Air-conditioning Unit Performance Analysis Equipped with a Shaded Condenser

Maher Shehadi

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual On line
Publication Date: June 22, 2020
Start Date: June 22, 2020
End Date: June 26, 2021
Conference Session: ECCD Technical Session 5: Energy and Wind and Design
Tagged Division: Energy Conversion and Conservation
Page Count: 11
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--34099
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/34099
Download Count: 391

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Maher Shehadi Purdue Polytechnic Institute

visit author page

Dr. Shehadi is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) at Purdue University. His academic experiences have focused on learning and discovery in areas related to HVAC, indoor air quality, human thermal comfort, and energy conservation. While working with industry, he oversaw maintenance and management programs for various facilities including industrial plants, high rise residential and commercial buildings, energy audits and condition surveys for various mechanical and electrical and systems. He has conducted several projects to reduce carbon dioxide and other building emission impacts by evaluating and improving the energy practices through the integration of sustainable systems with existing systems. His current research focuses on engaging and educating students in sustainable and green buildings' design and energy conservation. He is currently investigating various ways to reduce energy consumption in office buildings.

visit author page

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

Condensers are used in chillers and in air-conditioning systems to reject heat from the refrigerant to the outdoor air and to help in liquefying the refrigerant as it passes through its tubes. Diverting the solar flux radiated from the sun away from the condenser would help in eliminating an additional source of heat into the refrigerant and hence is expected to enhance the performance of the air-conditioning system.

A capstone project in the School of Engineering Technology at xxx University conducted an experimental and analytical study to investigate the performance of air-conditioning systems when the condenser was shaded from sun rays. The experimental study investigated a 3 ton-refrigerant (TR) unit installed in an actual residential house. The surface temperature of the tubes entering and exiting the condenser were measured and recorded along with the evaporator temperature. The study looked into improvement in the coefficient of performance (COP) of the cycle. On the other hand, the study simulated the COP for a 3-TR unit and for a wider range of air-conditioning unit capacities ranging from 80-370 TR. For the experimental part, the study looked into the temperatures between June and September while maintaining the evaporator temperature at approximately 5°C, 8°C, and 10°C. Averages of the COP for each day were compared for shaded versus unshaded cases. Outdoor temperatures ranged between 18-32°C. The experimental results for the 3-TR unit showed 12-39% improvement in the COP of the cycle under various evaporator temperatures with uncertainty levels between 1.6-36%, whereas the simulated results showed higher improvements than the experimental. For the 80-370 TR simulation, the study showed that the COP per heat rejected from each square meter of condenser surface area was more uniform for shaded cases. The COP improvement for the higher capacity units followed the same trend as for the 3-TR unit as it increased with an increase in the evaporator temperature or a decrease in the outdoor ambient temperature, but the improvements were less and ranged between 9-17% for the various cases.

The project was assessed through biweekly progress reports, presentations, final report and team work which satisfied many of the ABET outcomes as shown in the project assessment section. This project and similarly embedded projects in courses are thought to increase students' knowledge by involving them in an active learning environment solving or analyzing real world problems and challenges.

Citation
Format

Shehadi, M. (2020, June), Air-conditioning Unit Performance Analysis Equipped with a Shaded Condenser Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--34099

TY - CPAPER
AB - Condensers are used in chillers and in air-conditioning systems to reject heat from the refrigerant to the outdoor air and to help in liquefying the refrigerant as it passes through its tubes. Diverting the solar flux radiated from the sun away from the condenser would help in eliminating an additional source of heat into the refrigerant and hence is expected to enhance the performance of the air-conditioning system.

A capstone project in the School of Engineering Technology at xxx University conducted an experimental and analytical study to investigate the performance of air-conditioning systems when the condenser was shaded from sun rays. The experimental study investigated a 3 ton-refrigerant (TR) unit installed in an actual residential house. The surface temperature of the tubes entering and exiting the condenser were measured and recorded along with the evaporator temperature. The study looked into improvement in the coefficient of performance (COP) of the cycle. On the other hand, the study simulated the COP for a 3-TR unit and for a wider range of air-conditioning unit capacities ranging from 80-370 TR. For the experimental part, the study looked into the temperatures between June and September while maintaining the evaporator temperature at approximately 5°C, 8°C, and 10°C. Averages of the COP for each day were compared for shaded versus unshaded cases. Outdoor temperatures ranged between 18-32°C. The experimental results for the 3-TR unit showed 12-39% improvement in the COP of the cycle under various evaporator temperatures with uncertainty levels between 1.6-36%, whereas the simulated results showed higher improvements than the experimental. For the 80-370 TR simulation, the study showed that the COP per heat rejected from each square meter of condenser surface area was more uniform for shaded cases. The COP improvement for the higher capacity units followed the same trend as for the 3-TR unit as it increased with an increase in the evaporator temperature or a decrease in the outdoor ambient temperature, but the improvements were less and ranged between 9-17% for the various cases.

The project was assessed through biweekly progress reports, presentations, final report and team work which satisfied many of the ABET outcomes as shown in the project assessment section. This project and similarly embedded projects in courses are thought to increase students&#39; knowledge by involving them in an active learning environment solving or analyzing real world problems and challenges.

AU - Maher Shehadi
CY - Virtual On line
DA - 2020/06/22
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Air-conditioning Unit Performance Analysis Equipped with a Shaded Condenser
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/34099
DO - 10.18260/1-2--34099
ER -