Energy conservation studies on a split airconditioner using loop heat pipes

Abstract

An experimental work was conducted to observe the effects of incorporation of Loop Heat Pipes on energy consumption and dehumidification in a split Air Conditioning system. In this investigation, three Loop Heat Pipe units were fabricated and filled with Ethanol as working medium and incorporated with the cooling coil of a split air conditioning system. Under the normal design indoor temperature range of 22–26°C and 50% RH, when three number of Loop Heat Pipes units are incorporated in the air conditioning unit, keeping air flow rate constant, the improvement in Coefficient of Performance (COP) is found to be 18–20%. Also found that the Apparatus Dew Point (ADP) dips to 8.9°C from 11.8°C, the supply air Dry Bulb Temperature (DBT) increased from 11.8°C to 16.3°C and the dehumidification capability of the air conditioning system enhanced by 30%. The cooling capacity improvement index α is found to be 23.5%. The latent heat recovery is found to be 482W When 3 number of Loop Heat Pipe units are employed. The investigation implies that the Loop Heat Pipe units employed in the split air conditioning system not only substantially reduces the energy requirement and can improve the moisture removal capability of the air conditioning system