Basic Refrigeration

 Refrigeration is the removal of heat from a material or space, so that it s

temperature is lower than that of it s surroundings.

 When refrigerant absorbs the unwanted heat, this raises the refrigerant s
temperature ( Saturation Temperature ) so that it changes from a liquid
to a gas it evaporates. The system then uses condensation to release the
heat and change the refrigerant back into a liquid. This is called Latent
Heat.

 This cycle is based on the physical principle, that a liquid extracts heat
from the surrounding area as it expands (boils) into a gas.

 To accomplish this, the refrigerant is pumped through a closed looped

pipe system.
  The closed looped pipe system stops the refrigerant from becoming
contaminated and controls its stream. The refrigerant will be both a vapor
and a liquid in the loop.

Saturation Temperature can be defined as the temperature of a liquid, vapor, or a solid,

where if any heat is added or removed, a change of state takes place.

 A change of state transfers a large amount of energy.

 At saturation temperature, materials are sensitive to additions or removal of

heat.

 Water is an example of how saturation property of a material, can transfer a

large amount of heat.

 Refrigerants use the same principles as ice. For any given pressure,
refrigerants have a saturation temperature.

 If the pressure is low, the saturation temperature t is low. If pressure is high,

h saturation temperature is high.

Latent Heat - The heat required to change a liquid to a gas (or the heat that must
be removed from a gas to condense it to a liquid), without any change in temperature.

 Heat is a form of energy that t is transferred from one object to another object.

 Heat Is a form of energy transferred by a difference in temperature.

 Heat transfer can occur, when there is a temperature difference between two
or more objects. Heat will only flow from a warm object to a colder object.

 The heat transfer is greatest, when there is a large temperature difference

between two objects.

The Refrigeration Cycle

There are four main components in a refrigeration system:

 The Compressor

 The Condensing Coil

 The Metering Device

  The Evaporator

 Two different pressures exist in the refrigeration cycle. The evaporator or low
pressure, in the "low side" and the condenser, or high pressure, in the "high
side". These pressure areas are divided by the other two components. On one
end, is the metering device which controls the refrigerant flow, and on the
other end, is the compressor.

The Compressor
 The compressor is the heart of the system. The compressor does just what it s
name is. It compresses the low pressure refrigerant vapor from the evaporator
and compresses it into a high pressure vapor.

 The inlet to the compressor is called the Suction Line. It brings the low
pressure vapor into the compressor. After the compressor compresses

 After the compressor compresses the refrigerant into a high pressure Vapor,
it removes it to the outlet called the Discharge Line.
The Condenser
 The Discharge Line leaves the compressor and runs to the inlet of the
condenser.

 Because the refrigerant was compressed, it is a hot high pressure vapor (as
pressure goes up temperature goes up).

 The hot vapor enters the condenser and starts to flow through the tubes.

 Cool air is blown across the out side of the finned tubes of the condenser
(usually by a fan or water with a pump).

 Since the air is cooler than the refrigerant, heat jumps from the tubing to the
cooler air (energy goes from hot to cold latent heat ).

 As the heat is removed from the refrigerant, it reaches it s saturated

temperature and starts to flash (change states), into a high pressure liquid.

 The high pressure liquid leaves the condenser through the liquid line and
travels to the metering device. Sometimes running through a filter dryer first,
to remove any dirt or foreign particles.
Metering Devices
 Metering devices regulate how much liquid refrigerant enters the evaporator.

 Common used metering devices are, small thin copper tubes referred to as cap
tubes, thermally controller diaphragm valves called TXV s (thermal
expansion valves) and single opening orifices.

 The metering device tries to maintain a preset temperature difference or super

heat, between the inlet and outlet openings of the evaporator.

 As the metering devices regulates the amount of refrigerant going into the
evaporator, the device lets small amounts of refrigerant out into the line and
loses the high pressure it has behind it.

 Now we have a low pressure, cooler liquid refrigerant entering the evaporative
coil (pressure went down so temperature goes down).

Thermal expansion Valves

 A very common type of metering device is called a TX Valve (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.

 The TXV has a sensing bulb attached to the outlet of the evaporator. This bulb
senses the suction line temperature and sends a signal to the TXV allowing it
to adjust the flow rate. This is important because, if not all, the refrigerant in
the evaporator changes state into a gas, there could be liquid refrigerant
content returning to the compressor. This can be fatal to the compressor.
 Liquid can not be compressed and when a compressor tries to compress a
liquid, mechanical failing can happen. The compressor can suffer mechanical
damage in the valves and bearings. This is called liquid slugging.

 Normally TXV's are set to maintain 10 degrees of superheat. That means that
the gas returning to the compressor is at least 10 degrees away from the risk
of having any liquid.

The Evaporator
 The evaporator is where the heat is removed from your house, business or
refrigeration box.

 Low pressure liquid leaves the metering device and enters the evaporator.

 Usually, a fan will move warm air from the conditioned space across the
evaporator finned coils.

 The cooler refrigerant in the evaporator tubes, absorb the warm room air. The
change of temperature causes the refrigerant to flash or boil, and changes from
a low pressure liquid to a low pressure cold vapor.

 The low pressure vapor is pulled into the compressor and the cycle starts over.

 The amount of heat added to the liquid to make it saturated and change states
is called Super Heat.

 One way to charge a system with refrigerant is by super heat.

Basic Refrigeration Cycle
 Starting at the compressor;

 Low pressure vapor refrigerant is compressed and discharged out of the

compressor.

