Sustainable Cities and Society 39 (2018) 605–612

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Sustainable Cities and Society

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Performance investigation on refrigeration and air conditioning systems T

with multi-evaporator
⁎
Haibo Liua, Guoyuan Maa, Shuangquan Shaob, , Boyuan Fana
a
Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China
b
CAS Key Laboratory of Cryogenics, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Beijing, 100190, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) system Multi-evaporator structures are popularly applied in for effi-
Multi-evaporator cient temperature and humidity control of multi-zone in underground buildings, light commercial and re-
Performance chart sidential buildings, cold stores, et al., which can also attract and/or release heat from and/or to renewable
Refrigeration sources. The increase on the system complexity makes it difficult to analyze the performance and to optimize its
Air conditioning
design and control. In this paper, a novel method, performance chart, is presented for the performance analysis
Built environment
and system optimization of multi-evaporator and RAC systems. The performance chart is generated by super-
imposing the performance curve of different evaporators of the indoor unit (IDUs), which can be applied to
describe the performance of the whole RAC system by superimposing with the performance curve of outdoor
units (ODUs). Based on the performance chart, the performance of multi-evaporator systems are analyzed at
different conditions such as varying indoor temperatures, varying indoor air volumes, and varying IDUs’ ca-
pacities. The performance chart can give the reasonable and quantitative trends of multi-evaporator RAC system
performance and guide the system design. These results showed that the performance chart can be used as a
convenient tool for performance analysis and system optimization of multi-evaporator RAC systems.

1. Introduction
Vapor compression refrigeration systems play a very important role
in temperature and humidity control for underground buildings, light
commercial and residential buildings, cold stores et al. (Chua, Chou,
Yang, & Yan, 2013; Peng and Du, 2016), while they attract or release
heat from or to some renewable and sustainable sources such as geo-
thermal source, air source, solar source, et al. (Chua et al., 2013; Peng
and Du, 2016). Especially, Refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC)
systems with the structure of multi-evaporator or multi-condenser can
not only control the built environment for multi-room or multi-zone,
but also use the hybrid sources and recover waste heat sources to avoid
the uncertainty of some renewable energy source, for example, air and
geothermal sources, air and solar sources, geothermal and solar sources,
et al. (Alabdulkarem, Hwang, & Radermacher, 2015; Chen and Yang,
2012; Gou et al., 2016; You, Wang, Wu, Shi, & Li, 2015). Multi-eva-
porator RAC system are well known as the typical variable refrigerant
flow air conditioning (VRF) system for residential and light commercial
building and multi-evaporator refrigeration system for cold stores,
which can regulate the cooling capacity with the significant improve-
ment in energy-saving and indoor thermal characteristics (Aynur, 2010;
Yu, Yan, Sun, Hong, & Zhu, 2016). Fan, Shao, and Tian (2014) proposed
a multi-unit heat pump for simultaneous temperature and humidity
control by recovering of the condensing heat to improve the energy
efficiency. Shi, Shao, Li, Peng, and Yang (2003) developed a multi-
evaporator and multi-condenser VRF system with concurrent heating
and cooling of different rooms by heat recovery when some rooms need
cooling while the others need heating. Li, Wu, and Shiochi (2010) in-
vestigated a water source VRF system with the water-cooled condenser
under cooling conditions. Zhu, Jin, Du, Fan, and Fang, (2014) carried
out the research of the VRF system in heating model combined with
outdoor air processing unit. Liu and Hong (2010) compared the energy
efficiency between VRF system and ground source heat pump systems
with simulation model. Zhu, Jin, Du, and Fang (2015) developed a
combined VRF and variable air volume (VAV) system with online op-
timal control for energy saving.
Many researches have been conducted on multi-evaporator RAC for
performance analysis, seasonal feasibility and optimal control with si-
mulation and experiments. Kwon et al. experimentally investigated the
performance of a multifunctional VRF system in heating and shoulder
seasons (Kwon, Lee, Hwang, Radermacher, & Kim, 2014) and the
cooling season (Kwon, Hwang, Radermacher, & Kim, 2012). Meng et al.

