Virtual Pressure Sensor for Electronic Expansion Valve Control in a Vapor Compression Refrigeration System

Jian Sun, Jin Dong, Bo Shen and Wenhua Li
Additional contact information
Jian Sun: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37830, USA
Jin Dong: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37830, USA
Bo Shen: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37830, USA
Wenhua Li: UTC—Carrier Corporation, Charlotte NC 28269, USA

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-13

Abstract: Virtual sensor technology, which uses simulation models/algorithms to calculate a value to represent an unmeasured variable or replace a directly measured reading, has attracted many studies in the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) industry. However, most virtual sensor technologies are developed for fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) purposes, which generally compare the virtual sensor values with actual measured values to detect if any fault occurred and identify the causes that led to the fault. It is rare to see studies focus on control performance of virtual sensors after substituting an actual sensor. This is particularly important for the system with no redundant sensor since a virtual sensor is the most effective way to operate the system in the desirable region when any sensor failure occurs. To address this gap, this paper develops a new virtual pressure sensor technology to substitute the actual pressure measurement for electronic expansion valve (EXV) control in a vapor compression refrigeration system by integrating compressor and valve characteristics. The control performance of this proposed virtual pressure sensor technology under various operating conditions is validated with experimental data. Closed loop EXV control simulations with the proposed virtual pressure sensor are conducted, and the results are analyzed.

Keywords: virtual pressure sensor; vapor compression refrigeration; model in the loop; electronic expansion valve (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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