Design and analysis of psychrometric chamber for AC testing and energy labelling

Abstract

Air Conditioner has become one of the most increasing household appliance uses in Indonesia. The function of air conditioners is focused on providing thermal comfort to its users. Due to the increase in Indonesia's population, there is also an increase in energy usage. One use of consumptive electrical energy is the use of AC. This increase in energy consumption is encouraging the government to use energy-saving technologies. One solution is applying energy labeling for air conditioners using Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) as a parameter. To determine the EER of air conditioners, a environmentally-controlled room is needed, thus the reason for constructing the Psychrometric Chamber. One of the required data to calculated EER is the temperature difference of air entering and leaving the evaporator which will take part in the cooling capacity calculation, thus the reason for constructing the air temperature measurement device. The air temperature measurement device collects data of dry bulb temperature and wet bulb temperature of air exiting the evaporator and in the room which will then be used to calculate the enthalpy difference. Certain calculations are needed in designing the air temperature measurement and control devices which involves fan selection, pipe selections, and sensor selections. In addition, the design of the air temperature measurement device needs to follow applicable standards. The final results of this research are the completion of the installation of air temperature and flow rate measuring devices consisting of an air sampler, flexible duct, psychrometer box, nozzle boxes, and fan in the Psychrometric Chamber.