Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Lab

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Manual

of

Test rig of a vapor compression

refrigeration system
 Experiment: A

Test Rig of a Vapor Compression Refrigeration System

Objectives:
a) To carry out steady state measurements on the test rig of a vapor compression

refrigeration system in order to determine

i) Carnot COP, Cycle COP and Actual COP

ii) Overall heat transfer coefficients for the evaporator and the condenser

iii) Overall volumetric efficiency of the compressor

b) Pulldown time and average refrigeration capacity (RC) estimation

Introduction:

The test-rig consists of a hermetic compressor, an air-cooled condenser, a

capillary tube/TEV (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 drier etc. Pressure gauges

are installed to measure the condenser and evaporator pressures (in psig). Similarly,

digital thermometers are provided at the inlet and exit of evaporator, compressor and

condenser to facilitate measurement of the refrigerant temperature at these points. A

rotameter is installed in a by-pass liquid line to measure the flow rate of the liquid

refrigerant by opening the manual shut-off valve. The test-rig uses HFC-134a (Tetra-

Fluoro-Ethane) as refrigerant.

Evaporator:
The evaporator used in the test-rig consists of two copper coils immersed in

water kept in a stainless steel container. The stainless steel container is housed in a

wooden box. The gap between the wooden box and the stainless steel container is

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filled with fiberglass insulation. A pump is installed in the container to maintain

uniform temperature of water. An electrical heater controlled by a thermostat provides

the required cooling load to the evaporator. As the low pressure, low temperature

refrigerant flows through the copper coil; heat is transferred from the water to the

refrigerant leading to flow boiling of refrigerant liquid inside the coil. In steady state,

the heat input to the water by the heater is approximately equal to the heat absorbed

by the refrigerant, which is the desired refrigeration effect. The energy meter connected

across the heater measures the heater input. A digital thermometer measures the

water temperature.

Compressor:
A hermetic compressor with a piston displacement of 2.759 m3/h is used in the

test-rig. The compressor is located in such a way that the ambient air used for cooling

the condenser also cools the compressor. The energy input to the compressor can be

measured using either the energy meter or from the voltmeter and ammeter readings.

Since the electrical load on the compressor is inductive, a suitable power factor (~ 0.80)

should be used while calculating energy input from the product of voltmeter and

ammeter readings.

Condenser:
The condenser used in the test rig is an air-cooled, fin-and-tube type

compressor. A blower is used to blow the ambient air over the condenser and to extract

the heat rejected by the condensing refrigerant. The heat rejection rate at condensate

is obtained by measuring the airflow rate over the condenser and temperature of air

at the inlet and outlet of the condenser. A vane type anemometer is used to measure

the average velocity of air at the outlet of condenser. The average velocity is obtained

by taking the average of measured air velocities at 5 locations (four corners and center)

on the condenser. The mass flow rate of air is obtained from the average air velocity, face

area of the condenser and the density of air (obtained from barometric pressure and air

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temperature).

Expansion device:
A thermostatic expansion valve is used in the test rig as an expansion device

to control the flow of refrigerant into the evaporator. It uses a temperature-sensing

bulb to monitor the evaporator's outlet temperature and adjust the refrigerant flow

according to the superheat.

Measurements:

Objective A: Steady state measurements

Once steady-state is reached, measure the pressure gauge readings,

temperature readings, heater and compressor energy meter (or voltmeter and

ammeter) readings, temperature of water around the evaporator, velocity of air over

the condenser at 5 locations, inlet and outlet temperature of air at condenser,

barometric pressure. Then open the valve in the rotameter by-pass line and take the

rotameter reading. Then the system is switched-off and measurements of condenser and

evaporator dimensions are to be taken. For the condenser, measure the width and height

of condenser, tube diameter, number of condenser tubes (no. of rows × no. of tubes per

row), number of fins (no. of fins per inch × width of condenser in inches), thickness,

width and height of fins and number of tubes passing through the fins. For the

evaporator, measure the copper tube diameter, coil diameter and number of coils for

both inner and outer coils immersed in water.

Observations:
Condenser Pressure, Pc (bar)
Evaporator Pressure, Pe (bar)
Refrigerant temperature at condenser inlet, td (°C)
Refrigerant temperature at condenser outlet, tco (°C)

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 Refrigerant temperature at evaporator inlet, tei (°C)
Refrigerant temperature at evaporator outlet, ts (°C)
Compressor energy consumption, (W) (= V × I)comp

Heater energy consumption, (W) (= V × I)heater

Number of fins, Nr 153
Fin thickness, e (m) 0.17×10-3
Fin width, b (m) 0.0527
Fin height, h (m) 0.3048
Condenser width, L (m) 0.32
Number of tubes in condenser, Ntc 36
Diameter of condenser tubes, dc (m) 9.5×10-3
Average air velocity through condenser, V (m/s)
Air temperature at condenser inlet, Tair,in (°C)
Air temperature at condenser outlet, Tair,out (°C)
Temperature of water in evaporator, Twater (°C)

