Relevance of condensation temperature determination for marine vapour-compression refrigeration system with a composite cooling of condensation unit.

The temperatures of the condensers' cooling media (water and air) can vary in a wide range depending on the ship's route. For example, on the route from Odessa to Hopen (Norway), the water temperature changes in the range from 18 ° C to -2 ° C, and air does from 20 ° C to -13 ° C (according to the data for April 13, 2018). Therefore, the well-known recommendations for determining the condensation temperature in the existing calculation methods cannot be applied to a refrigeration unit with composite cooling condensers because they provide different condensation temperature values. To determine the condensation temperature and study the operation of the marine refrigeration unit with composite cooling, a technical-and-economic calculation methodology has been developed. This methodology includes the calculation peculiarities of the composite condenser cooling, the cost of the main refrigeration equipment, the electricity cost and climate data for the ship's route. This method solves the problem of determining the condensation temperature to calculate the condensers and compressors of a marine refrigeration unit. The paper shows the results of the parametric analysis performed for a marine refrigerating unit for the route Odessa – Hopen. The recommended design value for the condensation temperature was 27°C (which corresponds to a pressure of 1066 kPa). It has been proven that the condensation temperature can be precisely determined for a composite condenser cooling at constantly changing cooling medium temperatures, while the technical-and-economic parameters of the refrigerating unit will be optimal. New design values of condensing pressures (temperatures) are obtained to calculate and select heat-exchange surfaces of refrigerating unit's condensers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]