ABSTRACT

The experiment was conducted by using the unit of Mechanical Heat Pump. The refrigeration
unit was used to evaluate the performance of a refrigeration cycle in this experiment. This
experiment is divided into five part. The first experiment is to determining the power input, heat
output and coefficient of performance of a vapor compression heat pump system. From the
calculation the value of heat output obtained is 79.6W, meanwhile the power input from the
reading was 162W and the coefficient of performance of the heat pump was 0.47. In the second
experiment, the cooling water flow rate are varied in decreasing order at 60, 40 and 20% in order
to determine the performance of heat pump over a range of source and delivery temperature. The
graphs of COP, power input and heat output versus temperature was plotted. From the result, the
all the graph shows a similar pattern. Next, the objective of third experiment is to plot the vapor
compression cycle on p-h diagram and compare with the ideal cycles and to perform energy
balances for condenser and compressor. The graph was plotted by finding the value of h for the
whole cycle. The fourth experiment is to determine plot the performance of heat pump over a
range of evaporating and condensation temperatures which are the saturation temperature at
condensing pressure. The last experiment is to estimate the effect of compressor pressure ratio on
volumetric efficiency. The cooling water flow rate used in this experiment is 40% and the
calculated result for compressor pressure ratio and volumetric efficiency is 0.27 and 207%
respectively.

INTRODUCTION
Refrigeration cycle is a sequence of thermodynamic processes whereby heat is withdrawn from a
cold body and expelled to a hot body. It is a reversed heat engine cycle. In general words
refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space, or from a substance,
to lower its temperature. The device whose prime function is to do the job is known as
refrigerator and the working fluids used in the refrigeration cycle is called refrigerant. A
refrigerator uses the evaporation of a liquid to absorb heat. The liquid, or refrigerant, used in a
refrigerator evaporates at a low temperature, creating cooling or freezing temperatures inside the
refrigerator.
Including thermodynamics many other phases of engineering are involved in the design,
manufactures, application and operation of refrigeration system. The thermodynamic properties
of the refrigerants must be known before the cycle analysis can be made. Evaporators and
condensers of the system is used for the absorption and rejection of heat respectively involved
the fields of heat transmission. Steady state are involved in the determination of cooling-load
requirements. On the other hand, the design of reciprocating compressor involves a variety of
machine problems. The physical capacity of a compressor or expender will be determined from
thermodynamic factors.
The physical capacity of a compressor or expander can be determined from
thermodynamic factors. The measure of effectiveness of a refrigerator is its coefficient of
performance (C.O.P). It is the expression of the cycle efficiency and is stated as the ratio of the
heat absorbed in the refrigerated space to the heat energy equivalent of the energy supplied to the
compressor.
The application of refrigeration are numerous in our daily life. The most widely used
current applications of refrigeration are for air conditioning of private homes and public
buildings, and refrigerating foodstuffs in homes, restaurants and large storage warehouses. In
commerce and manufacturing, there are many uses for refrigeration. Refrigeration is used to
liquefy gases - oxygen, nitrogen, propane and methane, for example. In compressed air
purification, it is used to condense water vapor from compressed air to reduce its moisture
content. In oil refineries, chemical plants, and petrochemical plants, refrigeration is used to
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maintain certain processes at their needed low temperatures. Textile mills uses refrigeration in
mercerizing, bleaching, and dyeing. Manufacturers of paper, drugs, soap, glue, shoe polish,
perfume, celluloid, and photographic materials. Fur and woolen goods storage could beat the
moths by using refrigerated warehouses. So it is important to have a general knowledge on
refrigeration which has prompted to conduct the experiment.

