Experimental Evaluation of an Energy Efficiency Improvement System in Split Air Conditioner

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Head of Energy Conversion and Productivity Technical Group/ Department of Mechanical Engineering/ Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST)

2 Instructor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST)

Abstract

In this study, the effect of using a wet evaporation layer in the inlet air of the condenser on the performance of split air conditioner has been investigated. Also, based on a new contribution, the drained water generated due to the ambient moisture distillation on the evaporator coil, collected and used in the evaporation layer. The temperature of passed air through the surface of the condenser is reduced before entering the condenser due to contact with the evaporation layer. Applied experimental studies and results of prototype test showed that by reducing the temperature of condenser inlet air using proposed evaporative cooling system, the average electrical energy consumption decreases more than 12% and the coefficient of performance increases about 15.1%. Also, despite the desired effects of the proposed mechanism on the coefficient of performance and system energy consumption, the results of parametric studies indicated that effectiveness of the evaporative condenser reduced due to the ambient temperature and relative humidity. So that, the system performance changes decreases with increasing ambient temperature (30.5 to 44.5 Celsius) from 18.22% to 15.05%, and also it declines from 18.14% to 6.4%, as well as reduction of the relative humidity (from 35 to 70 percent).

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References

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Amirkabir Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Volume 52, Issue 2
May 2020
Pages 365-380

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