Performance and Efficiency Test of a Refrigeration Plant

Laboratory test Procedure

-Testing methods applicable to refrigeration components and systems

1.TESTING OF A COMPRESSOR

Test bench description The example presented hereafter concerns the test of a hermetic scroll compressor, supplied
with refrigerant R134a and polyolester oil. In this kind of compressor, the refrigerant circulates first through the
electrical motor, to cool it; and then enters into the compression chamber [1]. A small lubrication pump is mounted
on the crankshaft in the bottom of the compressor shell, which circulates the oil to the bearings and scrolls through
an orifice located inside the crankshaft. This compressor is confronted to two problems: the motor cooling (due to
the high evaporation temperature), and the scroll lubrication: when the compressor turns slowly, the pumping effect
decreases and the compressor is poorly lubricated. Under these conditions, the compressor internal leakage could
also become more important. The compressor is supplied with a pulse-width modulated (PWM) inverter, which is
used to regulate the compressor supply frequency and thus its speed. The inverter is used in the mode V/F control
for constant torque loads and at a carrier frequency of 15 kHz. The compressor and the inverter are installed inside
two separated calorimeters to determine their ambient losses as shown in Figure 1. Each calorimeter works at a
constant air temperature by manually tuning the fan coil water flow rate, which is used to compensate the heating
contributions of the lamps and the component to be tested (the inverter or the compressor).

2. Test results

Examples of results are presented in Figure 2: the volumetric and isentropic effectiveness are plotted as functions of
the supply pressure and of the pressure ratio imposed to the compressor. Isentropic effectiveness shows a maximum
for a pressure ratio comprised between 2 and 3, corresponding to internal built-in volume ratio. A linear relation
between compressor electrical consumption and exhaust pressure is also stated

3. TESTING OF AIR-TO-REFRIGERANT HEAT EXCHANGERS

The target of these tests is to determine the performances of an air-heated evaporator and of an aircooled condenser.
The evaporator and the condenser are here tested separately, in order to have an easier control for running conditions
[5].

3.1 Description of the test bench The evaporator and condenser are installed in an air network with
controlled temperature and relative humidity. Figure 4 shows the general scheme of the test bench,
which includes the refrigerant, water and air circuits. The positions of all temperature and pressure
sensors are also indicated.

3.1.1 The air side network The air is blown in open loop with a two-speed fan, which is located at the
supply of the air network. The air mass flow rate is adjusted by tuning the speed of the fan or the
position of a damper located at the inlet of the box. A set of electrical heating resistances is used to
bring the ambient air to the required temperature, with the help of PID controller. For horizontal
condenser tests, a 4-hole orifice plate, located in the middle of the box, is used to measure the airflow
rate. Air flows into the vertical branch only (the horizontal branch is thus fully closed). For evaporator
tests, water vapor injection is used to control the proper air humidity at the supply of the evaporator. A
standard nozzle (ISO 5167-1980) is located behind evaporator in order to measure the air flow rate [3].
The vertical branch of the air network is then fully closed.

3.1.2 Refrigerant network The evaporator to be tested is connected to a refrigerant network with
variable speed scroll compressor, water-cooled condenser, receiver and Coriolis flow meter. The water
flow rate of the condenser is adjusted to control the proper condensing pressure at the refrigerant side.
Almost the same refrigerant network is used to test the condenser, except that the latter is replacing the
water-cooled condenser, and that a water-heated evaporator replaces the evaporator previously tested.
An internal heat exchanger is installed between the high-pressure liquid line at the condenser exhaust
and the low-pressure vapor line at the evaporator exhaust. This reduces the risks of a twophase state
entering the Coriolis flow meter and/or liquid entering the compressor.

3.1.3 Water network Open loop water networks are used here for both the water-cooled condenser and
the water-heated evaporator. The hot water supplied to the water-heated evaporator is coming from a
gas boiler. The supply water temperature is around 30~35°C. The condenser is supplied with tap water,
whose temperature is around 10 to 12 °C. Each water flow rate is measured by a water counter and also
by weighting; it’s adjusted by a control valve. 3.1.4 Measuring equipment and data processing Pressure
drops are measured on each heat exchanger with differential pressure sensors, refrigerant flow rate is
measured with a Coriolis flow meter, and humidity is measured with relative humidity sensors. Data
acquisition is performed with 3495A IMP/PC system at a sample rate of 1 Hz.

3.1.4.1 Temperatures The temperatures are measured using T-type thermocouples (copper-constantan).
The reference temperature is 0°C and it is given by a water ice mixing. The accuracy is estimated to be
±0.2 K. For air flow temperatures, since radial temperature gradients can occur, a net of thermocouples
is used (Figure 5). The dispersion σ between all thermocouples is the mean difference between each
measured temperature and mean value for all the thermocouples. This leads to a σ < 0.3K at the supply
of the evaporator/condenser, and to a σ < 0.7K at the exhaust of the evaporator/condenser. In order to
reduce conduction uncertainties, refrigerant and water temperatures are measured with thermocouples
installed in glove fingers, as indicated in Figure 5.

