8. Evaporators */
A. Introduction
8.01 The evaporator is one of the four basic and necessary hardware components of the
refrigeration system. (The refrigerant may be considered as a fifth, most important,
component.) Depending on the application the design of the evaporator will differ.
In the first part of this chapter different types of evaporators are presented and their
applications discussed. The presentation will then focus on methods for calculating heat
transfer and pressure drop, both on the refrigerant side and on the heat source side of the
evaporator. Knowledge of such methods are necessary when sizing and designing refrigeration
systems.
Methods of enhancing heat transfer, on the refrigerant side as well as on the heat source side
are then discussed briefly.
Finally, a few words are spent on design optimization of evaporators.
It should be noted that what is presented in this chapter concerning the calculation of heat
transfer and pressure drop on the heat source side of the evaporator is generally also
applicable to the heat sink side of condensers.
8.02 As an introduction to the treatment of evaporators it is appropriate to recapitulate the physical
processes involved. In the evaporator, the refrigerant is evaporated by the heat transferred
from the heat source. The heat source may be a gas or a liquid or, e.g. in food freezers, a
solid. During evaporation, the temperature of a pure refrigerant is constant, as long as the
pressure does not change. The basic temperature profile through an evaporator with liquid or
gas phase heat source is therefore as shown in Figure 8.02. As shown, the temperature of the
refrigerant must be below that of the heat source. This low refrigerant temperature is attained
as a result of the reduction in pressure caused by the compressor: When the compressor is
started and the pressure reduced, the equilibrium between liquid and vapor in the evaporator is
disturbed. To re-establish equilibrium, more vapor is formed through evaporation of liquid.
The heat of vaporization necessary for this is taken from the liquid itself, and therefore the
liquid temperature drops. As heat starts to flow from the heat source, a new equilibrium
temperature is established.
In the evaporator there is thus a balance between the heat transferred to it due to the
temperature difference between the evaporator and the surroundings, and the heat transferred
from it in the form of heat of vaporization of the vapor drawn into the compressor