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: shaoshq@mail.ipc.ac.cn (S. Shao).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.03.021
Received 18 January 2018; Received in revised form 7 March 2018; Accepted 22 March 2018
Available online 27 March 2018
2210-6707/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H. Liu et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 39 (2018) 605–612

Nomenclature A IDU a
B IDU b
f Compressor speed (Hz) C IDU c
Ga Air volume (m3/h) i Indoor
Qe Cooling capacity (kW) o Outdoor
Ta Air temperature (°C) sc Subcooling
Ta,i Indoor air temperature (°C) sh Superheating
Ta,o Outdoor air temperature (°C)
Te Saturation temperature to the pressure at the evaporator Abbreviations
outlet or the compressor inlet (°C)
Tsc Subcooling degree (°C) FAHU Fresh air handling unit
Tsh Superheating degree (°C) IDU Indoor unit
ODU Outdoor unit
Subscript RAC Refrigeration and air conditioning
VAV Variable air volume air conditioning system
a Air VRF Variable refrigerant flow air conditioning system

(2015) experimentally analyzed the cooling performance of a VRF coupling characteristics among multiple parameters.
system with microchannel condenser under part load conditions. Tu,
Dong, Zou, and Lin (2011) experimentally studied the cooling perfor- 2. Generating performance chart
mance of a VRF system with digital scroll compressor. Tu et al. (2016)
also investigated the output capacity control strategy of VRF system Multi-evaporator RAC system consists of several indoor units (IDUs)
with multi-compressor. For such complex VRF system, the experimental and at least one outdoor unit (ODU). The simulation method has been
researches need too much invest to build the test bench and carry out widely used, since the traditional experimental method is difficult to
the experiments. So, there are more researches are carried out with the perform comprehensive in-depth analysis of multi-evaporator RAC
computer simulations validated by the experiments. Shao, Shi, Li, and systems due to numbers of influence factors and strong coupling
Yan (2008) and Shi, Shao, Li, and Yan (2008) developed and validated properties (Kwon et al., 2014, 2012; Meng et al., 2015). Therefore, the
the steady-state simulation model of VRF system based on fluid net- complex RAC system can be treated as the combination of a series of
work. Furthermore, Shao, Xu, and Tian (2012) built the dynamic si- IDUs and ODUs. Usually in VRF systems, IDU consists of evaporator, an
mulation of VRF systems with the moving-boundary heat exchanger expansion valve and a fan, while ODU consists of one or more pieces of
sub-models and the frame of fluid network. Zhou, Wu, Wang, Shiochi, condensers, one or more compressors and one or more fans, as shown in
and Li (2008) built and experimentally validated the simulation model Fig. 1. And the parameters of the heat exchangers in IDUs and ODU are
of VRF system in EnergyPlus. Zhu, Jin, Du, Fan, and Fu (2013) also built shown in Table 1. The performance of IDUs and ODU are determined by
a generic simulation model for control analysis of VRF systems. Yan, their designs and working conditions. The numerical method is adopted
Deng, and Chan (2016) developed and validated a dynamic mathema- to present the performance of IDUs and ODU.
tical model a three-evaporator VRF system. Zhao, Zhong, Zhang, and Su
(2016) built the energy consumption predicting model of VRF system in 2.1. Numerical model of fin-tube heat exchanger
office building based on data mining. Li, Wang et al. (2017) carried out
the simulation of recombined household VRF system with split type air Fin-tube heat exchangers are the most popular type for the con-
conditioner. Aynur, Hwang, and Radermacher (2009) numerically denser and the evaporator in RAC systems. As shown in Fig. 2, the fin-
compared the variable air volume (VAV) and VRF air conditioning tube type heat exchanger is modelled with the distributed-parameter
systems in an existing building for the cooling season. Li and Wu (2010) method and the detailed calculation process and equations of the heat
simulated the energy and analyzed the performance of a VRF system transfer and pressure loss is recommended in our previous work (Shao,
with heat recovery in winter conditions. Lin and Yeh (2007)) in- Li, Shi, & Yan, 2018).
vestigated the identification and control of multi-evaporator air con-
ditioning system. Tu et al. (2010)) optimized the heating control 2.2. Model validation and performance chart generation
strategy of VRF system with multi-module outdoor units. Li, Hu et al.
