Abstract:
Air-conditioning is the process of altering the properties of air such as temperature and humidity to achieve favourable conditions, typically with the aim of distributing the conditioned air to an occupied space to improve comfort. The performance or the efficiency of air-conditioning system is determined by the coefficient of performance (COP) of the system. The primary aim of this research work is to investigate air-conditioning reflecting the effects of temperature and humidity variations on its performance characteristics based on actual field measurements. In this research, the effects of temperature and relative humidity were confirmed through experiments conducted in an office room in actual use. The experiments were carried out with temperature and relative humidity measuring instruments to collect the data from the air-conditioning system. Experimental data collected were used to formulate equations for derived COP base on conditioned space temperature and conditioned space relative humidity. The data also were used to calculate the three coefficient of performances base on the evaporator, condenser and conditioned space temperature including conditioned space relative humidity. Computer software called COPERAC was developed using the data. Experimental studies and data analysis were performed to validate the COPERAC. The statistical test analysis was used to determine the influences of the conditioned space temperature and relative humidity on the coefficient of performance of an air-conditioning system. Independent t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) test show that the derived COP gives the optimal performance than the modified COP which is normally used as theoretical COP and also in the industry for the system performance. Conclusively, the derived COP equation can also be used as coefficient of performance equation and COPERAC can be used as software tool to estimate COP.
