Modeling, identification and control of air-conditioning systems

In this paper, feedback controller design for the air-conditioning system is addressed through systematic modeling and identification. Particularly, the physical model of the system reveals the key parameter that dictates energy efficiency, and the identification procedure produces a low-order, linear model suitable for controller design. The feedback controller employed is multi-input–multi-output-based and possesses a cascade structure for dealing with the fast and slow dynamics in the system. To determine appropriate control parameters, conditions that establish performance and stability of the cascade design are given. Experiments show that the controller can simultaneously achieve satisfactory transient response in the indoor temperature, and improve energy efficiency at steady state.     

制冷装置中膨胀阀的对比研究

为验证自行开发的电子膨胀阀和采用单片机开发的实时控制器的控制效果,针对热力膨胀阀、步进电机型膨胀阀、电磁阀型膨胀阀,进行了多个制冷系统冷启动和稳定工况下变负荷控制的实验研究。结果表明相对于传统的热力膨胀阀,电子膨胀阀更适用于系统综合控制器;连续调节型的执行机构比离散调节型的执行机构更容易使过热度稳定;积分环节大大改善了过热度的控制品质。自行开发的电子膨胀阀和控制器,性能价格比高,与国外同类产品相比,实际的控制效果也有较明显的提高。     

The effect of operating conditions on the performance of a supersonic ejector for refrigeration

A previously developed one-dimensional model, based on a forward marching solution technique of the conservation equations has been used to study ejector operation and performance in a large range of refrigeration working conditions. Several important features of ejector operation characteristics were simulated. Global parameter values, their local distributions along the ejector including the temperature, the pressure and the Mach number were calculated for design and off design conditions. Operation parameters such as the entrainment ratio ω, compression ratios P_exit/P_ev, P_g/P_exit and the geometric ratio (D/D_c)² were found to significantly affect performance. The impact of the generator, the evaporator, the condenser and related thermodynamic parameters, which have been assessed in this study, are summarized as:

Fluid mixing conditions dictated by the fluid type, the mixing chamber geometry, the inlet and outlet constraints, may lead to off design operation with related stability and performance deterioration

Internal superheat generation, due to inefficient mixing and normal shock waves is very important in off design operation

Some degree of inlet superheat (around 5 °C) is necessary to prevent internal condensation but excess superheat is detrimental to the condenser efficiency at exit

Generator pressure conditions and the evaporator temperature significantly affect ejector performance.

Investigation of the effects of thermostatic and electronic expansion valves on the steady-state and transient performance of commercial chillers

This paper investigates the steady-state performance and transient response of a commercial fixed-speed on-off controlled chiller and presents comparative performance results obtained during operation with a thermostatic and with an electronic expansion valve. The aim was to establish the effect of the two valves on the transient and steady-state performance of the chiller and to quantify the effects of on-off cycling losses during part-load operation. The results indicate that the chiller has a very fast response during start-up and that cycling losses are very low. The thermostatic expansion valve gives a slightly faster response than the electronic expansion valve with the penalty, however, of less stable operation with larger superheat oscillations at steady-state conditions.     

Numerical simulation and experimental validation of vapour compression refrigeration systems. Special emphasis on CO2 trans-critical cycles

A numerical and experimental comparative study of a carbon dioxide trans-critical refrigerating system and a conventional sub-critical refrigerating cycle is presented. Attention is focussed not only on the whole refrigeration cycle, but also on the behaviour of the hermetic reciprocating compressors used in these systems. The comparative cases presented have been specially designed for small cooling capacity units with an evaporation temperature around 0 °C. A detailed numerical simulation model for hermetic reciprocating compressors performance, widely validated under conventional fluid refrigerants, has been extended to numerically obtain the CO₂ compressor prototypes behaviour. Two CO₂ compressor prototypes working with CO₂ have been experimentally tested in a specific unit, specially designed and built to analyse high-pressure single stage vapour compression trans-critical refrigerating equipments. This set-up has allowed validating a detailed numerical simulation code for the thermal and fluid-dynamic behaviour of single stage vapour compression refrigeration system working with CO₂ as fluid refrigerant. The numerical results and the experimental data obtained to validate compressors, heat exchangers and whole cycle behaviour have shown a really good agreement. Finally, the numerical and experimental comparison between the carbon dioxide system and the sub-critical conventional cycle has shown the possibility of CO₂ as fluid refrigerant under the studied working conditions.     