(2017) identified VRF energy consumption patterns under various part The performance of IDU is shown in Fig. 3. And the simulation
loads and refrigerant charge conditions.
Compared to traditional single-evaporator RAC system, the multi-
evaporator RAC system configuration and the influence among para-
meters and components become more complex, which results in the
difficulty and complexity of the simulation model and experimental test
benches. Therefore, it is still a lack of the performance describing
method for such complex systems since the incomplete theoretical un-
derstanding of the coupling characteristics among various components
and their external environments, et al. Performance chart of refrigera-
tion cycle can be used to explore the effect of the variation of dis-
turbance variation and adjustment factors on system performance vi-
sually based on the overall relationship between cooling systems (Yan,
Shi, & Tian, 2004). It has been widely used in air conditioners with only
one condenser and one evaporator. In this study, the performance chart
of a multi-evaporator RAC systems, VRF System, is generated according
to the simulation and experimental results, to analyze the steady-state Fig. 1. A VRF system with three IDUs.

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Table 1 Qe = f (Te, Ga, i, Ta, i, Tsc , Tsh) (1)

Parameters of heat exchangers in IDUs and ODU.
Similarly, the predicted and experimental cooling capacities of ODU
Parameters IDU ODU (3 pieces)
are shown in Fig. 4 in variable conditions such as outdoor air tem-
length, mm 688 700 peratures, compressor speeds, evaporating temperatures. The model is
Height, mm 252 1113 validated with the difference less than ± 5.0% between the simulations
width, mm 25.0 36.0 and the experiments. With the simulation model and the experimental
Inner diameter, mm 6.89 6.89 data, the cooling capacity an ODU with the fixed structure of the con-
Outside diameter, mm 7.49 7.49
Fin pitch, mm 1.210 1.494
denser can be presented with Eq. (2)
Fin thickness, mm 0.12 0.12
Qc = f (Te, Ta, o, Tsc , Tsh, f ) (2)
Flow path, – 3 9
Tube number, – 24 108
Furthermore, besides the detailed simulation of distributed para-
Row number, – 2 2
Tube distance, mm 21.0 25.6 meter model, the performance chart and Equations of IDU and ODU can
also be got by the experiments, empirical and/or semi-empirical
equations, general design method, et al.
When the performance charts of IDU and ODU are obtained at the
same conditions (i.e. Tsc = 5 °C, and Tsh = 5 °C), the performance chart
of the one-evaporator RAC can be generated by combining the perfor-
mance charts of the IDU and ODU, as shown in Fig. 5. The joint points
of lines for IDU and ODU means that IDU and ODU works in the same
evaporating pressure and the cooling capacity agrees with each other,
which means that the cooling capacity provided by ODU are the same
as that of IDU in the given conditions. The generation process of system
performance with IDU performance and ODU performance is similar to
the simulation process of RAC systems. Some parameters such as Tsc,
Tsh and Te are assumed, it will get the system working state when one
point can make the value of assumed parameters same as the assumed
values. In the simulation, the iterative method is adopted to make it
reach convergence, while it results in the joint point of a series of IDU
performance line and a series of ODU performance line in the perfor-
mance chart method. In Fig. 5, the comparison with data from the
detailed system simulation (Shao et al., 2008; Shi et al., 2008; Shao
et al., 2012) shows good consistency of the performance chart method
and the detailed system simulation method.
