Frigoria

The frigoria (symbol: fg^{[citation needed]}) is a unit of energy that is used to measure the absorption of thermal energy in an enclosure.

It is defined as the number of kilocalories of the Technical System that a material, equipment or device is capable of absorbing. Although the term has been accepted by the Royal Spanish Academy, the unit does not exist in the International System, although it can be said that it is accepted in the Technical System.

• 1 fg = -1000 cal = -1 kcal (the negative sign is because it is a absorption, that is, a decrease in energy in a system).

Uses and applications

It is used in refrigeration systems: refrigerators, air conditioners.

The Anglo-Saxons use the BTU (British Thermal Unit) as their unit, which is equivalent to 0.252 kcal, that is, one frigoria (or kilocalorie) is equivalent to about 4 BTU.

A frigoria is equal to 4,186 kilojoules or 1,163 watt-hours. Conversely, one kilojoule is equal to 0.239 frigories, and one kilowatt-hour is equal to 860 frigories.

The evaporation of one gram of water or sweat produces about 0.540 frigories.

Power unit

The word «frigoría» is sometimes mistakenly used as a unit of energy (power/time unit), with the implicit time being one hour, but in the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy the term "frigoría& appears #3. 4; without the unit of time. In this sense, 1000 frigories (per hour) correspond to a power of 1,163 kW. A small commercial domestic air conditioner has a cooling capacity of approximately 2,000 to 3,000 BPH. They can also be seen marketed in BTU/h and kW.