Integration of a three-stage expander into a CO2 refrigeration system

The inclusion of an expander with work recovery provides two advantages for transcritical CO₂ refrigeration cycles: the COP is improved and the exhaust pressure of the main compressor is lowered. Several designs of expanders have been proposed for this application and some prototypes have been tested already. In our laboratory a three-stage expander has been developed, which replaces the throttle valve of the normal refrigeration cycle and expands into the two-phase region. For optimum integration into the overall system it is proposed to install a vapour-liquid separator between the second and third stage of expansion. The vapour is guided back to the third expander stage whereas the liquid is supplied to the cooling stations via thermostatic or electronic expansion valves.     

A hybrid method for refrigerant flow balancing in multi-circuit evaporators: Upstream versus downstream flow control

A hybrid method for optimizing refrigerant distribution in evaporators is presented that involves the use of small balancing valves in each circuit along with a primary expansion device to control the overall superheat from the evaporator. The flow balancing valves could be located upstream or downstream of the evaporator. This paper presents the results of a study to investigate the benefits of this hybrid scheme for both upstream and downstream flow balancing for the case of air flow mal-distribution. In order to perform this investigation, a simulation model was developed to consider evaporator flow mal-distributions for a 10.55 kW residential R410A heat pump and then validated through comparisons of predicted results with measurements. Simulation results show that there are significant benefits in controlling the superheat of each circuit of evaporators through the hybrid–individual superheat control method. Furthermore, the upstream refrigerant flow control consistently outperforms the downstream refrigerant flow control, and recovers most of the loss in cooling capacity and COP due to non-uniform air flow distribution.     

Thermostatic valve control using a non-azeotropic refrigerant, isobutane/propane mixtureRégulation d'un détendeur thermostatique utilisant un mélange d'isobutane et de propane comme frigorigène non azéotropique

This article describes the evaluation and comparison of a conventional R12 cross-charged thermostatic valve and an electronic expansion valve using a non-azeotropic refrigerant mixture (NARM); isobutane/propane mixture (CARE30). The superheat temperature setting on an expansion valve needs to compensate for the temperature glide associated with a non-azeotropic refrigerant as these can be of similar magnitude. It is also advisable to increase the superheat setting to make allowance for change in refrigerant composition as a result of preferential refrigerant/oil solubility. The majority of refrigeration systems operate at fixed evaporating temperatures, hence, once superheat setting is trimmed during commissioning, then there should be no further problems associated with evaporation of a non-azeotropic refrigerant provided the system is leak-tight. An R12 expansion valve with a factory superheat setting of 5°C tested over a wide range of evaporating temperatures proved satisfactory in operation with CARE30 after increasing the superheat temperature screw setting equivalent to 5°C.     

Experimental validation of a prototype ejector designed to reduce throttling losses encountered in transcritical R744 system operation

This study presents experimental results obtained from a transcritical R744 system using a refrigerant ejector. The results were compared to that of a conventional system with an expansion valve. For the test conditions considered, the cooling capacity and COP simultaneously improved by up to 8% and 7%, respectively. Experiments were analyzed to quantitatively assess the effects on system performance as a result of changes in basic ejector dimensions such as motive nozzle and diffuser sizing. Small angles of 5° yielded best results for the static pressure recovery of the high-speed two-phase flow entering the diffuser. Experiments confirmed that like in a conventional transcritical R744 system with expansion valve, the high-side pressure control integrated into the ejector could be used to maximize the system performance. Numerical simulation results helped identifying this basic trend. Due to difficulties in the ejector throat pressure measurements, a more practical performance metric was introduced in order to quantify overall ejector efficiencies. According to this definition, the prototype ejector was able to recover up to 14.5% of the throttling losses.     

Evaluation of a hybrid method for refrigerant flow balancing in multi-circuit evaporators

A companion paper [Kim, J.-H., Braun, J.E., Groll, E.A., 2009. A hybrid method for refrigerant flow balancing in multi-circuit evaporators: upstream versus downstream control. International Journal of Refrigeration doi:10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2009.01.013 presented a hybrid approach for providing control of refrigerant flow distribution in evaporators that involves the use of small balancing valves in each circuit along with a primary expansion device to control the overall superheat from the evaporator. Furthermore, the companion paper demonstrated that the flow balancing valves should be located upstream rather than downstream of the evaporator in order to realize significant benefits. The current paper utilizes the model presented in the companion paper to more fully evaluate the effects of uneven air and refrigerant flow distributions and the benefits of upstream hybrid control in response to these effects.     

