LOW COST REFRIGERATION
Analysis of market structure of refrigeration industry and to evolve with low cost process
Figure 1 Thermodynamic representation of a Refrigeration Unit
The purpose of this study is to understand the industry landscape of Refrigeration in the different segment in India. It also concentrates in finding the market analysis of different technologies of Refrigeration used in India. It also identifies the major players in terms of its market share. It helps the manufacturers where to concentrate to yield more market share and also helps the customer to reveal the buying behavior.
Refrigeration is a process of moving heat from one location to another. The work of heat
transport is traditionally driven by mechanical work, but can also be driven by heat,
magnetism, electricity, laser, or other means. Refrigeration has many applications, including, but not limited to: household refrigerators, industrial freezers, cryogenics, and air conditioning.
Usually heat transfer from high temperature body/sink to a Low temperature body/sink without any work is natural .But here, it is shown that the heat from low temperature body transferred to high temperature with a help of some external work. This external work is the major concern for the refrigeration effect. The external work can be done with the help of heat pump. The working concept behind the refrigeration process is that continuous removing of heat from a place/body/sink and ejecting the heat to the other surroundings so that the sink from which the heat is been cooled .Cooling is done due to the Enthalpy change between the system and surroundings .
The major components used in refrigeration system are:
Compressor
Evaporator
Expansion Valve
Condenser
The Purpose of Refrigeration
The purpose for having a refrigerator is to preserve the food at lower (cold) temperature. Food preserved at lower temperature stay fresh for a longer period. The principle behind refrigeration is to reduce the activity of the bacteria which results in longer period for the bacteria to spoil the food. For example, bacteria have the capability to spoil milk within two to three hours if the milkis left in the kitchen space at room temperature. However due to refrigeration, milk will stay fresh for a week or even two. The reason is that at lower temperature the activity of the bacteria is lowered.
By freezing the milk we can stop the bacteria altogether and the milk can stay fresh for months (until effects like freezer burn turn to spoil the milk in non-bacterial ways). Refrigeration and freezing are two of the most forms of food preservation used today.
History of Refrigeration
In the past, ice was been used to achieve refrigeration. This involves natural refrigeration.
The principle behind this is known as evaporative cooling. In the past ice was either:
1. Transported from colder regions,
2. Harvested in winter and stored in ice houses for summer use or,
3. By cooling of water by radiation to stratosphere (During Night).
In Europe, America and Iran a number of ice houses were built to store ice. Ice houses were made with sawdust or wood shavings as insulating materials. Later on, cork was used as insulating material. Literature states that ice has been available to aristocracy who could afford it. In India, the Mogul emperors were interested of ice during the violent summer in Delhi and Agra, and it seems that the ice was used to be made by nocturnal cooling.
In 1806, Frederic Tudor, (who was known as the “ice king”) introduced the trade of ice by cutting it from the Hudson River and ponds of Massachusetts and exporting it to various countries such as India. In India Tudor’s ice was cheaper than the locally manufactured ice by nocturnal cooling. In North America, ice business emerged as a flourishing business. Ice was insulated by 0.3m of cork in order to transport it to southern states of America in train.Trading in ice was also popular in several other countries such as Great Britain, Russia, Canada, Norway and France. In these countries ice was either transported from colder regions or was harvested in winter and stored in ice houses for use in summer.
The ice trade reached its peak in 1872 when America alone exported 225000 tons of ice to various countries as far as China and Australia. However, with the invention of modern refrigerator the ice trade gradually declined.
Art of Ice making by Nocturnal Cooling:
The art of making ice by nocturnal cooling was perfected in India. In this method ice was made by keeping a thin layer of water in a shallow earthen tray, and then exposing the tray to the night sky. Compacted hay of about 0.3 m thickness was used as insulation. The water loses heat by radiation to the stratosphere, which is at around -55 ̊C and by early morning hours the water in the trays freezes to ice. This method of ice production was very popular in India.
As the name indicates, evaporative cooling is the process of reducing the temperature of a system by evaporation of water. Human beings perspire and dissipate their metabolic heat by evaporative cooling if the ambient temperature is more than skin temperature. Animals such as the hippopotamus and buffalo coat themselves with mud for evaporative cooling.Evaporative cooling has been used in India for centuries to obtain cold water in summer by storing the water in earthen pots. The water permeates through the pores of earthen vessel to its outer surface where it evaporates to the surrounding, absorbing its latent heat in part from the vessel, which cools the water. It is said that Patliputra University situated on the
bank of river Ganges used to induce the evaporative-cooled air from the river.Suitably located chimneys in the rooms augmented the upward flow of warm air, which was replaced by cool air. Evaporative cooling by placing wet straw mats on the windows is also very common in India. The straw mat made from “khus” adds its inherent perfume also to the air. Nowadays desert coolers are being used in hot and dry areas to provide cooling in summer.
Objectives
- To analyze the market landscape of refrigeration industry in India
- To identify the major players in the industry & growth potential of the industry
- To provide a new process technique in order to reduce the cost of manufacturing of residential refrigeratior
- To studythe feasibility of the new process/techniques
Figure 2 Ownership of consumer durables (% of household)
Figure 3 Region wise refrigerator sales in India
Figure 4 Graphical representation of refrigeration cycle
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