Report in ME

Laboratory
SUBMITTED BY: CAPRANGCA, EVER NOE C.

Performance and
Efficiency Test of a
Refrigeration Plant

Refrigeration Systems
Refrigeration is a general term. It describes the process of removing heat
from spaces, objects, or materials and maintaining them at a temperature
below that of the surrounding atmosphere. To produce a refrigeration effect,
the material to be cooled needs only to be exposed to a colder object or
environment. The heat will flow in its NATURAL direction-that is, from the
warmer material to the colder material. Refrigeration, then, usually means an
artificial way of lowering the temperature. Mechanical refrigeration is a
mechanical system or apparatus that transfers heat from one substance to
another.
It is easy to understand refrigeration if you know the relationships among
temperature, pressure, and volume, and how pressure affects liquids and
gases.

REFRIGERATION SYSTEM
COMPONENTS
There are five basic components of a refrigeration system, these are:
- Evaporator
- Compressor
- Condenser
- Expansion Valve
- Refrigerant
; to conduct the heat from the product In order for the refrigeration cycle to
operate successfully each component must be present within the
refrigeration system.

The Evaporator
The purpose of the evaporator is to remove unwanted heat from the product,
via the liquid refrigerant. The liquid 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 vapour is removed from the evaporator
by the compressor
To enable the transfer of heat, the temperature of the liquid refrigerant must
be lower than the temperature of the product being cooled. Once transferred,
the liquid refrigerant is drawn from the evaporator by the compressor via the
suction line. When leaving the evaporator coil the liquid refrigerant is in
vapour form.

The Compressor
The purpose of the compressor is to draw the low-temperature, low-pressure
vapour from the evaporator via the suction line. Once drawn, the vapour is
compressed. When vapour is compressed it rises in temperature. Therefore,
the compressor transforms the vapour from a low-temperature vapour to a
high-temperature vapour, in turn increasing the pressure. The vapour is then
released from the compressor in to the discharge line.

The Condenser
The purpose of the condenser is to extract heat from the refrigerant to the
outside air. The condenser is usually installed on the reinforced roof of the
building, which enables the transfer of heat. Fans mounted above the
condenser unit are used to draw air through the condenser coils.
The temperature of the high-pressure vapour 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;
usually between - 12C and -1C. The high-pressure vapour within the
condenser is then cooled to the point where it becomes a liquid refrigerant
once more, whilst retaining some heat. The liquid refrigerant then flows from
the condenser in to the liquid line.

The Expansion Valve

Within the refrigeration system, 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 lowpressure, low-temperature liquid is then pumped in to the evaporator

The Refrigerant
A refrigerant is a substance or mixture, usually a fluid, used in a heat pump
and refrigeration cycle. In most cycles it undergoes phase transitions from a
liquid to a gas and back again. Many working fluids have been used for such
purposes.
Fluorocarbons, especially chlorofluorocarbons, became commonplace in the
20th century, but they are being phased out because of their ozone depletion
effects. Other common refrigerants used in various applications are
ammonia, sulfur dioxide, and non-halogenated hydrocarbons such as
propane.
The desired thermodynamic properties are a boiling point somewhat below
the target temperature, a high heat of vaporization, a moderate density in
liquid form, a relatively high density in gaseous form, and a high critical
temperature. Since boiling point and gas density are affected by pressure,
refrigerants may be made more suitable for a particular application by choice
of operating pressures.

The Refrigeration Cycle

Performance Terms and

Definitions
Tons of refrigeration (TR): One ton of refrigeration is the amount of cooling obtained
by one ton of ice melting in one day: 3024 kCal/h, 12,000 Btu/h or 3.516 thermal kW.
Net Refrigerating Capacity. A quantity defined as the mass flow rate of the evaporator
water multiplied by the difference in enthalpy of water entering and leaving the cooler,
expressed in kCal/h, tons of Refrigeration.
kW/ton rating: Commonly referred to as efficiency, but actually power input to
compressor motor divided by tons of cooling produced, or kilowatts per ton (kW/ton).
Lower kW/ton indicates higher efficiency.
Coefficient of Performance (COP): Chiller efficiency measured in Btu output (cooling)
divided by Btu input (electric power).
Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER): Performance of smaller chillers and rooftop units is
frequently measured in EER rather than kW/ton. EER is calculated by dividing a chiller's
cooling capacity (in Btu/h) by its power input (in watts) at full-load conditions. The higher
the EER, the more efficient the unit.

To determine the net

refrigeration capacity
The test shall include a measurement of the net heat removed from the
water as it passes through the evaporator by determination of the following:
a. Water flow rate b. Temperature difference between entering and leaving
water
The heat removed from the chilled water is equal to the product of the chilled
water flow rate, the water temperature difference, and the specific heat of
the water is defined as follows The net refrigeration capacity in tons shall be
obtained by the following equation:

Methods of measuring the flow

In the absence of an on-line flow meter the chilled water flow can be
measured by the following methods
In case where hot well and cold well are available, the flow can be
measured from the tank level dip or rise by switching off the secondary
pump.
Non invasive method would require a well calibrated ultrasonic flow meter
using which the flow can be measured without disturbing the system
If the waterside pressure drops are close to the design values, it can be
assumed that the water flow of pump is same as the design rated flow.

Measurement of compressor
power
The compressor power can be measured by a portable power analyser which
would give reading directly in kW.
If not, the ampere has to be measured by the available on-line ammeter or
by using a tong tester. The power can then be calculated by assuming a
power factor of 0.9

Power (kW) = 3 x V x I x cos

Performance calculations
The energy efficiency of a chiller is commonly expressed in one of the three
following ratios:

First calculate the kW/ton rating from the measured

parameters.

REFERENCES
1. Refrigeration and Air Conditioning by Richard C.Jordan & Gayle B.Priester Prentice Hall of India pvt.ltd.
2. Modern Air Conditioning Practice by Norman C.Harris - McGraw-Hill
International Edition.