Module II

Basic Concepts in Air Conditioning

Manu Sivadas
Assistant Professor
Marian Engineering College

1
Objective of the chapter
To introduce students about the basics of
air conditioning systems.

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 2

 Introduction
Refrigeration is concerned with the production of cool
confinement absorbing heat from the space where cooling
is required
The branch of science which deals with the process of
reducing and maintaining the temperature of a space or
material below the temperature of the surrounding
The heat is then rejected to some natural sink such as:
 The atmospheric air
 Surface water
 Any external body lower in temperature compared to the
space

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 3

How does it
work? High Temperature Reservoir

It follows the
Second law of Heat Rejected

Thermodynami R Work Input

cs.
Heat Absorbed

Low Temperature Reservoir

4
 Continued………

A refrigeration system is a combination of

components, equipment and piping connected in
a sequence to produce the refrigeration effect
Refrigeration Cycle: when a refrigerant undergoes
a series of processes like evaporation,
compression, condensation, throttling and
expansion, it is said to have undergone a
refrigeration cycle

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 5

 Types

Refrigeration cycle are classified mainly in to

the following :
 Vapor compression refrigeration cycle
 Vapor absorption refrigeration cycle
 Air refrigeration cycle
 Steam- jet refrigeration cycle

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 6

 Principles of Refrigeration
Vapour Compression refrigeration
“Highly compressed fluids tends to get colder when
allowed to expand”
Pressure is made high enough so that
i. Compressed fluid will be hotter than surroundings.
ii. Expanding fluid will be cooler than the desired
cooling temperature.

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 7

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 8
Basic Concepts in Refrigration 9
Compressor

Fig. Hermetic sealed compressor

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 10
Condensor

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 11

 Evaporator

Fig. Evaporator coil upclose Fig. Evaporator coil behind the freezer

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 12

Simple Vapour Compression Refrigeration System
Basic Concepts in Refrigration 14
Need for Refrigeration
The growth of microorganisms is temperature-
dependent, that growth declines as temperature
falls, and that growth becomes very slow at
temperatures below +10 °C
Use of refrigeration to conserve foodstuffs and
natural ice came into use for this purpose

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 15

Application of Refrigeration
Foodstuff production, conservation and
preservation
Chemical processing industry
Industrial and comfort air conditioning
plants
Drying plants, etc

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 16

 Methods of Refrigeration

There
are different methods of refrigeration.
Among them:
 Solution (dissolution of salts in water) and
 Change of Phase
Are mostly used in the refrigeration processes

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 17

Solution (dissolution of Salts in water)
When certain salts such as NaCl or CaCl2 are dissolved
in water, they absorb heat

CaCl2lowers the temperature of water up to -50oC while

NaCl up to -20oC

The salts used for refrigeration has to be regained by

evaporating the solution

The refrigeration produced is quite small compared to the

large amount of energy required in salt regaining process

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 18

 Change of Phase
Ifa substance such as ice is available, it is
possible to get refrigeration due to the
change of phase
◦ Solid change to liquid, the cooling produced is:
Qs1=m1hsf
Where m1 is the rate of fission of ice &
h s f is the enthalpy of fission (340kj/kg)

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 19

 Continued………

◦ Refrigeration can be produced by change of phase

from solid to vapor-Sublimation. This occurs when
the pressure of the system is lower than the triple
point pressure
Qc2=m2hsv
Where h s v is the enthalpy of sublimation
◦ Solid carbon dioxide (dry ice) at one atmospheric
pressure produces about 570kJ/Kg of refrigeration
maintaining it self at a temperature of about -75 oC

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 20

 Continued………

Refrigeration can be created due to the phase

transformation from liquid to vapor
Qc3=m3 (hg-h f)
=m3hfg

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 21

 Requirements of Refrigerant
 There are certain desirable characteristics which a fluid used
as a refrigerant should posses:
◦ non-poisonous
◦ Non-explosive
◦ Non-corrosive
◦ Non-inflammable
◦ Leaks should be easily detected
◦ Leaks should be easy to locate
◦ Should operate under low pressure
◦ Stable gas

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 22

 Continued……..
◦ Parts moving in the fluid should be easy to lubricate
◦ Non- toxic
◦ Well balanced enthalpy of evaporation per unit
mass
◦ Small relative displacement to obtain a certain
refrigerating effect
◦ A minimum difference between the vaporizing and
condensing pressure is desirable
 Thestandard comparison of refrigerants as used in refrigeration
industry is based on an evaporator temperature of -15oC and
condensing temperature of 30oC

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 Identification Refrigerant by Number

Refrigerant No Name and chemical formula

R-11 Trichloromonofluoromethane (CCl3F)
R-12 Dichlorodifluoromethane (CCl2F2)
R-22 Monochlorodifluoromethane (CHClF2)
R-500 Mixture of 73.8% R-12 and 26.2% R-152a
R-502 mixture of 48.8% R-22 and 51.2% R-115
R-717 Ammonia (NH3)
R-134a Tetrafluoroethane (CH2FCF3)

Formula generation C m H n F p Cl q
Designated by R-(m-1)(n+1)(P)

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 24

 Classification of Refrigerants
 The National Refrigeration Safety Code, USA (NRSC)
catalogues all the refrigerants into three groups. Some of these
are:
◦ Group one – ( Safest of the refrigerants)
R-113, R-11, R-21, R-114, R-12, R-30, R-22, R-744,
R-502, R-13, R-14, R-500, R-134a
◦ Group two- (Toxic and somewhat Inflammable
Refrigerants)
R-1130, R-611, R-160, R-764, R-40, R-717
◦ Group Three- (inflammable Refrigerants)
R-600, R-290, R-170, R-1150, R-50

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 25

Evaporator
The purpose of the evaporator is to remove
unwanted heat from the product
Refrigerant contained within the evaporator is
boiling at a low-pressure. The level of this pressure
is determined by two factors:
- The rate at which the heat is absorbed from the
product to the liquid refrigerant in the evaporator
- The rate at which the low-pressure vapor is
removed from the evaporator by the compressor
When leaving the evaporator coil the liquid
refrigerant is in vapor form.
Basic Concepts in Refrigration 26
Compressor
The purpose of the compressor is to draw
the low-temperature, low-pressure vapor
from the evaporator via the suction line.
When vapor is compressed it rises in
temperature.
The compressor transforms the vapor from a
low-temperature vapor to a high-
temperature vapor, in turn increasing the
pressure.

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 27

Condenser
 The purpose of the condenser is to extract heat from the
refrigerant to the outside air.
 Fans mounted above the condenser unit are used to draw
air through the condenser coils.
 The temperature of the high-pressure vapor determines the
temperature at which the condensation begins.
 As heat has to flow from the condenser to the air, the
condensation temperature must be higher than that of the
air.
 The high-pressure vapor within the condenser is then
cooled to the point where it becomes a liquid refrigerant
once more, whilst retaining some heat.

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 28

 Expansion Valve
The expansion valve is located at the end of the
liquid line, before the evaporator. The high-
pressure liquid reaches the expansion valve, having
come from the condenser.
The valve then reduces the pressure of the
refrigerant as it passes through the orifice, which is
located inside the valve.
On reducing the pressure, the temperature of the
refrigerant also decreases to a level below the
surrounding air.
This low-pressure, low-temperature liquid is then
pumped in to the evaporator.

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 29

 Coefficient of Performance
[ COP ]

Atmosphere High Temperature Reservoir

T2

DesiredEff ect Heat Rejected, Q2

COP 
Workdone
Q Q1 R Work Input
COP  1 
W Q2  Q1 W
T1
COP 
T2  T1 Heat Absorbed,Q1

Air conditioned space Low Temperature Reservoir

T1
3
0
 Coefficient of Performance
[ COP for Heat pump]

Air conditioned space High Temperature Reservoir

DesiredEff ect Heat Rejected, Q2

COPHP 
Workdone
Q Q2 HP Work Input
COPHP  2 
W Q2  Q1 W
T2
COPHP 
T2  T1 Heat Absorbed,Q1

Atmosphere Low Temperature Reservoir

COPHP = COPR + 1 3
1
Unit of refrigeration
Most commonly used is Tonne of
refrigeration
“1 tonne of refrigeration ( T.R) is the rate
of heat removal required to freeze a
metric ton (1000 kg) of water at 0°C in 24
hours.”
In S.I units, 1 T.R = 3.5 kW

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 32

Example 1
A conference hall is to be maintained at 18
degrees while the surrounding temperature is 35
degrees. What is the ideal performance
coefficient required for the a/c to be installed?
If a used 2 ton a/c is at disposal, what will be the
COP if it can extract 30 kW of heat from the
hall? (Ans: 17.11, 4.28)
Hint: COP 
Q1
W
T1
COP 
T2  T1

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 33

Basis of Refrigeration cycle
Reversed Carnot cyle
 Compression and expansion done isentropically.

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 34

Basis of Refrigeration cycle
Reversed Carnot cyle
 Process 1-2 and 3-4 Heat transfer

Basic Concepts in Refrigration 35