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Refrigeration Technology
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Chapter12. Evaporators
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Function and Classification of Evaporators
Dry-Expansion Evaporators and Flooded
Evaporators
Main types of evaporator construction
Air Cooler and Spray Air Cooler
Direct and indirect refrigeration systems
References
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12-1. Function and Classification
of Evaporators
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1. Function of evaporators
In a refrigeration system, an evaporator is a device which enables a volatile
liquid to vaporize for the purpose of removing heat from a refrigerated
space or product.
It is one of the main components in a refrigeration system.
A refrigerant before entering the evaporator is usually a mixture of liquid
and vapor due to its expansion through the expansion valve, and enter the
evaporator at low temperature and pressure.
The liquid refrigerant vaporizes inside the evaporator to absorb heat from
the object to be cooled.
In many cases the vapor in a superheated state is sucked into the
compressor to prevent the liquid slugging.

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2. Classification of evaporators

Classification of
evaporators
Method of
refrigerant feed
Dry-expansion evaporators
Flooded evaporators
Overfeed (Re-circulation) evaporators
Method of air
(or liquid) circulation
Natural convection evaporators
Forced convection evaporators
Cooling medium
Liquid cooler
Air cooler

Type of
construction
Bare-tube evaporator
Plate-surface evaporator
Finned tube evaporator
Types of evaporator
surfaces
Shell-and-coil cooler
Double-tube evaporator
Baudelot cooler
Shell-and-tube coolers
Liquid coolers
Fig.12-1 Classification of evaporators
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12-2. Dry-Expansion Evaporators and
Flooded Evaporators
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1. Dry-expansion evaporators
When the evaporator is operated dry-
expansion, the refrigerant is expanded
in the tubes as a two-phase mixture at
the downstream of an expansion valve
while the chilled liquid is circulated
outside the tubes.
The dry expansion evaporator is so
called because the liquid refrigerant
vaporizes totally in it and the
refrigerant vapor is slightly
superheated, i.e., in a dry state,
before it leaves the evaporator.
Fig.12-2, A dry-expansion evaporator coil and its temperature distribution
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The advantages of dry-expansion evaporators are that they require less
refrigerant charge provide good lubricating oil return to the compressor and
reduce the risk of damage to the evaporator in the event of freeze-up.
Heat transfer from the tube surface to the liquid refrigerant is much greater
than that to the refrigerant vapor.
In a dry expansion evaporator under normal operating conditions, the
volume of liquid is only about 15-20% of the internal volume of the tubes.
Assuming that this liquid is uniformly distributed along the tubes, and
occupying a segment of it, the wetted periphery would be about 30-34%of
the circumference of the tube and the effective area for heat transfer would
be 30-34% of the internal surface area
[4]
.
This disadvantage can be remedied by using a flooded evaporator.
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2. Flooded evaporators and overfeed
evaporators
Generally, when the evaporator is operated flooded, the chilled liquid is circulated
through the tubes while the refrigerant is expanded outside the tubes.
The level of the liquid refrigerant is controlled with some types of float control.
In a flooded evaporator the refrigerant is not totally evaporated when it leaves the
evaporator.
Therefore, a separator is used to separate the liquid refrigerant from the vapor.
The liquid refrigerant then flows back to the evaporator either by gravity or by
pumping.
The flooded evaporator with pump for recirculation is called overfeed evaporator or
pump circulation evaporator.
This type of flooded evaporator is also called recirculation type evaporator.
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Compared to dry-expansion evaporators, flooded evaporators have a
relative high heat transfer coefficient due to the complete wetting of the
tube surface.

A large vapor space in the accumulator can effectively prevent the liquid
droplets from being sucked into the compressor.

However, the flooded evaporators require a large amount of refrigerant to
ensure the flooding, thus, brings up the cost.
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12.3 Main types of evaporator
construction
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1. Evaporator surface types

(1)Bare-tube Evaporators

Bare tube refers the tube whose inner and outer surfaces are both smooth.

Bare-tube evaporators are also called prime-surface evaporators.

Bare-tube coils are available in a number of sizes, shapes and designs.
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Spiral bare-tube coils are often employed for liquid chilling.
Large ceiling-hung bare-pipe coils employing natural convection air
circulation are sometimes used in frozen storage rooms and in storage
coolers where the circulation of large quantities of low velocity air is
desirable.
They are also used as either dry or spray coils, in conjunction with
centrifugal blowers to provide high-velocity chilled air for blast-cooling or
freezing operations.
The bare-tube evaporator is generally operated dry-expansion.
(2)Plate-Surface Evaporators

There are several types of plate-surface evaporators.
Some are construction of two flat sheets as metal so embossed and welded
together as to provide a path for refrigerant flow between them.
This type of plate-surface evaporators has the advantages of easy cleaning
and low cost in manufacturing.
It can be readily formed into the various shapes required to serve as
structural components, for example, the walls of a household refrigerator or
reach-in cooler, when it is constructed in a boxlike shape.
The plate construction offers some secondary heat transfer surface, but is
also useful for cooling flat packaged products that contact the surface.

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Another type of plate-surface
evaporator consists of formed tubing
installed between two metal plates
which are welded together at the
edges.
In order to provide good thermal
contact between the welded plates
and the tubing carrying the
refrigerant, the space between the
plates is either filled with a eutectic
solution or evacuated so that the
pressure of the atmosphere exerted
on the outside surface of the plates
holds the plates firmly against the
tubing inside.
Inlet water
Outlet refrigerant
Outlet water
Inlet refrigerant
Fig.12-5 Plate-surface evaporator [11,12,14]
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Inlet water
Outlet refrigerant
Outlet water
Inlet refrigerant
Fig.12-5 Plate-surface evaporator [11,12,14]
Those containing the eutectic
solution are especially useful in the
applications where a hold-over
capacity is required, for example,
in refrigerated trucks.
The hold-over capacity of the
eutectic solution allows the use of
smaller capacity equipment to
cope with the peak load, thus, a
saving is effected in initial cost as
well as in operating expenses.
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(3)Finned tube Evaporators
As the name suggested, finned tube evaporators have the fins installed on
the bare tube to enhance the heat transfer from the air to the refrigerant in
the tube.
The fins here act as a secondary heat exchange surface to improve the
evaporator efficiency from increasing overall evaporator surface area.
Fig.12-6 Finned tube evaporators
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Finned evaporators are used extensively in residential and commercial
refrigeration and air conditioning applications.
In order for them to be effective, there must be good thermal contact
between the evaporator fins and the tubing surface.
This can be accomplished by several ways.
One method is to solder the fin directly to the tubing.
Another method is to slip the fin over the tubing and expand the tubing by
pressure or some such means so that the fin locks onto the tubing surface.
A variation of the latter method is to flare the fin hole slightly to allow the
fin to slip over the tube.
After the fin is installed, the flare is straightened and the fin is securely
locked to the tube.

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2. Liquid Coolers

(1) Shell-and-coil cooler
Refrigerant
liquid inlet
Refrigerant
vapor outlet
Coil
Water in
Water
out
Shell
The shell-and-coil cooler
is usually made up of one
or more spiral-shaped,
bare-tube coils enclosed
in a shell (Fig.12-7).
Fig.12-7 A shell-and-coil liquid cooler
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The cooler is generally operated dry-expansion with the refrigerant in the
coils and the chilled liquid in the shell.
In a few cases, the cooler is operated flooded.
The former arrangement has the advantage of providing a hold over
capacity, thereby making this type of cooler ideal for small capacity
refrigeration systems to be used for the applications that have to cope with
high but infrequent peak loads.
The cost for a shell-and-coil cooler is relatively low compared to that of a
shell-and-tube one.
The shell-and-coil cooler is used to cool drinking water, beverages as well
as in other industrial applications.