Fig. 2. Modelling of fin-tube heat exchangers. Similarly, we can describe the performance of each IDU and ODU of
multi-evaporator RAC with performance chart, all of which could be
results are validated by the experimental data in variable conditions composed into the performance charts of IDUs and ODUs. Furthermore,
such as indoor air temperatures, indoor air volumes, evaporating tem- the performance chart of multi-evaporator RAC can be obtained with
peratures. The comparison shows that the differences are less than ± the superimposition of those of IDUs and ODUs as shown in Fig. 6. In
5.0% between the predicted cooling capacity and the experiments. Fig. 6, lines A, B and C are the performance of IDU working in condi-
With the simulation model and the experimental data, the cooling ca- tions A, B, and C, similarly line A + B means two IDUs work in con-
pacity of an IDU with the fixed evaporator can be presented with Eq. dition A and condition B respectively, while line 3A means all of three
(1). IDUs work in condition A. Lines a, b and c represent the performances
of the ODU with only one piece of the heat exchanger while lines 3a, 3b,

Fig. 3. Performance chart of IDU (Tsc = 5 °C, and Tsh= 5 °C).

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H. Liu et al.
Fig. 4. Performance chart of ODU (Tsc = 5 °C, and Tsh= 5 °C).
Fig. 5. Performance chart of one-evaporator RAC (Tsc = 5 °C, and Tsh = 5 °C).
and 3c mean those of the ODU with 3 pieces of the heat exchanger.
In Fig. 6, we also compared the predicted performance with those by
the detailed simulation model (Shao et al., 2008, 2012; Shi et al., 2008),
which also shows a good accuracy.
3. Performance chart analysis
The coupling operation performance of the multi-evaporator RAC
depends not only on the adjusting features of the system (such as air
volume, ambient temperature, compressor speed, etc.), but also on the
matching characteristics (such as the number and capacity of the IDU,
the loss caused from the connection pipes, etc.). Multi-evaporator RAC
is composed of one or more ODUs in the same working conditions with
many IDUs working at the same or different ambient temperature and
capacity coupled by connecting pipes. Therefore, changing any factor
may influence the performance of the system by the transmission of the
refrigerant pressure wave. A simple multi-evaporator RAC including
one inverter ODU and three IDUs is employed in this study. From the
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aspects of indoor temperature, indoor air volume and capacity, the
coupling operation characteristics of the multi-evaporator RAC system
are investigated using the performance chart. The following analysis for
different IDU conditions with the ODU operating three pieces of con-
densers all in the same condition, and lines a, b, and c represent the
whole ODU performance for simplification.
3.1. Characteristics of changing indoor temperature
Assuming that the pressure loss from the connection pipe between
IDU and ODU can be neglected, when the IDUs with the same capacity
work in the rooms with different room temperatures but the same air
volume of 600m3/h, the performance charts of the IDU and the whole
system can be obtained, as shown in Fig. 7. In Fig. 7(a), curves ‘A’, ‘B’,
and ‘C’ represent IDU works under the temperature of 22 °C, 26 °C and
30 °C, respectively. Curve ‘A + B’ means the coupling performance of
the IDU A and IDU B, while curve ‘A + B + C’ is the coupling perfor-
mance of the three IDUs. In Fig. 7(b), curves ‘3A’ and ‘3C’ refer to the
H. Liu et al.
Fig. 6. Performance chart of Multi-evaporator RAC (Tsc = 5 °C, and Tsh = 5 °C).
coupling performance of the three IDUs working at the indoor tem-
perature of 22 °C and 30 °C, respectively. When the ODU operates at the
compressor frequency of 80 Hz and the outdoor temperature of 35 °C,
the performance of the ODU (mainly including inverter compressor and
condenser) can be attained, as shown in Fig. 7(b), curve a. The crossing
point ‘1′ shown in Fig. 7(b) of the curves ‘c’ and ‘3C’ indicates the
working status of the whole system, while point ‘1C’ represents the
working status of each IDU.
When the indoor temperature of IDU A and IDU B changes from
30 °C to 22 °C and 26 °C, the corresponding performance changes from
curve ‘C’ to curve ‘A’ and curve ‘B’, respectively. In addition, the overall
performance of the IDUs changes from curve ‘3C’ to curve ‘A + B + C’.
