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Quick Start Guide for New Users - www.RefrigLab.com 1. One-Tenth Series: 10 Cloud e-Tools for Refrigeration Unit Components Sizing by www.RefrigLab.com 1) [UnitqS]: Unit component capacity sizing using ambient and product air temperature/RH, with options of each component's energy efficiency level (-2.0 to 2.0) and 41 refrigerants. 2) [CompS]: Compressor sizing with options of energy efficiency levels (extra-low to extra-high), back pressure (Low/Medium/High), frequency (10-150Hz), and 41 refrigerants. 3) [CapS]: Capillary tube sizing with options of contacting with suction pipe (separate/winding/tube-in-tube), employing single/twin/more, copper/stainless steel/plastic tubes, and 39 refrigerants. 4) [SLHX]: Suction line heat exchanger sizing for defining its dimensions and identifying its positive/negative effect on unit cooling capacity and COP with option of 41 refrigerants. 5) [CondS]: Fin-and-tube type condenser air coil sizing for defining dimensions, circuiting number and air flow, with options of tube OD 4-20mm, 5 fin patterns and 36 refrigerants. 6) [EvapS]: Fin-and-tube type evaporator air coil sizing for defining dimensions, circuiting number and air flow, with options of tube OD 4-20mm, 5 fin patterns and 36 refrigerants . 7) [CondEvapCS-CapAcc]: Fin-and-tube type condenser and evaporator air coils and accumulator combined sizing for unit employing CAP tube. 8) [CondEvapCS-SlhxAcc]: Fin-and-tube type condenser and evaporator air coils and accumulator combined sizing for unit employing SLHX. 9) [CircS]: Circuiting number sizing for evaporator/condenser heat exchanger with options of conventional/mini/micro channel tubes (20mm to 0.10mm ID) and 41 refrigerants. 10) [Acc3pS]: Accumulator 3-parameter sizing for achieving vapour-liquid separation and oil return for vertical type with "J"-shaped vapour pipe with option of 41 refrigerants.
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2. Turn-Up Series: 20 Cloud e-Tools for Refrigeration Units Tuning by www.RefrigLab.com 4 Types of Units for e-Tuning: 1) [CapHx_UT]: Tuning of Unit with a Capillary tube (CAP) being detached with, winding on, or tube-in-tube with compressor suction line vapour pipe. 2) [CapSlhx_UT]: Tuning of Unit with a separate/detached Capillary tube (CAP) and a suction line heat exchanger (SLHX). 3) [TEVslhx_UT]: Tuning of Unit with thermostatic expansion valve (TEV/TEX) as expansion and superheat control device 4) [EEVslhx_UT]: Tuning of Unit with electronic expansion valve (EEV) as expansion, superheat and other control device.
5 Cloud e-Tools for Each of 4 Types of Units: 1) [00-Opt vs Opt]: Computing optimal refrigerant charge quantity, COP, cooling capacity and other performance using the user's components input data of the Two units, 0-0, with one or more different components (e.g., 5/8"OD versus 9/32"OD coils, or Cap tube versus EEV), by comparatively e-testing under certain input ambient/product temperature and RH. 2) [01-Opt vs Charged]: Computing full performance of Two units, 0-1, while Unit 1 has a fixed/input charge mass, and Unit 0 has optimal charge mass to be calculated as compared to [00], by comparatively e-testing under certain input ambient/product temperature and RH. 3) [CC-Charge Curving]: Calculating full performance Charge Curves with Two Identical units, while Unit 1 is etested by decreasing the refrigerant charge quantity step-by-step from optimal to under-charged conditions, and Unit 0 by increasing the refrigerant quantity step-by-step from optimal to over-charged conditions, both under certain input product and ambient temperature/RH. 4) [AA-Ambient Adapting]: Computing Ambient Adapting full performance of Two units by comparatively etesting under a range of ambient temperature varying from high to low or from low to high (e.g., 15 to 45 deg.C) with a certain input decrement/increment(e.g., 5 or 10 deg.C), and both at certain input product temperature/RH, as compared to [01-Opt vs Charged]. 5) [PD-Pull Down]: Computing Pull-Down full performance of Two units by comparatively e-testing under a range of product temperature varying from high to low (e.g., 45 to -20 deg.C) with a certain input temperature decrement (e.g., 5 or 10 deg.C), and both at certain input ambient temperature/RH, as compared to [01-Opt vs Charged].
3. Notes to www.RefrigLab.com New Users RefrigLab is committed to providing Cloud-based components sizing and units tuning Tools with the focus on new refrigerants, charge mass minimisation, COP optimisation, and system compactness for cost-effective refrigeration and air-conditioning system development. 1)
www.RefrigLab.com is designed to work friendly with smart phones, notebook, laptop and desktop computers for on-site technicians, design engineers, and new product developers.
