Refrigeration - is the process of transferring heat from low temperature reservoir to the high

temperature reservoir. This is against the natural flow of heat hence power is required to enable this transfer. Refrigeration is also defined as science that deals with the process of reducing and maintaining the temperature of a space or material below the temperature of the surroundings.

History of Refrigeration
In prehistoric times, man found that his game would last longer if stored in the coolness of a cave or packed in snow. He realized the cold temperatures would keep game for times when food was not available. Later, ice was harvested in the winter to be used in the summer. As man became more industrialized and mechanized, ice was harvested from lakes and rivers or manufactured, stored, and transported to many countries. Even today, ice is still manufactured for this purpose. The intermediate stage in the history of cooling foods was to add chemicals like sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate to water causing the temperature to fall. Cooling wine via this method was recorded in 1550, as were the words "to refrigerate." The evolution to mechanical refrigeration, a compressor with refrigerant, was a long, slow process and was introduced in the last quarter of the 19th century. The science of refrigeration continues to evolve. In 1996, there was a change made in the type of refrigerant used to comply with the Regulatory Clean Air Act, Title 6. The old refrigerant known to most people as "freon," a tradename, was replaced with HFC 134a, a new refrigerant less injurious to the ozone and still just as effective in keeping food cold. As consumers, we should notice no difference.

Principle of Refrigeration
As stated earlier, water thrown over a tent in the hot desert sun will cause cooling. Evaporation of a liquid needs heat energy. The latent heat required for the evaporation to take place is produced by the sensible heat from the tent interior which, in turn causes cooling of the tent. If you dip your fingers in a volatile liquid like gasoline or alcohol and then allowed the liquid to evaporate, you can feel a cooling effect. The same thing will happen with water but, will not be as noticeable, as the evaporation process is slower.

The cooling effect, again, comes from the heat being removed from your fingers to evaporate the liquid. Large, modern refrigeration units use the evaporation principle to produce the low temperatures necessary to do the job required. The process consists of a cycle of compression, cooling and condensation, then the expansion of the liquid, evaporation and re-compression of the vapour.

REFRIGERATION CYCLE

A thorough understanding of the role of a refrigeration compressor cannot exist without a discussion of the refrigeration cycle, which essentially consists of the transformation of a liquid to a gas and back again. (If you're not interested in the details, just skip this step.) There are five main steps to a refrigeration circuit: evaporation, compression, condensing, receiving and expansion.

1) Evaporation : Liquid refrigerant enters the evaporator. It absorbs heat when it evaporates, which produces cooling. The refrigerant from the evaporator is fed to a tank as a weak or saturated superheated gas. The pressure in the tank rises until it equals the pressure in the evaporator. Refrigerant flow stops and the temperature in both tank and evaporator both rise to ambient. 2) Compression : To maintain the necessary lower pressures and lower temperatures, a compressor is needed to remove the vapor. Because the refrigeration circuit is closed, equilibrium is maintained. That means that if the compressor removes vapor faster than it can be formed, the pressure will fall and with it the temperature in the evaporator. Alternately, if the load on the evaporator rises and the refrigerant evaporates quicker, the temperature and pressure in the evaporator will rise. The energy that a compressor requires is called compression input and is transferred to the refrigeration vapor. 3) Condensing : After leaving the compressor, the refrigerant moves to the condenser, which gives off heat that is transferred to either air or water having a lower temperature. The amount of heat given off is the heat absorbed by the refrigerant in the evaporator plus the heat created by compression input. The byproduct of this is that the vapor changes to a liquid, which is then sent to the receiver. 4) Receiving : The pressure in the receiver is higher than the pressure in the evaporator because of compression, and thus must be lowered to match the evaporative pressure. This is achieved through the use of an expansion valve. 5) Expansion

: Before the liquid enters the expansion valve, the temperature will be just under the boiling point. Suddenly reducing the pressure in the expansion valve causes the liquid to boil and evaporate. This evaporation takes place in the evaporator and the circuit is complete. There are many different temperatures involved in the operation of a refrigeration plant, but in principle there are only two pressures: evaporating pressure and condensing pressure.

KINDS OF THE REFRIGERATION

Domestic Refrigeration : This type of refrigeration is one that is familiar to most homeowners. Refrigerators and freezers that you keep in your home fall under this category. This is the type of unit that is used to keep food cold in a residential environment.

Commercial Refrigeration : This type of refrigeration holds and displays frozen and fresh food in retail stores, as well as other like establishments. In most cases, this type of refrigeration is farther advanced than refrigerators that you would find in residential homes. As you can imagine, it is crucial that many commercial establishments keep their refrigerators up to date with food safety regulations. This ranges from retail stores to restaurants and many more.

Food processing and Storage : This type of refrigeration is used to preserve process and store the food from its source to the wholesale division. If you are not in the food industry, you probably do not have much knowledge on this type of refrigeration. But even though you

may not know about this, it still affects you in more ways than you can imagine. After all, you want your food to be fresh when it finally arrives at your home, right? There is also a large variety of specialized equipment that may be required to protect and store foods when being shipped by road, rail, air, and sea. In other words, the food cannot thaw out just because it is in transit. Instead, special equipment is used to make sure that food is kept at the appropriate temperature regardless of transportation method.

