Performance analysis and simulation of automobile air conditioning system

Performance analyses of separate components of an automobile air conditioning system have been carried out under various operating conditions. The air conditioning system consists of a laminated type evaporator, a swash plate type compressor, a parallel flow type condenser, a receiver drier and an externally equalized thermostatic expansion valve. A computer program for performance analysis of the laminated type evaporator has been developed on the basis of the overall heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop which were obtained experimentally. A computer program for performance analysis of the parallel flow type condenser, using an empirical equation for the heat transfer coefficient, has been developed, which demonstrates that the predicted condensing capacity agrees very well with the experimental data. Then, a model for combining the performance analysis programs of separate components of an automobile air conditioning system is proposed, which simulates very well the performance of the integrated automobile air conditioning system. Further, the effects of condenser size and refrigerant charge on the performance of the integrated automobile air conditioning system are discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.