OBJECTIVES
Experiment 1

To determine the power input, heat output and coefficient of performance of a vapor
compression heat pump system

Experiment 2

To produce the performance of heat pump over a range of source and delivery
temperatures

Experiment 3

To plot the vapor compression cycle on the p-h diagram and compare with the ideal cycle

To perform energy balances for the condenser and compressor

Experiment 4

To plot the performance of heat pump over a range of evaporating and condensation
temperatures which are the saturation temperature at condensing pressure

Experiment 5

To determine the compression ratio and volumetric efficiency

THEORY
Refrigerant implies the maintenance of a temperature below that of the surroundings. This
requires continuous absorption of heat at low temperature level usually accomplished by
evaporation of a liquid in a steadystate flow process. The vapor reformed to liquid state for reevaporation generally by compressing and then condensing by rejecting heat at a higher
temperature consecutively. Refrigeration cycle is a sequence of thermodynamic processes
whereby heat is withdrawn from a cold body and expelled to a hot body which is a reversed heatengine cycle. According to the 2nd law of thermodynamics it required an external source of
energy or external work done on the system to transfer heat from a lower temperature level to a
higher one.
Since energy cannot be destroyed, the heat taken in at low temperature plus any other
energy input must be dissipated to the surroundings. The clausius statement of the second law of
thermodynamics states that heat will not pass from a cold to a hotter region without the aid of an
external agency. Thus a refrigerator will require an input of high grade energy for it to operate.
The most common type of refrigerator uses a work input and operates on the vapor compression
cycle. The work input to the vapor compression cycle derives a compressor which maintains a
low pressure on an evaporator and a higher pressure in condenser. The temperature at which a
liquid will evaporate (or a vapor will condense) is dependent on pressure, thus if a suitable fluid
is introduced it will evaporate at a low temperature in the low pressure evaporator (taking in
heat) and will condense at a higher temperature in the high pressure condenser (rejecting heat).
The high pressure liquid formed in the condenser must then be returned to the evaporator at a
controlled rate. Thus, the simple vapor compression refrigeration cycle has four main
component:
(1) An evaporator where heat is taken in at a low temperature as a liquid evaporator at a
low pressure.
(2) A compressor which uses a work input to reduce the pressure in the evaporator and
increase the pressure of the vapor being transferred to the condenser.
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(3) A condenser where the high pressure vapor condenser, rejecting heat to its
surroundings.
(4) A flow control device which controls the fowl of liquid back to the evaporator and which
brings about the pressure reduction.
The refrigeration cycle is most interesting from the thermodynamic view point. It is one of
the few practical plants which operates on a true thermodynamic cycle and involves :
(a) Nucleate boiling and film wise condensation.
(b) Steady flow process, i.e. throttling, compression and heat exchange.
(c) Flow control.

Below is the formula to convert % cooling water and refrigerant flow rate to LPM.
1. Cooling water flow rate (LPM) = Cooling water flow rate (%) 5 LPM
100%
2. Refrigerant flow rate (LPM) = Refrigerant flow rate (%) 1.26 LPM
100%
The Steps of Ideal Vapor Compression Cycle:
The cycle operates on following four process:

1-2: Isentropic compression

2-3: Constant pressure heat rejection (Condenser)

3-4: Adiabatic expansion in a throttling device

4-1: Constant pressure heat absorption (Evaporator)

