Table of Contents

1.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 2

1.1 COMPONENTS AND THEIR GENERAL WORKING ................................................................. 2
COMPRESSOR .................................................................................................................................. 2
EVAPORATOR & EXPANSION VALVE ....................................................................................... 2
CONDENSER..................................................................................................................................... 3
GENERAL WORKING EXPLANATION ........................................................................................ 3
2.0 SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF AUTOMOTIVE AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM ....................... 4
3.0 OBJECTIVE ..................................................................................................................................... 5
4.0 SCHEMATIC OF VAPOR COMPRESSION REFRIGERATION SYSTEM ................................ 5
5.0 REFRIGERANT USED IN THE SYSTEM ..................................................................................... 5
5.1 SATURATION CURVE TABLE................................................................................................. 6
5.2 IMPACT ON ENVIRONEMENT AND REFRIGERANT SELECTION ................................... 6
5.3 ECONOMIC JUSTIFICATION OF THE SELECTED REFRIGERANT ................................... 6
6.0 CALCULATION OF EVERY STATE ............................................................................................ 7
State 1: ................................................................................................................................................ 7
State 2: ................................................................................................................................................ 7
State 3: ................................................................................................................................................ 8
State 4: ................................................................................................................................................ 8
7.0 T-s Diagram and p-h Diagram ........................................................................................................ 10
8.0 MASS FLOW RATE ...................................................................................................................... 11
9.0 CONDENSER CALCULATIONS: ................................................................................................ 11
9.1 AIR FLOW RATE IN CONDENSER ........................................................................................ 13
10.0 EVAPORATOR CALCULATIONS:- .......................................................................................... 13
10.1 AIR FLOW RATE CALCULATIONS:- .................................................................................. 14
11.0 EFFECT OF ISENTROPIC EFFICIENCY: ................................................................................. 15
12.0 DISCUSSION & RESULTS......................................................................................................... 16
13.0 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 17
14. REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 17

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1.0 INTRODUCTION
Air conditioning system is defined as the simultaneous mechanical control of temperature,
humidity, and air motion (Yusof, 1997). Currently, the rapid growth of the economy and the
high purchasing power of the local population have made Malaysia the largest passenger car
market in ASEAN. With a ratio of 200 cars for every one thousand people, Malaysia ranks
among countries with high car ownership ratio in the region www.mida.gov.my. It is observed
that 85% of the automobiles sold in Malaysia have an air-conditioning system. The standard
of this industry is vapor-compressor system.

1.1 COMPONENTS AND THEIR GENERAL WORKING

The major components of the automotive air conditioning system are a compressor, an
evaporator, a condenser, and an expansion valve.

COMPRESSOR
The compressor is the heart of the air conditioning system. It continuously cycles on and off
to meet the cooling requirements of the passenger compartment and is mounted to the engine
and is belt driven and its cycling rate is directly related to the automobile vehicle speed. At
the front of the compressor is the magnetic clutch which when given power engages the
compressor. The condenser is usually in front of the radiator.

EVAPORATOR & EXPANSION VALVE

The evaporator is the heat exchanger that removes heat from the inside of the vehicle. It is
located in or adjacent to the passenger compartment, usually mounted on the fire wall. The
expansion valve controls the flow of refrigerant into the evaporator. The expansion valve has
a capillary tube with a thermal bulb that controls how far open or closed it is. The thermal
bulb and the internal pressure of the refrigerant balance to control just the exact amount of
refrigerant needed. The thermal bulb is clamped to the output of the evaporator. If not enough
refrigerant is flowing to cool the evaporator, this bulb is sense it and open more or vice versa.
As the refrigerant passes through the evaporator, heat transfer from the air flowing across
results in the vaporization of the refrigerant. Vapor refrigerant leaving the evaporator is
compressed to a relatively high pressure and temperature by the compressor.

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CONDENSER
Next, the refrigerant passes through the condenser, where the refrigerant condenses and there
is heat transfer from the refrigerant to the air flow across the condenser. Finally, the
refrigerant enters the expansion valve and expands to the evaporator pressure. The refrigerant
exits the valve as a two-phase liquid-vapor mixture and gets in to the evaporator to begin the
cycle again. The airflow across the evaporator is either re-circulated air from the passenger
compartment or fresh air drawn from the outside, or some combination of the two.

