ME2100 Applied Thermal Engineering

Tutorial 4: Refrigeration Cycle

The ambient condition may be taken to be 100 kPa and 25°C

1. Refrigerant-134a enters the compressor of a refrigerator as saturated vapor at 140

kPa at a rate of 0.3 m3/min and leaves at 1 MPa. The isentropic efficiency of the
compressor is 78 percent. The refrigerant enters the throttling valve as a saturated
liquid. Determine (a) the power input to the compressor, (b) the rate of heat removal
from the refrigerated space, (c) the COP, (d) exergy destroyed and (e) the second
law efficiency. Saturation data at 140 kPa are as follows: T sat = -18.77°C, vg=0.14014
m3/kg, hf=27.08 kJ/kg, hg=239.16 kJ/kg, sf=0.11087 kJ/kg.K and sg=0.94456 kJ/kg.K
[112.7 kW, 282.2 kW, 2.5, 64.1 kW, 43.11%]

2. A commercial refrigerator with refrigerant-134a as the working fluid is used to keep

the refrigerated space at -30°C by rejecting its waste heat to cooling water that
enters the condenser at 18°C at a rate of 0.25 kg/s and leaves at 26°C. The
refrigerant enters the condenser at 1.2 MPa and 60°C and leaves at 40°C. The inlet
state of the compressor is 80 kPa and -20°C and the compressor is estimated to
gain a net heat of 450 W from the surroundings. Determine (a) the mass flow rate of
the refrigerant, (b) the quality of the refrigerant at the evaporator inlet, (c) the
refrigeration load (d) the COP of the refrigerator, (e) the temperature of the cold
region assuming no irreversibilities in the evaporator and (f) the second law
efficiency of the cycle. [0.046 kg/s, 0.441, 6.07 kW, 3.32, -30.5°C, 75.98%]

3. R134a enters the adiabatic compressor of a refrigerator as superheated vapor at

0.14 MPa and -10°C at a rate of 0.12 kg/s, and it leaves at 0.7 MPa and 50°C. The
refrigerant is cooled in the condenser to 25°C, and it is throttled to 0.15 MPa. Show
the cycle on a P-h diagram with respect to saturation lines, and determine (a) the
rate of heat removal from the refrigerated space and the power input to the
compressor, (b) isentropic efficiency of the compressor, (c) COP of the refrigerator,
(d) temperature of the refrigerated space assuming that there are no irreversibilities
and (e) exergy destroyed. [19.2 kW, 5.052 kW, 82.7%, 3.8, -18.385°C, 1.78 kW]