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Evaluation and demonstration of a virtual refrigerant charge level gauge for vapour compression equipment.

Author(s) : LI H., BRAUN J. E., MA L.

Summary

Proper refrigerant charge level is essential for a vapour compression cycle refrigeration system to operate efficiently and safely. Li and Braun developed a virtual refrigerant charge level gauge to determine refrigerant charge level during operation using four non-invasive (surface-mounted) temperature measurements. This invention can be used as: 1) a part of a permanently installed monitoring, control or diagnosis system to indicate charge levels; or 2) a standalone tool by technicians during the process of determining or adjusting the system refrigerant charge. This paper presents an extensive performance evaluation and prototype demonstration of this technology. Five different types of systems are used for evaluation and demonstration, which covers systems of both small and large capacities from a window unit to residential split systems and to light commercial packaged systems, using both fixed orifice expansion devices and thermostatic expansion valves, and using both R-22 and R-410A. The evaluation and demonstration verify that the virtual refrigerant charge level gauge has a very good performance in terms of accuracy and robustness and can be easily implemented and installed in terms of both hardware and software.

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Pages: ICR07-E1-1323

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Details

  • Original title: Evaluation and demonstration of a virtual refrigerant charge level gauge for vapour compression equipment.
  • Record ID : 2008-0620
  • Languages: English
  • Source: ICR 2007. Refrigeration Creates the Future. Proceedings of the 22nd IIR International Congress of Refrigeration.
  • Publication date: 2007/08/21

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