GENERAL WORKING EXPLANATION

The refrigerant system reaches to a steady-state operating condition when the mass flow rate
through the compressor is equal to the amount of vapor generated in the evaporator. The
automotive air conditioning system is designed to operate under a wide range of heat
conditions, and as such the capacity of the fixed volume compressor is larger than needed
under most operating conditions. To allow the system to function across a wide range of
environmental conditions, the compressor is cycled on and off based on the low-side
refrigerant pressure. The compressor is shut off when the pressure in the evaporator falls
below the preset value which is chosen to assure that condensate does not freeze on the
evaporator. Even after the compressor shuts off, there will still persist a pressure imbalance
across the expansion valve that will force refrigerant to flow from condenser to the
evaporator. As the evaporator fills with the refrigerant, its pressure will increase. Once the
low side refrigerant pressure reaches the preset level, the compressor will restart. The
compressor is continuously turned on and off in this manner. Since the compressor is belt
driven device coupled to the engine, when the engine speed changes so does the compressor
speed, that result in a fluctuation of the refrigerant mass flow rate. Turning the compressor on
and off position is provided by an electro-magnetic clutch.
There are several different types of automotive air conditioning systems which are the
Receiver Drier (Filter Drier) – Expansion Valve System which uses the valve to control
refrigerant flow and cycles the compressor clutch to control evaporator temperature and the
Accumulator – Orifice Tube System which uses a fixed orifice and an accumulator to control
refrigerant flow and cycles the compressor clutch to control evaporator temperature, and
Suction Throttling Valve System which uses an expansion valve to control refrigerant flow
into the evaporator and a suction throttling valve to control refrigerant flow out of the
evaporator. The last system does not cycles the compressor clutch, rather it cycles the
compressor suction to the evaporator.

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 2.0 SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF AUTOMOTIVE AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM

Figure 1:- Schematic Diagram of Automotive Air Conditioning System

Taken from Alauddin Hafiz Bin Yusof, 2008, Air Conditioning Study for automotive Application, Malaysia

Page | 4
3.0 OBJECTIVE
To design an air-conditioning system for a passenger car that can deliver a minimum of 4.5
kW of cooling at a maximum power of 6 HP at a speed of 3000 rpm.

4.0 SCHEMATIC OF VAPOR COMPRESSION REFRIGERATION SYSTEM

Saturated
Liquid
Condenser

Expansion Valve Compressor

V=50ms-1 Saturated
Vapor
Evaporator

Qin

Figure 2:- Schematic of the Vapor Compression refrigeration System

5.0 REFRIGERANT USED IN THE SYSTEM

The choices of the possible refrigerants for the system include R-124, R-152a, R-12 or R-
134a (tetrafluoroethane). Saturation curve and the environmental properties of the refrigerants
play an important role for the selection of the refrigerant in the system.

Page | 5
5.1 SATURATION CURVE TABLE

700
m

600

500
Pressure (lbf/in^2)

400

300

200

100

0
40 90 140 190 240 290
Temperature (F)

R-152a R-124 R-134a R-12

Figure 3:- Saturation Curves for R-152a, R-134a, R-124, and R-12

Based on the saturation curve, R-152a is the best choice since it has the closest curve to R-12. R-134a
is also very close however, and is a possibility. The saturation curve for R-124 differs from the curve
for R-12, but it has lower operating pressures at the desired operating temperatures, making it a good
choice.

5.2 IMPACT ON ENVIRONEMENT AND REFRIGERANT SELECTION

 R-124 is known to be ozone depleting and dangerous for the environment, making it a
bad choice.
 R-152a is known to be extremely flammable, that can be very problematic while using it
near an internal combustion engine.
 R-134a does not have any side-effects on the ozone; it is non-flammable, environmentally
friendly and has low toxicity. In addition to this it is actually known to have a slightly
lower pressure at given temperatures compared to the other refrigerants. Moreover it is
suitable for synthetic oil which is used and preferred by most of the engine of the current
cars whereas R-12 is suitable for the mineral oil which is not a first choice of today.
Therefore, R-134a is the best choice of the refrigerant.

5.3 ECONOMIC JUSTIFICATION OF THE SELECTED REFRIGERANT

An R-134a system uses only 80-85% of the amount of refrigerant that means less refrigerant
will be needed to buy while recharging the system. This gives a strong justification from a
commercial point of view that further supports the selection of the mentioned refrigerant i.e.
R134a

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6.0 CALCULATION OF EVERY STATE
Since the refrigerant R-134a has been chosen, the high and low pressures and their
corresponding temperatures need to be chosen for the system.

It is known that the temperatures for the hot and cold reservoirs in the worst case scenario are
180°F (82.22°C) and 65°F (18.3°C) respectively.

For design purposes, the high and low temperatures of the refrigerant should be about 68°F
(20°C) to 86°F(30°C) different from the corresponding thermal reservoir.

