RIL/212

L A B R E PO RT
3-PHASE COMPRESSOR WITH AUTOMATIC
PUMP DOWN

JOAQUIN VELEZ ID:217460

SUBMITTED ON 4/14/09
SUBMITTED TO:
MR. PEREZ
 3-PHASE COMPRESSOR WITH AUTOMATIC
PUMP DOWN
ELECTRICAL SEQUENCE OF OPERATION

On a call for cooling, a rise in temperature will cause the thermostat switch
to close. 24 volts of power is now being sent simultaneously to the
Evaporator fan relay(EFR) coil and Line solenoid Valve(LLSV) coil, when
the EFR is energized this will cause N.O EFR contact to close and to send
120 volts of power to energize the Evaporator Fan motor(EFM). As the
N.C Liquid Line solenoid Valve (LLSV) coil is energized it will open and
allows high pressure, low temperature liquid refrigerant to flow through the
valve to the metering device and flow into the evaporator. The liquid
entering the evaporator will be under a reduced pressure and begin to
vaporize. This will create a higher pressure on the low side of the system
(Since vapor occupies more space than liquid). When the pressure rises
above a pre- determined cut-in setting on the low- pressure controller, the
low pressure control switch will close and power will go through the N. C
switches in the following order: HPC, 3 CC overloads in series, a N.C Lock
out relay switch and then energize the CC coil. When the interlocked CC
coil is energized, the N.O CC switches will close and the N.C CC switch
controlling the crankcase heater (CCH) will open and de-energize the CCH.
120 volts of power will be sent to the compressor motor (CM) and the
condenser fan motor (CFM) simultaneously. The Condenser Fan and
Compressor Motor are now ON. The refrigeration cycle has now begun.
When the thermostat detects the set point temperature has reached the
desired set- point temperature the thermostat will open and de-energizes the
liquid line solenoid valve and also EFR coil will de-energize and the closed
EFR contact will return to its N.O position and will de-energized the EFM.
The EFM is now off. The Liquid Line solenoid Valve is now in its N.C
position. However the compressor will still be working pumping refrigerant
vapor from the evaporator to the condenser. As the pressure on the high side
gets higher due to the closure of the LLSV the pressure on the low side of
the system will begin to drop. When the pressure drops at the cut- out setting
of the Low Pressure Control the LPC will open and de-energize the CC coil
and opening the CC contacts to the compressor and Condenser fan motor
shut the compressor motor off. The CC contacts to the CCH will close and

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will energized. the CCH which will remain energized at all times during the
compressor OFF cycle.

TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEM

DIRTY EVAPORATOR COIL

Customer complaint?

SYSTEM TURNS ON AND OFF SUDDENLY OR DOESN’T TURN

ON FOR NORMAL COOLING OPERATION.

PROMBLEM: Upon energization of the liquid line solenoid valve by the

thermostat the liquid in the condenser will go from the TXV to the
evaporator. Whatever liquid enters into the evaporator will not be able to
absorb the heat in order to make the refrigerant change state into a vapor.
Vapor occupies more space than liquid. The pressure will not raise to a high
enough level to close the LPC to energize the CC coil. If by some chance the
LPC is able to close the CC coil will be energized will turn the compressor
ON. Since in this circuit the LPC is used as a control device, the refrigerant
will be circulated through the system but since the evaporator is dirty the
refrigerant will be mostly liquid in the evaporator thus lowering the pressure
on the low side. The pressure will eventually get to low that the compressor
will shut off on low pressure.

Step by step Trouble-shooting.:

1-Determined what refrigerant the system runs on.

2-Determined the Cut-in and Cut-out of the Low Pressure Control to know
when the Compressor is supposed to turn on and off.

3-Read the FLA and RLA values of the system compressor. I needed to
determine first if the compressor was drawing the correct FLA that would
apply on a properly charged system.

4-Installed an ammeter on one of the compressor windings. To observe

how much amperage the compressor was drawing when pumping refrigerant
throughout the system.

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 5-Installed my manifold gauges on the low side and high side of the
system.

6- Read the pressures on the high side and low side of the system when
the system was OFF.

7- Set the thermostat for cooling operation and lowered the set point
temperature.

8- Observed to see that all components related to normal cooling

operation would be running. Evaporator fan came on. That just indicated to
me that the Low voltage circuit was in good working order.

9-I observed the pressure on the high side go lower as it’s expected when
the liquid line solenoid valve is opened. My next observation was to the
check readings on the low side pressure gauge reading to see if the
evaporator pressure would rise to the cut –in setting of the LPC for the
energization of the system compressor.

10- My next expectation was for the pressure on the low side to gradually
rise as would be expected for the refrigerant in the low side is under a
reduced pressure and is supposed to medially vaporize upon entering the
evaporator coil right after the TXV.

11- What I expected to occur did not occur as fast as I antipicipited.

Indicating that a problem. The pressure was not rising in a normal manner
after some time elapsed the pressure raised but did reach the cut- in pressure.

12-Since the LPC did not close fast enough. I decided to jump the LPC
with a fused jumper cable.

Reason: Because I wanted to bypass the LPC control in order to check

the compressor for any indication of an undercharged or an overcharged
system.

13- When the compressor was energized the condenser fan was
energized as well ,which is what I expected. I checked the FLA amperage
that the compressor was drawing during operation. The amperage it was
drawing was higher than normal.

14-Observed the pressure of the high and the low side pressures. I
observed that the pressure on the high side was much higher than the low

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side pressure. Pressure on the low side reduced to a low pressure that
indicated to me that evaporator was getting flooded with refrigerant. This is
what is what caused the compressor amperage draw to be high. High
compression ratios can be caused by a combination of high condensing
pressures (temperatures) and low suction (evaporating) pressures.

15- Since what I was observing with all of the data I acquired was the
effect/s but not the cause/s. Effects always follow a cause. Causes of high
condensing temperatures include dirty condenser coils, restricted condenser
airflow (fan out), air in the system, and an overcharge of refrigerant, and/or
high ambient temperature. Causes of low suction pressure include iced
evaporator coils, restricted evaporator airflow (fan out), an undercharge of
refrigerant, dirty evaporator coil, end of the running cycle, thermostat or
LPC set wrong, and/or low evaporator heat load.

CONCLUSION

By an analysis of all the data I acquired I could determine a number of

causes to the problem. And by process of elimination I knew that all the
components required for a normal cooling effect were in working order. I
eliminated the possibilities of restricted air flow (both FANS WORKED).
The compressor working near of more its FLA indicated that the system was
properly charged but that the reason for the higher pressures was due to
other circumstances. It would eventually lead me to investigate the
evaporator and TXV for possible Blockage or a loose thermal sensing bulb.
But I would open the panels that are covering the evaporator coils to see
that indeed the Evaporator was in Dirty condition which will greatly reduced
the refrigerant capacity and will always cause the pressure in the low side of
the system to go into a low pressure (because of more liquid than gas in the
evaporator). The dirty surface is acting like an insulator and preventing the
refrigerant from changing state into a gas.