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This article was published in ASHRAE Journal, August 2011. Copyright 2011 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc.
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Equalizer Line
adjusted to achieve appropriate
Evaporative Evaporative
liquid overfeed rates as-required Condenser Condenser
n)
io
for given evaporator designs.
ct
Su
Leaving each unit will be a mix- King
et
) ly
Valve
(W
ne p
Li pu
ture of saturated vapor produced
rn
High Pressure
id S
tu
qu id
Liquid
Re
High
Li qu
by absorbing heat from the refrig-
id
d Li
Pressure
qu
pe d
eration loads and saturated liquid Receiver
e
Li
t
um la
ed
(P cu
that was overfed. The two-phase
at
r
ci
ul
Dry Suction
Re
rc
mixture is carried back to the same
ci
Re
pumped recirculator vessel through
the recirculated liquid return or
Pumped
wet suction return. The recircula- Overfed
Recirculator
Evaporator(s)
tor vessel separates overfed liquid
from vapor and liquid falls to the T
bottom of the vessel to be pumped
back out to the evaporators while Compressor(s) Centrifugal Liquid
the saturated vapor is directed to Refrigerant Pump
the compressors through the dry
suction line. Liquid is made up to Figure 1: Mechanically pumped liquid overfeed system arrangement.
the recirculator vessel from a high
pressure part of the system to replace the liquid that is evaporated
to meet the refrigeration loads; the recirculator vessel separates mass flow rate of vapor-phase refrigerant leaving the evapora-
the flash gas formed as a result of this throttling process just as it tor in lb/min [kg/s].
separates the two-phase mixture returning from the evaporators. The total liquid refrigerant mass flow rate the pump needs
to deliver is then:
How Much Liquid Refrigerant Needs to Circulate?
For industrial refrigeration systems using ammonia as the m refrigerant , pumped = m refrigerant , min ( OR + 1) (3)
refrigerant, the flow rate of liquid refrigerant delivered by the
pump to connected evaporators is relatively low due to the re- where m refrigerant,pumped represents the mass flow rate of liquid
frigerants high heat of vaporization. The total pump flow rate refrigerant the pump must supply to the connected overfeed
will depend on the minimum mass flow rate required to meet evaporators expressed in lb/min (kg/s). The term (OR+1) is
the aggregate capacity of connected evaporators and the recom- commonly referred to as the circulating rate, Nr. The circu-
mended overfeed rate for the evaporators. The minimum mass lating rate represents the mass ratio of liquid pumped to the
flow rate of liquid required to meet the aggregate refrigeration evaporators to the amount of vaporized liquid in the evapora-
load is given by: tors.1 Table 1 shows the required recirculating liquid flow rate
Qload, total expressed in gallons per minute of liquid flow for each ton of
m refrigerant, min = (1) refrigeration load over a range of saturation temperatures and
h fg circulating rates (OR+1).
wherem refrigerant,min is the minimum liquid refrigerant that What overfeed rate is required for an individual evapo-
must be supplied to all connected evaporators to meet their rator? Evaporator manufacturers typically publish recom-
aggregate load in lb/min (kg/s), Qload,total is the aggregate re- mended overfeed rates based on the units specific design.
frigeration load in Btu/min (kW), and hfg is the enthalpy of Deviating significantly from the manufacturers recommend-
vaporization for the refrigerant at the operating pressure of ed overfeed rate can lead to lower operating capacity of the
that suction level in Btu/lb (kJ/kg). The overfeed rate (OR) is evaporator. Too low of a refrigerant flow rate will starve the
the ratio of liquid mass flow rate to vapor mass flow rate leav- unit but excessive liquid supply will cause the evaporator
ing the evaporator:1 to brine. Excessive supply of liquid refrigerant flow also in-
m creases the likelihood of pump cavitation. Finally, excessive
OR = liquid (2) overfeeding of liquid to evaporators increases the difficulty
m
vapor wet return associated with returning the unused liquid to the recircula-
tor when the return path involves a vertical riser. In this case,
where m liquid is the mass flow rate of liquid-phase refrig- there is an increased tendency for liquid to accumulate or log
erant leaving the evaporator in lb/min [kg/s] andm vapor is the up in evaporators.
Discharge
kinetic energy is at a maximum. The pump housing or volute
surrounding the impeller then takes over to orderly collect the
liquid leaving the impeller. The process of gathering liquid
in the volute converts the kinetic energy of the fluid to pres-
sure (potential) energy. The higher pressure fluid then leaves
Impeller Eye
the pump through the discharge line.
Because a refrigerant pump is moving a volatile fluid, it is
highly susceptible to cavitation during operation (see What is
Cavitation? sidebar). To reduce the likelihood of cavitation, Suction
liquid refrigerant pumps include design details that differ
from ordinary water or secondary fluid pumps to decrease the
pressure loss through the pump suction.
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35
10.375 in. 50
55
60
30 62
64 65
64
62
25 60
Head (psi)
55
5 hp
20 8 in.
50
55
15 50
1.5 hp
55 3 hp
50
10
2 hp
5
0
40 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210
30
NPSHr (ft)
20
10
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210
gpm
Other Considerations slight temperature rise due to heat gain in the pump and in the
Minimum Flow Protection. While operating, liquid refriger- liquid piping). Since the liquid refrigerant supply temperature
ant pumps always need to move some amount of liquid to avoid is below the saturation temperature corresponding to the EPR
forming vapor within the pump due to heat addition from the in- pressure setting, the liquid refrigerant entering the evaporator
efficiency of the pump or motor (if its a semi-hermetic configu- has to absorb heat to sensibly raise the refrigerant temperature
ration). The added heat at low flow conditions can also cause the until it reaches its saturation temperature corresponding to the
liquid refrigerant in the pump to boil, leading to cavitation. To operating pressure prior to its boiling. Evaporators operating
prevent this form of cavitation, a bypass (or minimum flow) with liquid refrigerant supply temperatures more than 10F
line from the pump discharge back to the pumped recircula- (5.6C) below saturation temperature will likely result in poor
tor or recirculated liquid return is installed with an orifice (or evaporator performance.
metering valve) set at a manufacturers required minimum flow. Static Head Requirements in Open Loops (Why VFDs
During normal operation, the heat gain from the pump power Are Not Great For Refrigerant Pumps). Another issue with
input is small, for the example we used earlier the heat gain open loop pumping circuits is that the static head requirement
would result in a temperature rise of 0.18F (0.1C). sets the minimum discharge pressure to get flow to the evapo-
Presence of EPRs on Pump Discharge Pressure Require- rators. This means that before there is any flow to the evapora-
ment. Pumping liquid to evaporators equipped with evapora- tors, the pressure required to lift the liquid to the roof (or to the
tor pressure regulators (EPRs) requires special attention. First, elevation of evaporators) must be overcome. If the pressure
the liquid feed pressure at the evaporator, and thus the pump generated by the pump is not sufficient, the pump will operate
discharge pressure, must be higher than the EPR set pressure at its minimum flow with a column of liquid standing in the
to get liquid into the evaporator. Second, it is important to re- riser supplying liquid refrigerant to the roof. In other words,
alize that the pumped liquid refrigerant being supplied to an the pump is not capable of delivering flow to the evaporators.
EPR-fitted evaporator is subcooled as it enters the evaporator. This is the main reason that variable frequency drives (VFDs)
The liquid refrigerant entering the evaporator is essentially at are generally not suitable applications for refrigerant pumping
the temperature of the liquid in the pumped recirculator (plus a in liquid overfeed applications. Note that a 50 ft (15.24 m) rise
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August 2011 ASHRAE Journal 43