Under the same outdoor temperature and compressor speed, the
working status of the whole system changes from point ‘1′ to point ‘2′,
and that of the three IDUs changes from point ‘1C’ to point ‘2A’, ‘2B’, and
‘2C’, respectively.
When the indoor temperatures of IDU B and IDU C both drop to
22 °C, their performances change from curves ‘B’ and ‘C’ to curve ‘A’,
Fig. 7. Performance chart of multi-evaporator RAC with different IDU air temperature (Tsc = 5 °C, and Tsh = 5 °C).
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while the whole performance of the IDUs changes from curve
‘A + B + C’ to curve ‘3A’. With the outdoor temperature and com-
pressor speed unchanged, the working status of the system changes
from point ‘2′ to point ‘3′, while that of the three IDUs changes from
‘2A’, ‘2B’, and ‘2C’ to point ‘3A’.
When keeping the indoor air volume and outdoor operating para-
meters constant, it can be observed that:
1) When the superheating degree of the evaporator controlled by the
IDU electronic expansion valve is constant, the cooling capacity of
that IDU is determined by the indoor air temperature, the higher the
indoor air temperature the greater the cooling capacity.
2) Changing the indoor temperature of any IDU may lead to the
working status of the other IDUs and the entire system change.
When the indoor temperature of any IDU is lowered, the evapora-
tion temperature and the cooling capacity of the system will de-
crease, and its own cooling capacity will drop as well, but the
cooling capacity of the other IDUs will increase slightly.
H. Liu et al.
3) At higher indoor temperature but lower speed of the compressor, the
evaporation temperature of the system will be a little higher (in
Fig. 7(b), the intersection of curve ‘3C’ and curve ‘c’). In this case,
the evaporation temperature of the system can be reduced by in-
creasing the compressor speed (such as point ‘1′ in Fig. 7(b)). When
all the indoor temperatures are decreased, the evaporation tem-
perature of the system will drop accordingly (in Fig. 7(b), point ‘3′).
In this case, we can increase the evaporation temperature of the
system by decreasing the compressor speed (in Fig. 7(b), the inter-
section of curve ‘3A’ and curve ‘b’).
4) Larger operating ambient temperature difference between two IDUs
may lead to worse system performance. When one IDU is the fresh
air handing unit (FAHU), and the outdoor temperature is higher
than the indoor temperature for about 10 °C in summer, for the
multi-evaporator RAC system designed for IDU customer (e.g. the
evaporation inlet temperature is 27 °C and the relative humidity is
50%), the high ambient temperature of the FAHU may cause the
increase of the evaporation temperature, therefore the dehumidifi-
cation content of the IDU is reduced; however, for the multi-eva-
porator RAC designed according to the FAHU (e.g. the evaporation
inlet temperature is 35 °C and the relative humidity is 50%), the IDU
under lower ambient temperature may result in the evaporation
temperature of the system decrease greatly, accordingly, the energy
efficiency ratio of the multi-evaporator RAC is also reduced. In
summary, the evaporators working under significant different am-
bient temperatures are not suitable for operating parallel in the
same cooling system, in other words, the direct expansion FAHU is
not appropriate to install in the multi-evaporator RAC system.
From the above, the performance of multi-evaporator RAC can be
illustrated in the performance chart with one or more parameters are
changed.
3.2. Characteristics of varying air volume
The pressure loss from the connection pipes among IDUs and ODUs
is negligible. All IDUs work under the temperature of 27 °C. Changing
the air volumes of IDUs among 400m3/h, 500m3/h and 600m3/h, the
corresponding performance of IDUs and multi-evaporator RAC can be
seen in Fig. 8. As shown in Fig. 8(a), curve ‘A + B’ represents the
coupling performance of IDU A and IDU B, as IDU C stops working,
while curve ‘A + B + C’ indicates the coupling performance of the
Fig. 8. Performance chart of multi-evaporator RAC with different IDU air volumes (Tsc = 5 °C, and Tsh = 5 °C).
