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Summary

The aim which this experiment is conducted is to understand the


operation of a heat pump and its cycle. Besides, we should also be able to
determine the heat exchanges and coefficient of performance for a heat
pump by using the formulae provided at the end of this experiment
conducted.

In this experiment, the components that we observed are condenser


and evaporator. The refrigerant will be pressurized and pumped into the
condenser. When the refrigerant is compressed, the temperature will
increase. The evaporator will kept at low pressure by the expansion valve.
When the refrigerant reaches evaporator, it will expand and the
temperature of refrigerant will decrease. In here, the evaporator will
absorb heat from the surrounding and increase the temperature of
refrigerant.

In order to determine the coefficient of performance for the heat


pump, the T – s diagram is drawn. In condenser, the heat is rejected by
the refrigerant and the area under T – s diagram is known as Q 2. For
evaporator, the heat is supplied from the cold pressure and is known as
Q1. It uses an evaporator to absorb heat from inside an occupied space
and rejects this heat to the outside through the condenser. The coefficient
of performance is determined by:

COPhp = -Q2-Q2- Q1

COPhp = T2(T2-T1)

From the above formulae, it is seen that the coefficient of


performance (amount of heat being removed per unit of input work
required) will decreases when the temperature difference is increased.
Apparatus

We were using mini heat pump in the laboratory. It consists of main switch
220V AC, pressure switch, two manometers which are high and low
pressure manometers, expansion valve, sight glass, two containers
located at the bottom of both evaporator and condenser coils, stands to
hold the containers, filter and compressor. The most important things for
this experiment are tap water, digital thermometer and stop watch. Tap
water is having surrounding temperature; digital thermometer is used to
determine the temperature of tap water in both evaporator and condenser
containers; stop watch is used to determine the time. Arrangement of
apparatus is shown below:

Experimental Procedure

1. Firstly, both containers are filled with the same amount of water by
using the measuring cylinder. The mass if the water filled is 0.65kg.
2. Then, both the containers are located in the condenser coil and
evaporator coil respectively.
3. After that, the initial readings of both water temperatures are taken
by using the thermometer.
4. The initial readings for the high-pressure manometer and low-
pressure manometer are taken.
5. The main switch is switched on.
6. After 1 minute, the readings for both the water temperatures are
taken respectively by the thermometer located in both the
container.
7. Then, the readings of the water temperature are taken every one
minute with the stop watch for duration of 20 minutes.
8. Before switching off the main switch, the readings of both high-
pressure manometer and low-pressure manometer are taken.
9. All the readings are then recorded in the table prepared.
Result

High Pressure Low Pressure


Manometer, P Manometer, P

(bar) (bar)

Initial Pressure 2 2

Final Pressure 10 0.3

Time Condenser Evaporator


Temperature Temperature
(second)
(Kelvin, K) (Kelvin, K)

0 296.1 296.5

60 296.1 296.5

120 296.7 296.5

180 297.3 296.4

240 297.7 296.3

300 298.0 296.0

360 298.3 296.0

420 298.8 295.7

480 299.3 295.4

540 299.8 295.0

600 300.5 294.4

660 301.5 293.6

720 302.8 292.8

780 303.7 292.2

840 305.1 290.5


900 306.3 289.5

960 307.8 288.8

1020 308.7 287.8

1080 310.2 287.2

1140 311.6 286.4

1200 312.4 284.7

Graph 1 shows that the graph of temperature against time for Condenser

Graph 1

Graph 2 shows that the graph of temperature against time for Condenser

Graph 2

Discussion

The purpose of a heat pump is to absorb heat in one place then to


transport and release it in another location. The main components in a
heat pump are the compressor, the expansion valve, evaporator and
condenser. The components are connected in the way of closed circuit. A
refrigerant circulates through the four components when the heat pump is
operating. High pressure refrigerant is fed through the metering device
into the evaporator heat exchanger. In the evaporator, the temperature of
the refrigerant is kept lower than the temperature of the heat source,
causing heat to flow from the heat source to the liquid, and thus the
refrigerant evaporates. Vapour from the evaporator is compressed to a
higher pressure and temperature. The hot vapour then enters to the
condenser, where it is cooled and condensed into a high pressure liquid
ready to gives off useful heat. Finally the high-pressure refrigerant is
expanded to the evaporator pressure and temperature in the expansion
valve. The working fluid is returned to its original state and once again
enters the evaporator. This heat absorbed is transported through a sealed
system of pipes by the refrigerant circulated by a compressor. The
refrigerant has a low boiling point. Diagram 1 show the schematic of the
system and diagram 2 shows its p-h diagram:

Liquid
Vapor
Condenser
Evaporator
Compressor
Expansion
Motor+
Vapor
valve

Tc Pc

Connected

3 1
Te Pe

Pc – Pressure of
condenser
Sight
Glass Tc – Temperature of
4 condenser

Pe – Pressure of
evaporator

Diagram 1: The schematic of the system

W
Q12in
Pressure, P

Enthal
py, h

Diagram 2: the p-h diagram

From the calculation based on the results from the experiment, the
value of coefficient of performance for the heat pump, COPhp is 3.622. This
results is slightly different from the theoretical value which is majority of
the heat pumps will have COP between 2 and 3. Even COP of the latter
would be around 3. The reason that causes the experimental value to be
different with theoretical value might because the layer of insulator
coating on the pipe of condenser is not thick enough, caused some of the
heat to be released to the environment around us. Besides, the
temperature of water might get affected by the surrounding temperature
and caused the reading we get from the experiment is not accurate. Other
than that, insufficient of the compressor will affect the whole system and
get inaccurate readings.

