Working of Refrigerator & Refrigeration Principle

The basic principle

The basic principle of refrigeration is simple. You simply pass a colder liquid continuously around the object that is to be cooled. This will take heat from the object. In the example shown, a cold liquid is passed over an apple, which is to be cooled. Due to the temperature difference, the apple loses heat to the refrigerant liquid. The refrigerant in turn is heated due to heat absorption from the apple.

It is clear that, if we can produce cold liquid refrigerant continuously, we can achieve continuous refrigeration. This simple fact forms the core of the refrigeration technology. We will next see how this is achieved.

Components of Refrigerator

1.Throttling Device

obstruct the flow of liquid. cold liquid is provided by this . throttling device is a capillary tube. It has approximate length of 2 m for effective throttling at the inlet. The refrigerant should be a high pressure. the boiling point of refrigerant is lowered and it starts to evaporate. It is wrong to say that the throttling is a process. We know only the endpoints of throttling

2.Evaporator - Heat Absorption Process

This phase is simple. This cold liquid is passed over the body that has to be cooled. As a result, the refrigerant absorbs the heat.the refrigerant further evaporates and transforms in to pure vapour. A proper heat exchange is required.

3.Compressor

The compressor will raise the pressure back to its initial level. But since it is compressing gas along with pressure, temperature will also be increased. This is unavoidable.

4.Condenser

This part is fitted outside the refrigerator and the refrigerant temperature is higher than atmospheric temperature. so heat will dissipate to the surroundings. The vapor will be condensed to liquid