Módulo prático para estudos de sistemas de refrigeração mecânica por compressão

Abstract

Industrial cooling systems are understudied due to its complexity, especially in the academic environment. The difficulty of UTFPR Food Engineering students in understanding the operation and circuit layout is because they cannot see the theory applied to practice.This study aimed to assemble the practical module of a compression mechanical refrigeration system, enabling contact with the equipment, and operation, in addition to recognizing its thermodynamic proprieties. All the essential considerations to build the project and install the industrial refrigeration systemare specified in this paper, since the calculus to the equipment selection.The execution of the project was guided by economic limits (cost of equipment, accessories, labor and commercial teaching modules) and physical limits (space available for practice, feasible module dimensions and existence of skilled labor).We opted for the reuse of parts, resulting in the need of retrofit (replacement of a refrigerant fluid by another that has the same thermodynamic properties) of the compression mechanical refrigeration system for small thermal loads. We wrote a module manual, enabling practices predicting identification and evaluation of components, and measurements of pressures and temperatures at different points of the system.The module will enable critical analysis with the possibility of observations to optimize the cooling process.Also, this module will help future students of industrial refrigeration to become qualified professionals in the market.In conclusion, the module was presented to Food Engineering students, proving its effectiveness for synthesis of knowledge applied to Industrial Refrigeration.