From the graph, the condenser temperatures that might be not


accurate are when the time is at 1 minute, 12 minutes and 17 minutes.
For evaporator temperature, the readings that might wrong are when the
time is at 5 minutes, 13 minutes and 19 minutes. The reason at these
times the readings are error because from the graph, these points are
clearly caused the graph to be not in a smooth curve.
To increase the accuracy of this experiment, the insulator coating
put around the condenser should be thicker because the thicker the
coating, the lesser the heat to release to the surrounding and thus
increase the accuracy of readings taken. Besides, more temperature
readings should be taken for both evaporator and condenser. When the
time to collect the data is longer, we can take the average readings and
get better final temperature to calculate for the heat released and heat
absorbed. The higher the temperature differences, the lesser the COP of
heat pump and thus the nearer to the theoretical value of COP. Other than
that, the containers located at evaporator and condenser coils should be
sealed. This is to make sure that the temperature of water does not affect
by the temperature of surrounding when we were taking the data. The
operation of compressor should also check whether its function well or
not. This can avoid the error like compressor does not shut down in the
half way when the experiment is conducting and to make sure the
compressor does its work to maximum.

The similarity between refrigerator, air conditioning unit and the


heat pump is both of them carry the heat from low temperature reservoir
or known as sink to high temperature reservoir or known as source. Other
than that, refrigerator, air conditioning unit and the heat pump have exact
same components which are condenser, evaporator, compressor and
expansion valve.

The main purpose of a refrigerator is to cool substances by


maintaining a very low temperature in the evaporator. It absorbs the heat
from the evaporator and releases it to surrounding at high temperature.
The main purpose of the heat pump is to heat the room when the
atmospheric temperature is very low. It absorbs the heat from the
atmosphere at low temperature and releases it to the room at high
temperature. The main purpose of the air conditioners is to cool the room
and maintain comfort conditions when the atmospheric temperature is
high.
In the refrigerator the evaporator is located in the freezer section.
The evaporator absorbs the heat from the substance which is to be
cooled. In the heat pump the evaporator is located outside the room
which is to be heated. The evaporator absorbs the heat at low
temperature and release inside the room for heating it. In air
conditioners the evaporator which known as the cooling coil, since the
evaporator produces the cooling effect. The evaporator of the air
conditioners is located inside the room, which is to be cooled.

In the refrigerator the condenser is located outside the refrigerator


and it is exposed to the atmosphere. The useless heat is released to the
atmosphere. In the heat pump the condenser is located inside the room
and acts as the heating devise. The room air blows over the condenser,
absorbs heat and keeps the room hot. In air conditioners the condenser
releases the heat to the atmosphere and it is located outside the room.

In the refrigerator the evaporator performs the main function of


freezing, while the condenser performs the function of delivering the heat
to the atmosphere. In the heat pump, it is the condenser that performs
the main function of heating the room, while the evaporator performs the
function of absorbing the heat from the atmosphere.

The coefficient of performance of the heat pump is always more


than one, while that of the air conditioner can be more than one or less
than one depending upon the temperature of the atmosphere and the
room and the total amount of heat inside the room.
The key component that makes a heat pump different from an air
conditioning unit is the reversing valve. The reversing valve allows for the
flow direction of the refrigerant to be changed. This allows the heat to be
pumped in either direction.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the value of coefficient of performance for heat pump,
COPhp get from the experiment is 3.622, while for theoretical value; COPhp
is between 2 to 3. Thus, the error between experimental and theoretical
value of COPhp is 20.7 %. The lesser the percentage of error, the closer to
the value of theoretical and the more accurate is the reading. Thus, the
percentage of error got from the experiment is acceptable and the aim of
this experiment is obtained.

Appendix

Attached behind this page is the original sheet of results obtained from
the experiment.

Calculation

1. Convert time from minute to second


Time=0 ×60
=0 second

2. Convert temperature from oC to Kelvin


Temperature=22.9+273.2
=296.1 K

3. Coefficient of performance for heat pump, COPhp


Given,
Water temperature = 25oC
So, the specific heat capacity of water at 25oC, Cwater = 4.181 kJ/kgK

For condenser,
Q2=mCwater∆T
=0.65 ×4.181 ×(39.2-22.9)
=44.298 kJ

For evaporator,
Q1=mCwater∆T
=0.65 ×4.181 ×(11.5-23.3)
=-32.068 kJ

So, coefficient of performance, COPhp

COPhp = -Q2-Q2- Q1

= -44.298-44.298-(-32.068)

= 3.622

4. Error of coefficient of performance, COPhp


percentage of error= experimental-theoreticaltheoretical ×100%
= 3.622-33 ×100%
= 20.7 %

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