EXPANSION DEVICES

EXPANSION DEVICES
The purpose of expansion device is to:
• Reduce the pressure of the liquid refrigerant
• Regulate the flow of refrigerant to the
evaporator

The common types of expansion devices are:

1. Capillary tube
2. Thermostatic Expansion Valve (TXV or TEV)
3. The Float valve
 Capillary tubes
The capillary tube serves almost all refrigeration systems of
capacity upto 10 kW. A capillary tube is 1 to 6 m long with
an inside diameter generally from 0.5 to 2.28 mm.
The tube is so selected in length and bore that it maintains
the desired pressure differential between the condenser
and the evaporator.
Liquid refrigerant enters the capillary tube, and as it flows
through the tube, the pressure drops because of friction
and acceleration of refrigerant.
 Capillary tubes
The tube is installed in the liquid line in the form of a
coil.
Some of the liquid flashes into vapor as the refrigerant
flows through the tube. The tube size should suit
pumping capacity of the compressor.
If the flow passage is too narrow, the evaporator is
starved, if too wide evaporator is over fed and
becomes flooded.
 Thermostatic Expansion Valves

• A very common type of metering device is called

a TX Valve, TXV OR TEV (Thermostatic Expansion
Valve).
• This valve has the capability of controlling the
refrigerant flow.
• If the load on the evaporator changes, the valve
can respond to the change and increase or
decrease the flow accordingly.
 Thermostatic Expansion Valves

• The condenser changes the high pressure refrigerant

from a high temperature vapor to a low temperature,
high pressure liquid and leaves through the "Liquid
Line".
• The high pressure refrigerant then flows through a
filter dryer to the TXV. The TXV meters the correct
amount of liquid refrigerant into the evaporator.
• As the TXV meters the refrigerant, the high pressure
liquid changes to a low pressure, low temperature,
saturated liquid/vapor.
 Thermostatic Expansion Valves

• The TXV has a sensing bulb attached to the outlet of the

evaporator which senses the suction line temperature
and sends a signal to the TXV allowing it to adjust the
flow rate.
• This is important because, if all the refrigerant in the
evaporator does not change into a gas, there could be
liquid refrigerant returning to the compressor.
• This can be fatal to the compressor. Liquid is
incompressible and when a compressor tries to compress
a liquid, mechanical failure can happen. The compressor
can suffer mechanical damage in the valves and bearings.
This is called “liquid slugging”.
 Thermal expansion Valves

• Normally TXV's are set to maintain 10o F (or 5.56o C)of

superheat.
• This means that the gas returning to the compressor
is at least 10o F above saturation so the risk of
having any liquid is eliminated.
 Metering Devices

Metering devices regulate how much liquid

refrigerant enters the evaporator
THERMOSTATIC EXPANSION VALVE (TXV)
• Maintains a constant evaporator superheat
• If the evaporator superheat is too high, the
valve will open and cause lowering of
superheat by increasing the net refrigerant
effect by releasing more refrigerant into the
evaporator.
 TXV COMPONENTS

• Valve body
• Diaphragm
• Needle and seat
• Spring
• Adjustment and packing gland
• Sensing bulb and transmission tube
Sec a 20 feb 18
FUNCTIONING OF TXV

Sec A, 20 Feb 18
How TXV Works
 How TXV Works
• Three pressures are acting inside the TXV. P1 is the
pressure at the top of the TXV acting inside the
power element above the diaphragm. Due to P1 the
diaphragm tends to move down causing the valve to
open.
• When the evaporator temperature becomes higher,
the gas in the bulb expands due to which gas
pressure inside the power element increases. This
causes the downward movement of the needle to
open the valve
 How TXV Works
• P2 is the pressure acting on the lower side of the
diaphragm due to the refrigerant pressure inside the
evaporator. This tends to move the diaphragm
upwards and close the opening of the valve.
• P3 is spring pressure that tends to close the opening
of the valve. This pressure remains constant.
• P2 and P3 act against P1. Thus if the valve has to
open, P1 should be greater than combined forces of
P2 and P3.
 How TXV Works
• During the normal working the TXV remains opened in
certain position.
• When the refrigeration load increases, the temperature
inside the evaporator also increases. In such cases
there is need of the more refrigerant to take care of the
increased load.
• Increased temperature in the evaporator is sensed by
the bulb. This causes expansion of gas in the bulb and
increase in P1. Due to this the diaphragm of the TEV
moves down and opens the valve further to increase
the flow of the refrigerant to the evaporator.
Expanding Bellows
 High Pressure Float Valve
• The high-pressure float valve is located on the high-pressure
side of the system and is in open connection to the condenser.
It controls the evaporator level indirectly by maintaining a
constant level of refrigerant inside the float chamber.
• The evaporator level therefore depends on the total
refrigerant charge of the system, and must be adjusted to the
system. If the charge is too great, it will lead to excessive
flooding of the evaporator, while if the charge is too small it
will lead to starvation. The function of a high-pressure float
valve is shown in the Fig 4.
 High Pressure Float Valve
Fig 4. The float (1) floats on the
high-pressure liquid and the
needle forms a constriction (2).
The float chamber is in open
connection with the condenser,
and the condensed refrigerant
enters the chamber
continuously.
When the liquid level increases, the needle opens the flow
to the evaporator.
The mechanical high-pressure float valve is now often
replaced with an electronic alternative where the float
provides impulses to control a solenoid valve.
Sec A 21 Feb 18
Sec C 22 feb 18
Sec B 22 Feb 18