How Heat Pumps & Refrigerators Work

[anigeo]

could you explain me the working of a heat pump or a refrigerator

 

[russ_watters]

That's a big request - have you read the wiki yet?

 

[uncanny_man]

I first learned about them with this article, I thought it was pretty well written:
http://home.howstuffworks.com/ac.htm

 

[CDCraig123]

pretty simple something is compressed like freon or ammonium it gets really cold from this compression and losses energy this is how a AC works. How ever with conservation of energy that loss of energy must go someplace heat is where it goes. So a heat pump is something that just movies heat around like a pump.

 

[uncanny_man]

Actually, you kind of have that backwards. You compress a gas, which causes it to heat up in accordance with your favorite gas law (I like PV=nRT). If you're trying to chill something, you obviously perform this process on an the other side of an insulated barrier from what you want chilled. Over time, the compressed gas' heat dissipates into the surroundings, and you then pump the compressed gas over to what you want chilled. Then you decompress the gas, and since P and T are directly proportional, the temperature of the gas decreases as pressure decreases.

 

[CDCraig123]

AHH you are right kinda like when i run out of CO2 in my paintball gun my arm freezes to it. Not only did I have it back words but you just answered on of my longest held questions how in the hell does a RV fridge work by burning propane. This is why i joined this site to help people learn, but more so i can learn things.

Thanks :)