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three IDUs. In Fig. 8(b), curve ‘3A’ means the coupling performance of
the multi-evaporator RAC system when the air volumes of all the three
IDUs are 400m3/h, while curve ‘3C’ represents all IDUs working with
the air volume of 600m3/h.
When the outdoor temperature is 35 °C and the compressor fre-
quency is 70 Hz, the performance of ODU is shown as curve ‘b’, in
Fig. 8(b). Point ‘1′ in Fig. 8(b) represents the working status of the
entire system under that condition, while point ‘1C’ represents that of
each IDU.
When the air volumes of IDU A and IDU B reduce from 600m3/h to
400m3/h and 500m3/h, respectively, the corresponding performances
change from curve ‘C’ to curve ‘A’ and curve ‘B’, meanwhile, the per-
formance of the entire system shifts from curve ‘3C’ to curve
‘A + B + C’. Under the same outdoor temperature and compressor
frequency, the working status of the system changes from point ‘1′ to
point ‘2′, and that of the three IDUs vary from ‘1C’ to ‘2A’, ‘2B’ and ‘2C’.
The performance of the system can be represented by curve ‘3A’ in
Fig. 8(b), when the air volumes of the three IDUs are all 400m3/h.
Under the same compressor frequency and outdoor temperature, the
working status of the entire system changes from point ‘2′ to point ‘3′,
and that of the three IDUs can be represented by point ‘3A’.
When keeping the indoor temperature and outdoor operating
parameters constant, from above analysis, we can see that:
1) When the evaporator superheat controlled by the electronic ex-
pansion valve of that IDU is constant, the cooling capacity of that
IDU is mainly determined by its air volume, the greater the cooling
capacity the larger the air volume.
2) Varying air volume of any IDU may lead to the working status of
other IDUs and the entire system change.
3) When the air volume from one of IDU is reduced, the evaporation
temperature and the cooling capacity of the system will decrease,
meanwhile, the cooling capacity of that IDU will decrease as well,
however the cooling capacities of other IDUs will increase slightly.
4) When the air volume of IDUs are all at higher level (e.g. 600m3/h),
while the compressor frequency of ODU is at lower stage (e.g.
60 Hz), the evaporation temperature of the system will be high (e.g.
the intersection of curve ‘3C’ and curve ‘a’). In this case, the eva-
poration temperature of the system can be reduced by increasing the
compressor frequency of ODU (e.g. the intersection of curve ‘3C’ and
curve ‘b’ or curve ‘c’). In reverse, when the air volumes of IDUs are
all decreased to 400m3/h, the evaporation temperature of the
H. Liu et al.
system will be reduced (e.g. the intersection of curve ‘3A’ and curve
‘c’). Accordingly, the evaporation temperature of the system can be
increased by decreasing the compressor frequency (e.g. the inter-
section of curve ‘3A’ and curve ‘b’ or curve ‘a’, shown in Fig. 8(b)).
3.3. Characteristics of changing the capacities and numbers of IDUs
Employing different capacities and numbers of IDUs, the perfor-
mance charts of IDUs and the multi-evaporator RAC system are pre-
sented in Fig. 9. Taking IDU B (i.e. the indoor temperature is 27 °C,
relative humidity is 50%, and air volume is 600m3/h) as a benchmark,
the capacity of IDU A and IDU C is 0.75 and 1.2 times of that of IDU B,
respectively. When using two or three IDUs, their performance charts
are shown as curves ‘2A’, ‘2B’, ‘3B’ and ‘3C’ in Fig. 9(a), among which,
curve ‘3B’ can be taken either as the total performance of three IDU B,
or that of four IDU A.
