Refrigeration and

Air-Conditioning
MEE4230/EME4230

Dr. Mohammad Asif

MED, AMU
Dr. M. Asif, MED
Multi-pressure
system

Dr. M. Asif, MED

 • The performance of ingle stage systems shows that these systems are
adequate as long as the temperature difference between evaporator and
condenser (temperature lift) is small.
• However, there are many applications where the temperature lift can be
quite high.
• The temperature lift can become large either due to the requirement of very
low evaporator temperatures and/or due to the requirement of very high
condensing temperatures.
• For example, in frozen food industries the required evaporator can be as low
as –40oC, while in chemical industries temperatures as low as –150oC may
be required for liquefaction of gases. On the high temperature side the
required condensing temperatures can be very high if the refrigeration
system is used as a heat pump for heating applications such as process
heating, drying etc.
• However, as the temperature lift increases the single stage systems become
inefficient and impractical.
• It can be seen from the T s diagrams that for a given condenser temperature,
as evaporator temperature decreases:
i. Throttling losses increase iv. Quality of the vapour at the
ii. Superheat losses increase inlet to the evaporator increases
iii. Compressor discharge temperature v. Specific volume at the inlet to
Dr. M. Asif, MED
increases the compressor increases
Dr. M. Asif, MED
Dr. M. Asif, MED
 As a result of this, the refrigeration effect decreases and work of
compression increases.
 Similar effects will occur, though not in the same proportion when the
condenser temperature increases for a given evaporator temperature.
 Due to these drawbacks, single stage systems are not recommended when
the evaporator temperature becomes very low and/or when the condenser
temperature becomes high.
 In such cases multi-stage systems are used in practice.
 Generally, for fluorocarbon and ammonia based refrigeration systems a
single stage system is used upto an evaporator temperature of –30oC. A two-
stage system is used upto –60oC and a three-stage system is used for
temperatures below –60oC.
 Apart from high temperature lift applications, multi-stage systems are also
used in applications requiring refrigeration at different temperatures.
 For example, in a dairy plant refrigeration may be required at –30oC for
making ice cream and at 2oC for chilling milk.
 In such cases it may be advantageous to use a multi-evaporator system with
the low temperature evaporator operating at –30oC and the high
temperature evaporator operating at 2oC
Dr. M. Asif, MED
 Multistage or compound compression with interstage cooling is one
effective method of reducing work of compression by working on
isentropics closer to the saturation curve.
 It is, however, desirable to employ compound compression only when
the pressure ratio between the condenser and evaporator is greater
than 4 or 5.
 Thus multistaging is necessary to reduce the power consumption and
also to increase the refrigerating capacity in high condensing
temperature and/or low evaporator temperature applications.
 The two methods employed for cooling between stages are water
intercooling and flash intercooling with flash gas removal.

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Working principle of a Flash Tank

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Flash Gas Removal

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Contd.

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Flash chamber as sub-cooler

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Intercooling

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Dr. M. Asif, MED
Dr. M. Asif, MED
Flash intercooling

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Intermediate Pressure

For minimum total work,

for complete intercooling to the initial temperature.

For in refrigeration systems:

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Complete Multistage Compression System

Dr. M. Asif, MED

Dr. M. Asif, MED
Dr. M. Asif, MED
 A two-stage ammonia food-
Problem:1 freezing plant with a desired
capacity of 528,000 kJ/h at –40°C
evaporating temp and 35°C
condensing temp has a flash
intercooling system with a liquid
subcooler. The vapour leaving the
evaporator is at –30°C and
entering the first-stage compr. is
at –15°C. The vapour leaving the
flash chamber is superheated by
10°C in the suction line to the
second-stage compr. Water
intercooling is done to cool the
vapour to 45°C. Adiabatic eff. of
both compressors are 0.75. The
volumetric eff. of first and second-
stage compressors are 0.65 and
0.77 respectively. Find the piston
displacements, discharge temp
and power requirements of the
Dr. M. Asif, MED two compressors.
Dr. M. Asif, MED
Dr. M. Asif, MED
Practice Problem

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