Condensate water as a compressor discharge cooler to generate subcooling on the residential air conditioning using R32 as refrigerant

Abstract

In residential sector, air conditioning (A/C) system contributes the largest power consumption. As a result, several methods have been developed to improve the system performance. Subcooling is a method to improve the performance of A/C by increasing the cooling capacity. Because R32 has much lower global warming potential (GWP) than that of R22 and R410A, this refrigerant is projected as a substitute of R22 and R410A. This study investigates the performance improvement of residential (A/C) using condensate water as a compressor discharge cooler to generate subcooling. In present study, the experiment was carried out on a split-type A/C using R32 as working fluid. During the experiment, the indoor and outdoor temperatures were controlled at 20°C and 33°C, respectively. The experimental results showed that the average decrease in refrigerant temperature at the condenser outlet was 4.5°C. The decrease in temperature at the condenser outlet indicated that the subcooling occurred on the system. The subcooling on the condenser outlet resulted in increase in cooling capacity by 12.1%. In addition, the use of condensate water as a compressor discharge cooler increased the COP by 21.7%.