Kinds of Refrigerator
A refrigerator maintains the temperature slightly higher than the freezing point of the water. There is also a device known as the Freezer which maintains the temperature below the freezing point of water. As far as the types of refrigerators are concerned, it can be widely classified into four types. They are Top-Mount freezer refrigerator, Side-by-side refrigerators, Freezer on bottom and French door refrigerators.

The most common type of refrigerator is the Top-Mount Refrigerator. This fridge is the least expensive and is a refrigerator which does not require much repair. The best part of this refrigerator is that it tend to have wider shelves in both the freezer and fridge. In this refrigerator, the freezer is placed at the eye level offering easy access to the food stored. Generally the height of the freezer varies in between 60-69 inches, which is why they tend to offer more storage capacity as compared to the other models.

Side-by-side Mount refrigerators are more expensive as compared to the Top Freezer Refrigerator. This refrigerator is more advanced with features such as through the door cool water dispenser. With the freezer and the fridge being

adjacent to each other, it allows easy access to food items that are stored. However, this refrigerator has its own disadvantage. Apart from being expensive, it tends to occupy much space in the kitchen area as both the doors need to be open. Also, the compartments are narrower and it does not fit in larger and bulky items. Though, this refrigerator is energy star rated yet it is not really energy efficient.

Bottom Mount Freezers or Freezer on Bottom Refrigerators are not widely available models. For those who want fresh food selection at eye level, this model is most suitable for their household. The configuration is similar to that of the Top Mounted Freezer Refrigerators and the cooling is more even. It does not use much energy to keep the section cool.

French door Refrigerator is a refrigerator which has been designed based on the style of Bottom Mount and Side-by-Side Refrigerator. The Refrigerator has dual doors and a pull out freezer drawer. This refrigerator makes up all the disadvantages of a Side-by-Side refrigerator along with the features of it. This model allows you to open only one side of the door which lessens the amount of cool air that escapes. The compartments are also spacious and allow you to fit large and bulky items.

FUNCTION OF THE PARTS OF THE REFRIGERATION

Refrigeration Function Refrigeration systems in freeze drying provide the cooling capacity to freeze products directly upon the freeze dryer shelves, and to provide cooling of the

"condenser" to provide a receptacle for the water that is subliming from the frozen drying product.

The refrigeration systems can take the form of tiny fractional horse power "canned" type, accessible hermetic, open type compressors with shafts and external motors, screw compressors, and liquid nitrogen powered. By far the best overall system from simplicity and low maintenance is one powered by liquid nitrogen. Whichever system is used the system must have the refrigeration power to allow products to be frozen to nearly -55 C and condenser temperatures to -75 C, which are by most standards very cold indeed. The mechanical compressor refrigeration systems operate at these temperatures by using refrigerants like R507 or R404A, and are tuned to operate at a suction pressure of between 22-29 inches of vacuum with a discharge pressure of 250 to 275 psig. What this means ultimately is that these compressors operate in ranges of pressure that are very stressful and cause excessive wear to compressor components. In the piston type systems this wear can cause even the most robust designs from Copeland, Bitzer, Tecumseh, and Carlyle to have a useful lifetime of about 5 years, if and only if they are maintained on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis by refrigeration experts. The slightest suction leak in these systems causes a multiplicity of stresses on the systems. Briefly some of these stresses are listed as follows: high head pressure, lubrication acidification, internal corrosion, and valve breakage. As a result of these insidious and difficult to diagnose, time consuming sorts of problems, batches can be lost, and downtime increased, and production slowdown is inevitable. It is actually amazing that the technology and engineering that goes into the production of mechanical compressors enables them to function in such adverse conditions for as long as they do. It is akin to operating your car in 1st gear while traveling interstate highways at normal highway speeds! This is ruinous to the engine, and would require much attention to maintenance if operated in such a way.

Liquid nitrogen powered systems are much simpler, an order if magnitude quieter, and very reliable. In fact it has been stated that the maintenance cost difference between LN2 systems and mechanical systems easily justify the higher cost of liquid nitrogen systems in comparison. Mechanical systems cost less to purchase initially. Mechanical systems cost less to purchase, and operate from the standpoint of utility costs. Mechanical systems have greater need for infrastructure such as cooling towers and maintenance, experience higher electrical energy costs per unit of operational time, require larger more expensive diesel operated backup generators, are installed with many more internal controls and devices than a LN2 system. If one is choosing a refrigeration system and chooses a mechanical system, it is best to consider screw compressors VS. piston type compressors. Screw compressors require fewer controls, stand up to adverse operating conditions better than piston compressors, and cost more than piston compressors initially. Screw compressors stand up to abuses such as accidental slugs of liquid refrigerant, they need fewer oil changes, and have more cooling capacity at low temperature than piston compressors. Screw compressors are also quieter in operation than piston compressors.

Applewood Scientific is well placed to assist you in your initial choices, detailing utility requirements, infrastructure, and process related issues dealing with your current refrigeration systems. We can also assist you in conversion of mechanical systems to LN2, providing you with the resources needed to accomplish this transformation.

