Modelling and experimental investigation of a vapor compression system under steady state regime

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to establish a detailed modelling technique to predict the refrigerant conditions such as pressure and enthalpy of a Vapor Compression (VC) system. The steady state modelling techniques of VC systems suggested in many research works are usually not easy to reproduce due to lack of detailed methodology and to the multitude of analytical or computational schemes that could not be assessed objectively. This work has addressed this issue by introducing a modelling method developed from first principles and adaptable to different type of prediction problems. The validation of the model results with experiments was satisfactory. The model outputs such as the refrigerant evaporating pressure as well as the enthalpy at each junction are in agreement with experimental data. The proposed modelling technique could be adopted with other existing mathematical models of the components of a VC system. The modelling method could help to determine the optimal parameters of a VC system used to design and test optimal control strategies at low cost to improve the system’s efficiency. This work could also be used for modelling of VC systems with complex configuration such as systems with single condenser and multiple evaporators.