I. (1-2) Isentropic compression in a compressor: A compressor which uses a work input to

reduce the pressure in the evaporator and increase the pressure of the vapor being transferred to
the condenser. External work is done on the cycle to initiate the cycle to flow heat from lower
temperature to higher. The saturated vapor outlet from evaporator goes in the compressor and is
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compressed to superheated vapor. Here the ideal process is an isentropic process but in actual
case the entropy increases due to increase in temperature. The compression process is
represented by line 1-2 in figure 2.
II. (2-3) Constant pressure heat rejection in a condenser: A condenser where the high
pressure vapor condenses, rejecting heat to its surroundings. This is another isothermal process
in which heat QH is rejected at higher temperature in the condenser. The superheated vapor from
the outlet of the compressor goes in the condenser and cooled to saturated vapor and then
condensed to saturated liquid by rejecting latent heat to the surrounding at higher temperature
(room temperature) The condensation process is a constant pressure and temperature process
which is represented by 2-3 line in the figure 2.
III. (3-4) Adiabatic expansion in a throttling device: it is an adiabatic process and also an
isenthalpic process of expansion. An expansion device (throttle valve) is used to get back the
refrigerant to its original pressure at the inlet of evaporator. The pressure drop in this irreversible
process results from fluid friction in the valve. At the inlet of the throttle valve the refrigerant is
saturated liquid and due to expansion, it is converted to a liquid vapor mixture at outlet. This
process is represented by line 3-4 in figure 2.
IV. (4-1) Constant pressure heat absorption in an evaporator: It is an isothermal step in
which heat QL is absorbed at the lower temperature in the evaporator. Here the liquid
refrigerant evaporates at constant pressure and temperature absorbing the latent heat of
vaporization. The inlet of the evaporator is a liquid-vapor mixture and absorbing
heat from air of lower temperature (room temperature in this case) it becomes saturated vapor.

APPARATUS

Figure 9: Unit construction for Mechanical Heat Pump

1. Pressure Switch
2. Receiver Tank
3. Compressor
4. Condenser
5. Pressure Transmitter
6. Control Panel
7. Evaporator
8. Refrigerant Flow Meter
9. Water Flow Meter

PROCEDURE
1.1 General start-up
1) The unit and all instrument has been checked in proper condition
2) Both water source and drain were connected then the water supply is opened and set the
cooling water flowrate at 1.0 Lpm.
3) The drain hose has been checked at the condensate collected is connected.
4) The power supply were connected and switch on the main power follows by main switch
at the control panel.
5) Switch on the refrigerant the compressor. As soon as temperature and pressure are
constant, the unit is ready for experiment.

1.2 General shut- down

1) Switch off the compressor follows by the main switch and power supply.
2) The water supply is closed and ensured that water is not left running.

1.3
1) Perform the general start up procedure
2) The cooling water flow rate had been adjusted to 40%.
3) The system had been allowed to run for 15minutes.
4) All reading has been recorded into the experimental data sheet.

RESULT
Experiment 1: Determination of power input, heat output and coefficient of performance
Cooling Water Flow Rate, FT1

40

Cooling Water Flow Rate, FT1

LPM

2.0

Cooling Water Inlet Temperature, TT5

29.9

Cooling Water Outlet Temperature, TT6

31.0

Compressor Power Input

162

Heat Output

79.6

Coefficient of Performance, COP

0.47

Experiment 2: Production of heat pump performance curves over a range of source and
delivery temperatures
Test

60

40

20

LPM

3.0

2.0

1.0

29.9

29.9

29.6

30.9

31.0

32.3

160

162

159

Heat Output

69.7

79.6

188.1

COPH

0.44

0.47

1.18

Cooling Water Flow

Rate, FT1
Cooling Water Flow
Rate, FT1
Cooling Water Inlet
Temperature, TT5
Cooling Water
Outlet
Temperature, TT6
Compressor Power
Input

10

Experiment 3: Production of vapour compression cycle on p-h diagram and energy balance
study

60.3

Refrigerant Pressure (Low), P1

Bar(abs)

1.9

Refrigerant Pressure (High), P2

Bar(abs)

7.9

Refrigerant Temperature, TT1

27.5

Refrigerant Temperature, TT2

65.6

Refrigerant Temperature, TT3

29.9

Refrigerant Temperature, TT4

23.3

Cooling Water Flow Rate, FT1

40

Cooling Water Inlet

Temperature, TT5

29.9

Cooling Water Inlet

Temperature, TT6

31.0

Compressor Power Input

162

Refrigerant Flow Rate, FT2

11

Experiment 4: Production of heat pump performance curves over a range of evaporating

and condensation temperatures

Test

Refrigerant Flow Rate, FT2

60.4

60.3

60.2

Refrigerant Flow Rate, FT2

LPM

0.761

0.759

0.758

Refrigerant Pressure (Low), P1

Bar(abs)

