Ahmed H. Al-Hassani; Alaa R. Al-Badri
Abstract
The operation and performance of heat-pump systems are affected by indoor and outdoor operating conditions. Power consumption and system efficiency are related to evaporator and condenser ...
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The operation and performance of heat-pump systems are affected by indoor and outdoor operating conditions. Power consumption and system efficiency are related to evaporator and condenser working pressures. Intelligent controllers such as a proportional integral (PI) controller improve the performance of variable speed refrigeration systems (VSRs) with electronic expansion valve (EEV). Evaporator and condenser pressures affect the system power consumption and efficiency. In this study, the influence of evaporator and condenser temperatures on the performance of a variable speed refrigeration system with an EEV was experimentally investigated at constant cooling load. The experimental system comprises of a rotary compressor, shell-and-coil condenser, EEV, and shell-and-coil evaporator for one-ton cooling capacity with refrigerant R410. Compressor speed and EEV opening are controlled by a PI controller with two control loops and the refrigerant superheat (DS) is maintained at 7°C. The results show that at constant cooling capacity, the refrigerant flow rate rises with the increase in the compressor speed. The coefficient of performance (COP) is improved with low compressor speed. The System COP is increased by 3.3% with increasing evaporator inlet water temperature for 2°C due to the reduction in the compressor speed and compression ratio. High condenser inlet water temperature promotes the refrigerant subcooling.