A refrigerator works by evaporating the coolant inside the refrigerator thereby absorbing heat. The evaporated coolant is pumped outside of the refrigerator and compressed to make it liquefy and give up its heat then returned to be evaporated again. The three main functions of the evaporator are to: a. absorb heat from the medium being cooled.

b. allow the heat to boil off the liquid refrigerant to a vapor c. allow the heat to superheat the refrigerant vapor

Methods of Refrigeration
There are number of methods by which the refrigeration can be achieved. They are broadly classified into two categories: Non-Cyclic and Cyclic methods of Refrigeration. Firstly, let us see non-cyclic methods.

In the non-cyclic method of refrigeration there is no thermodynamic cycle followed for creating the cooling effect. There are two methods of non-cyclic refrigeration process as described below: 1) Ice Refrigeration : In this method the ordinary ice is used for keeping the space at temperature below the surrounding temperature. The temperature of ice is considered to be 0 degree Celsius hence it can be used to maintain the temperatures of about 5 to 10 degree Celsius. To use the ice for refrigerating effect a closed and insulated chamber is required. On one side of the chamber ice is kept while on the other side there is a space which is to be cooled where some material to be cooled can be placed. If the temperature below 0 degree Celsius is required, then the mixture of ice and salt is used. This method of cooling is still being used for cooling the cold drinks, keeping the water chilled in thermos, etc.

2) Dry ice refrigeration : Dry ice is the solid carbon dioxide having the temperature of -78 degree Celsius. Dry ice converts directly from solid state to gaseous; this process is called as

sublimation. Dry ice can be pressed into various sizes and shapes as blocks or slabs. Dry ice is usually packed in the frozen food cartons along with the food that has to be kept frozen for long intervals of time. When the dry ice gets converted into vapor state it keeps the food frozen. The process of dry ice refrigeration is now-a-days being used for freezing the food in aircraft transportation.

The non-cyclic methods of refrigeration can be used only in places where small amount of refrigeration is required in places like laboratories, workshops, water coolers, small old drink shops, small hotels etc. In fact the ordinary ice and dry ice used for the refrigeration purposed have to be manufactured by the cyclic methods of refrigeration which we shall see in the next article. However, in the earlier days the ice used for the cooling purposes was usually harvested during the winter seasons from the ponds and lakes and stored in large insulated ice houses for the use throughout the year. Methods of Refrigeration: Vapor Compression Cycle
Vapor Compression Cycle

The vapor compression cycle is the mostly widely used method of refrigeration in the modern applications. Your household refrigerator, water cooler, deep freezer, airconditioner etc, all run on vapor compression cycle. The cycle is called as vapor compression cycle, because the vapors of refrigerant are compressed in the compressor of the refrigerator system to develop the cooling effect.

Comparison of Vapor Compression Cycle and Gas Cycle The vapor compression cycle is most commonly used for refrigeration and airconditioning systems for the domestic and industrial applications. Let us see the comparison of vapor compression and gas compression refrigerating cycles based on following parameters:

The vapor compression cycle is most commonly used for refrigeration and airconditioning systems for the domestic and industrial applications. Let us see the comparison of vapor compression and gas compression refrigerating cycles based on following parameters:

1) Type of refrigerant used : In vapor compression cycle liquids like Freon and ammonia are used as the refrigerant. In the gas cycle the gas like air is used as the refrigerant.

2) Heat exchangers : In the vapor compression refrigeration cycle condenser and evaporator are the two heat exchangers where the refrigerant gives up and absorbs heat respectively. The refrigerant undergoes change in phase in both the heat exchangers. In the gas cycle the refrigerant exchanges heat in the heat exchangers, but there is no phase change of the gas. 3) Efficiency of the cycle : The efficiency of the vapor compression cycle is more than that of the gas cycle. For producing the same amount of refrigerating effect in the gas cycle, large volume of gas is required; hence the systems tend to become very large, bulky and expensive, which are not affordable for the domestic applications.

KINDS OF REFRIGERANTS
Air Air is one of the earliest refrigerants and was widely used in World War I whenever a completely nontoxic material was required. Although air is free of

cost and completely safe, its low coefficient of performance makes it unable to compete with the modern nontoxic refrigerants. Ammonia Ammonia is one of the oldest and widely used of all refrigerants. It is flammable and highly toxic. It is widely used in commercial and large industrial reciprocating compression systems where high toxicity is secondary.

Carbon Dioxide

It is a colorless and odorless gas, which is heavier than air. It is nontoxic and nonflammable but has extremely high operating pressures. In former years it was used for marine refrigeration, theatre air conditioning systems, and for hotel refrigeration systems.

Freon Refrigerants

These refrigerants use ethane and methane as bases, and are the most important group of refrigerants being used in modern technology. These are used in a variety of applications, such as reciprocating compression refrigeration, and rotary compressors.

Others

Other refrigerants are methyl chloride, sulphur dioxide, hydrocarbon refrigerants, methyl chloride, and azeotropes.

Surigao del Norte National High School

Compilation IN T.L.E. II
Submitted by:

Marvin O. Conde
II-DOVE

Submitted to: