Recent Blog Posts
A savvy refrigeration professional will not only understand the vapor compression cycle, but will also know the “condition” of the refrigerant throughout the system. Let’s start with saturation. Whenever a substance changes from liquid to vapor or vice versa, it is said to be “saturated”. Additionally, a refrigerant is saturated when liquid and vapor coexist. […]
A “pumped overfeed” or “recirc system” is similar to the gravity-flooded system in that it utilizes a vessel that was not part of the DX system. In a pumped overfeed system, however, the vessel, often called a “recirculator”, is not located above the evaporator. In fact, the recirculator may be a long distance from the […]
A “gravity-fed”, or “flooded” refrigeration system has all of the same components as the direct expansion system, but utilizes an additional vessel. Whereas the DX system piped the high-pressure liquid through an expansion device and directly into the evaporator, a flooded system is designed so that the liquid leaving the expansion valve is piped to […]
A direct expansion, or DX, refrigeration system is the simplest of the refrigeration cycles. In a DX system high pressure liquid is supplied through an expansion device, directly into the evaporator, hence the name “direct expansion”. As the refrigerant absorbs heat in the evaporator, it boils as it transitions from a liquid to a vapor. […]
A centrifugal compressor operates using the principles of dynamic displacement. Vapor is drawn into the center, or ‘eye’, of a rotating impeller. The vapor exits the impeller and passes through a diffuser, which reduces the vapor velocity. This process converts the kinetic energy of the vapor into pressure energy. The pressurized vapor is collected in a ‘volute’ where it […]