Control strategy and experimental study on a novel defrosting method for air-source heat pump

A new defrosting method - the sensible heat defrosting method, aiming at shelving the various disadvantages of the conventional reverse cycle defrosting was proposed in this paper. The mechanism and process of this method was analysed. To guarantee the reliability, the self-organizing control algorithm with self-learning function was introduced based on the cardinal fuzzy control algorithm. Moreover, the control strategy was enacted; the corresponding self-organizing fuzzy control system was developed; the Micro Controller Unit (MCU) based control unit was accomplished; and the experimental study was conducted to investigate the sample machine of air-source heat pump system. The results of the experiments showed that the self-organizing control algorithm has good control characteristic and effect. On one hand, the adverse shock from the conventional reverse cycle defrosting to the refrigeration system could be avoided through this proposed method; on the other hand, the "oil rush" could also be eliminated. Besides, the thermal comfort could be greatly improved since the temperature fluctuation range of the supplied water is narrowed by applying this new method in practice. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.