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Multi-pressure Systems

Introduction
Industrial refrigeration plants operate with a large difference between evaporating and condensing temperatures 50 ~ 80 C Opportunities: Multi-stage compression, Flash gas, intercooling, number of evaporators at different temperatures Multipressure systems - classified as compound systems or cascade systems Multi-stage compression used when ratio of suction to discharge pressure is high enough to cause a serious drop in efficiency or an unacceptably high discharge temperature

Introduction
A multi-pressure system is a refrigeration system that has two or more low side pressures The low side pressure is the pressure of the refrigerant between the expansion valve and the intake of compressor Different than the single pressure system which has but one low side pressure In Dairy where one evaporator operates at -35 C to harden ice cream while another evaporator operates at 2 C to cool milk Two functions often integral to multi-pressure systems are; Removal of flash gas Inter-cooling Several combinations of multiple evaporators and compressors May have same or different refrigerants

Removal of Flash Gas

Flash gas - the mass of vaporized refrigerant per kg of total refrigerant which is just leaving the throttling valve Flash chamber/tank is that portion of the expansion valve system where liquid-vapour mixture of refrigerant gets accumulated before entering into the evaporator Saving in the power requirement results if the flash gas that develops in the throttling process between the condenser and evaporator is removed and recompressed before complete expansion When saturated liquid expands through an expansion valve, the fraction of vapour or flash gas progressively increases

Removal of Flash Gas

Removal of Flash Gas

The expansion process shown on the pressure enthalpy diagram takes place from 1 to 2 The state point as the expansion proceeds moves into a region of a greater fraction of vapour The end point of expansion, 2, could have been achieved by interrupting the expansion at 3 and separating the liquid vapour phases which are 4 and 6 respectively The expansion could then continued by expanding the liquid at 4 and the vapour at 6 to the final pressure, giving 5 and 7 respectively The combination of refrigerant at 5 and 7 gives point 2 The expansion process from 6 to 7 is wasteful because of the following two reasons; The refrigerant at 7 can do no refrigerating Work will be required to compress the vapour back to the pressure it had at 6

Removal of Flash Gas

Why not perform the part of expansion, separate the liquid from the vapour, continue expanding the liquid, and recompress the vapour without further expansion The equipment to achieve this separation is called a flash tank

Removal of Flash Gas

The expansion from 1 to 3 takes place through a float

valve, which serves the further purpose of maintaining a constant level in the flash tank

To recompress the vapour at 6, a compressor must be available with a suction pressure of 6

Thus two compressors are needed in the system

Intercooling
Intercooling between two stages of compression reduces the work of compression per kg of vapour

In two stage compression of air, for example an intercooler from point 2 to 4 on PV diagram saves some work

Intercooling

This figure shows how compression with Intercooling appears on the ph diagram of a refrigerant Processes 1- 2 - 3 & 4 - 5 are on lines of constant entropy Between the same two pressures, therefore, process 4 5 shows a smaller increase in enthalpy, which indicates that less work is required than in 2 3

Multipurpose Refrigeration Systems

Between the two given pressures, the work of compression is proportional to the specific volume of entering gas Sp. Volume at 2 is greater than it is at 4 so work required for compressing from 2 to 3 is greater than in compressing from 4 to 5 Intercooling in a refrigerating system can be accomplished by two ways: Using a water cooled heat exchanger Using a refrigerant The water-cooled intercooler may be satisfactory for twostage air compression, but for refrigerant compression, the water is usually not cold enough

Intercooling Multipurpose Refrigeration Systems

Another way of Intercooling uses liquid refrigerant from the condenser to do the Intercooling Discharge gas from the low-stage compressor bubbles through the liquid in the intercooler Refrigerant leaves the intercooler at 4 as saturated vapour

Intercooling

Intercooling

Example: Calculate the power needed to compress 1.2 kg/s of ammonia from saturated vapour at 80 kPa to 1000 kPa (a) by single-stage compression and (b) by two stage compression with intercooling by liquid refrigerant at 300 kPa.

