Development of control method and dynamic model for multi-evaporator air conditioners (MEAC)

Interference between operation parameters among the different evaporators makes the desirable control of MEAC hard to realize. A novel control strategy is herein proposed. The suction pressure was taken as the controlled variable to modulate the speed of its compressor, and at the same time, the room air temperatures were taken to regulate the openings of individual electronic expansion valves (EEV). A self tuning fuzzy control algorithm with a modifying factor was incorporated in the controller. A controllability test was conducted with a dynamic thermodynamic model developed with a special modeling methodology. The controllability test has shown that the control strategy and algorithm are feasible and can achieve desirable control results. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.