The high pressure chosen is 480 psi with a corresponding saturation temperature of 195.75°F.
The low pressure chosen is 60 psi with a corresponding saturation temperature of 49.89°F.
Therefore, the last requirement to be checked is that the compression ratio is under 6.0.

The properties of the given states shown in Figure 2 can now be evaluated in a state chart.
The following properties of the states were found using tables given for R-134a.

State 1:
Saturated Vapor, Pressure = 60 psi.

Therefore, v1 = vg (60 psi) = 0.7887 ft3/lb

h1 = hg(60 psi) = 108.72 Btu/lb

s1 = sg (60 psi) = 0.2183 Btu/lb°R

State 2:
Pressure = 480 psi, Superheated Vapor,

s2s = s1 = 0.2183 Btu/lbºR

With interpolation in excel, (Figure 1A, Appendix A)

h2s = 127.35 Btu/lb

h 2s  h 1
127.35  108.72 Btu
 compressor   lb  0.70  h  135.33 Btu
h 2  h1
2
h 2  108.72 Btu lb
lb

With interpolation,

v2 = 0.08187 ft3/lb

s2 = 0.23013 Btu/lbºR

Page | 7
State 3:
Saturated Liquid, Pressure = 480 psi , with interpolation

v3 = vf (480psi) = 0.01964 ft3/lb

h3 = hf (480psi)= 84.306 Btu/lb

s3 = sf (480psi) = 0.1539 Btu/lb·ºR

State 4:
Throttling Process, h4 = h3 = 84.306 Btu/lb

The compressor ratio can now be found very simply by dividing the inlet volume by the exit
volume. Since the mass flow rates are the same on both sides of the compressor, the specific
volume can be used and

ft 3
0.7887
v lb  9.63 .
Compressor ratio  1 
v2 ft 3
0.08187
lb

The compression ratio is constrained however and therefore the design needs to change. The
lower temperature needs to stay the same, about 50ºF so the passengers in the car can remain
comfortable at 65ºF. The worst case scenario of 180ºF can no longer be planned for however.
The given compression ratio of 3.6 is also not feasible because it would not work at higher
temperatures. The high temperature of the refrigerant needs to be lowered down so that the
required design requirements are met. Since the max compression ratio is 6, the minimum v2
is

ft 3
0.7887 3
v1 lb  0.13145 ft
 v2 
Compresssi on Ratio 6 lb

For this to occur the high pressure becomes 375 psi and the high temperature of the R-134a
becomes 174.46ºF as shown in the following calculation for the states.

States 2, 3, and 4 now become:

State 2: Pressure = 375 psi, Superheated Vapor,

Page | 8
 s2s = s1 = 0.2183 Btu/lb·ºR

With interpolation done in excel (Figure 2A, Appendix A)

h2s = 124.5674 Btu/lb (Appendix A)

h  h1
124.5674  108.72 Btu
 compressor  2s  lb  0.70  h  131.3591 Btu
h 2  h1
2
h 2  108.72 Btu lb
lb

With interpolation,

v2 = 0.13266 ft3/lb

s2 = 0.2287 Btu/lb·ºR

State 3: Saturated Liquid, Pressure = 375 psi

Therefore, v3 = vf (375psi) = 0.01715 ft3/lb

h3 = hf (375psi) = 73.54 Btu/lb

s3 = sf (375psi) = 0.13775 Btu/lb·ºR

State 4: Throttling Process, h4 = h3 = 73.54 Btu/lb, Pressure = 60 psi

The specific volume can then be determined based on the quality.

 x107.43  24.14
Btu Btu Btu
73.54  27.14  x  0.557
lb lb lb

ft 3 ft 3 ft 3
v4  0.01270  (0.557)(0.7887  0.01270)  0.445
lb lb lb

The compressor ratio is therefore,

ft 3
0.7887
v lb  5.95
Compressor ratio  1 
v2 ft 3
0.13266
lb

Page | 9
The four states were put into a state chart to show all relevant data. The state chart is shown
in Table 1.

v
Pressure h
State Composition (ft3/lb s (Btu/lb)
(psi) Temperature(ºC) (Btu/lb)
)

Saturated 0.788
1 60 49.89 or 9.4 ºC 108.72 0.2183
Vapor 7

Superheated 0.132
2 375 203.31 or 95.17 ºC 131.36 0.2287
Vapor 7

Saturated 0.017
3 375 174.46 or 78.89 ºC 73.54 0.1378
Liquid 2

Mixture of
4 60 49.89 or 9.94 ºC vapor and 0.445 73.54 -
liquid

Table 1: State Chart

7.0 T-s Diagram and p-h Diagram

The T-s diagram is shown below with the four states indicated is shown in Figure 4 and the
p-h Diagram is shown in Figure 5.
230
220
210
200
190 375 psi 2s 2
180
170
Thigh=174.46 Deg. F
160 3
m

150
140
Temp. (deg. F)

130
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
50 Tlow=49.89 Deg. F 60 psi
40 4
30 1
20
10
0
20 25 30 35 40 45
Entropy (Btu/lb*R)

Figure 4: T-s Diagram

Page | 10
 .

