Energy consumption reduction in existing HVAC-R systems via a power law controlling kit

This paper presents an alternative solution for reducing energy consumption in heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC-R) systems. For that, an existing typical commercial refrigeration system was equipped with a novel control system based on a power law, using a frequency inverter and a programmable logic controller (PLC). Hence, it was possible to compare the operation and energy consumption of the system with the power law control and with the on-off system, quantifying the obtained gains. The experimental unit consisted of a cooling chamber, an enclosing chamber (antechamber), and a vapor compression refrigeration system, i.e., an example of a practical commercial cooling system. A set of graphs shows the experimental measurements performed with the two systems. In this way, the measured temperatures in some selected points of the two systems, as well as the consumption in kWh for a period of 6 h and 10 min were compared in the tests. The main conclusions of this work are: i) The system operating with the power law control with respect to the conventional on-off control, showed energy consumption savings of up to 31% in a test period of 6 h and 10 min, and ii) The system compressor cycling frequency in the system operating with the power law control is smaller than with the traditional on-off system. Therefore, the study shows that the developed power law control kit has potential to be installed in any existing system with immediate significant energy savings with no need for HVAC-R hardware changes. - Highlights: • An energy consumption reduction strategy for HVAC-R systems is presented. • Power law and on-off control actions are experimentally compared. • Energy savings of 31% were obtained with power law control. • Compressor cycling frequency is smaller with power law control. • Power law control kit has potential to be installed in any existing system