 The refrigerant at this point is a high temperature, high pressure, superheated

vapor.

 The high pressure refrigerant flows to the condenser by way of the "Discharge
Line".

 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 Thermal
Expansion valve or 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.

 This saturated liquid/vapor enters the evaporator and is changed to a low

pressure, dry vapor.

 The low pressure, dry vapor is then returned to the compressor in the "Suction
line".

 The cycle then starts over.

Using a P/T chart
 When you are charging or just checking a refrigeration unit, you use a set of
gauges. The blue hose connects to a port on the low side of the system and
your red hose will connect to the high side of the system.

 To properly know what your pressures and temperatures should be, you will
need to know what refrigerant you are working with and a
Pressure\Temperature Chart (P/T Chart).

 With a P/T chart, if you know a temperature or a pressure of the ambient air
or the refrigerant in your system, you can use a P/T chart to convert it to the
equal pressure or temperature.

 For an example using the chart at the right, at 1000f R22 refrigerant pressure
would be 198.4

 R502 at 100 would be 218.6; R12 at 1000 would be 119.4 lb’s pressure.

 If you just know a pressure, cross the pressure on the chart to the
corresponding temperature.
Charging
 A common method for checking or charging is by head pressure.

 Find the units design condenser temperature from the specifications, add 30
to the outside ambient air temperature (70 is the outside air temp. add 30, that
gives you 100 ). Take your P/T chart and see what the pressure crosses up to
at 100 using R22.
  At 100 f R22 equals PSI, so you would charge your system up until you head
pressure was close to 198.40

 If the unit has a sight glass, check it for bubbles. If it does have bubbles, add
more refrigerant slowly until it clears

 Always charge refrigerant into the suction line as a vapor. This is done by
keeping your refrigerant cylinder right side up. If your cylinder is on it s side
or upside down, you will be charging liquid id refrigerant and it could damage
your compressor.

 If you are charging a cap tube system, charging by super heat is a good
method. Check your units specifications and pick a desired ed super heat (10
to 16 ), add or subtract refrigerant until the super heat is achieved. The
superheat is fixed at 8 to 12 degrees in most residential air conditioning
systems.

Sub-Cooling & Super-Heat

Measure Sub-cooling:

Get the refrigerant saturation pressure-temperature. Take a pressure reading of the

liquid line leaving the condenser. Refrigerant saturation temperature is the
pressuretemperature, when the refrigerant is turning from a highpressure vapor into
a high-pressure liquid (giving up heat). At saturation pressure-temperature, both
liquid and vapor are at the same temperature.

1) Convert pressure to temperature with a P/T chart.

2) Take a temperature reading at the leaving liquid line of the condenser.

Compare both, the saturated temperature and leaving liquid line temperature.
Subtracting one from the other, the difference is the amount the refrigerant has
cooled past saturated temperature.

Measure Evaporator Superheat:

Get a pressure reading of the suction line leaving the evaporator to get refrigerant
saturation pressure-temperature. Refrigerant saturation temperature is the pressure
temperature, when the refrigerant is turning from a low pressure liquid to a low-
pressure vapor (absorbing heat). At saturation pressure-temperature, both liquid and
vapor are at the same temperature.

Convert pressure to temperature with a P/T chart. If reading is obtained at the

compressor, not at the evaporator line leaving, you may have to add a few pounds of
pressure due to pressure drop in the suction line.

Take a temperature reading at the leaving suction line of the evaporator.

Compare both, the saturated temperature and the leaving suction line temperature.
Subtracting one from the other, the difference is the amount the refrigerant gas has
heated past saturated temperature.

Terms and Info

BTU s - An air conditioner's capacity is measured in British Thermal Units, or BTUs.

A BTU is the amount of heat required to raise, by one degree, the temperature of a
pound of water. So if you buy an air conditioner rated at 10,000 BTUs, it has the
ability to cool 10,000 pounds -- about 1,200 gallons -- of water, one degree in an
hour. Refrigeration is normally measured in Tons. 12,000 BTU s equal 1 ton.

Latent Heat - Latent Heat is the heat given up or absorbed by a substance as it

changes state. It is called latent because it is not associated with a change in
temperature. Each substance has a characteristic latent heat of fusion, latent heat of
vaporization, latent heat of condensation and latent heat of sublimation.

Superheated Vapor - Refrigerant vapor is heated above its saturation temperature.

If a refrigerant is superheated, there is no liquid present. Superheat is an indication
of how full the evaporator is of liquid id refrigerant. High superheat means the
evaporator is empty. Low superheat means the evaporator is full.

Saturation Temperature - Also referred to as the boiling point or the condensing

temperature. This is the temperature at which a refrigerant will change state from a
liquid to a vapor or vice versa.
Sensible Heat - Heat, that when added or removed, causes a change in temperature
but not in state.

Sub-Cooling - Sub-cooling is a temperature below saturated pressure-temperature.

Subcooling is a measurement of how much liquid is in the condenser. In air
conditioning, it is important to measure sub-cooling because the longer the liquid
stays in the condenser, the greater the sensible (visible) heat loss. Low sub-cooling
means that a condenser is empty. High sub-cooling means that a condenser is full.
Over filling a system, increases pressure due to the liquid filling of a condenser that
shows up as high sub-cooling. To move the refrigerant from condenser to the liquid
line, it must be pushed down the liquid line to a metering device. If a pressure drop
occurs in the liquid line and the refrigerant has no sub- cooling, the refrigerant will
start to re-vaporize (change state from a liquid to a vapor) before reaching the
metering devise.