Lesson 1

Introduction and Brief History of Refrigeration Process

Refrigeration may be defined as the process of achieving and maintaining a

temperature below that of the surroundings, the aim being to cool some product or
space to the required temperature. One of the most important applications of
refrigeration has been the preservation of perishable food products by storing them at
low temperatures. Refrigeration systems are also used extensively for providing thermal
comfort to human beings by means of air conditioning. Air Conditioning refers to the
treatment of air so as to simultaneously control its temperature, moisture content,
cleanliness, odor and circulation, as required by occupants, a process, or products in
the space. The subject of refrigeration and air conditioning has evolved out of human
need for food and comfort, and its history dates back to centuries. The history of
refrigeration is very interesting since every aspect of it, the availability of refrigerants, the
prime movers and the developments in compressors and the methods of refrigeration
all are a part of it. The French scientist Roger ThÝvenot has written an excellent book on
the history of refrigeration throughout the world. Here we present only a brief history of
the subject with special mention of the pioneers in the field and some important events.

Brief History
Natural Refrigeration
In olden days refrigeration was achieved by natural means such as the use of ice
or evaporative cooling. In earlier times, ice was either:
1. Transported from colder regions,
2. Harvested in winter and stored in ice houses for summer use or,
3. Made during night by cooling of water by radiation to stratosphere.
In Europe, America and Iran a number of icehouses were built to store ice.
Materials like sawdust or wood shavings were used as insulating materials in these
icehouses. Later on, cork was used as insulating material. Literature reveals that ice has
always been available to aristocracy who could afford it. In India, the Mogul emperors
were very fond of ice during the harsh summer in Delhi and Agra, and it appears that
the ice used to be made by nocturnal cooling.
In 1806, Frederic Tudor, (who was later called as the “ice king”) began the trade
in ice by cutting it from the Hudson River and ponds of Massachusetts and exporting it
to various countries including India. In India Tudor’s ice was cheaper than the locally
manufactured ice by nocturnal cooling. The ice trade in North America was a flourishing
business. Ice was transported to southern states of America in train compartments
insulated by 0.3m of cork insulation. Trading in ice was also popular in several other
countries such as Great Britain, Russia, Canada, Norway and France. In these countries
ice was either transported from colder regions or was harvested in winter and stored in
icehouses for use in summer. The ice trade reached its peak in 1872 when America alone
Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2017-2018

exported 225000 tonnes of ice to various countries as far as China and Australia.
However, with the advent of artificial refrigeration the ice trade gradually declined.

Art of Ice making by Nocturnal Cooling

The art of making ice by nocturnal cooling was perfected in India. In this method
ice was made by keeping a thin layer of water in a shallow earthen tray, and then
exposing the tray to the night sky. Compacted hay of about 0.3 m thickness was used
as insulation.The water looses heat by radiation to the stratosphere, which is at around
-55°C and by early morning hours the water in the trays freezes to ice. This method of
ice production was very popular in India.

Cooling by Salt Solutions

Certain substances such as common salt, when added to water dissolve in water
and absorb its heat of solution from water (endothermic process). This reduces the
temperature of the solution (water+salt). Sodium Chloride salt (NaCl) can yield
temperatures up to -20°C and Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) up to - 50°C in properly
insulated containers. However, as it is this process has limited application, as the
dissolved salt has to be recovered from its solution by heating.

Evaporative Cooling
As the name indicates, evaporative cooling is the process of reducing the
temperature of a system by evaporation of water. Human beings perspire and dissipate
their metabolic heat by evaporative cooling if the ambient temperature is more than
skin temperature. Animals such as the hippopotamus and buffalo coat themselves with
mud for evaporative cooling. Evaporative cooling has been used in India for centuries
to obtain cold water in summer by storing the water in earthen pots. The water
permeates through the pores of earthen vessel to its outer surface where it evaporates
to the surrounding, absorbing its latent heat in part from the vessel, which cools the
water. It is said that Patliputra University situated on the bank of river Ganges used to
induce the evaporative-cooled air from the river. Suitably located chimneys in the
rooms augmented the upward flow of warm air, which was replaced by cool air.
Evaporative cooling by placing wet straw mats on the windows is also very common in
India. The straw mat made from “khus” adds its inherent perfume also to the air. Now-a-
days desert coolers are being used in hot and dry areas to provide cooling in summer.

Artificial Refrigeration
Refrigeration as it is known these days is produced by artificial means. Though it is
very difficult to make a clear demarcation between natural and artificial refrigeration,
it is generally agreed that the history of artificial refrigeration began in the year 1755,
when the Scottish professor William Cullen made the first refrigerating machine, which
could produce a small quantity of ice in the laboratory. Based on the working principle,

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Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2017-2018

refrigeration systems can be classified as vapour compression systems, vapour

absorption systems, gas cycle systems etc.