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Open a web browser, type www.RefrigLab.com in the address bar, pick up one of the 10 tools from the face page, or check the drop-down menu [One-Tenth] to start your sizing trials after Registration.
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The site is being under construction so hopefully you are not bothered by some blank pages with titles only.
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Wait for some minutes or even longer to receive the results on your local screen and then download the full (more optional) results text file. The reason for the delay is the relatively long iterating time for achieving High accuracy, and/or that the tool you are using is very busy with many users on the queue at the time.
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One-Tenth Series - 10 Cloud e-Tools are being under AI tuning with Microsoft Azure cloud web servers while some industrial refrigeration technicians, engineers and developers are invited to use the tools free of charge.
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Turn-Up Series - 20 Cloud e-Tools are available only for Contracted users at present. General ( Not Contracted) users can contact Administrator to make bookings for temporary or periodic use.
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Refrigerant, R744/Carbon Dioxide, is Not included in the e-Tools. You may contact Administrator for R744 calculations.
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One frequently asked question is about the energy efficiency level (EnL) value of components such as compressor and coil. EnL=2-extra high, 1-high, 0-average, -1-low, -2-extra low. Therefore, EnL=1, 0, or inbetween is commonly-used for most products design. Please access the Technical page for further details.
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The other frequently asked question is about the setting of contacting of CAP tube with compressor suction line pipe. 0 for separate/detached, 1 for common winding on for most product models, 2 for tube-in-tube with compressor vapour return pipe. Please access the Technical page for further details.
10) Email your general/technical inquires to
[email protected], and any marketing to
[email protected].
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4. Flow Charts for Using Cloud e-Tools
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4. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions 1)
Where to get the App for cloud eTools on smartphone? How to get an App-like icon on your smartphone home screen? How to access the website www.RefrigLab.com on your smartphone? To access the eTools website, www.RefrigLab.com, you need to have at least one web browser on your phone. The widely used web browsers are Chrome, Firefox, Web Explorer, Ecosia, etc. If you don't have one of them, you can search Play Store on your Android phone or App Store on your iOS phone, and then free download and install in your phone. Open the browser, type www.RefrigLab.com on the address/url bar, so you can see the main web page coming up. Do Registration for your first access or Login for your re-access using your email. Pick up one of the 10 eTools from the face page, or check the drop-down menu [One-Tenth] to start your sizing trials. Now, click the 3-dot "more options" menu on RHS of the address/url bar, you can choose "Add to Home Screen" from the 3-dot menu, and may see the website name: Home Page - Thermal Calculations popping out. You can change the old name to "FrigLab" otherwise the saved App-like icon on your home screen has the old name. You can log out of the web browser and find out the saved App-like icon on the home screen. If the App-like icon still has the old name, you can change to"FrigLab". The App is available? Yes, for Android smartphones, it is available for download from the following website. Please use your Adroid smartphone to read this document and click the following website to download and then install the App to your Android phone. https://www.appstrand.com/get-app/Qc3TWoGe29PlZcwDUrg9VDnKzsB3Rgwqu21uXtRa The App for iOS smartphones is not available right now. You can have an App-like icon instead.
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Does it consume my smartphone's Mobile Data to Run an cloud e-Tool? Actually, the e-Tool running/computing does not use your smartphone's mobile data. All of the e-Tools running for computing and data processing are operated by a cloud computer. Your smart phone is only used to display, send the Input data and receive the Output data of calculated results. This is why we need the Cloud e-Tools and how we can use our tiny smart phone to run a Cloud e-Tool and accomplish a large computing task. If you use a laptop or other computer to run the e-Tools, similarly, the computing and data processing would not consume your computer memory.
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How about if I don't know the value of a targeted e-Tool's Input Parameter? Please don't give up! Have a look at the Flow Chart of components sizing e-Tools in the Quick Start Manual first. For example, to size an evaporator coil for my existing condensing unit, I go straight to pick up and run [EvapS]. However, I don't know the exact values or the approximate ranges of the 2 required Input data: refrigerant mass flow rate (kg/hr), and the evaporator inlet quality. Please don't give up! After checking the Flow Chart, I know that I may get some data from [UnitqS] or [CompS]. Exit from [EvapS], run [UnitqS] to obtain the required 2 data and then get back to open and run [EvapS] to obtain the results.
