Experimental study on the performance of centralized air conditioning system due to different outdoor air conditions Kasni Sumeru, Triaji Pangripto, Vickry Muhammad, Mohamad Firdaus bin Sukri
Politeknik Negeri Bandung
Abstract
It is known that outdoor air conditions give significant effect on the performance of air conditioning (A/C) system. Therefore, this experimental study is proposed to investigate the performance of A/C system with different outdoor air conditions. Four parameters were investigated in this study, i.e., cooling capacity, input power, coefficient of performance (COP) and condensate production rate. The study was conducted on a centralized A/C unit using direct expansion (DX) system with a compressor capacity of approximately 15 kW. The investigation was carried out in two outdoor conditions, namely hot and rainy conditions. As compared to hot condition, the result showed that the average cooling capacity of the A/C system during rainy condition increases by 7.2% (increment from 38.5 kW to 41.5 kW). In the other aspect, reduction in the input power from 16.6 kW for hot condition to 15.9 kW for rainy condition was also achieved. As a result of these increase in cooling capacity and the decrease in the input power led to an improvement in the COP of around 8.5%. In addition, rainy condition produced higher rate of condensate (8.45 l/h), as compared to hot condition (5.43 l/h). In conclusion, the A/C system performs better in rainy condition as compared to hot condition, and higher rate of condensate open up a bigger opportunity for condensate utilization in the future.
Keywords: Air conditioning, cooling capacity, input power, COP
