PROGRAMME: COURSE: ACADEMIC YEAR: INSTRUCTOR: DATE:

BSc in MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AMEG 408 2012-13 Dr. George Karagiorgis 25/10/2012

LAB 1:

Split Air condition unit

Prepared by: Glafkos Andreou Reg. Num.: 3252

NICOSIA - CYPRUS
Laboratory Description

In this laboratory session, the functioning of a split air-condition unit was demonstrated to us for both cooling and heating mode. The aim of this laboratory demonstration was to understand the working principles of such systems and what is the function of each part of the split unit.

What is a split air conditioning?

A split air conditioning imply means that the condenser (or sometimes referred to as the outdoor unit) is separated from the indoor unit, thus the term split. The split air conditioning has at least one unit that sits inside your room. The compressor sits outside of the room, sometimes on the ground or on brackets hung to the wall. Some models come with multiple indoor units that will use one single compressor, this is known as the multi-split air conditioning system. Figure 1 shows a typical installation of a split air condition unit.

Figure 1: A graphical representation of a split air condition unit

Split Air condition system components

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The main components of a split air condition unit are listed in the following table while an illustration of the various components is shown in figure 2. Numbering: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Components name: Compressor Condenser Evaporator Expansion valve Flow reversing valve Condenser fan Evaporator fan

Figure 2: Illustration of the system components

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How does the split air conditioning works?

Cooling mode:
The general principle of an air condition system is that it uses a refrigerant fluid to have a reversible phase transition from a liquid to a gas in heat cycle. For an air conditioning system to operate with economy, the refrigerant must be used repeatedly. For this reason, all air conditioners use the same cycle of compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation in a closed circuit. The same refrigerant is used to move the heat from one area, to cool this area, and to expel this heat in another area. In the case of cooling mode, the refrigerant comes into the compressor as a lowpressure gas, it is compressed and then moves out of the compressor as a highpressure gas. The gas then flows to the condenser. Here the gas condenses to a liquid, and gives off its heat to the outside air with the aid of a blowing fan. The liquid then moves to the expansion valve under high pressure. This valve restricts the flow of the fluid, and lowers its pressure as it leaves the expansion valve. The low-pressure liquid then moves to the evaporator, where heat from the inside air is absorbed and changes it from a liquid to a gas. Here there is also a blowing fan for force convection. As a hot low-pressure gas, the refrigerant moves to the compressor where the entire cycle is repeated.

Heating mode:
In the case of switching to heating mode the air condition system adds heat to a room instead of removing it. This is possible with the use of a reversing valve. This valve allows the system to act as both an air conditioner and a heating system. When the reversing valve is set to heat mode, the process is the same but the condenser and evaporator automatically switch roles, so that the evaporator is now outdoors while the condenser is inside. As refrigerant passes outdoors, it collects heat energy and transports it back into the home. The condenser exhausts the heat energy into the home, and then passes the cooled refrigerant back outdoors to complete the cycle.

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Expansion valve in more details

The expansion valve removes pressure from the liquid refrigerant to allow expansion or change of state from a liquid to a vapor in the evaporator. The high-pressure liquid refrigerant entering the expansion valve is quite warm. This may be verified by feeling the liquid line at its connection to the expansion valve. The liquid refrigerant leaving the expansion valve is quite cold. The orifice within the valve does not remove heat, but only reduces pressure. Heat molecules contained in the liquid refrigerant are thus allowed to spread as the refrigerant moves out of the orifice. Under a greatly reduced pressure the liquid refrigerant is at its coldest as it leaves the expansion valve and enters the evaporator. As figure 3 shows, the refrigerant enters the inlet and screen as a high-pressure liquid. The refrigerant flow is restricted by a metered orifice through which it must pass. As the refrigerant passes through this orifice, it changes from a high-pressure liquid to a low-pressure liquid (or passes from the high side to the low side of the system).

Figure 3: Section view of Internally-Equalized Expansion Valve

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Reversing valve in more details

A reversing valve is a component in a heat pump, that changes the direction of refrigerants flow. By reversing the flow of refrigerant, the heat pump refrigeration cycle is changed from cooling to heating or vice versa. This allows a residence or facility to be heated and cooled by a single piece of equipment, by the same means, and with the same hardware. The reversing valve has two states, relaxed and energized. The energized state is typically achieved by applying an electric signal of 24VDC, which is commonly used in controls. The heat pump can be designed by the manufacturer to produce cooling or heating with the reversing valve in the relaxed state. When the reversing valve is energized, it will produce the opposite conditioning. In other words, a reversing valve installed in such a way as to produce cooling when relaxed will produce heating when energized. Likewise, a reversing valve installed to produce heating when relaxed will produce cooling when energized. Figure 4 show an example of a reversing valve used in air condition systems.

Figure 4: Reversing valve example

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T-s Diagram for Ideal Vapor-Compression Refrigeration Cycle

1 2: Compression
In this process, the compressor isentropically compresses the fully vaporized refrigerant to the condenser pressure. The work input to the compressor is the net work input to the whole system.

2 3: Constant-pressure heat rejection in a condenser

The refrigerant enters the condenser in superheated form. Heat is rejected to the surroundings, and the refrigerant leaves the condenser at (3) in saturated liquid. The temperature of the saturated liquid is still above that of the surroundings.

3 4: Throttling in an expansion device

The expansion device creates a rapid pressure drop, causing the temperature of the refrigerant to drop below that of the refrigerated region. The refrigerant thus leaves the throttling valve as a low quality saturated mixture and enters the evaporator.

4 1: Constant-pressure heat absorption

The low pressure low quality refrigerant vaporizes in the evaporator by absorbing heat from the cold space. By the time the refrigerant enters compressor, it is in saturated vapor form.
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Improved efficiency and energy saving

The continuous increases of energy cost created the need for more efficient air condition systems that will demand much less energy than conventional ones These requirements can be accomplished with the air condition inverter technology. An inverter in an air conditioner is used to control the speed of the compressor motor to allow continuously regulated temperature. By contrast, traditional air conditioners regulate temperature by using a compressor that is periodically either working at maximum capacity or switched off entirely. Inverter-equipped air conditioners have a variable-frequency drive that incorporates an adjustable electrical inverter to control the speed of the motor and thus the compressor and cooling or heating output. A temperature sensor is used to read the rooms temperature and sends this information to the control system. The control systems task is to compare the set value and the sensors reading. Then it talks to the inverter in order to adjust the speed of the motor so that the set temperature value is reached or maintained. This is possible by sending an analogue signal to the inverter. An example of an analogue signal is the 0-10VDC signal where 10VDC corresponds to the maximum motor speed and 0VDC corresponds to no motor rotation. Based on this linearization function 5VDC corresponds to the half of the maximum motor speed and so on. For the optimization of the process advanced control methods such as the PID loop can be used in order to assure the accuracy of the output analogue signal. The manufacturer of the inverter air condition shown below claims that energy savings up to 60% can be achieved.

Figure 5: Inverter air condition made by LG

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Conclusion
By completing this laboratory exercise we got familiarized with the basic principles of air conditioning systems and their working components. We learned the theory derived from Thermodynamics and fluid mechanics and saw its practical implementation by switching on the split unit and observing all the heatingcooling phenomena on the copper tubes. We have now comprehended the idea of heating and cooling and realize its great importance and influence not only for personal comfort in our daily life but also for industrial applications.

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