PDF Report Physics

HEAT PUMP AND REFRIGERATORS
DONE BY: RAHMAYASSER SHAMSELDIN
Heat pumps, air conditioners, and refrigerators utilize heat transfer from cold
to hot. Heat transfer occurs from a cold reservoir Qc and into a hot one. This
requires work input W, which is also converted to heat transfer. Thus the heat
transfer to the hot reservoir is Qh = Qc + W. (Note that Qh, Qc, and W are
positive, with their directions indicated on schematics rather than by sign.) A
heat pump’s mission is for heat transfer Qh to occur into a warm environment,
such as a home in the winter. The mission of air conditioners and refrigerators
is for heat transfer Qc to occur from a cool environment, such as chilling a
room or keeping food at lower temperatures than the environment. (Actually, a
heat pump can be used both to heat and cool a space. It is essentially an air
conditioner and a heating unit all in one. In this section we will concentrate on
its heating mode.)
Heat Pumps
The great advantage of using a heat pump to keep your home warm, rather
than just burning fuel, is that a heat pump supplies Qh = Qc + W. Heat transfer
is from the outside air, even at a temperature below freezing, to the indoor
space. You only pay for W, and you get an additional heat transfer of Qc from
the outside at no cost; in many cases, at least twice as much energy is
transferred to the heated space as is used to run the heat pump. When you
burn fuel to keep warm, you pay for all of it. The disadvantage is that the work
input (required by the second law of thermodynamics) is sometimes more
expensive than simply burning fuel, especially if the work is done by electrical
energy.
Air Conditioners and Refrigerators
Air conditioners and refrigerators are designed to cool something down in a

warm environment. As with heat pumps, work input is required for heat
transfer from cold to hot, and this is expensive. The quality of air conditioners
and refrigerators is judged by how much heat transfer Qc occurs from a cold
environment compared with how much work input W is required. What is
considered the benefit in a heat pump is considered waste heat in a
refrigerator. We thus define the coefficient of performance (COPref) of an air
conditioner or refrigerator to be
COPref=QcWCOPref=QcW.
Noting again that Qh = Qc + W, we can see that an air conditioner will have a
lower coefficient of performance than a heat pump,
because COPhp=QhWCOPhp=QhW and Qh is greater than Qc.
Thermodynamic cycles
According to the second law of thermodynamics heat cannot spontaneously flow
from a colder location to a hotter area; work is required to achieve this. An air
conditioner requires work to cool a living space, moving heat from the cooler
interior (the heat source) to the warmer outdoors (the heat sink). Similarly, a
refrigerator moves heat from inside the cold icebox (the heat source) to the
warmer room-temperature air of the kitchen (the heat sink). The operating
principle of the refrigeration cycle was described mathematically by Sadi Carnot in
1824 as a heat engine. A heat pump can be thought of as a heat engine which is
operating in reverse.
Heat pump and refrigeration cycles can be classified as vapor
compression, vapor absorption, gas cycle, or Stirling cycle types .
Vapor-compression cycle
The vapor-compression cycle is used in most
household refrigerators as well as in many large
commercial and industrial refrigeration systems.
Figure 1 provides a schematic diagram of the
Figure 1: Vapor-
components of a typical vapor-compression
compression refrigeration
refrigeration system.
For comparison, a simple stylized diagram of a heat pump's vapor-compression
refrigeration cycle:
The thermodynamics of the cycle can be analysed on a diagram as shown in
Figure 2. In this cycle, a circulating working
fluid commonly called refrigerant such
as Freon enters the compressor as a vapor. The
vapor is compressed at constant entropy and exits
the compressor superheated. The superheated
vapor travels through the condenser which first
cools and removes the superheat and then
condenses the vapor into a liquid by removing
additional heat at constant pressure and
temperature. The liquid refrigerant goes through
the expansion valve (also called a throttle valve)
where its pressure abruptly decreases,
causing flash evaporation and auto-refrigeration of,
Figure 2:Temperature–Entropy diagram of the vapor-compression
typically, less than half of the liquid. cycle
That results in a mixture of liquid and vapor at a

lower temperature and pressure. The cold liquid-vapor mixture then travels
through the evaporator coil or tubes and is completely vaporized by cooling the
warm air (from the space being refrigerated) being blown by a fan across the
evaporator coil or tubes. The resulting refrigerant vapor returns to the
compressor inlet to complete the thermodynamic cycle.
The above discussion is based on the ideal vapor-compression refrigeration
cycle, and does not take into account real-world effects like frictional pressure
drop in the system, slight thermodynamic irreversibility during the compression of
the refrigerant vapor, or non-ideal gas behavior (if any)
REFRIGIRATOR AND HEAT PUMP P/V AND T/S DIAGRAM
ANALYSIS.

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HEAT PUMP AND REFRIGERATORS

DONE BY: RAHMAYASSER SHAMSELDIN

Air Conditioners and Refrigerators

Air conditioners and refrigerators are designed to cool something down in a

That results in a mixture of liquid and vapor at a

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