Abstract: More than 3 million units of Air conditioners are being sold every year in India and sales are expected to grow further. The annual electricity consumption by air conditioners is rapidly increasing in India. The total potential energy savings from room AC efficiency improvement in India using the best available technology will reach over 118 TWhr by 2030. Out of the total power consumed by the ACs, around 65% is being consumed by the compressor alone. The compressor pumps the liquid from the evaporator into a condenser and expansion valve, and then back to the evaporator using a motor. In most commercially available ACs, this motor turns off when the required temperature is reached and turns back on as the temperature rises. This happens around 5-6 times every hour. As the starting current of an induction motor is very high, it draws a large amount of power from the supply. Also, the motor always runs at rated speed, which consumes more power than is actually required for effective cooling. The compressor efficiency can be improved by maintaining continuous operation at low speeds. This is achieved by varying the speed of the induction motor (in the compressor) based on the temperature difference between the set temperature and outdoor temperature. The energy savings were found to be 13.75% by employing this system.
Keywords: compressor, single-phase induction motor, temperature based speed control, energy efficiency, continuous cycle operation.
Title: Improving Compressor Efficiency for Air Conditioners Using Temperature Control
Author: Sumit Verma, Harshita M V, Karam Pal Yadav, Nikhitha B
International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Research
ISSN 2348-6988 (online)
Research Publish Journals
