Pressure-enthalpy (\(P-H\)) and temperature-entropy (\(T-S\)) diagrams for refrigerant R-134a are used to demonstrate an ordinary vapor compression (OVC) cycle. The condenser pressure (high pressure) and evaporator pressure (low pressure) can be varied with the sliders. The coefficient of performance (COP), which is the heat transferred to the evaporator \(Q_c\) divided by the compressor work \(W\), is calculated. Selecting "cycle" shows the components of the cycle, and moving the mouse over the circled numbers displays the phases present at those points.

This simulation was created in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, at University of Colorado Boulder for LearnChemE.com by Rachael Baumann under the direction of Professor John L. Falconer and was converted to HTML5 by Patrick Doyle, with additional contributions by Neil Hendren. Address any questions or comments to learncheme@gmail.com. All of our simulations are open source, and are available on our LearnChemE Github repository.

If this simulation is too big for your screen, zoom out using  +  on Mac or  +  on Windows. To zoom in, use  +  on Mac or  +  on Windows.