INTEGRATED STEADY-STATE AND DYNAMIC SIMULATION OF MULTI-UNIT AIR CONDITIONERS BASED ON TWO-PHASE FLUID NETWORK MODEL

Abstract

An integrated simulation model is developed to investigate the steady-state and dynamic performance of multi-unit air conditioners (MUACs). It is built as two-phase fluid network which is able to describe different systems by incidence matrixes. And the submodels are embedded in the system framework, where the submodels can be either steady-state or dynamic model, distributed parameter or lumped parameter model. For this case, the numerical submodels are employed with moving-boundary models of condenser and evaporator, steady-state models of compressor and electronic expansion valve. The comparison with experimental data shows that it cannot only predict the steady-state performance, but also catch dynamic trends with high accuracy, for example, the differences of evaporating pressure < ± 4%, condensing pressure < ± 3%, compressor discharge temperature < ± 4° C , superheating degree < ± 2° C and subcooling degree < ± 1° C . Therefore, the simulation model is confirmed as an effective tool to analyze the steady and transient characteristics and optimize the design and control algorithm of MUACs.