• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.14 no.5
• /
• pp.359-364
• /
• 2002

A popular type of residential air conditioner is the split system which has two separate units: indoor and outdoor units During field installation of the split system, the potential exists for not setting the charge exactly to the manufacturer´s specifications. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of the refrigerant charge on the performance of the air conditioner. An air conditioner with capillary tube expansions was tested for various refrigerant charges. The results indicated that the more charge resulted in the more flowrate of the refrigerant. The flowrate of the refrigerant was one of the most important factors to understand the e(sects of the charge on the performance of the air conditioner with capillary tube expansions. Under-charge results in wide region of superheated vapor of the refrigerant in the evaporator, while over-charge results in high temperature of the liquid refrigerant in the evaporator.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.12 no.5
• /
• pp.486-493
• /
• 2000

A theoretical model for the transient performance of vapor-compression air-conditioning system has been developed to evaluate the influence of the refrigerant charge on the system performance. A set of mass and energy equations for the simulation of the heat exchangers and the capillary tube and a polytropic compression model for the compressor are used. The present model successfully predicts the transient behavior of the vapor-compression air-conditioner from the startup. As the refrigerant charge is increased, both the evaporating and condensing pressures increase gradually, and the cooling rate and the COP show a maximum in the range of 0.75-0.8 kg of refrigerant charge. This amount of refrigerant mass is determined to be the optimum charge of the model system. Also, the effect of outdoor air temperature on the optimum refrigerant charge is discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.15-20
• /
• 2015

In this study, the optimization and performance characteristics of a cascade heat pump system was analyzed with the variation of low stage refrigerant charge amount. The cascade heat pump was designed and constructed with R134a and R410A as the refrigerant for high stage and low stage cycle, respectively. Experiments were conducted by varying the low stage charge amount and the performance characteristics of the cascade heat pump were studied. The refrigerant charge amount of the low stage cycle was varied between the ranges of -15% and +10% of the optimum charge amount. The performance variation experienced in the cascade heat pump due to the variation of refrigerant charge amount shows greater effect in the undercharge regions than the overcharge regions. COP reduction in the undercharge region is larger than the decrease in the overcharge region. Some cycle variation such as power consumption and cycle pressure according to low stage refrigerant charge amount showed different trends comparing with those according to high stage refrrgerant charge amount. Therefore, the optimum charge amount of the cascade heat pump should be determined based on the experimental data obtained by the variation of high and low stage refrigerant charge amount.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.558-566
• /
• 2007

The performance characteristics of water-chilling heat pump using $CO_2$ with respect to variation of refrigerant charge amount was investigated experimentally. An experimental apparatus is consisted of a compressor, a gas cooler, an expansion valve, an evaporator and a liquid receiver. All heat exchangers used in the test rig are counter-flow-type heat exchangers with concentric dual tubes, which are made of copper. The gas cooler and the evaporator consist of 6 and 4 straight sections respectively arranged in parallel, each has 2400 mm length. The experimental results summarize as the followings : As the refrigerant charge ratio of $CO_2$ heat pump system increases, the discharge pressure and compressor ratio increases, but mass flow rate of refrigerant decreases. Also the compressor work increases with the increase of refrigerant charge ratio. However, the heating and cooling capacity of $CO_2$ heat pump decreases as the refrigerant charge ratio increases. The maximum heating COP of $CO_2$ heat pump system presented at 0.25 refrigerant charge ratio. It is possible to confirm the optimum charge ratio of $CO_2$ heat pump system by the viewpoint of heating COP.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.14 no.8
• /
• pp.617-625
• /
• 2002

In this study, effects of refrigerant and oil charges on the performance of a refrigeration system simulating an automobile air conditioner have been experimentally investigated using R134a and PAG oil. Measurements were taken in a breadboard type refrigeration test unit with a compressor used for a commercial automobile air-conditioner under a set of condition imposed upon normally to automobile air conditioners. Both the COP and capacity decreased rapidly as the oil charge increased because of the decrease in vapor pressure of the circulating refrigerant/oil mixture. The excess oil left in the evaporator also caused heat transfer degradation resulting in a decrease in capacity and in turn COP. It was found that there is an optimum refrigerant charge at which the COP becomes the maximum. Below this optimum charge, both the capacity and COP increased as the refrigerant charge increased and above the optimum charge, both of them remained almost constant. Hence, the COP seems to be the most important factor in determining the optimum refrigerant charge. When the system was undercharged, the refrigerant at the condenser exit lost subcooling and showed a sign of poor miscibility.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.410-417
• /
• 2005