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What does the Product Temperature mean with the Input of [UnitqS], [CondEvapCS_CapAcc], or [CondEvapCS_SlhxAcc]? The Product Temperature means the temperature of Product of the air-conditioner, cooler or freezer that you are working on. For example, if you are intending to design a domestic air-conditioner with room air temperature of 25 deg.C so the Product Temperature is 25 deg.C, similarly, a water chiller with cooled water outlet of 5 deg.C, a beverage cooler with cooled drinks temperature of 3 deg.C, a food freezer with frozen food temperature of -20 deg.C.
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What is the right value choice of EnL of compressor, evaporator or condenser for your first or second trial? My suggestion is that you take EnL=0 for your first trial, and EnL=1 for your second. Then you can see the difference of the results. EnL=0 is meant for an average, =1 for a high energy efficiency level component, respectively. EnL=0 to 1, is the commonly used range for most users. EnL=-2.0 to 2.0 is the range for all sorts of product designs.
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What value is a good estimate of EnL (Energy efficiency Level) for a detached/separate CAP tube, for a common suction line-on-winding CAP tube, and for a real tube-in-tube SLHX? You may Input -2.0 for a detached/separate CAP tube, and a value from -1.5 to -1.0 for a common suction line-onwinding CAP tube. For SLHX, EnL=-2 for no SLHX installed, from -2 to +2.0 meant for small/short to large/long SLHX employed; EnL=-1/0/1/2 for Low/Average/High/Extra-high energy efficiency unit use.
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Don't know what temperature value of condensation or evaporation you should input with [CompS], [CapS], [SLHX], [CondS], or with [EvapS]? Please use [UnitqS] first and you can obtain the reasonable values of condensation and evaporation temperatures, and any other parameters needed for Input in other e-Tools.
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What value of Contacting Scale of CAP tube with suction line tube should be input? Value=0 for insulated CAP tube without contacting with suction line pipe, 1.0 for CAP tube with tube-On-tube contacting with suction line pipe, 2.0 for CAP tube with tube-In-tube heat exchange with suction line pipe. With the technical arrangement of [CapS], both inlet and outlet ends of a CAP tube are left with a short section tube without contacting with suction line pipe in order for connecting with high and low side components. Therefore, the users of [CapS] do not need to put any additional length to the [CapS] calculated length value.
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What value of Refrigerant Mass Flow Rate should be Input? Don't know what value you should be input, for example, with [CondS], [EvapS] or [Acc3pS]? Please use [UnitqS] first and you can obtain the reasonable values of refrigerant mass flow rate, and any other parameters needed for Input in other e-Tools.
10) What value of Evaporator Refrigerant Inlet Quality (vapour mass ratio) should be Input?
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Don't know what value you should input with [EvapS]? Please use [UnitqS] first and you can obtain the reasonable values of refrigerant inlet quality and any other parameters needed for Input in other e-Tools. For ballpark estimate, you may take a number ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 for common refrigeration and air-conditioning units. 11) Any other compressor frequency can you input except 50 or 60 Hz? Yes, most single speed compressor has a 50 or 60 Hz of rotary frequency/speed, being constant. You may change the frequency to know the compressor's performance at variable speed condition, i.e., simulating the variable speed (frequency ) compressor performance. The frequency range of common variable speed compressors is from 10 to 150 Hz. 12) Where can you get the value of your compressor's displacement (cc)? If you have a specific model compressor, you can get the displacement value from its brand plate or from its manufacturer's manual. If you only know the required cooling capacity, say 800W, of your compressor, but have no idea about the displacement value, you may obtain the value by trial and error using [UnitqS] or [CompS]. 13) When/Where/How to use [CircS] for coils' circuiting number estimate? The frequent use is for verifying the circuiting number when a coil's refrigerant or any operating conditions have one or more changes. For example, an evaporator coil's refrigerant changing from R410a to R32, or from R134a to R290; from original freezer coil to a cooler coil; the coil tube OD from 8mm to 5mm; the capacity from 5kW to 7.5kW, etc. 14) When/why do you need [Acc3pS] to size a suction line accumulator? You do need it when you intend to make an accumulator for your unit. [Acc3pS] will help you define the minimum ID, the minimum ID of "J"-shaped vapour tube, the "J" tube's oil bleed hole diameter, and the recommended minimum internal effective volume of the accumulator for achieving liquid-vapour separation and oil return. Without those data, it is quite likely to make an accumulator that is not able to achieve your expected goals. 15)
Were the coil sizing calculations validated by test data for the small coil tube OD (outer diameter) down to 4mm? Yes, validated by test data for evaporator and condenser air coils with the tube outer diameter ranging from 19mm (3/4") OD to 4mm (5/32") OD and with 4 fin patterns - plain, wavy lanced and louvered fins.
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To be continued!!!
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