Industrial applications of refrigeration . General

We define the term "refrigeration of a body, process..." as the process of lowering the temperature of this product or process below ambient temperature.

So, by definition, refrigeration of a product or process involves :

• a process of absorbing the heat supplied by the product or process to be cooled. This endothermic process may involve a variety of technological devices and a wide range of fluids, both for producing the cold and for transporting the "cold" between the place of production and the place of use;

• a process temperature level between absolute zero and ambient temperature: to take account of the wide range of conditions of use and "cold" production associated with these temperatures, a distinction is made in the remainder of this article between two refrigeration modes:

  • mechanical refrigeration, which is generally produced by traditional refrigeration machines with compression cycles whose usual temperature range is between – 50 and 10 °C or absorption or adsorption cycles whose temperature ranges are close to [BE 9 733][BE 9 740][BE 9 741][BE 9 742][BE 9 743]