Figure 5: P-h Diagram

8.0 MASS FLOW RATE

The required mass flow rate to provide 4.5 kW or 15,355 Btu/hr of cooling at 3000 rpm can
be calculated by doing an energy balance on the evaporator. It can be assumed that there is
no work done on or by the evaporator and there is no Kinetic or Potential Energy change.
Therefore, the mass flow rate can be determined knowing the properties at state 4 and state1:

Q in  m h1  h4   15,355  m 108.72  73.54

Btu Btu
.
h lb


So now solving for m

lb lb
m  436.45  7.27
h min

9.0 CONDENSER CALCULATIONS:

The cooling rate in the condenser can be calculated by doing an energy balance. It can be
assumed that there is no work done on or by the condenser and there is no Kinetic or
Potential Energy change. Therefore, the cooling rate can be determined knowing the
properties at state 2 and state 3:

Page | 11
 Q out  m h2  h3   436.45 131.36  73.54
lb Btu Btu
 25,235.55
h lb h

The type of condenser that is given in the project is a cross-flow design with both fluids
unmixed. A drawing of this type of heat exchanger is shown in Figure 1B of Appendix B.
The area that the condenser must be can be calculated knowing

Q
A (1)
UFTm

where A is the area, Q is the cooling rate, U is a given Factor, F is a correction factor for a
cross-flow heat exchanger, and ΔTm is the log mean temperature difference

The log mean temperature difference is given by

T2  T1 
Tm  (2)
 T 
ln  2 
 T1 

where ΔT1 is the change in high temperature for the refrigerant and the air, and ΔT2 is the
change in low temperatures for the refrigerant and the air.

The high and low temperatures for the condenser occur at state 2 and state 3, which is shown
in Table 1. The high and low temperatures of the air are limited by the saturation temperature
at 375 psi. The worst case scenario that can be accounted for is therefore 15ºF below the
saturation temperature of 174.46ºF, or 159.46ºF. Therefore, the high and low temperatures
for the condenser are known to be:

TR-134a,1 = 203.31 ºF = 662.98 ºR

TR-134a,2 = 174.46 ºF = 634.13 ºR

Tair,1 = 174.46 ºF = 634.13 ºR

Tair,2 = 159.46 ºF = 619.13 ºR

The log mean temperature difference is therefore

Page | 12
 ((634.13  619.13)  (662.98  634.13))  R
Tm   21.17543 R .
 634.13  619.13 R 

ln  

 662.98  634.13
R 

P
Tair1  Tair 2

634.13  619.13 R  0.342
TR 134a1  Tair 2 662.98  619.13 R

TR 134a1  TR 134a 2 662.98  634.13 R

R   1.923
Tair1  Tair 2 634.13  619.13 R
Therefore, F is approximately 0.91.

The area of the condenser must be

Btu
25,235.55
A h  2.97 ft 2 .
 Btu 

 440.40 2  0.91 21.175 R 
 ft h R 

9.1 AIR FLOW RATE IN CONDENSER

The mass flow rate can be determined based on

Q  m h2  h3   m air c air Tair

where cair is the specific heat, based on pressure, between 174.46ºF and 159.46ºF.

The average temperature for the temperature change of the air is 166.96ºF. cair can be
interpolated at this value to get 0.241 Btu/lbºR. The mass flow rate of the air is therefore
Btu
25,235.55
Q h lb lb
m air    6980.80  116.35 .
cair Tair
0.241
Btu

634.13  619.13 R h min
lb R

10.0 EVAPORATOR CALCULATIONS:-

The air flow rate in the evaporator can be calculated based on the temperature difference of
the refrigerant R-134a and the temperature difference of the air. In the worst case scenario,
the ambient air temperature will enter the heat exchanger at around 100ºF (38ºC)and will
need to drop to 65ºF (18ºC) to provide the passengers with a comfortable environment. The

Page | 13
temperatures of the refrigerant are the temperatures of state 4 and state 1. The temperatures
are therefore:

TR-134a,1 = 49.89 ºF = 509.56 ºR

TR-134a,2 = 49.89 ºF = 509.56 ºR

Tair,1 = 100 ºF = 559.67 ºR

Tair,2 = 65 ºF = 524.67 ºR

Using Equation (1), the log mean temperature difference is

((524.67  509.56)  (559.67  509.56)))  R

Tm   29.1943 R .
 524.67  509.56 R 
ln  

 559.67  509.56 
R 

Since the temperature difference of the R-134a is zero across the evaporator, the correction
factor F is 1.

