A dynamic switching strategy for air-conditioning systems operated in light-thermal-load conditions

Recently, modern air-conditioners have begun to incorporate variable-speed compressors and variable-opening expansion valves, together with feedback control to improve the performance and energy efficiency. However, for the compressor there usually exists a low-speed limit below which its speed can not be continuously modulated unless it is completely turned off. When the air-conditioning system is operated in light-thermal-load conditions, the low-speed limit causes the compressor to run in an on-off manner which can significantly degrade the performance and efficiency. In this paper, a dynamic switching strategy is proposed for such scenarios. The strategy is basically an integration of a cascading control structure, an intuitive switching strategy, and a dynamic compensator. While the control structure provides the nominal performance, the intuitive switching strategy and the dynamic compensator together can account for the compressor's low-speed limitation. Theoretical analysis reveals that when the output matrix of the dynamic compensator is chosen properly, the proposed strategy can effectively reduce the output error caused by the on-off operation of the compressor. Experiments also demonstrate that the proposed strategy can simultaneously provide better regulation for the indoor temperature and improve the energy efficiency at steady state. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.