Operating at very low evaporation temperatures (e.g.

when providing cooling for a deep-freezer and still

using ambient air or similar as a heat sink for the condenser) often requires special system solutions.

Low-temperature evaporation requires low evaporation pressures while the

condensing pressure is at normal levels. It is often beneficial, and in some cases
necessary, to separate the evaporation and condensing pressure levels by more
than one compressor step. This is because when the pressure ratio over the
compressor increases, the discharge temperature out of the compressor will also
increase. Simultaneously, the compressor efficiency decreases, which increases
operating costs. High discharge temperatures may cause both the refrigerant and
the lubrication oil to decompose. This in turn will shorten the life of the
compressor. Figure 10.15, point (a1), shows the higher discharge temperature of
a single-step refrigeration system with low evaporation temperature.

Figure 10.15 A log P/h diagram showing the resulting higher discharge temperature for a larger
compression step.

Two-stage systems
Intermediate gas cooling is often used between the two compressor steps. By
cooling the refrigerant vapor after the first compressor, the discharge gas leaving
the high-stage compressor can be kept at an acceptable temperature level. The
intermediate cooling also increases the compressor efficiency, which reduces the
compressor power consumption.

A two-stage system is a refrigeration system working with a two-stage compression

and mostly also with a two-stage expansion. A schematic system layout and the
corresponding process in a log P/h diagram are shown in Figure 10.16. Flash gas
is separated from liquid refrigerant in an intermediate receiver between the two
expansion valves. The high-stage compressor will then remove the flash gas, as
shown in Figure 10.16. The removal of the gas between the expansion stages
reduces the quality of the refrigerant vapor that enters the evaporator from the
state 'j' (which would be the vapor quality if only one expansion valve were used)
to the state 'i', as shown in the log P/h diagram of Figure 10.16.
 Figure 10.17 Schematic layout of an
Figure 10.16 Schematic layout of a two-stage intercooler system (right) with a log P/h
low-temperature refrigeration system (right) diagram (above).
with a log P/h diagram (above).

Due to a lower quality entering vapor, each mass unit of refrigerant passing
through the evaporator will be able to absorb more heat, reducing the required
refrigerant mass flow rate for a given cooling capacity. This in turn reduces the
required low-stage compressor size. Because of the enhanced heat transfer
coefficient in the evaporator, the heat transfer area needed is also reduced.

Intercooler system
An intercooler system uses an intermediate evaporation step, similar to the
economizer system, to cool the discharge gas from the first compressor step. The
two-stage intercooler system is shown together with a corresponding log P/h
diagram in Figure 10.17.

The refrigerant liquid leaving the condenser (state 'a' in Figure 10.17) is split into
two streams. The smaller part of the liquid (m2) is fed through an intermediate
expansion valve ('a' to 'b'), and then allowed to evaporate on one side of the BPHE
intercooler ('b' to 'c'). The main flow (m1) is sub-cooled by leading it through the
other side of the BPHE intercooler ('a' to 'd'). The sub-cooled refrigerant liquid
leaving the intercooler is fed through the main expansion valve ('d' to 'e') and then
through the main evaporator ('e' to 'f'). The sub-cooling decreases the inlet vapor
quality, which reduces the refrigerant mass flow rate through the evaporator and
the required low-stage compressor size for a given cooling capacity. The
intermediate refrigerant stream (m2) is not completely vaporized when leaving the
intercooler (state 'c'). The remaining liquid is evaporated when it is mixed with the
hot discharge gas from the low-stage compressor.

This results in efficient gas cooling ('g' to 'h'). The discharge gas from the high
stage compressor can be kept at an acceptable temperature (state 'i'), and the
compressor efficiency is increased.

The high efficiency of the SWEP BPHE minimizes the temperature difference
between the evaporating stream (m2) and the sub-cooled stream (m1), which
increases the overall efficiency of the system.

Cascade systems
The cascade system consists of two separate refrigeration circuits connected only
by an intermediate cascade heat exchanger. As shown in Figure 10.18, the high-
temperature circuit is cooled by an air condenser (2) at ambient temperature, and
uses the cascade heat exchanger (1) as the system evaporator. The low-
temperature system produces the low-temperature cooling in the cold evaporator
(3), and uses the cascade exchanger as a condenser. The corresponding outline in
a log P/h diagram is shown in Figure 10.19. The cascade heat exchanger connects
the two refrigerant circuits thermally by acting simultaneously as an evaporator and
a condenser.

The primary advantage of a cascade system is that the two stages do not
necessarily contain the same refrigerants. A refrigerant with a higher vapor
pressure can be used in the low-temperature system, while a refrigerant with a
lower vapor pressure is suitable for the high-temperature system.

Multi-stage refrigeration cycles can also achieve very low temperatures efficiently,
but there are some major disadvantages compared with the cascade cycle. In
multi-stage refrigeration, the same refrigerant must work at the highest and the
lowest pressure levels. The selection of refrigerant to avoid excessively large
pressures in the ambient condenser, and evaporation pressures below one
atmosphere in the cold evaporator, can be difficult. Vacuum should always be
avoided, because this increases the risk of air and moisture leaking into the system,
leading to reduced system performance and increased wear on components.
Because the refrigerant oil has a higher solubility in the refrigerant at higher
temperatures, a multi-stage system also has a higher risk of uneven oil distribution,
giving lubrication problems in the low-stage compressor.

By contrast, refrigerant selection and oil distribution for a cascade system can be
dealt with separately for each circuit. It is important to note that the cascade heat
exchanger will be exposed to temperature and pressure fluctuations. In the cascade
unit, the evaporating side typically operates at -10 to -20°C. The discharge gas
from the low-temperature compressor may very well be 80°C or higher. To avoid
the risk of thermal fatigue inside the cascade unit due to the very high temperature
differences, the installation of a desuperheater (5) is recommended before the inlet
on the condensing side, i.e. in the "cold" circuit.

The desuperheater reduces the inlet gas temperature of the condensing side of the
cascade unit, while utilizing the superheating energy to produce high-temperature
water (6). The main duty, however, is to reduce the gas temperature. The
desuperheater must therefore not be bypassed.

Figure 10.19 A log P/h diagram of a cascade

Figure 10.18 Schematic layout of a cascade
system.(1) Cascade unit (2) Ambient air
condenser (3) Low-temperature air evaporator
(4) Low-temperature compressor step (5)
BPHE desuperheater (6) Hot tap water.
system showing the lowtemperature cycle in
blue and the warm cycle in red. (a) Discharge
temperature for the low-temperature cycle (b)
Inlet vapor temperature to cascade unit after
desuperheater (c) outlet condensate
temperature for the cold cycle (d)
Temperature after expansion valve in the
warm cycle (e) evaporation temperature in the
warm cycle