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VARIOUS METHODS OF PRODUCING LOW

TEMPERATURE

1. Sensible Cooling
2. Endothermic Mixing
3. Phase change processes
4. Expansion of liquids /Gases
5. Thermoelectric Methods
6. Magnetic Method

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p-v diagram and T-s diagram of VCR system

Vapour compression cycle is

the reverse form of the
Rankine cycle

Advantages of VCR system:

1. Size is small when compared to an air refrigeration system for a given capacity
of refrigeration.

2. Volume of refrigerant circulated is low. Hence the running cost is low.

3. High coefficient of performance.

4. The operating temperature range is huge.

5. The temperature at the evaporator can be easily controlled by regulating

expansion valve.

6. Latent heat involved in Phase change ensures high value of heat removal, while
air refrigeration system has sensible heat only.

7. It requires smaller evaporator.

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Disadvantages of VCR system:

1. High initial cost, costly refrigerant.

2. Environmental hazardous refrigerant involved.

3. Must ensure the prevention of leakage of refrigerant.

4. Frequent Maintenance required.

An alternate for the Vapour Compression refrigeration cycle is

Bell Coleman cycle

• Bell Coleman cycle uses air as an refrigerant (working fluid).

• It is used to absorb heat from the low temperature cabin and

reject it to the high temperature heat sink.

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Bell Coleman cycle

Qout

Wout
Win

Process 1 to 2 : Isentropic Compression (Compressor)

Process 2 to 3 : Constant pressure heat rejection (Heat Exchanger)
Process 3 to 4: Isentropic Expansion (Expander or Turbine)
Process 4 to 1 : Constant pressure heat supplied (Cooler or refrigeration compartment)
Bell Coleman cycle is also known as Reversed Brayton cycle

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Qout

Wout
Win

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Qout
Process 1 to 2:

Gas at low pressure is Win

Wout
compressed isentropically
state 1 to state 2 in a
compressor.

Applying steady flow energy equation and neglecting changes in

kinetic and potential energy, we can write:

Work input to the compressor W1-2 = 𝑚 . Cp . (T2 – T1)

𝛾−1
𝑃2 𝛾
𝑇2 = 𝑇1
𝑃1

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Process 2 to 3: Qout

Hot and high pressure gas

flows through a heat Wout Win

exchanger and rejects heat

sensibly and isobarically to
a heat sink.

Temperature and enthalpy of the gas drop during the process due to
heat exchange, no work transfer takes place and the entropy of the
gas decreases.

Heat rejected Q2-3 = 𝑚 . Cp . (T2 – T3)

P2 = P3

Qout

Process 3 to 4:

High pressure gas from the heat Wout Win

exchanger flows through a
turbine, undergoes isentropic
expansion and delivers net work
output.

The temperature of the gas drops during the process form T 3 to T4.

Work output from the turbine W3-4 = 𝑚 . Cp . (T3 – T4)

𝛾−1
𝑃3 𝛾
𝑇3 = 𝑇4
𝑃4

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Process 4 to 1: Qout

Cold and low pressure gas from

turbine flows through the low Wout Win
temperature heat exchanger and
extracts heat sensibly and
isobarically from a heat source,
providing a useful refrigeration
effect.

Temperature and enthalpy of the gas rises during the process due to heat
exchange, no work transfer takes place and the entropy of the gas increases.

Heat absorbed (Refrigeration effect) Q4-1 = 𝑚 . Cp . (T1 – T4)

P4 = P1

Since,
P2 = P3
P4 = P1

𝛾−1 𝛾−1
𝑇2 𝑃2 𝛾 𝑇3 𝑃3 𝛾
= =
𝑇1 𝑃1 𝑇4 𝑃4

𝛾−1 𝛾−1
𝛾−1
𝑇2 𝑇3 𝑃3 𝛾 𝑃2 𝛾
𝛾
= = = = 𝑟𝑝
𝑇1 𝑇4 𝑃4 𝑃1

𝑃3 𝑃2
Pressure ratio, rp = =
𝑃4 𝑃1

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The COP of the cycle is given by,

𝑅𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑚 . Cp . (T1 – T4)

𝐶𝑂𝑃 = =
𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑚. Cp . (𝑇2 −𝑇3 ) − 𝑚. Cp . (T1 – T4)

𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 𝑄𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 − 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑏𝑒𝑑

