S. Joseph Sekhar

A numerical model for thermal mapping in a hermetically sealed reciprocating refrigerant compressor

In a refrigerant compressor, improvement in performance such as reduction of various electrical and mechanical losses, reduction of gas leakage, better lubrication, reduction of suction gas heating etc. can be achieved by maintaining a low temperature rise inside the compressor. Proper selection and location of an internal over load protector relay, estimation of heat transfer coefficient and winding insulation coefficient are also vital in enhancing the performance. In this context it is necessary to understand the temperature distribution inside a compressor for an optimal design. In this paper, a numerical model has been created and a heat transfer analysis for a hermetically sealed reciprocating refrigerant compressor is presented. The temperature distribution inside the compressor has been obtained taking into consideration the various heat sources and sinks and compared with experimental results. The maximum temperature was observed at the rotor which was 427.5 K. The deviation of the predicted rotor temperature from that of experimental value is 5.5% only. A good agreement was found between experimental results and that predicted in the numerical analysis.

Prediction of influence of process parameters on tensile strength of AA6061/TiC aluminum matrix composites produced using stir casting

Abstract Stir casting was used to produce AA6061/15%TiC (mass fraction) aluminum matrix composites (AMCs). An empirical relationship was developed to predict the effect of stir casting parameters on the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of AA6061/TiC AMCs. A central composite rotatable design consisting of four factors and five levels was used to minimize the number of experiments, i.e., castings. The factors considered were stirring speed, stirring time, blade angle and casting temperature. The effect of those factors on the UTS of AA6061/TiC AMCs was derived using the developed empirical relationship and elucidated using microstructural characterization. Each factor significantly influenced the UTS. The variation in the UTS was attributed to porosity content, cluster formation, segregation of TiC particles at the grain boundaries and homogenous distribution in the aluminum matrix.

Investigation on the energy and exergy efficiencies of a domestic refrigerator retrofitted with water-cooled condensers of shell-and-coil and brazed-plate heat exchangers

Domestic refrigerator is one of the major energy-consuming appliances, and the enhancement of its energy efficiency plays a vital role in implementing the energy conservation policies and green building concepts in residential sector. The major strategies used to improve the performance of domestic refrigerators are the replacement of existing components, use of alternative refrigerants and the reduction in condensing pressure. Therefore, in this work, the conventional air-cooled condenser has been replaced with water-cooled condensers such as shell-and-coil and brazed-plate heat exchangers to maintain a low compression ratio and condensing pressure. The performance of a domestic refrigeration system retrofitted with water-cooled condensers has been studied using experimental methods. The result showed that the system with water-cooled condensers reduces the pull-down time and the per day energy consumption by 70% and 3.5%, respectively. Moreover, the proposed system can improve the COP and exergy efficiency by 6.4% and 4.9%, respectively. Compared to shell-and-coil heat exchanger, the system with brazed-plate heat exchanger can reduce irreversibility and TEWI by 3.9% and 3.7%, respectively. In this study, the system with brazed-plate heat exchanger showed better performance than the shell-and-coil heat exchanger for all operating conditions.