Study on energy saving effect of IHX on vehicle air conditioning system

Abstract

In this paper, the performance of Internal Heat Exchanger (IHX) air conditioning system for R134a is investigated in bench test and vehicle test. Comparison for cooling capacity and energy consumption between IHX air conditioning system and traditional tube air conditioning system are conducted. The suction temperature and discharge temperature of compressor is also recorded. The results show that IHX air conditioning system has higher cooling capacity, the vent temperature decrease 2.3 °C in idle condition. But the suction temperature and discharge temperature of compressor increase 10°C. IHX air conditioning system has lower energy consumption than traditional tube air conditioning system. Under the experimental conditions in this paper, the application of IHX can significantly reduce the energy consumption of air conditioning system. At 25°C of environment temperature, AC system energy consumption decrease 14%, compressor energy consumption decrease 16%. At 37°C of environment temperature, AC system energy consumption decrease 16%, compressor energy consumption decrease 13%.