A Comparative Study of VRF Air Conditioning System over the Conventional Domestic Air-Conditioning System

Abstract

All over the world there is a call to encourage sustainable energy thinking and implementation. There is an urgent need to consider sustainable solutions that are able to reduce energy consumption cost. In air conditioning field, the rise of the variable refrigerant flow systems has made big progress. This study focuses on cost analysis to evaluate the economic feasibility of conventional, VRF and VRF duct type air conditioning system. The hourly and daily energy consumption of both systems were characterized based on corresponding outdoor air temperatures. Results showed that VRF air conditioning system is 15% less costly than conventional air condition. Though VRF duct system is less costly than conventional VRF, the standard rooftop height of the studied building doesn’t support VRF duct type installation. Besides the open ducting line up will not look good and creating cover for these duct will pile up the cost further. The analysis also shows that the VRF system uses 17% and 73% less energy than the rooftop System in cooling and heating seasons, respectively. The implementation of this pilot result on National level will promote the use of sustainable energy technologies such as VRF system.