3.1.4.2 Air flow rate measurements All air flow rates are measured with nozzles and differential pressure
sensors, according to the ISO 5167-1980 standard. Air mass flow rate is computed as follows [3]: M · ( 1
+ w ) = Cd · Aint · ε · 2 · ρ · ( 1 + w ) · ∆p Where M is the dry air mass flow rate, w is the humidity ratio,
Aint is the orifice area, ρ is the dry air density and ∆p is the measured pressure drop across the nozzle.
Cd (the flow coefficient) and ε (compressibility coefficient) are calculated according to the ISO 5167
standard as a function of the Reynolds number and of the nozzle diameters. 3.2 Test results Several
steady-state performance points are obtained on both the evaporator and the condenser. For each test,
three heat balances are established: on both heat exchangers and on the compressor respectively. This
allows checking the consistency among the measurements. Table 1 shows an example of results
obtained on the evaporator.
4. TESTING OF A ROOM AIR CONDITIONER Previous sections described the measurements performed on
HVAC components. In some cases, measurements on the components alone are not sufficient, and the
whole HVAC system has to be characterized. The section describes the experimental investigation of
reversible room air conditioner (RAC). The testing method is based on a double energy balance [4]: •
The air side energy balance ("calorimeter" method) consists in installing each (indoor and outdoor) unit
inside a calorimeter. Each calorimeter contains all (water and heat) sources and sinks, required to
absorb the emission of each unit and to maintain the required environmental conditions (air
temperature and humidity). • The refrigerant side energy balance ("enthalpy method") is based on the
determination of the refrigerant enthalpy flow rate supplied to each element of the RAC (compressor,
condenser, expansion valve and evaporator). This is made possible thanks to the use of a set of
temperature and pressure sensors and of a Coriolis flow meter, introduced in the refrigerant circuit.

4.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE TEST BENCH AND TEST METHOD Testing conditions are fixed in priority
according to the international standard ISO 5151 standard. In order to cover a larger domain of use, six
other combinations of test conditions are also considered. The “indoor” test room is a volume (conform
to ISO 5151), in which the required test conditions are maintained within specified tolerances (0.5 K for
the temperatures). The air velocity is never exceeding 2.5 m/s near the tested equipment. The
“outdoor” test room also shows a sufficient volume (conform to ISO 5151) to avoid any perturbation of
the “normal” air circulation pattern. The distances between all walls, except for the floor, and all
equipment surfaces are larger than 0.9m. The manufacturer’s installation instructions are also carefully
respected.

4.1.1 Calorimeter method The calorimeter provides a method for determining the capacity
simultaneously on both indoor and outdoor sides of the equipment. In cooling mode, this method is
used only to check the airconditioning unit performances obtained by the refrigerant-enthalpy method.
Heat and water mass balances are used to determine the indoor unit capacity. An electrical heater and a
steam boiler provide the sensible and latent heat respectively. The saturated steam is superheated in
order to compensate the ambient heat losses with help of a super-heater. A power transducer measures
the sensible heat input. The latent heat input is determined by measuring, the amount of water
consumed by the steam boilers. The outdoor unit capacity is also determined in order to check indoor
side heat balance. The outdoor air is cooled or heated by a fan-coil unit. The cooling or heating power is
determined by a water side energy balance. Supply and exhaust water temperatures are measured by
thermocouples located in glove fingers; the water flow rate is measured every 15 minutes with the help
of a balance and continuously checked with the help of a counter. The calorimeter is completely
insulated. An insulated wall separates also the “indoor” and “outdoor” rooms of the calorimeter. The air
temperatures are controlled in the air channels surrounding the calorimeter. Heat gains or losses of all
calorimeter walls are determined with the help of heat flow meters. Air temperatures and relative
humidity are measured at the supply and at the exhaust of each (indoor/outdoor) unit. Globe
temperatures are also measured at different points. The main sizes and the general arrangement of the
calorimeter are shown in Figure 7.
4.1.2 Refrigerant Enthalpy Method Temperature and pressure measurements are used to determine the
enthalpy change through each component. The refrigerant mass flow rate is measured with help of a
Coriolis flow meter, located downstream of the condenser, in the liquid line. Enthalpy changes and flow
rate are combined together in order to determine the cooling and heating capacities.

4.2 Test results Examples of test results obtained with one RAC are presented in Table 2. The results
available show among others that: • The differences between both experimental methods are currently
not over-passing 5 %; • The Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) coefficient in cooling mode is here varying from
2.9 to 4.6, according to the class and mainly according to the conditions of use; • The EER coefficient in
heating mode is varying from 2.7 to 3.7; The main “bottle neck” for increasing EER seems located at the
level of the condenser in both modes, i.e. at the level of the outdoor heat exchanger in cooling mode
and at the level of the indoor heat exchanger in heating mode. In the present case, indeed, the main
difference between “high” and “medium” classes consists in an increase of area of the outdoor heat
exchanger.

CONCLUSION Several experimental methods are presented in this paper that permit to determine
accurately the performances of the tested components. The calorimeter method allows measuring the
ambient losses of the components, and allows, for example, performing a heat balance over the
compressor. This heat balance can be used for checking the refrigerant and/or oil flow rate in the
device. Defining various and well pre-defined working conditions is of crucial importance. For that
purpose, the design of an air network and of a refrigerant circuit are described, that are used to control
the supply conditions (temperature, humidity, pressure) of the heat exchangers. In the same manner, a
double calorimetric room is used to define ambient conditions for the testing of the room air
conditioner.