February 2, 2015

Thermal Lab

Batch 3 - Roll Nos: 46 to 51

VAPOUR COMPRESSION REFRIGERATION TEST RIG
Shivangi Sharma, Shubham Maurya, S. Siddharth Subbaraman,
Sreekanth M.N., Sudhanshu Kandpal, Sudheendra R.
B.Tech IV semester

Department of Aerospace Engineering

Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology

I Compressor input

ABSTRACT

The objective of the experiment is to determine coefficient of performance (COP) of given Vapor Compression
Refrigeration system. The COP of refrigerator in the cycle
is a measure of its usefulness and quantifies its maximum
possible output. In the experiment, refrigerant R134a undergoes through a cycle of isobaric heat addition, isentropic
compression, constant pressure heat rejection and expansion. COP obtained by experimental method is 0.984 and
COP obtained using p-h chart is 0.0476.

INTRODUCTION

The test-rig consists of a hermetic compressor, an aircooled condenser, a capillary tube (Thermo-static Expansion Valve) and a water-cooled evaporator. In addition to
these four major components, the test-rig also consists of
several other components such as manual shut-off valves,
sight glass, filter, dryer, solenoid valve etc. Pressure gauges
are installed to measure the condenser and evaporator pressures. Similarly thermo-couples are provided at the inlet
and exit of evaporator, compressor and condenser to facilitate measurement of the refrigerant temperature temperatures at these points using suitable thermometers. The testrig uses R134a as refrigerant. The household refrigerator
works on vapour compression refrigeration cycle. The refrigerant vapour is compressed by means of compressor to
a pressure at which temperature obtained at the end of compression will be more then atmosphere so that at this high
temperature it will reject heat to atmosphere and will get
condensed. The condensate is then allowed to pass through
a capillary so that the pressure and temperatures and lowered. Capillary device acts as a throttling unit. At low pressure and temperature refrigerant is supplied to the evaporator where load is kept, it absorbs the heat and refrigerant
get converted into gaseous phase.

NOMENCLATURE

E Energy meter constant

d Diameter of the vessel
h Height of water level
m Mass of water in the evaporator vessel
C p Specific heat of water
Pi Pressure at state point i
Ti Temperature at state point i
w Density of water
COP Coefficient of performance
T5,initial Initial temperature of water
T5, f inal Final temperature of water
t Time taken to reach steady state
te Time for 10 revolutions of energy meter
T Rate of temperature change
Ton Tonnage
R Refrigerating effect
1

Figure 1.

Vapour compression refrigeration cycle

TemperatureEntropy diagram of the vaporcompression cycle
Figure 2.

THEORY

The challenge in refrigeration and air conditioning is to

remove heat from a low temperature source and dump it at
a higher temperature sink. Compression refrigeration cycles in general take advantage of the idea that highly compressed fluids at one temperature will tend to get colder
when they are allowed to expand. If the pressure change is
high enough, then the compressed gas will be hotter than
our source of cooling (outside air, for instance) and the expanded gas will be cooler than our desired cold temperature. In this case, we can use it to cool at a low temperature and reject the heat to a high temperature. Vapourcompression refrigeration cycles specifically have two additional advantages. First, they exploit the large thermal
energy required to change a liquid to a vapour so we can remove lots of heat out of our air-conditioned space. Second,
the isothermal nature of the vaporization allows extraction
of heat without raising the temperature of the working fluid
to the temperature of whatever is being cooled. This is a
benefit because the closer the working fluid temperature approaches that of the surroundings, the lower the rate of heat
transfer. The isothermal process allows the fastest rate of
heat transfer Vapour compression refrigeration is the primary method to provide mechanical cooling. All vapor
compression systems consist of the following four basic
components alongwith the interconnecting piping. These
are the evaporator, condenser, compressor and the expansion valve. Typical vapor compression systems can be represented as shown in Figure 2.

STANDARD VAPOUR COMPRESSION CYCLE

The standard vapour compression refrigeration cycle

would consist of the following:
1. Low pressure saturated vapour would enter the compressor.
2. Compression would be isentropic. (1-2)
3. Constant pressure heat rejection would occur at the
condenser with the exit state of the refrigerant being
saturated liquid or till condensation. (2-3)
4. The throttling process would be adiabatic.(represented
by dashed line being irreversible) (3-4)
5. Constant pressure heat transfer would take place in the
evaporator (4-1).
All these ideal conditions can be shown by the following T-s diagram

APPARATUS
Specifications

1.
2.
3.
4.

Compressor : 1/3 HP
Refrigerant : R134a
Condenser : Forced air cooled condenser
Evaporator : SS vessel with copper coil wound and soldered around
5. d : 295 mm
6. h : 22 cm
7. m = 15.036 kg
2

8. Cp : 4.182 kJ / kg K
9. E : 750 rev/kWh
10. Expansion devices : Capillary tube and thermocouple
expansion valve.
The apparatus setup has four main components namely the
compressor, condenser, expansion valve and the evaporator
along with the refrigerant which is R134a.
1. A Compressor is a mechanical device that increases
the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. Compressors are similar to pumps: both increase the pressure on
a fluid and both can transport the fluid through a pipe.
In the setup, the compressor is designed to isentropically compress the refrigerant R134a from state 4-state
1 shown in the Figure 2
2. CondenserA condenser is a device or unit used to condense a substance from its gaseous to its liquid state,
typically by cooling it. In so doing, the latent heat
is given up by the substance, and will transfer to the
condenser coolant. Condensers are typically heat exchangers.
3. Expansion valve The expansion valve is a precision
device, which is designed to regulate the rate at which
liquid refrigerant flows into the evaporator. This controlled flow is necessary to maximize the efficiency of
the evaporator while preventing excess liquid refrigerant from returning to the compressor (flood back).
4. Evaporator is a device used to turn the liquid form of
a chemical into its gaseous form. The liquid is evaporated, or vaporized, into a gas.
5. 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. The refrigerant used in the experiment was R134 a.