Evaporator coil diameter, Dc1 and Dc2 (m) 0.15 and

0.255
Evaporator tube diameter, De1 and De2 (m) 9.5×10-3
Number of tubes in the coil, Nte1 and Nte2 (m) 13 and 20
Room temperature (°C)
Room pressure (bar)
Displacement of compressor, PD (m3/h) 2.759
Rotameter reading (kg/h)
Water mass (kg) 25

Calculations:
i) Carnot COP, Cycle COP and Actual COP
Tevap
COPcarnot 
Tcond  Tevap

where, Tevap and Tcond are the saturation temperatures (K) corresponding to evaporator

pressure and condenser pressure (to be obtained from Thermodynamic Tables or p-h

charts of R-134a)

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 (h1  h3 )
COPcycle 
( h2  h1 )

where h1, h2 and h3 are the enthalpy of refrigerant vapor at evaporator outlet, enthalpy

of refrigerant vapor at compressor outlet and enthalpy of refrigerant liquid at condenser

outlet respectively (to be obtained from tables or p-h charts from the temperature and

pressure values).

Actual refrigeration effect Energy meter reading of heater

COPactual  
Actual energy input to compressor Energy meter reading of compressor

ii) Overall heat transfer coefficients for the evaporator and the condenser

Uevap = )
.(

where Acoil is the area of the evaporator coils (to be obtained from the evaporator tube diameter,

coil diameter and number of coils immersed in water), Twater and Te are the water and refrigerant

temperatures in the evaporator.

( . ) .( )
Ucond = = , ,
. .

where,

Tair ,out  Tair ,in

LMTDcond 
(T  Tair ,in )
ln cond
(Tcond  Tair ,out )

Tair,in and Tair,out are the inlet and outlet temperatures of air, Tcond is the saturation

temperature of refrigerant corresponding to condenser pressure.

The condenser area, Acond is the sum total of the bare tube area (primary area) and

the fin area (secondary area). These areas have to be obtained from the condenser

dimensions and geometry, number of fins, fin dimensions etc.

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iii) Overall volumetric efficiency of the compressor

̇
ղ = =
.

where ṁref is the mass flow rate of liquid refrigerant as indicated by the rotameter

(kg/hr), ρsuction is the density of refrigerant vapor at compressor inlet (kg/m3). PD is

the piston displacement of the compressor in m3/hr. Refrigerant density is to be

obtained from thermodynamic property tables.

Objective B: Pulldown time and average refrigeration capacity (RC)

estimation

After noting all the required steady-state measurements, turn off the heater and start

the timer to estimate the pulldown time for the water to reach the set temperature.

For each fixed time interval, note all the pressure and temperature readings, the

rotameter reading and the actual compressor power consumption from the energy

meter. Continue the experiment till the compressor cuts out at the set chilled water

temperature. At each time interval, calculate the instantaneous refrigeration capacity

(RC) from the cycle drawn on the p-h chart. Take the average of instantaneous RCs

for the total pulldown time and compare it with the RC calculated from chilled water

side.

( , , )
𝑄̇ =

where, Mw is the mass of water (kg) in the container, Cp is the specific heat of water

(kJ/kg.K), Tchill,i and Tchill,f are the initial and final temperatures of the chilled water,

and t is the pulldown time (s).

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 Observations:

Pressure Temperature I Inst. Comp Comp

Time ṁref R.C ressor ressor
(min:ss) (A)
Powe Power
(kg/h) (W)
r
Pe Pc Ts Td Tco Tei Tchil (W)
(from (W) (Actual)
l
(bar) (bar) (°C) (°C) (°C) (°C) cycle) (from
(°C) cycle)

At the end of your study, you must try to answer the following questions:

1. What are the errors in measurement of refrigerant temperature? Suggest a better

method of measuring the temperature.
2. What are the errors in energy meter reading?
3. What are the assumptions made in calculating the Carnot, cycle and actual
COPs?
4. How does one find cooling capacity and condenser heat rejection rate from the
refrigerant side? What differences do you observe when you compare cooling
capacity and heat rejection rate calculated from refrigerant side with those
calculated from water/air side?
5. Why is thermostat used in the water tank?
6. What are the safety devices used in the set-up?
7. The experiment gives COP at a fixed temperature. Suggest a method to find the
COP at different condenser and evaporator temperatures.

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8. What are the assumptions made in calculating LMTD for condenser?
9. What is the significance of volumetric efficiency of compressor?
10. Carry out an error analysis of your experimental results.
11. What is the significance of estimating the pulldown time?
12. What is the reason for the difference in the average RC calculated from water
side and from the refrigerant side during pulldown?
13. Why is the instantaneous compressor power reducing during pulldown process?

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