Department of Mechanical Engineering ME 136 Thermodynamics Project Instruction:

Department of Mechanical Engineering
ME 136 Thermodynamics Project
Instruction: You are required to work on this project in a team of two students. Each team only submits one
written report summarizing the results. In addition to the report, if you are using MATLAB, submit your code
“ME136Project.m” and a results file “Results.csv”. If you are using EXCEL, submit the original EXCEL file
supplied to you renamed to “ME136Project.xlsx”, with each task done in an appropriately named new sheet.
Each group submits one set of files. Individual submission is not allowed. MATLAB is strongly recommended
for performing calculations, but EXCEL is also allowed.
Course Project: Analysis of a Refrigeration Cycle
Introduction
In this project, you will obtain background knowledge on thermodynamics, one of the most fundamental
subjects in chemical engineering. Specifically, you will use thermodynamics to calculate the heat and work duties
in a refrigeration cycle. A schematic of the refrigeration cycle is shown below. Note that mass flows in the
direction of the arrows. For example, mass flows into the compressor in stream 2, and out of the compressor
in stream 3. Also, please note that all streams have already been labelled.
The goal of the refrigeration cycle is to cool down a certain external system. Heat is transferred from the
external system to the refrigeration cycle at the evaporator. This QC is the heat that is removed from the external
system and added to the refrigeration cycle. As you will learn in your thermodynamics course, this cannot be
possible without adding work to the refrigeration system. This work, WCOM is added at the compressor. The
goal of this project will be to determine QC and WCOMP given some user inputs.
Please be aware that it is not in the nature of chemical engineering problems to be infinitely variable. The
problems you will generally be solving are bound by phase equilibria, energy flow, Gibb’s energy, and basic
physics. This means that not every possible user input results in a problem that could physically exist. For that
reason, do not be alarmed if, when testing your calculations, it does not provide “comprehensible” solutions.