The cooling performance of a transcritical $CO_{2}$ cycle varies significantly with a variation of refrigerant charge amount. In this study, the performance of the $CO_{2}$ system was measured and analyzed by varying refrigerant charge amount at a standard test condition. Besides, the losses of the major components in the $CO_{2}$ system were estimated by evaluating entropy generation with refrigerant charge amount. The losses in the expansion device and the gascooler show the major portion of the total loss. For undercharging conditions, the expansion loss dominates the overall system performance, while the gascooler loss increases significantly with an increase of refrigerant charge amount.

• New & Renewable Energy
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.30-36
• /
• 2011

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of the refrigerant charge amount on the performance of a water-to-water ground source heat pump with a variation of compressor speed and the secondary fluid flow rate. The water-to-water ground source heat pump was tested by varying refrigerant charge amount from -40% to 20% of full charge. Compressor speed was changed from 30 Hz to 75 Hz and the secondary fluid flow rate was adjusted from 6 LPM to 14 LPM. For all test conditions, EWTs of an indoor heat exchanger and an outdoor heat exchanger were maintained at standard conditions of ISO 13256-2. The slope of the COP with the variation of charge amount is much steeper at undercharged conditions than that at overcharged conditions. For all compressor speed, the variation of the system performance according to charge amounts showed the similar trends. However, the optimum charge amount of the system increased a little with an increment of compressor speed. When the secondary fluid flow rate decreased, the system was optimized at higher refrigerant charge amount conditions.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2011.11a
• /
• pp.143.1-143.1
• /
• 2011

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of the refrigerant charge amount on the performance of a water-to-water ground source heat pump with a variation of compressor speed and the secondary fluid flow rate. The water-to-water ground source heat pump was tested by varying refrigerant charge amount from -40% to 20% of full charge. Compressor speed was changed from 30 Hz to 75 Hz, and the secondary fluid flow rate was adjusted from 6 LPM to 14 LPM. For all test conditions, EWT of an indoor heat exchanger and an outdoor heat exchanger were maintained at standard conditions of ISO 13256-2. The slope of the COP with the variation of charge amount is much steeper at undercharged conditions than that at overcharged conditions. For all compressor speed, the variation of the system performance according to charge amounts showed the similar trends. However, the optimum charge amount of the system increased a little with an increment of compressor speed. When the secondary fluid flow rate decreased, the system optimized at higher refrigerant charge amount conditions.

• New & Renewable Energy
• /
• v.3 no.4
• /
• pp.22-30
• /
• 2007

An expansion device plays an important role in optimizing the heat pumps by controlling refrigerant flow and balancing the system pressures. Conventional expansion devices are being gradually replaced with electronic expansion valves due to increasing focus on comfort, energy conservation, and application of a variable speed compressor. In addition, the amount of refrigerant charge in a heat pump is another primary parameter influencing system performance. In this study, the flow characteristics of the expansion devices are analyzed, and the effects of refrigerant charge amount on the performance of the heat pump and the variation of compressor speed are investigated at various operating conditions. Mass flow rate through capillary tube, short tube orifice, and EEV was strongly dependent on the upstream pressure and subcooling. The heat pump system is very sensitive with a variation of refrigerant charge amount. The performance of it can be optimized by adjusting the flow rate through expansion device to maintain a constant superheat at all test conditions.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2007.11a
• /
• pp.538-541
• /
• 2007

An expansion device plays an important role in optimizing the heat pumps by controlling refrigerant flow and balancing the system pressures. Conventional expansion devices are being gradually replaced with electronic expansion valves due to increasing focus on comfort, energy conservation, and application of a variable speed compressor. In addition, the amount of refrigerant charge in a heat pump is another primary parameter influencing system performance. In this study, the flow characteristics of the expansion devices are analyzed, and the effects of refrigerant charge amount on the performance of the heat pump are investigated at various operating conditions. Cooling capacity of the heat pump system is strongly dependent on load conditions. The heat pump system is very sensitive with a variation of refrigerant charge amount. But, the performance of it can be optimized by adjusting the flow rate through expansion device to maintain a constant superheat at all test conditions.