1.9

1.9

2.0

Refrigerant Pressure (High), P2

Bar(abs)

7.0

7.0

7.1

Refrigerant Temperature, TT1

27.7

27.5

27.8

Refrigerant Temperature, TT2

74

66.7

79.9

Refrigerant Temperature, TT3

29.7

29.9

31.3

Refrigerant Temperature, TT4

23.3

23.3

24.0

Enthalpy 1 (P1, TT1)

kJ/kg

262.23

262.25

262.35

Enthalpy 2 (P2, TT2)

kJ/kg

278.71

277.62

279.11

Enthalpy 3 (P2, TT3)

kJ/kg

263.35

263.45

264.13

Evaporating Temperature (TT4)

23.3

23.3

24.0

Condensing Temperature

22.6

25.5

27.0

Compressor Power Input

160

162

159

Heat Delivered, QH

558.6

552.3

493.9

COPH

0.44

0.47

1.18

12

13

Experiment 5: Estimation of the effect of compressor pressure ratio on volumetric

efficiency

Refrigerant Flow Rate, FT2

60.3

Refrigerant Flow Rate, FT2

LPM

0.759

Refrigerant Pressure (Low), P1

Bar(abs)

1.9

Refrigerant Pressure (High), P2

Bar(abs)

7.0

Refrigerant Temperature, TT1

27.5

Compressor Pressure Ratio

0.27

Volumetric Efficiency

2.07

14

SAMPLE OF CALCULATION
Experiment 1: Determination of power input, heat output and coefficient of performance
For 40% FT1:
Heat utput

1. L
min

1L
g

1 min
6 s

418
g.

Heat utput
ower nput

162

Experiment 2: Production of heat pump performance curves over a range of source and
delivery temperatures

Performance Of Heat Pump vs. Cooling Water Outlet

Temperature
Power Input & Heat Output (W)

180
160
140
120
100

power input

80

heat input

60

COP

40
20
0
29.55

29.6

29.65

29.7

29.75

29.8

29.85

29.9

29.95

Cooling Water Outlet Temperature (C)

15

Experiment 3 & 4:
Energy Balance on the Condenser
Refrigerant mass flowrate:
Liter
min

1 min
6 s

. 1
1 Liter

1146.8 g
m3

. 145 g s
Heat transfer from the refrigerant:
.

262.25

.86

Heat transfer to the cooling water:

1. L
min

1L
g

1 min
6 s

418
g.

Energy Balance on the Compressor

Power Input:

Heat transfer to the refrigerant:

.

57 g
s

1
g

Heat loss to surroundings:

= (162 87.6) W
= 74.39W
16

FT1(%)

Condensing

COPHP

Power(W)

QH(W)

Temp. (C)
60

22.6

0.44

160

493.9

40

25.5

0.47

162

552.3

20

27

1.18

159

558.6

Power Input (W), Heat Delivered (W) &

COP

Performance Of Heat Pump Vs. Condensing Temperatue

600

1.4

500

1.2
1

400

0.8
300
0.6
200

0.4

100

0.2

0
22

22.5

23

23.5

24

24.5

25

25.5

26

26.5

27

27.5

Condensing Temperature (C)

Power(W)

QH(W)

COPHP

17

Experiment 5:
Compressor pressure ratio
=
=
= 0.27
Refrigerant mass flowrate:
Refrigerant flow rate (LPM) =
=
=
= 0.0145 kg/s

Volumetric flow rate of refrigerant at the compressor suction, V1

= Refrigerant mass flowrate x specific volume of refrigerant at compressor suction
= 0.0145 kg/s x 0.059 m3/kg
=8.566 x10-4 m3/s

