Article
Article
Refrigeration cycle
Article By:
Baumeister, Theodore Formerly, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York; Editor in Chief, "Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers"
Liley, Peter E. Lafayette, Indiana.
Last reviewed:January 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.577900
A sequence of thermodynamic processes whereby heat is withdrawn from a cold body and expelled to a hot body. Theoretical thermodynamic cycles consist of nondissipative and frictionless processes. For this reason, a thermodynamic cycle can be operated in the forward direction to produce mechanical power from heat energy, or it can be operated in the reverse direction to produce heat energy from mechanical power. The reversed cycle is used primarily for the cooling effect that it produces during a portion of the cycle and so is called a refrigeration cycle. It may also be used for the heating effect, as in the comfort warming of space during the cold season of the year. See also: Heat pump; Thermodynamic processes
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