Technical Description

The refrigeration circuit of the trainer includes as evaporator an air cooling finned tube heat exchanger and a water-heated plate heat exchanger, as superheater a tubular heat exchanger, and as condenser a water-cooled coaxial coil heat exchanger. These heat exchangers are the ones used most commonly in refrigeration and fulfil different functions dependent on the system type. A finned tube heat exchanger can e.g. also be used as a condenser.

Heat exchangers are an elementary part of refrigeration systems.

Dependent on the media, a difference is made between air / refrigerant, water / refrigerant and refrigerant / refrigerant heat exchangers.

Dependent on the constructive design, a difference is also made between coaxial, finned tube, plate or shell & tube heat exchangers.

During cooling they are used to absorb the energy of the refrigerant by evaporation. During heating they discharge the energy set free during the condensation of the refrigerant. They are also used for internal energy transfer during superheating or supercooling of the refrigerant.

The components are arranged clearly at the front. By measuring the mass flow rates and the inlet and outlet temperatures the transferred energy fluxes can be determined. The well-structured instructional material sets out the fundamentals and provides a step-by-step guide through the experiments.

Learning Objectives / Experiments:

Different heat exchangers and their use in refrigeration

Tubular heat exchanger

Plate heat exchanger

Coaxial coil heat exchanger

Finned tube heat exchanger.