are collected, by the lab demo using the Vapor Compression Refrigeration Process and are assign for each
group respectively. It’s given row data variable are then analyzed on the Rw134a chart to find the enthalpies.
Hopefully the aided in achieving the overall aim is being achieved.

Air cooling is commonly defined as rejecting heat from an object by flowing air over the surface of the object,
through means of convection. At present, two major air conditioning systems are applied in the automobile industry-
the expansion valve system and the fixed orifice tube system. The main difference between these two is the type of
device that is used to lower the refrigerant pressure. When it comes to car cooling, many people think it’s a single
system working to regulate the temperature of both the engine and the cabin, but that actually isn’t the case. Your
car operates two different cooling systems, one to keep your engine cool and the other to keep you cool. A car air
conditioning system consists of a compact version of the components of the normal air conditioner that has an
evaporator, compressor, condenser, expansion device, and a fan which are fitted in a car to provide air condition
inside the passenger's compartment. Vehicles with air-conditioning are equipped with an air-conditioning (AC)
condenser mounted upstream of the radiator to transfer the waste heat fi-om the passenger compartment to the
airflow through the condenser.

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(Fig : Car Air-conditioning Circuit Components)

Automotive air conditioning is now almost universal, and becomes as standard in almost all newly produced cars and
is a feature that most car owners have come to expect. Historically although it may not always seem like it, we sure
are likely to be drivers today when air conditioning comes standard on nearly every car, but it wasn’t always that
way. The development of automotive air conditioners began in earnest in 1930, when General Motors Research
Laboratories conceived the idea of the vapor compression system with R-12 refrigerant. They determined the
cooling capacity of the automotive air-conditioning (A/C) system to be 1 ton 200 Btu per minute. This estimate was
half of the cooling capacity of the present system. The work on automotive A/C culminated at General Motors with
the development of a prototype self-contained unit that was installed in the trunk of a 1939 Cadillac. Before World
War II, approximately 3,000 American cars were equipped with A/C. Most of the units were installed in expensive
luxury cars. Although it was ballyhooed as a great luxury item, drivers had two major complaints: First, there was not
provision for outside air. Smoking in the car made the air fetid and unbearable. Second, there were no interior
controls. Then by 20th century, the demand for AC units in cars increased rapidly and now all the manufacturers
provide AC units as standard facilities. Initially, its purpose was purely luxury, but now people use it as a safeguard
against heat, dust, cold and smoke.

EQUIPMENT
The equipment’s used within this bench top air automotive cooling system:
 Battery
 Motor
 Compressor
 Condenser
 Evaporator
 Thermal expansion valve
 Receiver drier
 Pressure and thermocouple gauge

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METHODOLOGY

The bench top automotive cooling system was set up as demonstrated by the image below. Once the switch was
turned on, the power exerted from the battery, supplied energy to the motor to help in the cycle for compressor,
evaporator and condenser system. The refrigerant enters the compressor and is compressed thus result in the
increases of temperature and pressure. Once the refrigerant is pumped out of the discharge side of the compressor,
it flows into the thermocouple and pressure gauge where the reading was shown for pressure and temperature. It
then gradually, exits the gauges to the inlet of the condenser. Within the condenser the heat was exchanged so
basically the condenser rejects heat to its surrounding. As the refrigerant exits the outlet line of the condenser,
another set of thermocouple and pressure gauges were attached to alternated the readings again. The refrigerant
then flows though the receiver or refrigerant dryer, to filter and absorbed small amount of moisture present in the
refrigerant. It then travelled through the expansion valve, were its temperature and pressure are being reduced, and
flows directly to the evaporator and again heat was adding to the existing refrigerant. Out from the evaporator the
refrigerant does exit and enters the compressor and the cycle continues.

(Fig 2: Car Air-conditioning Circuit Works)

RESULTS
Given data from the experiment for set 1:
 Evaporating pressure: 0.4MPa
 Condenser pressure: 1MPa
 Temperature at compressor outlet ¿ 65 ° C
Solution reading form the R-134a for h1, h2, h3=h4, h2s.
h 1=410 kJ /kg
h 2=451 kJ /kg
h 3=h 4=282 kJ /kg
h 2 s=436 kJ /kg
Sample Calculation :
Solving for heat
Q L=h1−h 4
q L =410−282=128 kJ /kg

Solving for work compressor

w c =h2 −h1
w c =451−410=41 kJ /kg

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Solving for the COP (Coefficient of performance)

q L 128
formula: = =3.12 kJ /kg
wc 41

Solving for efficiency of the compressor.n c

h 2 s−h1 436−410 26
n c= = = =0.63 %
h2−h1 451−410 40

Table of raw and calculated results:

Values
h1 410 kJ /kg
h2 451 kJ /kg
h 3=h 4 282 kJ /kg
h2s 436 kJ /kg
qL 128 kJ /kg
wc 41 kJ /kg
COP 3.12 kJ /kg
nc 0.63 %

Ideal cycle graph from the P-h diagram.

DISCUSSION
Looking into the result of the experiment that is obtained, according to the calculations and the table of data
constructed. The solution reading for h1, h2, h3=h4 and h2s are obtain from the P-h diagram 134a.Basically the
result enthalpy acts as heat content, from which it measures how much heat a gas or liquid can hold and the amount
of heat that is needed to change the temperature. it contributes in the amount of internal energy within a system
combined with the product of its pressure and volume does making cooling system operational. However, Using the

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enthalpy result that was obtained the heat input from low temperature medium QL by calculations was 128 kJ /kg .
And the work on compressor was 41 kJ /kg . This value has played an important role in the automotive cooling
system because of its two different ways of transferring energy from one system to another. The first law of
thermodynamics states that heat and work both contribute to the total internal energy of a system, but the second
law of thermodynamics limits the amount of heat that can be turned into work. Furthermore, in the extend our
calculations for the efficiency of the compressor for the system was extended to 0.63 % . To deeply look into this
value, it shows that system has lost much of its energy to heat resulting in a low efficiency percentage. However, the
aim of the experiment was achieved neglecting some errors which may have involved in calculations.

CONCLUSION
To conclude, Air automotive cooling system, is a very important factor in automobile industries since it provides the
driver and the passengers a comfortable environment when driving. It’s designed to heat up the inside of a car
during the cold season and to provide cool air conditioning during the warm weathers. Finally, the experiment has
achieved its aim and was done successfully. This experiment has given students an inside understanding on how air
automotive cooling system works and the contributing materials and equipment that evolved in the process making
to have such influences in today’s automobile industries.

REFERENCE

 Mikeduman.com. 2021. The Importance of Cooling Systems Checks | Mike Duman. [online] Available at:
<https://mikeduman.com/blog/importance-cooling-systems-checks> [Accessed 7 September 2021].

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