The area of the evaporator must be

Btu
15,355.
A h  1 ft 2 .
 Btu 
 527.8326 2  1 29.1943 R  
 ft h R 

10.1 AIR FLOW RATE CALCULATIONS:-

The mass flow rate in the evaporator can be determined based on

Q  m h1  h4   m air c air Tair

where cair is the specific heat of air, based on pressure, between 100ºF and 65ºF.

cair can be found to be 0.240 Btu/lbºR. The mass flow rate of the air is therefore

Page | 14
 Btu
15355
Q h lb lb
m air    1827.98  30.47 .
cair Tair
0.240
Btu

559.67  524.67 R h min
lb R

11.0 EFFECT OF ISENTROPIC EFFICIENCY:

The effect of the isentropic efficiency on the cooling capacity of the system can be seen if an
energy balance is done on the system. It can be assumed that there is no change in potential,
kinetic, or internal energy for the system. Therefore, the energy balance results in

W net  Q net  W c  Q out  Q in (3)

where W net is the net work of the system, Q net is the net heat transfer of the system, W c is the

work of the compressor, Q in is the heat transfer into the system, or the cooling capacity, and

Q out is the heat transfer out of the system.

For the purpose of this analysis, Q out is assumed to be constant at the rate that was previously

Btu
calculated, 25,235.55 . Therefore, the cooling capacity, or Q in , can be determined based
h
on how W c changes. The work of the compressor is known to equal

W c  m (h2  h1 ) . (4)

The enthalpy at state 2 is calculated based on the isentropic efficiency,

h 2s  h 1
h2   h1 . (5)
 compressor

Equation (5) can be substituted into Equation (4) to obtain

 h  h1 
W c  m  2 s . (6)
 
 compressor 

Equation (6) can be placed into Equation (3) to obtain

 h  h1 
m  2 s   Q out  Q in . (7)
 
 compressor 

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Equation (7) can be rearranged to obtain

 h  h1 
Q in  Q out  m  2 s . (8)
 
 compressor 

Therefore, the cooling capacity is inversely related to the compressor efficiency. Since, Q out ,

Btu lb
 , h2s, and h1 are known for the system to be 25,235.55
m , 436.45 , 124.5674 Btu/lb,
h h
and 108.72 Btu/lb respectively. A plot of the cooling rate versus the isentropic efficiency
ranging from 50 to 90% is shown in Figure

Figure 6: Plot of Cooling Capacity vs. Isentropic Efficiency

As shown in Figure 6, the plot of Cooling Capacity vs. Isentropic Efficiency is shown to be a
decreasing exponential relationship. A lower isentropic efficiency results in a lower cooling
capacity while a higher isentropic efficiency results in a higher cooling capacity, though the
capacity levels off as the isentropic efficiency increases.

12.0 DISCUSSION & RESULTS

The results of the required analysis are shown in Table 2.

Requirement Result

Mass Flow Rate 7.27 lb/min or 0.055 kg/s

Air Flow Rate of Condenser 116.35 lb/min or 0.879 kg/s

Air Flow Rate of Evaporator 30.47 lb/min or 0.230 kg/s

Table 2: Table of Results

Page | 16
13.0 CONCLUSION

Each component in the design is important to the overall performance of the system. The
compressor is necessary to increase the pressure and therefore the temperature of the
refrigerant so that heat transfer to the surroundings is possible. The condenser is necessary to
transfer heat out of the system and to the surroundings, allowing cooling to occur. The
expansion valve is necessary to lower the pressure and therefore the temperature of the refrigerant,
allowing a low temperature refrigerant to cool the air going into the car. The evaporator is
necessary to allow heat transfer to occur between the refrigerant and the air going into the
vehicle so that the air can be cooled. Therefore, all of the components are just as critical to
the system as any other. Without any one of the components, the system would not be able to
operate as intended.

14. REFERENCES
1) Alauddin Hafiz Bin Yusof (2008) Air Conditioning Study for automotive Application,
Malaysia

2) Yunus A. Cengel (2009) Introduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, London,

McGraw-Hill Higher Education

3) www.coursehero.com

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