EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF A REFRIGERATION SYSTEM WORKING UNDER TRANSIENT CONDITIONS

Abstract

The impact of transient conditions along with varied capillary tube length and charge quantity over the performance of a simple refrigeration system under all time transient operations has been investigated in a specially designed experimental setup. A maximum drop of 75% in the coefficient of performance (COP) of the system was recorded by the end of the transient cooling period. The continuous deterioration in performance from start to end of the transient cooling job can be well minimized by the optimum selection of capillary tube length and charge quantity. This paper refers some of the existing methods to determine the appropriate length of the coiled capillary tube and charge quantity for a newly designed refrigeration machine working under steady state conditions and compares the experimental results of transient operation with these. Optimum charge quantity for transient operation in the present study is 3.5% to 5% less than that calculated by the existing analytical and numerical methods. The optimum length of coiled capillary tube for transient operation as found in this experimental study matches approximately with the length predicted by the existing dimensionless correlation on the basis of design parameters as estimated towards the end of the transient cooling period.