Theoretical evaluation of trans-critical CO2 systems in supermarket refrigeration. Part II: System modifications and comparisons of different solutions

The performance of CO₂ refrigeration systems strongly depends on the operating conditions. The specific characteristics of low critical temperature and high operating pressure limit its applications and imply the implementation of different control strategies. This study compares the performance of different CO₂ system solutions for supermarket refrigeration with R404A system. Some possible modifications and improvements on the CO₂ system have been investigated. The COP of the investigated CO₂ system solution can be improved by about 3–7% along the ambient temperature range of 10–40 °C. The annual energy consumption calculations in three different climates; cold, moderate and hot, show that the centralized trans-critical CO₂ system is good solution for cold climates whereas the NH₃–CO₂ cascade system has the lowest energy consumption in hot climates. Both systems proved to be good alternatives to R404A DX system for supermarket refrigeration.     

Experimental investigation on the performance of NH3/CO2 cascade refrigeration system with twin-screw compressor

This paper describes the experiment carried out to analyze the performance of a refrigeration system in cascade with ammonia and carbon dioxide as working fluids. The effect of operation parameters, such as the evaporating temperature of the low temperature cycle, the condensing temperature of low temperature cycle, temperature difference in cascade heat exchanger and superheat degree, on the system performance was investigated. Performance of the cascade system with NH₃/CO₂ was compared with that of two-stage NH₃ system and single-stage NH₃ system with or without economizer. It was found that the COP of the cascade system is the best among all the systems, when the evaporating temperature is below −40 °C. Also, the cascade system performance is greatly affected by evaporating temperature, condensing temperature of low temperature cycle, temperature difference in cascade heat exchanger and is only slightly sensitive to superheat degree. All the experimental results indicate that the NH₃/CO₂ cascade system is very competitive in low temperature applications.     

A DDC-based capacity controller of a direct expansion (DX) air conditioning (A/C) unit for simultaneous indoor air temperature and humidity control – Part I: Control algorithms and preliminary controllability tests

For residential buildings located in the subtropics, direct expansion (DX) air conditioning (A/C) units are commonly used. Most DX A/C units are currently equipped with single-speed compressors and supply fans, relying on on–off cycling compressors as a low-cost approach to maintain only indoor air dry-bulb temperature, resulting in either space overcooling or an uncontrolled equilibrium indoor relative humidity (RH) level. With the rapid development of A/C industry, the use of variable-speed compressor and supply fan has become more and more prevalent and practical. This paper, the first part of a two-part series, reports on the development of a novel direct digital control (DDC)-based capacity controller for a DX A/C unit having variable-speed compressor and supply fan to simultaneously control indoor air temperature and RH in a conditioned space served by the DX A/C unit. The controller is the first of its kind as a composite parameter, sensible heat ratio (SHR), is used as a controlled parameter. The core element of the capacity controller, a numerical calculation algorithm (NCA) is firstly presented. This is followed by reporting the results of preliminary controllability tests of the DDC-based capacity controller, which suggested that the controller developed could achieve a reasonable control accuracy, but with room for improvement with respect to control sensitivity. Part II of the two-part series reports on the further development of the controller to improve its control sensitivity, and the results of associated controllability tests.     

光电层合圆柱薄壳的自组织模糊主动振动控制

本文针对当前的光致伸缩驱动器构型在壳类结构的振动抑制中不能产生负膜力的问题,提出了一种新型的多片组合驱动器构型。并将该构型层合在圆柱薄壳结构的上下表面,建立了光电层合圆柱壳独立模态振动控制方程。考虑到光致伸缩驱动器的非线性和时变驱动特性,以及模型的不确定性,设计了基于性能函数负梯度调节的规则自组织模糊主动控制器,克服了常规模糊控制器控制规则设计的困难;为了验证上述提出的控制策略的有效性,进行了数值仿真;仿真结果表明提出的自组织模糊控制器取得了理想的振动控制性能,实现了柔性薄壳结构的非接触主动振动控制。     

A DDC-based capacity controller of a direct expansion (DX) air conditioning (A/C) unit for simultaneous indoor air temperature and humidity control – Part II: Further development of the controller to improve control sensitivity

The development of the novel direct digital control (DDC)-based capacity controller for a direct expansion (DX) air conditioning (A/C) unit having variable-speed compressor and supply fan to simultaneously control indoor air temperature and relative humidity (RH) in a conditioned space served by the DX A/C unit has been reported in Part I of the two-part series. The results of preliminary controllability tests for the novel capacity controller presented in Part I, however, suggested that the controller developed was operational, with acceptable control accuracy but rooms for improvement with respect to control sensitivity. This paper, the second part of the two-part series, reports on the further development of the controller to improve its control sensitivity and the associated controllability test results. Both control accuracy and reasonable control sensitivity were achieved by incorporating a traditional Proportional–integral (PI) controller into the DDC-based capacity controller.     

