Control of multi-evaporator air-conditioning systems for flow distribution

Modern air-conditioners incorporate variable-speed compressors and variable-opening expansion valves as the actuators for improving cooling performance and energy efficiency. These actuators have to be properly feedback-controlled; otherwise the systems may exhibit even poorer performance than the conventional machines which use fixed-speed compressors and mechanical expansion valves. In this paper, a control strategy with flow distribution capability is proposed for multi-evaporator air-conditioners to accommodate different thermal demands in different rooms. The structure in the control strategy is based on a low-order, linear model obtained from system identification. To determine appropriate control parameters, theorems regarding stability of the closed-loop system are given. Moreover, by performing steady-state analysis on the control system and utilizing characteristics of the identified system parameters, one can analytically explain the mechanics of flow distribution. Experiments indicate that the proposed strategy can successfully regulate the indoor temperatures regardless that the reference settings for respective rooms are different and the settings are switched in the middle of the control process. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.