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IJMERR 2022 Vol.11(2): 114-122
DOI: 10.18178/ijmerr.11.2.114-122

Modelling and Experimental Investigation of a Vapor Compression System under Steady State Regime

Conrad Sanama and Xiaohua Xia
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

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. 

 
Index Terms—vapor compression, steady state, modelling, experiment

Cite: Conrad Sanama and Xiaohua Xia, "Modelling and Experimental Investigation of a Vapor Compression System under Steady State Regime," International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 114-122, February 2022. DOI: 10.18178/ijmerr.11.2.114-122

Copyright © 2022 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the article is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.