Table of Contents

1.0 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
1.1 Background.................................................................................................................................2
1.2 Objective.....................................................................................................................................3
2.0 THEORY.........................................................................................................................................4
3.0 APPARATUS..................................................................................................................................5
4.0 METHOD........................................................................................................................................5
5.0 RESULT..........................................................................................................................................7
6.0 DISCUSSION.................................................................................................................................8
7.0 CONCLUSSION...........................................................................................................................13
8.0 REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

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1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
A refrigerator is a machine that removes heat from a low temperature region.
Since energy cannot be destroyed, the heat taken in at a low temperature must
be dissipated to the surroundings. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states
that heat will not pass from a cold region to a warm one without the aid of an
external agent. Therefore, a refrigerator will require this external agent or
energy input for its operation. The operation of this refrigerator as shown in
Figure 1.1 below :

Figure 1.1 : Operation of Refrigerator

In a vapour compression refrigeration system a gas is alternatively
compressed and expended and goes from liquid to the vapour state. The basic
components of a vapour-compression refrigeration system are shown below :

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 Figure 1.2 : Basic components of a refrigeration system
The four basic components of the vapour compression refrigeration
system are thus :

1.1.1 Evaporator – heat is absorbed to boil the liquid at low temperature,

therefore a low pressure must be maintained in this section.
1.1.2 Compressor – the compressor does work on the system increasing the
pressure from that existing in the evaporator and to that existing in the
condenser like delivering high pressure and high temperature vapour to
the condenser.
1.1.3 Condenser – the high pressure, high temperature vapour that enters the
condenser has heat removed from it and as a results it is condensed
back into a liquid phase.
1.1.4 Throttle valve – the high pressure liquid from the condenser is
expended through this valve, allowing its pressure to drop to that
existing in the evaporator.

1.2 Objective
To determine Coefficient of performance (COP) for vapour compression
cooling system.

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2.0 THEORY
The purpose of the refrigerator is to remove heat from the cold region while requiring
as little external work as possible. A measure of the efficiency of the device is
therefore:

Coefficient of Performance (COP) =

¿ Q2
Rate of heat removal ¿the cold region =
Rate work is done W net ,∈¿ ¿

The conservation of energy principle for a cyclic device requires that

Wnet,in = Q1 – Q2

Then the COP relation becomes

Q2 1
COP= =
Q 1−Q2 Q 1
−1
Q2

Notice that the value of COP can be greater than unity. That is, the amount of heat
removed from the refrigerated spaced can be greater than the amount of work input.
This is in contrast to thermal efficiency, which can never be greater than 1.

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3.0 APPARATUS
Refrigeration Cycle Demonstration Unit, R633, PA Hilton is using R-141b refrigerant
fluid.

4.0 METHOD
Launch operation and take readings.

1. The valve was opened as shown in Figure 4.1

Figure 4.1 : Normal Operation

2. The water pipe was turned on. The water flow was set to the Evaporator at the rate
of flow 4 g/s and flow rate of water flow rate to Condenser as maximum.
3. The device then was switched on.
4. The system was allowed to stable (approximately 10 min). the readings was
recorded.
5. The experiment was repeated by changing the flow rate of the water flow rate to
Condenser in between 35 to 40 g/s. It was repeated 4 times.

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Terminating Operations

When experiment was done, the device was closed in accordance to these procedure :

1. The main switch was switched off.

2. After one minute, the water supply pipes was turned off.
3. After one minute, the valves was closed to the “Shut Down Position” as shown in
Figure 4.2

Figure 4.2 : Shutdown

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5.0 RESULT

Test No. 1 2 3 4 5
Absolute 28 20 18 10 7
Condenser (g/s)
Condenser 155 185 180 200 210
Gauge Pressure
(kN/m2)
Absolute 4 4 4 4 4
Evaporator (g/s)
Evaporator -50 -50 -50 -50 -50
Gauge Pressure
(kN/m2)
Compressor 199 206 203 205 190
Power Input
(W)
Temperature T1 27.8 31.2 32.2 35.6 36.9
(˚C)
Temperature T2 26.5 28.2 28.8 29.2 28.8
(˚C)
Temperature T3 29.0 32.4 37.2 37.4 38.8
(˚C)
Temperature T4 30.4 33.8 34.8 35.6 36.6
(˚C)
Temperature T5 18.0 15.0 15.0 15.0 13.0
(˚C)
Temperature T6 32.0 40.0 42.0 44.0 45.0
(˚C)
Temperature T7 61.0 65.0 66.0 71.0 71.0
(˚C)
Rate of Heat 0.022 0.050 0.057 0.107 0.136
Transfer at
Evaporator
(kW)
Rate of Heat 0.164 0.117 0.181 0.075 0.064
Transfer at
Condenser
(kW)

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6.0 DISCUSSION

Temp. vs Condenser Flow Rate

80
70
60 T1
Temperature (˚C)

T2
50
T3
40 T4
30 T5
T6
20 T7
10
0
5 10 15 20 25 30
Condenser Flow Rate(g/s)

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows the flow rate of condenser versus temperature for all 5 tests. Based on
the graph, the temperature affects the flow rate in the condenser. Its shows that as the
condenser flow rates increases, all the temperature from T1 until T7 decreases except for T5
where it increases maybe due to some error occur during the experiment.
The data obtained from the experiment is accurate, but it is still influenced by some
error. Parallax error happened when taking the readings from a thermometer. To reduce the
error, the position of the reader’s eye must be perpendicular to the scale of the thermometer.
Besides, the readings for temperature of T1 until T4 are not very accurate since the
temperatures indicated by the electronic thermometer are always changing with time. Thus, it
is difficult to get the exact reading of these thermometers and caused some error in the
results. Another error that might occur in this experiment is when taking the value of
compression power, in which these values keep changing with time. Thus these values were
not very accurate.