When ODU works under the compressor frequency of 80 Hz, and the
temperature of 35 °C, point ‘1′ in Fig. 9(b) represents that working
status of the entire system, while point ‘1C’ represents the working
status of each IDU. Similarly, point ‘2′ represents the system working
status (i.e. three IDU B or four IDU A), while point ‘2B’ and ‘2A’ re-
presents the working status of each IDU B or IDU A. If shut down one
IDU B, the performance of the entire system becomes 2B, at the same
time, the system working status shifts to point ‘3′, and the working
status of each IDU changes to point ‘3B’. Comparing with point ‘2B’, the
evaporation pressures of IDUs are decreased, while the heat transfer
rates are increased. If resuming each IDU to its original working state,
we can reduce the compressor frequency (when several compressors
and condensers working together, one can adjust the number of the
compressor or condenser). Choosing the compressor-condenser perfor-
mance curve d passing through intersection ‘2′ of perpendicular line ‘2-
2B’ and curve 2B, all IDUs restore to the evaporation temperature as
three IDUs run (i.e. point ‘2B’ in Fig. 9(b)).
Point ‘4′ in Fig. 9(b) represents the working status of single IDU A
when the compressor runs under the minimum frequency (i.e. 30 Hz in
this study). If the capacity of IDU keeps reducing, the evaporation
temperature will keep decreasing as well. In this study, when only one
IDU runs under half the capacity, the evaporation temperature of the
system closes barely to 0 °C, which may cause indoor heat exchanger
frost. Limited by the minimum frequency of the compressor, the
minimum operating capacity of IDU will be subject to certain restric-
tions. For a system with single compressor, the capacity of ODU can be
Fig. 9. Performance chart of multi-evaporator RAC with different IDU capacities (Tsc = 5 °C, and Tsh = 5 °C).
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regulated by using hot gas bypass method; however, for a system with
several compressors, the evaporation temperature and operating effi-
ciency of the system can be improved by reducing the number of
compressors.
In summary, we can observe that:
1) Reducing the capacity of IDU will decrease the system evaporation
temperature and cooling capacity, but the low evaporation tem-
perature will reduce the EER of the system. Otherwise, increasing
the capacity of IDU can enhance the system evaporation tempera-
ture and cooling capacity, but the over-high evaporation tempera-
ture will lead to the dehumidification performance of IDU decrease.
Therefore, the evaporation temperature can be maintained as con-
stant or in the reasonable range by adjusting the frequency of the
compressor.
2) The matching capacity of IDU is restricted by the capacity range of
ODU. Since the capacity of ODU operating under the maximum
compressor frequency is slightly larger than the rated capacity, and
the possibility of several IDUs working together is generally less
than 100%, in other words, most of them run under partial-load
conditions, the total capacity of all IDUs is usually greater than the
rated capacity of ODU. However, on the one hand, if the capacity is
too large, when all IDUs run together, higher evaporation tem-
perature of the system will easily occur, which is not good for de-
humidification of IDUs; on the other hand, if the minimum capacity
of IDU is limited by the capacity of ODU (mainly the lowest com-
pressor frequency), when the capacity of IDU is too small, start-stop
control of the outdoor is required, while since low refrigerant flow
rate in the connection pipeline is not in favor of oil recycling, oil
circulation cycle may be needed (i.e. when the compressor runs
under higher frequency, some of IDUs are forced to open, so that the
lubricant oil spread in the system can be cycled back to the com-
pressor). In general, the optimal installed capacity of IDU is
30–130% of the capacity of ODU.
4. Conclusions
To investigate the performance of multi-evaporator RAC systems, a
novel analysis method, performance chart, was developed. Based on
simulation and experimental results, the performance charts of IDU and
ODU were obtained, in addition, the performance chart of the entire
multi-evaporator RAC by superimposing that of all IDUs and ODUs was
H. Liu et al.
generated. The differences of cooling capacities at are within ± 5.0%
compared with those by the detailed simulation model and experi-
mental data. Using performance charts, the characteristics of multi-
evaporator RAC were analyzed in cases of varying indoor temperature,
air volume, as well as capacities and numbers of IDUs. The results
showed that performance chart analysis method can predict the rea-
sonable trends of the performance of multi-evaporator RAC and the
coupling characteristics of multiple factors, which can not only guide
the system optimization, but also serve as an effective and convenient
tool for performance analysis of multi-evaporator RAC system.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial supports from The
National Key Research and Development Program of China
(2016YFB0601602) and National Natural Science Foundation of China
(51676199).
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