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The first patent for mechanical refrigeration was issued (1834) in Great Britain to the American inventor Jacob Perkins. Mechanical refrigeration systems are based on the principle that absorption of heat by a fluid (refrigerant) as it changes from a liquid to a gas lowers the temperature of the objects around it. In the compression system, which is employed in electric home refrigerators and commercial installations, a compressor, controlled by a thermostat, exerts pressure on a vaporized refrigerant, forcing it to pass through a condenser, where it loses heat and liquefies. It then moves through the coils of the refrigeration compartment. There it vaporizes, drawing heat from whatever is in the compartment. The refrigerant then passes back to the compressor, and the cycle is repeated.
Prior to 1996, the refrigerants used in electric refigerators were chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). However, because of increasing scientific evidence that the CFCs are harmful to the ozone layer of the stratosphere, they were banned by international treaty, the Montreal Protocol, after Jan., 1996. Transitional compounds, such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which are less harmful to the ozone layer, are to be used in their place until the year 2020. By that time compounds such as the hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are benign to the ozone layer, are expected to have replaced HCFCs.
In the absorption system, widely employed in commercial installations, ammonia is usually used as a refrigerant to cool brine (water containing calcium chloride or sodium chloride) that is then sent through pipes to cool the refrigerated space. The steam-jet system is used where temperatures below 32°F (0°C) are not required; water is used as the refrigerant. Airplanes are cooled or heated through an air cycle system. Research and development is being carried out to apply the Peltier effect (see thermoelectricity) in various practical refrigeration systems.
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