Effects of liquid refrigerant injection on the performance of a refrigeration system with an accumulator heat exchanger

Liquid refrigerant injection technique can be a very effective method for controlling subcooling and the compressor discharge temperature of a refrigeration system at high ambient temperatures. In this study, the effects of liquid refrigerant injection on the performance of a refrigeration system with an accumulator heat exchanger were investigated by varying the liquid injection rate at the conditions of constant expansion valve opening in the evaporator and constant total flow rate. During the tests, the ambient temperature was maintained at 43 °C. With the increase of the liquid injection rate, the subcooling at the inner heat exchanger outlet increased and the superheat at the accumulator outlet decreased. However, unacceptable results such as the increase of the compressor discharge pressure and decrease of the system performance were also observed depending on the control method applied. To obtain high system performance and reliability, optimum control methods for liquid injection in the accumulator heat exchanger are suggested. The liquid injection technique for the refrigeration system with an accumulator heat exchanger was found to be an effective method for controlling adequate subcooling and the compressor discharge temperature of the refrigeration system at high ambient temperatures.     

Practical sensorless control for inverter-fed BDCM compressors

Brushless DC motors (BDCMs) possess higher efficiencies than the conventional induction motors and BDCMs have therefore been used widely in inverter-fed compressors. Since the Hall position sensors cannot work well in the high-temperature environment of refrigerants, sensorless control schemes play an important role in the application of inverter-fed BDCM compressors. Sensorless control for actual BDCM compressor is proposed and implemented. First, the sensorless circuits used have been analysed in detail to find the design rules of the circuit parameters for various compressor motors. Then, the limitations of sensorless control are discussed to develop a practical speed controller for BDCM compressors. The developed starting strategy and sensorless algorithms are presented and digitally implemented. Finally, some experimental results are displayed to demonstrate the proposed sensorless speed control for BDCM compressors.     

Transient and steady-state experimental investigation of flash tank vapor injection heat pump cycle control strategy

Recent research on vapor injection technique has been mostly focused on performance improvement using different system configurations. The flash tank cycle typically shows better performance than the internal heat exchanger cycle. However, the flash tank cycle control strategy is not yet clearly defined. In this study, a novel cycle control strategy is proposed for an R-410A vapor injection flash tank heat pump system and its feasibility was experimentally investigated. The proposed novel cycle control strategy utilized an electronic expansion valve (EEV) for the upper-stage expansion and a thermostatic expansion valve for the lower-stage expansion, and applied an electric heater in the vapor injection line to introduce superheat to the injected vapor by providing a control signal to the upper-stage EEV. Both transient and steady-state system behaviors were studied. The proposed cycle control strategy was found to be able to provide reliable control to the system.     

Design of a steady-state detector for fault detection and diagnosis of a residential air conditioner

This paper presents a general methodology for developing a steady-state detector for a vapor compression system based on a moving window and using standard deviations of seven measurements selected as features. The feature thresholds and optimized moving window size were based upon steady-state no-fault tests and startup transient tests. The study showed that evaporator superheat and condenser subcooling were sufficient for determining the onset of steady-state during the startup transient. However, they misidentified steady-state during indoor temperature change tests where evaporator saturation temperature and air temperature change across the evaporator were needed for proper steady-state identification. Hence, the paper recommends including all fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) features in the steady-state detector to ensure the robustness of the detector because different features may play key roles with different transients.     

Development of evaporation pressure-capacity control strategy for aircraft vapor cycle system

The conventional superheat-capacity control strategy fails to regulate the superheat steadily because of the violent oscillation at certain situations. This paper newly proposed an evaporation pressure-capacity control strategy to simulate the vapor cycle system by modulating the EEV opening to control the evaporation pressure rather than the superheat. A dual SISO expert PID controller with a feedforward compensator was employed to compare the control performance of the conventional superheat-capacity control strategy with the developed strategy. Experimental results showed both control strategies could regulate the capacity satisfactorily, but the new strategy could maintain the evaporation pressure stably. The conventional method failed to maintain the superheat around the target because of the violent oscillation observed. The developed strategy could regulate the aircraft vapor cycle system smoothly and reliably even under fast and widely changing environment. In addition, violent oscillation of superheat with big change width and quick frequency was observed and reported.