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Thermostatic Expansion Valve

Thermostatic expansion valves (TEVs) (or flow controllers) are designed to adjust the flow of refrigerant into the evaporator so that only vapour leaves the evaporator. At the same time, the liquid refrigerant proportion in the evaporator must be maximized to attain the highest heat-transfer efficiency for the evaporator. This flow controller is widely used and responds indirectly to vapour superheat at the evaporator outlet. In its most usual form, the sensor consists of a small bulb or phial, containing the same refrigerant as the plant and in thermal contact with the evaporator outlet tube. It is connected to a flow regulator by a small bore tube. The regulator responds to the difference between the evaporator and phial pressures, which is related to the vapour superheat at the position where the phial is clamped to the pipe.Get more news about Condenser Expansion Machine,you can vist our website!

The majority of applications now use electronic flow controllers. They have two temperature sensors, one at the evaporator inlet for measuring the saturation temperature and one at the evaporator outlet for measuring the temperature of the superheated vapour. The refrigerant flow is controlled to maintain a constant difference between these two signals. They offer more accurate control of superheat and can also be incorporated into the control management system for the plant.

The simple thermostatic expansion valve relies on the pressure under the diaphragm being approximately the same as that at the coil outlet, and small coil pressure drops can be accommodated by adjustments to the spring setting.

Where an evaporator coil is divided into a number of parallel passes, a distribution device with a small pressure loss is used to ensure equal flow through each pass. Pressure drops of 1–2 bar are common. There will now be a much larger finite difference between the pressure under the diaphragm and that at the coil inlet. To correct this, the body of the valve is modified to accommodate a middle chamber and an equalising connection which is taken to the coil outlet, close to the phial position. Most thermostatic expansion valves have provision for an external equaliser connection (see Fig. 8.4).
The thermostatic expansion valve is substantially an undamped proportional control and hunts continuously, although the amplitude of this swing can be limited by correct selection and installation, and if the valve always works within its design range of mass flow. Difficulties arise when compressors are run at reduced load and the refrigerant mass flow falls below the valve design range. It is helpful to keep the condensing pressure steady, although it does not have to be constant and can usually be allowed to fall in colder weather to save compressor power. Valves on small systems may be seen to fully close and fully open at times. Excessive hunting of the thermostatic expansion valve means that the evaporator surface has an irregular refrigerant feed with a resulting slight loss of heat transfer effectiveness. If the hunting is caused by a time lag between the change of valve position and the effect at the evaporator outlet, a solution can be to increase the mass of the sensor phial which will increase damping. Over-sized valves and incorrect phial position can also give rise to hunting. The phial should always he located on the horizontal outlet, as close to the evaporator as possible and not on the underside of the pipe.