Figure 3.

Experimental setup for Vapour Compression Refrigeration Test

Rig

6. Time taken for decrease in temperature of water by 3 C

is noted. Variation of T1 , T2 , T3 , and T4 can also be
noted by using the selector switch provided.
7. Time taken for the energy meter to make ten revolutions during the time is also noted.
8. The above steps are repeated for three or more readings.
9. When the temperature of the water reaches an almost
steady value, pressure gauge reading p1 , p2 , p3 and p4 ,
and temperature reading T1 , T2 , T3 , and T4 are noted.
10. The state points are plotted on p-h chart and the enthalpy of each state points is found.
11. Switch off the compressor, condenser fan, temperature
indicator switch, etc and finally switch off the main
switch.

RESULTS

COP calculated by experimental method is 0.984.

COP calculated using p-h chart is 0.0476.

DISCUSSIONS AND ANALYSIS

1. COP under steady state conditions differs from early

transient stages. In steady state, the work done on compressor does not result in much heat transfer through
the evaporator as temperature of the water remains constant. Thus, enthalpy of R134a at state 4 and state 3 are
very close to each other due to very less heat transfer
from water. Hence, COP obtained using p-h chart is
lower than that of experimental method.

PROCEDURE

1. The main switch for the setup is switched on.

2. Water is filled in the evaporator vessel to sufficient
level.
3. Depth of the water (h) is noted using a measuring scale.
4. Initial temperature of water T5 is noted prior to starting
the experiment.
5. Now power the unit noting down the starting time.
3

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Heat-pump-and-refrigeration-cycle
[3] R.C.Arora, 2012 Refrigeration and Air conditioning
PHI Learning Private Limited, New Delhi.
[4] Thermal Lab manual, Aerospace Engineering Department IIST
[5] Thermal- Fluid Lab Manual IIT Kharagpur

2. The COP calculated using p-h chart represents actual

behaviour of the vapour-compression refrigeration cycle. The COP would be greater for an ideal vapourcompression cycle because of irreversibilities present
in the actual cycle due to fluid friction and heat transfer
to or from surroundings.
3. In the ideal cycle, the refrigerant leaves the evaporator and enters the compressor as saturated vapour
(process 4-1). However, in actual cases, it is slightly
in the superheated state. Moreover, the line connecting evaporator to the compressor(process 4-1) is very
long; thus the pressure drop caused by fluid friction
and heat transfer from surroundings to the refrigerant
can be very significant[1]. The actual compression process also involves frictional effects, which increases
entropy, and heat transfer which may result in either
positive or negative change in entropy. Thus, the compression process is not isentropic in reality. After compression, the condensation (process 1-2) ideally should
be accompanied by converting the refrigerant from superheated state to saturated liquid. But, in practice,
this cannot happen precisely and due to pressure losses,
refrigerant enters throttling device as sub cooled liquid. During throttling(process 2-3) also, a drastic temperature gradient exists between throttling device and
air which results in heat transfer from surroundings.
Therefore, COP of ideal vapour compression refrigeration cycle is higher than the actual one.

Appendix A:Sample calculations

d 2
4

Ti T f
t


mass of waterm = w

hw kg
(1)

Rate of fall of temperature of water

dT
=
dt

K/s

(2)
dT
Refrigeration effect Qre f = m Cp
kW
dt
(3)
dT
m Cp
dt
Tonnage =
3.45
(4)
3600 10
Compressor work W =
(5)
te E
Refrigerating effect
Coefficient of performance COP =
compressor work
Qre f
=
(6)
W

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

1. COP of the refrigeration system decreases with time

and attains a constant value at steady state.
2. We saw how irreversibilities in the cycle can alter its
performance.
3. The actual COP can be enhanced if we reduce heat
transfer by proper insulation around connecting pipes
and optimize the flow rates of refrigerant to minimize
viscous effects.

Moreover using p - h chart, we can calculate the corresponding enthalpy at each state i.e. h1 , h2 , h3 , h4 . Then,

COP =

h4 h3 220 210
=
=0.0476
h1 h4 430 220

REFERENCES
Appendix B: Error Analysis

[1] Michael A. Boles, Yunus A. Cengel 2013 Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach pp. 613-614, McGraw Hill Education

Qi depends upon the following parameters as listed in

table below.
4

Q
T
T
m C
=
T
dt
Q
Qi ,t =
t
t
m C T
=
t
t2
Q
Qi ,h =
h
h
T
= A C
h
t

Qi ,T =

Thus total uncertainty is given by:

Qi =

q
2Qi ,T + 2Qi ,t + 2Qi ,h