𝑇1 − 𝑇4
𝐶𝑂𝑃 =
𝑇2 − 𝑇3 − 𝑇1 − 𝑇4

𝑇1
𝑇4 −1 𝑇4 1 1
𝑇4
𝐶𝑂𝑃 = = = = 𝛾−1
𝑇 𝑇
𝑇3 2 − 1 − 𝑇4 1 − 1 𝑇3 −𝑇4 𝑇3 − 1 𝛾
𝑇3 𝑇4 𝑇4 𝑟𝑝 − 1

The actual Bell Coleman cycle differs from the ideal cycle due to:

i. Non-isentropic compression and expansion processes

ii. Pressure drops in cold and hot heat exchangers

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If η𝑐 , η𝑡 represents the isentropic efficiency of the compressor and turbine

respectively. Then,

𝐼𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑚 . Cp . (T2 – T1)

η𝑐 = =
𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑚 . Cp . (𝑇2′ – T1)

𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑚 . Cp . (𝑇3 –𝑇4′ )

η𝑡 = =
𝐼𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑚 . Cp . (𝑇3 –𝑇4 )

Thus the net work input increases due to increase in compressor work input and
reduction in turbine work output. The refrigeration effect also reduces due to the
irreversibilities. As a result, the COP of actual reverse Brayton cycles will be
considerably lower than the ideal cycles. Design of efficient compressors and
turbines plays a major role in improving the COP of the system

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Open cycle Bell Coleman cycle

In practice, reverse Brayton cycles can be open or closed. In open systems,

cold air at the exit of the turbine flows into a room or cabin (cold space), and
air to the compressor is taken from the cold space. In such a case, the low side
pressure will be atmospheric

A dense air refrigerator operates on Bell-Coleman Cycle and is required to produce

12 tons of refrigeration. The heat rejection takes place at a pressure of 4.5 bar and the
refrigeration pressure is 1.5 bar. The air is cooled in the heat exchanger to a
temperature of 52°C, the temperature of the air at inlet of compressor is –10 °C,
determine for the ideal cycle
1. COP of the system
2. Mass of air circulated per minute
3. Net power per ton of the refrigeration

An air refrigerator working on the principle of Bell-Coleman cycle. The air into the
compressor is at 1 atm at -10ºC. It is compressed to 10 atm and cooled to 40ºC at
the same pressure. It is then expanded to 1 atm and discharged to take cooling load.
The air circulation is 1 kg/s.
The isentropic efficiency of the compressor = 80%
The isentropic efficiency of the expander = 90%

Find 1) Refrigeration capacity of the system

2) Power required to drive the compressor
3) COP of the system

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AIR CRAFT COOLING SYSTEMS

Even though the outside temperatures are very low at high altitudes, still
cooling of cabin is required.

1. Large internal heat generation

2. Heat generation due to skin friction
3. Ram effect (The pressure and temperature of the outside air increases
as it comes in contact with the aircraft due to conversion of kinetic
energy into enthalpy. This effect is known as ram effect.)
4. At high altitudes, the outside pressure will be sub atmospheric. When
air at low pressure is compressed and supplied to the cabin at
pressure close to atmospheric, the temperature increases significantly.
(eg: when outside temperature is 223 K and pressure is 0.2 bar is
compressed to 1 bar its temperature increases to 353 K, whereas the
cabin is to be maintained at 332 K for comfortness)
5. Solar radiation
For low speed aircraft flying at low altitudes, cooling system may not be
required, however, for high speed aircraft flying at high altitudes, a
cooling system is a must.

Why Bell Coleman? Why not VCR for Aircraft cooling

application
Even though the COP of air cycle refrigeration is very low compared to vapour
compression refrigeration systems, it is still found to be most suitable for aircraft
refrigeration systems as:
1. Air is cheap, safe, non toxic and non-flammable. Leakage of air is not a
problem.
2. Cold air can be directly be used for cooling thus eliminating the low
temperature heat exchanger (open systems) leading to lower weight.
3. The aircraft engine already consists of a high speed turbo-compresor, hence
separate compressor for cooling system is not required. This reduces the weight
per kW cooling considerably. Typically less than 50% of an equivalent vapour
compression system.
4. Design of the complete systems is much simpler due to low pressures.
Maintenance required is also less.

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SIMPLE AIR CYCLE COOLING SYSTEM

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BOOT STRAP AIR REFRIGERATION

SYSTEM

Bootstrap indicates a system in which the pressure of the

working fluid is raised in tow levels by using two
compressors before the working fluid which is air, expands
in the turbine section.

Main components of this system are:

1. Two heat exchangers (air cooler and after cooler)
2. A secondary compressor, which is driven by the turbine
of the cooling system.

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TS DIAGRAM OF BOOT STRAP SYSTEM

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REGENERATIVE AIR
REFRIGERATION SYSTEM
It has two heat exchangers but does not required ram air for
cooling the air in the second heat exchanger.

It is a modification of the simple system with the addition of a

secondary heat exchanger in which the air from the primary
heat exchanger is further cooled with a portion of the
refrigerated air bled after expansion in the turbine.

It provides lower turbine discharge temperatures but at the

expense of some weight and complications.

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