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The inner tube may be bare tube or a
screw tube to enhance heat transfer.
A counter flow arrangement is used in
the double-tube evaporator, i.e., the
liquid to be cooled flows in one
direction through the inner tube while
the refrigerant flows appositively
through the annular apace between the
inner and outer tubes.
(2) Double-tube evaporator
The double-tube evaporator consists of two tubes which are so arranged
that one tube is placed inside another.
The double-tube construction is very similar to that of double-pipe
condensers as shown in Fig.11-3.
Fig.11-3 Double-pipe water-cooled condenser
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(3) Baudelot cooler

The Baudelot cooler shown in Fig.12-8 consists of a series of horizontal
pipes which are located one under the other and are connected together to
form a refrigerant circuit or circuits.
Fig.12-8 Baudelot cooler
[5]

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Fig.12-8 Baudelot cooler
[5]

For either dry-expansion or flooded operation, the
refrigerant is circulated through the inside of the
tubes while the chilled liquid flows in a thin film
over the outside.
The liquid flows down over the tubes by gravity
from a distributor located at the top of the cooler
and is collected in a trough at the bottom.
The Baudelot cooler is ideal for any liquid
chilling application requiring aeration because the
chilled liquid is open to air.
The Baudelot cooler has been widely used for the
cooling of milk, wine, and wort, and for the
chilling of water for carbonation in bottling plants.
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(4) Shell-and-tube coolers

The shell-and-tube evaporator consists essentially of a cylindrical steel
shell in which a number of straight tubes are arranged in parallel and held
in place by tube sheets.

The tubes are fastened to a tube sheet on one end only, which permits them
to expand and contract, thus making this type especially suitable for low
temperature brine cooling systems.
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Shell-and-tube cooler may be of the dry-expansion type (Fig.12-9) or
flooded type (Fig.12-10)
Fig. 12-9 Dry-expansion type shell-and-tube evaporator Fig 12-10 Flooded type shell-and-tube evaporators
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In the dry-expansion type,
baffles are used to ensure the
circulating liquid to flow
transversely across all the tubes,
increase the liquid velocity,
and also enhance the heat
transfer.

Sometimes the tubes are
furnished with inner fins to
increase the refrigerant side
heat transfer area.

Fig. 12-9 Dry-expansion type shell-and-tube evaporator
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In the flooded type cooler, the
refrigerant completely submerges the
tubes.
The liquid side is generally available
with a number of choices of multiple
pass arrangement, with all the liquid
flow through only a group of tubes,
and passing back and forth through
the evaporator.
Increasing the number of passes
enhances the velocity of the liquid,
but a higher pressure drop will be got.
The heads in flooded types are often
removable so that tubes can be
cleaned or replaced.
Fig 12-10 Flooded type shell-and-tube evaporators
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12-4. Air Cooler and Spray
Air Cooler

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1. Air Cooler
Air coolers are widely used in cold stores, the food industry, and air
conditioning.
Natural convection or forced convection air coolers are designed with bare
or finned tubes.
In small coolers, baffles are used with natural convection coil to ensure
good air circulation.
The baffles are installed in such a manner that they aid and direct the free
flow of air over the coil and throughout the refrigerated space.
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Forced convection evaporators are
essentially bare-tube or finned-
tube coils encased in a metal
housing and equipped with one or
more fans to provide air
circulation as shown in Fig.12-11.
Variations in this group include
unit coolers, product coolers, air
conditioning units, blower coils,
and cold diffusers.
Fig. 12-11 Forced convection air coolers
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2. Spray air cooler
Instead of using dry coils, some forced air units are arranged for sprayed
coils.
A spray air cooler provides more intensive heat transfer than an air cooler
does.
Spray air coolers are applied in large industrial air conditioning systems
and cold warehouse.
They are convenient because of their simple design, their ability to control
temperature and humidity, and their effective defrosting cycle.
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The main elements of the unit
are a pump, piping, and a spray
header. Spraying the coil with a
liquid increases the heat transfer
rate.
Water is used when the
temperature is greater than zero
degree.
If the air contacting the coil is
expected to be below 0C, brine
or a glycol solution is used.
Moisture eliminators can be
used to trap water drops.
Fig.12-12, Direct-expansion coil brine spray cooler
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3. Defrosting of air cooler
Frost will accumulate on the evaporator surface when air cooler works
below 0C.
If the temperature of the surrounding air maintains above or equal to 4C, it
will be sufficient to stop the cooler for a period to allow the frost to melt off.
This method can be used for coldrooms, packaged air-conditioners, and
domestic refrigerator etc., where the service period can be interrupted.
For lower temperatures, heat must be applied to melt the frost within a
reasonable time and ensure that it drains away.
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Methods used are as follows:

1) Electric resistance heaters.
The heat elements are within the coil or directly under it.

