There are differences and connections between the concepts of refrigeration capacity and cooling capacity. Refrigeration capacity is an attribute of a device, while cooling capacity is an attribute of a substance. By using a refrigeration machine (including air compression and expansion of air separation equipment) for cooling, the temperature of the material can be reduced; After the temperature drops, substances have the ability to absorb heat, that is, they have a cooling capacity through refrigeration devices.
In an oxygen concentrator, it is necessary to lower the air temperature to the liquefaction temperature, which is also a refrigeration process. Therefore, a compressor must be installed at the cost of consuming electrical energy. However, in the oxygen concentrator, air is used as the working fluid, and the purpose of cooling is achieved by compressing and then expanding the air. Then cool the air itself again until it reaches the liquefaction temperature and is liquefied. The air with high pressure entering the air separation unit expands after passing through throttle valves, pipelines, equipment, and other pressure drops inside the unit. When a gas with high pressure is expanded through an expander, the energy (enthalpy) of the gas itself decreases and the temperature significantly decreases due to the gas pushing the impeller to rotate and outputting work to the outside. Its ability to take away heat is the energy that recovers from heat absorption to before expansion. Therefore, the difference in energy (enthalpy) before and after the expansion of the expander is the cooling capacity of the expansion mechanism.
DEAR Air Separation specializes in the research and development, manufacturing, and installation of various complete sets of air separation equipment, providing customers with efficient engineering and technical solutions.
