Emulator-type Load-based Testing Methodology for Dynamic Performance Characterization of Air Conditioners

<p>The global demand for energy conservation and the mitigation of the effects of global warming requires a reliable performance assessment of the many air conditioning installations operating in commercial and residential buildings worldwide. Current JIS performance evaluation procedures for air conditioners are performed at a fixed compressor speed while deactivating the native control system. It has been pointed out that these tests are not representative of the actual performance of air conditioners, which dynamically respond to thermal loads with variable or cyclic modulations of the compressor speed and expansion valve opening according to the native control system. Therefore, this study establishes a new "emulator-type” load-based performance evaluation methodology for evaluating the actual performance of air conditioners. The methodology consists of a software that can arbitrarily simulate the building side load-environment, and a testing facility for the measurement of the system performance based on the air-enthalpy method. The integrity of the testing facility is confirmed and tests are conducted for different load conditions and different room sizes. It is demonstrated that the proposed methodology can reproducibly evaluate both steadystate and dynamic performance of air conditioners operated while using their native control system.</p>