Heat & Mass Balance Around Intercooler

Heat & Mass Balance Around Intercooler

One Evaporator & One Compressor

With one compressor and one evaporator the flash tank may function as shown below

A pressure reducing valve throttles the flash gas from the intermediate pressure to the evaporator pressure Throttling is necessary because there is no compressor available with a high suction pressure Calculations show that the flash tank does not improve the performance of the system and the system is used infrequently

Two Evaporators & One Compressor

In many situations one compressor serves two evaporators having different temperature requirements Following figure shows the system

Two Evaporators & One Compressor

A pressure reducing valve is installed after the high-temperature evaporator regulates the pressure and maintains a temperature in the air-conditioning evaporator of 5 C

Two Compressors And One Evaporator

Two stage compression with Intercooling and removal of flash gas is often the ideal way to serve one low-temperature evaporator The system requires less power than with a single compressor

Two Compressors And One Evaporator

Two Compressors & Two Evaporators

The system which has two evaporators operating at different temperatures is common in industrial refrigeration Example of dairy cooling milk & manufacturing ice cream Frozen food plant requires two evaporators at different temperatures Evaporators at two different temperatures can be handled efficiently by a two-stage system which employs Intercooling and removal of flash gas

Example In an ammonia system one evaporator is to provide 180 kW of refrigeration at -300C and another evaporator is to provide 200kW at 50C. The system uses two-stage compression with intercooling and is arranged as in Fig. Below. The condensing temperature is 400C. Calculate the power required by the compressors.

Two Compressors & Two Evaporators

Pressure Enthalpy Diagram

Solution: Sketch the pressure-enthalpy diagram as shown

Two Compressors & Two Evaporators

The discharge pressure of the low-stage compressor and the suction pressure of the high-stage compressor are the same as the pressure in the 5 C evaporator. Next determine the enthalpies at the state points.

The simplest way to calculate the mass rate of flow handled by the high-stage compressor is to make a heat and mass balance about the high-temperature evaporator and the intercooler, as shown

Two Compressors & Two Evaporators

Two Compressors & Two Evaporators

Multi-Stage Systems
a. Compound
Two low compression ratios = 1 high First stage compressor meets cooling load Second stage compressor meets load evaporator and flash gas Single refrigerant

b. Cascade
Preferred for -46 C to -101 C Two systems with different refrigerants

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Cascade Refrigeration Systems

Very low temperatures can be achieved by operating two or more vapor-compression systems in series, called cascading. Advantages: Different refrigerants, equipment, and oils can be used for the higher and the lower systems. Also, COP of the system increases. Disadvantage: High first cost; More complicated.

Q L COPR W in ,1 2 Win , 56

Cascade Refrigeration Systems

Consider a two-stage cascade refrigeration system operating between the pressure limits of 0.8 and 0.14 MPa. Each stage operates on an ideal vapor compression cycle with R134a as the working fluid. Heat rejection from the lower cycle to the upper cycle takes place in an adiabatic counterflow heat exchanger where both streams enter at about 0.32 MPa. If the mass flow rate of the refrigerant is 0.05kg/s, determine (a) The mass flow rate of the refrigerant through the lower cycle, (b) The rate of heat removal from the refrigerated space and the power input to the compressor, (c) The COP of the refrigerator.

Multistage Compression with Flash Chamber Intercooling (Compound System)

Optimum Intermediate pressure?

Multistage Compression with Flash Chamber Intercooling (Compound System)

Interstage pressure is usually set so that the compression ratio at each stage is nearly the same for higher COPs. The optimum intermediate pressure is given by: The optimum intermediate pressure in a two-stage refrigeration system is quite close, but not equal, to that shown in above equation. The reason for the deviation is that the cooling process in air compression is without cost, but in the refrigeration system there is a power cost associated. with compressing the refrigerant vapor that performs the cooling.

Multistage Compression with Flash Chamber Intercooling (Compound System)

Consider a two-stage cascade refrigeration system operating between the pressure limits of 0.8 and 0.14 MPa as before but, this time, with a flash chamber operating at 0.32 MPa. Determine (a) The fraction of the refrigerant that evaporates as it is throttled to the flash chamber, (b) The amount of heat removed from the refrigerated space and the compressor work per unit mass of refrigerant flowing through the condenser, (c) The COP of the refrigerator.

Multipurpose Refrigeration Systems

A refrigerator with a single compressor can provide refrigeration at several temperatures by throttling the refrigerant in stages.

Also called pressure-regulating valve

Assignment: Whats the COP and heat transfer amounts for conditions used in the previous problem (Check for both paths)? Assume QL,R is a third of QL,F. How does the COP compare with other multi-pressure systems?