Refrigeration and Cryogenics

Maciej Chorowski
Faculty of Mechanical and Power Engineering


COEFFICIENT OF PERFORMANCE
OF REFRIGERATION CYCLE

The coefficient of performance is an index of
performance of a thermodynamic cycle or a
thermal system. Because the COP can be
greater than 1, COP is used instead of thermal
efficiency. The coefficient of performance can
be used for the analysis of the following:
A refrigerator that is used to produce a refrigeration
effect only, that is, COP
ref
A heat pump in which the heating effect is produced by
rejected heat COP
hp
A heat recovery system in which both the refrigeration
effect and the heating effect are used at thesame time,
COP
hr

Refrigeration processes of a vapor
compression refrigerating system
Evaporation. In this process, the refrigerant evaporates
at a lower temperature than that of its surroundings,
absorbing its latent heat of vaporization.
Superheating. Saturated refrigerant vapor is usually
superheated to ensure that liquid refrigerant does not
flow into the compressor.
Compression. Refrigerant is compressed to a higher
pressure and temperature for condensation.
Condensation. Gaseous refrigerant is condensed to
liquid form by being desuperheated, then condensed,
and finally subcooled, transferring its latent heat of
condensation to a coolant.
Throttling and expansion. The higher-pressure liquid
refrigerant is throttled to the lower evaporating pressure
and is ready for evaporation.

Single stage vapour compression cycle
Lennard-Jones potential
COEFFICIENT OF PERFORMANCE of
Single stage vapour compression cycle
Single stage vapour compression cycle
MULTISTAGE VAPOR COMPRESSION
SYSTEMS
Two-stage compound system with a flash cooler:
(a) schematic diagram; (b) refrigeration cycle.
MULTISTAGE VAPOR COMPRESSION
SYSTEMS - interstage pressure
Interstage pressure is usually set so that the compression ratio at
each stage is nearly the same for higher COPs.
For a two-stage compound system, interstage pressure pi, psia
(kPa abs.), can be calculated as:


For a multistage vapor compression system with z stages, the
compression ratio R
com
for each stage can be calculated as

where p
con
condensing pressure, psia (kPa abs.)
p
ev
evaporating pressure, psia (kPa abs.)

MULTISTAGE VAPOR COMPRESSION
SYSTEMS
Heat balance of entering and leaving refrigerants in a flash cooler
and at the mixing point: (a) in the flash cooler; (b) at the mixing
point 3 before entering the second-stage impeller.

MULTISTAGE VAPOR COMPRESSION
SYSTEMS Coefficient of Performance
THREE-STAGE COMPOUND SYSTEM WITH
A TWO-STAGE FLASH COOLER
THREE-STAGE COMPOUND SYSTEM WITH
A TWO-STAGE FLASH COOLER - COP
TWO-STAGE COMPOUND SYSTEM WITH
A VERTICAL INTERCOOLER (ammonia)
Cascade system (different refrigerants,
equipment, oil)
Cascade system