2) Hot gas.
A branch pipe from the compressor discharge feeds superheated gas to
the coil.
The compressor must still be working on another evaporator to make hot
gas available.
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3) Reverse cycle.
For domestic air-conditioners, reverse cycle can be directly used for
defrosting.
The direction of flow of the refrigerant is reversed to make the
evaporator act as a condenser.
Heat storage or another evaporator is needed as a heat source.
In each of these cases, arrangements must be made to remove cold
refrigerant from the coil while defrosting is in progress.
Drip trays and drain pipes may require supplementary heating.

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12-5. Direct and indirect refrigeration
systems
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Any heat transfer surface on which a refrigerant is expanded and
evaporated in order to produce a refrigeration effect is called a direct-
expansion evaporator.
In some applications it is either inconvenient or uneconomical to circulate
refrigerant to the areas where the cooling is required.
In such cases, an indirect refrigerating system is employed.
Water or brine (or some other suitable liquids) is chilled by a direct-
expansion evaporator and then pumped through appreciate piping to the
space or product being cooled.
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The chilled liquid or gas
(Secondary refrigerant) is
pumped directly to the space or
product to be cooled (Fig.12-14).

The warmed secondary
refrigerant is then returned to the
evaporator to be chilled for reuse.
Fig.12-14, Two types of indirect refrigerating system
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Indirect refrigerating systems are usually employed when the space or
product to be cooled is located a considerable distance from the direct-
expansion evaporator because long direct-expansion refrigerant lines are
seldom practical.

Indirect refrigeration is required also in many industrial process cooling
applications where it is often impractical to maintain a vapor-tight seal
around the product or vessel being cooled.
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The advantages of the indirect systems are:

1. The refrigerant charge is significantly smaller, thus reducing the
potential of leakage.
2. The primary refrigerant no longer has to travel through very long
pipe runs, so the pressure drop is significantly lower and there is no
oil return problem.
3. The more environment benign refrigerants such as ammonia and
hydrocarbons can be safely used since they can be normally
contained in plant far away from public areas.

A disadvantage of this system is the extra heat losses caused by the
additional heat exchanger.
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References
1. Dossat, R.J., Principles of Refrigeration. 3rd Edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc.1991
2. http://people.rit.edu/jdweme/emem416/Fundamentals%20of%20Refrigeration%20T
echnology.pdf
3. http://www.process-
cooling.com/CDA/Archives/edb08c5f4b5b7010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0
4. Gosney M.W., Principles of Refrigeration, Cambridge University Press, 1982
5. http://people.rit.edu/jdweme/emem416/Fundamentals%20of%20Refrigeration%20T
echnology.pdf
6. http://www.3e.uct.ac.za/downloads/refrigeration.pdf
7. http://www.appliance411.com/faq/defrostproblem.shtml
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8. Trott A.R. and Welch T., Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning, Oxford, Auckland,
Boston, Johannesburg, Melbourn, New Delhi, Butterworth-Heinemann
9. Zheng, X.D., Principles and Equipments of Refrigeration, 2000, China Machine
Press. Beijing, China
10. Greco A., Convective boiling of pure and mixed refrigerants: An experimental
study of the major parameters affecting heat transfer, International Journal of Heat
and Mass Transfer 51 (2008) 896909
11. http://www.seafreezeinc.com/products/conversion_units.html
12. http://www.czzfq.com/ecpzs.asp
13. http://www.hexeco.com/Custom/stainless-immersion-coil.htm
14. http://www.bjschwy.com/huanreqi.htm


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