Compressor swept volume

= 2800 rev/min x 1 min/60s x 8.85 x10-6m3/rev
= 4.13 x 10-4 m3/s
Volumetric Efficiency = Volumetric Flowrate / Compressor swept volume
= (8.566 x 10-4/ 4.13 x10-4) x 100%
= 207%

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DISCUSSION
All the experiments need to perform start-up procedure before running the experiment. All
aspects need to be taken before running the experiment such as the connection of the hoses to
prevent any mistakes throughout the experiment. The first experiment was carried out to
determine the power input and output and also the coefficient of performance, COP of a vapor
compression heat pump system. To take the data, the system was running for 15 minutes and the
flow rate is 40%. The value of the heat output is 79.6 and value for COP can be calculated by
dividing the heat output to input power and after calculating the value, the COP value is 0.47.
Experiment 2 was conducted to produce the performance of heat pump over a range of
source and delivery temperatures. The flow rate was reduced from 60% to 40% and 20%. So,
different flow rate were used to investigate the performance of heat pump. The COP of 20%,
40% and 60% flow rate are 1.18, 0.47 and 0.44 respectively. From the table experiment 2 in
result shown there are decreasing in COP value when cooling water flow rate increases. The heat
output of 20%, 40% and 60% flow rate are 188.1W, 79.6W and 69.7W respectively. Based on
the table experiment 2 in result shown there are decreasing of heat output when increasing
cooling water flow rate. The reason of the fluctuate data might be due to the surrounding
temperature that affect the output power of the system.
Experiment 3 was conducted to perform energy balances for the condenser and
compressor. Ideal is something that perfect without any power loss or something else. But in
reality, it does not happen. The frictional pressure drop in the system, thermodynamics
irreversibility during the compression of the refrigerant vapor may also be the factors affecting
the cycle. In this section, enthalpy of refrigerant-134a must be found first in order to draw p-h
graph. Temperature and pressure table of saturated refrigerant-134a required for this section and
some interpolation need to be done in order to get the values.
Experiment 4 was conducted to plot the performance of heat pump over arrange of
evaporating and condensation temperature which are the saturation temperature at condensing
pressure. Based on the graph show in sample calculation, the COPHP and QH in increase when the
condensing temperature increase. While for the power (W) is increase and decrease when the
condensing temperature increase.
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For experiment 5 was conducted to determine the compression ratio and volumetric
efficiency. Volumetric efficiency determines the critical pressure ratio for a particular
compressor. It gives us a limit for the condenser pressure, for a given evaporator pressure. In this
experiment volumetric efficiency is 2.07 and compressor pressure ratio is 0.27.

CONCLUSION
The objectives of this experiment have been successfully achieved as required and all the
parameter that are to be solved have been calculated accordingly. In addition, all of the
experiment eventually have been done according to the procedures given systematically and
appropriately. Based on the result and graphs on these experiments, what can be concluded is
this system is a non-ideal cycle. The p-h diagram that been plotted was to different from the ideal
cycle. In reality, the ideal cycle is nearly impossible to get. Besides that, surrounding temperature
and condition also need to be taken into consideration. In the experiments, the COP value also
quite low, so this system is not good enough according to its performance. Although there are
some errors occur during conducting the experiment, but it still very helpful in acquire a general
idea on the refrigeration unit.

RECOMMENDATIONS
1) Allow the system to run with the another percent value of flowrate of water
2) Set the cooling water flowrate at more than 1.0 LPM
3) Allow the system to run more than 15 minutes

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REFERENCES
1. Laboratory Manual CGE536, Thermofluids Laboratory, Free and Forced Vortex, p.11p.13, Faculty of Chemical Engineering. Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)
2. http://www.saylor.org/site/wpcontent/uploads/2013/08/BolesLectureNotesThermodynamicsChapter10.pdf
3. http://www.solution.com.my/pdf/HE165(A4).pdf

APPENDICES

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