Vapor Compression Refrigeration Systems:

The basis of modern refrigeration is the ability of liquids to absorb enormous
quantities of heat as they boil and evaporate. Professor William Cullen of the University
of Edinburgh demonstrated this in 1755 by placing some water in thermal contact with
ether under a receiver of a vacuum pump. The evaporation rate of ether increased due
to the vacuum pump and water could be frozen. This process involves two
thermodynamic concepts, the vapor pressure and the latent heat. A liquid is in thermal
equilibrium with its own vapor at a pressure called the saturation pressure, which
depends on the temperature alone. If the pressure is increased for example in a pressure
cooker, the water boils at higher temperature. The second concept is that the
evaporation of liquid requires latent heat during evaporation. If latent heat is extracted
from the liquid, the liquid gets cooled. The temperature of ether will remain constant as
long as the vacuum pump maintains a pressure equal to saturation pressure at the
desired temperature. This requires the removal of all the vapors formed due to
vaporization. If a lower temperature is desired, then a lower saturation pressure will have
to be maintained by the vacuum pump. The component of the modern day
refrigeration system where cooling is produced by this method is called evaporator.
If this process of cooling is to be made continuous the vapors have to be recycled by
condensation to the liquid state. The condensation process requires heat rejection to
the surroundings. It can be condensed at atmospheric temperature by increasing its
pressure. The process of condensation was learned in the second half of eighteenth
century. U.F. Clouet and G. Monge liquefied SO2 in 1780 while van Marum and Van
Troostwijk liquefied NH3 in 1787. Hence, a compressor is required to maintain a high
pressure so that the evaporating vapors can condense at a temperature greater than
that of the surroundings.
Oliver Evans in his book “Abortion of a young Steam Engineer’s Guide” published
in Philadelphia in 1805 described a closed refrigeration cycle to produce ice by ether
under vacuum. Jacob Perkins, an American living in London actually designed such a
system in1835. The apparatus described by Jacob Perkins in his patent specifications of
1834 is shown in Fig.1.1. In his patent he stated “I am enabled to use volatile fluids for the
purpose of producing the cooling or freezing of fluids, and yet at the same time
constantly condensing such volatile fluids, and bringing them again into operation
without waste”.

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Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2017-2018

Figure 1.1: Apparatus described by Jacob Perkins in his patent specification of 1834. The
refrigerant (ether or other volatile fluid) boils in evaporator B taking heat from
surrounding water in container A. The pump C draws vapour away and compresses it
to higher pressure at which it can condense to liquids in tubes D, giving out heat to water
in vessel E. Condensed liquid flows through the weight loaded valve H, which maintains
the difference of pressure between the condenser and evaporator. The small pump
above H is used for charging the apparatus with refrigerant.

John Hague made Perkins’s design into working model with some modifications.
This Perkins machine is shown in Fig.1.2. The earliest vapour compression system used
either sulphuric (ethyl) or methyl ether. The American engineer Alexander Twining (1801-
1884) received a British patent in 1850 for a vapour compression system by use of ether,
NH3 and CO2.
The man responsible for making a practical vapor compression refrigeration
system was James Harrison who took a patent in 1856 for a vapour compression system
using ether, alcohol or ammonia. Charles Tellier of France patented in 1864, a
refrigeration system using dimethyl ether which has a normal boiling point of −23.6°C.

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Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2017-2018

Figure 1.2: Perkins machine built by John Hague

Carl von Linde in Munich introduced double acting ammonia compressor. It

required pressures of more than 10 atmospheres in the condenser. Since the normal
boiling point of ammonia is -33.3°C, vacuum was not required on the low pressure side.
Since then ammonia is used widely in large refrigeration plants.
David Boyle, in fact made the first NH3 system in 1871 in San Francisco. John Enright
had also developed a similar system in 1876 in Buffalo N.Y. Franz Windhausen developed
carbon dioxide CO2 based vapour compression system in Germany in 1886.
The carbon dioxide compressor requires a pressure of about 80 atmospheres and
therefore a very heavy construction. Linde in 1882 and T.S.C. Lowe in 1887 tried similar
systems in USA. The CO2 system is a very safe system and was used in ship refrigeration
until 1960s. Raoul Pictet used SO2 (NBP -10°C) as refrigerant. Its lowest pressure was high
enough to prevent the leakage of air into the system. Palmer used C2H5Cl in 1890 in a
rotary compressor. He mixed it with C2H5Br to reduce its flammability. Edmund Copeland
and Harry Edwards used iso-butane in 1920 in small refrigerators. It disappeared by 1930
when it was replaced by CH3Cl. Dichloroethylene (Dielene or Dieline) was used by
Carrier in centrifugal compressors in 1922-26.

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Romblon State University |Department of Mechanical Engineering
BS Mechanical Engineering
REFRIGERATION ENGINEERING | Second Semester | School Year 2017-2018

Reference:

A.B. Trillllana, N.C. Dela Rama, 1995, Simplified Design of Refrigeration and Air
Conditioning

C.P. Arora, 2009, McGraw-Hill International Edition, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

H.B. Sta.Maria, Third Edition, 2001, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

PN. Ananthanarayanan, 1999, Second Edition, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

R.S. Alcorcon, 2005, Power Plant Engineering

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