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 Power Input vs Condenser Flow Rate of T1-T6
210

205

200
Power Input(W)

195

190

185

180
28 20 18 10 7
Condenser Flow Rate(g/s)

Figure 2

Based on Figure 2, the graph shows the compressor power input against the
condenser flow rates of T1-T6. It shows that the compressor power increases during test 1
and test 4 and drop drastically during test 3 which is from 205 W to 190 W.
During the experiment, error that might occur in this experiment is the value of compression
power, in which these values keep changing with time. Thus the values were not accurate. To
increase the accuracy of the data taken, take the average values of the temperature for T1, T2,
T3 and T4.
The joint at the pipe may be loosen causing leaking at the joint and this will make the
flow becomes unsteady. The machine maybe is not in a good condition. To overcome this
problem, make sure the joint are connected tightly to avoid leakage before starting the
experiment. In addition, make sure there is no air bubbles that present inside the pipe because
it will affect the result obtained. To avoid this error, let the water flow inside the pipe first for
a while to eliminate the bubbles that may be formed in the pipe before starting the
experiment.

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 A) The calculation of the rate of heat transfer occurred at the evaporator and condenser
of the five test.

¿
i) The rate of heat transfer in evaporator, Q L = m c p (T 2−T 1 )
¿
m = 0.004 kg/s cp = 4.187 kJ/ kg.K

QL1 = (0.004)(4.187)(27.8-26.5) QL4 = (0.004)(4.187)(35.6-29.2)

= 0.022 kW = 0.107 kW

QL2 = (0.004)(4.187)(31.2-28.2) QL5 = (0.004)(4.187)(36.9-28.8)

= 0.050 kW = 0.136 kW

QL3 = (0.004)(4.187)(32.2-28.8)

= 0.057 kW

ii) The rate of heat transfer in condenser, QH =

mc p ( T 4 −T 3 )

QH1 = (0.028)(4.187)(30.4-29.0) QH4 = (0.010)(4.187)(35.6-37.4)

= 0.164 kW = -0.075 kW

QH2 = (0.020)(4.187)(33.8-32.4) QH5 = (0.007)(4.187)(36.6-38.8)

= 0.117 kW = -0.064 kW

QH3 = (0.018)(4.187)(34.8-37.2)

= -0.181 kW

* Both QL and QH are defined as magnitudes and therefore are positive quantities.
QL QL

The coefficient of performance of refrigerator, COPR = W net = QH− Q L

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 0 . 022

COPR1 = 0. 164− 0. 022 = 0.15

0 .050

COPR2 = 0. 117− 0 .05 = 0.74

0 .057

COPR3 = 0. 181− 0 . 057 = 0.46

0 .107

COPR4 = 0. 075−0 . 107 = │- 3.34│= 3.34

0 . 136

COPR5 = 0. 064− 0 .136 = │- 1.89│= 1.89

From the above calculation, we can conclude that the value of the coefficient of performance
of the refrigerator (COPR) increase with the increasing of the value of the rate of heat transfer
in evaporator, QL. This is proved by the equation below.

QL

COPR = QH− Q L

The coefficient of performance (COP) is directly proportional to the rate of heat

transfer in evaporator, QL. Notice that the value of COPR can be greater than unity which is
the amount of heat transfer from refrigerated space can be greater than the work input. This is
in contrast to the thermal efficiency, which can never be greater than 1.

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B) The effect of the change in rate of heat transfer at condenser against the temperature
of T1 – T6 and the power of compressor.

From Figure 1, the temperature versus condenser flow rate, Q H, we can see that as the
condenser flow rate increase, the temperature will decrease. This means that, the heat transfer
rate is inversely proportional to the flow rate of water. The change in condenser flow rate will
affect the temperature of water which is going through the evaporator and the condenser
which is labeled from T1 to T6.

As we can see from the graph, we can interpret that the value of T1, T2 and T4 are
almost constant for every reading even though there is a change in condenser flow rates. For
the temperature T1 and T2, they are almost not influenced by the change of condenser flow
rates because the refrigerant R-141b that enter and leaves the evaporator is at saturated state.
For the value of T3 and T6, they are affected with the changing of condenser flow rates.
Their values are decline as the condenser flow rates increase due to transferring at the
condenser.

Based on Graph 2, we can conclude that compressor power decrease as the condenser
flow rate increase. Therefore, the compressor power is inversely proportional to the
condenser flow rate. However, compressor power is directly proportional to the specific
volume of the water.

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7.0 CONCLUSSION
As the conclusion, the coefficient of performance (COP) is directly proportional to the
rate of heat transfer in evaporator, QL. We also can conclude that the condenser flow rate is
directly proportional to the compression power. In other words, as the condenser flow rate
increase, the work input is increasing. Besides that, we can summarize that the condenser
flow rate are inversely proportional to the temperature, T1-T6.

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8.0 REFERENCES
 Yunus A. Cengel and Micheal A. boles (2006), “Thermodynamics An Engineering
Approach”, 5th Edition in SI unit, Mc Graw Hill International edition.
 Wylen G.V, Sonntag R, and Borgnakke C, ”Fundemental of Thermodynamics”, 6th
Edition, John Wiley, New York.
 Richard M.Felder dan Ronald W.Rousseau (1990), Elementary Principals of
Chemical Processes, 3rd Edition, John Wiley, Singapore.

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