Improving Testing Methods for Unitary Air Conditioning Equipment (ASHRAE RP-1743)

摘要

Residential air conditioning equipment has gained in public interest, primarily due to its huge energy consumption. Both in the US and Indonesia, this resulted in increased minimum efficiency standards. Manufacturers adhere to these standards through increased coil surface area, equipment size, and air flowrates for a given cooling capacity. While this has indeed reduced environmental footprint it also has led to issues for the testing of units. Increased indoor air handling unit height leads to conflicts between dictated inlet and outlet duct length and available total height of capital-intensive legacy testing facilities. This paper describes experiments conducted to evaluate the effects of changes in inlet ductwork configuration to the fan performance and highlights some of the constraints applicable to units with up-to-date electronically commutated fans.