Control-oriented test bed for mobile air conditioning systems

Abstract

Model-based control schemes demand experimental investigations to derive a suitable model for control, tune the controller settings, and evaluate the controller performance. Especially with the increased usage of secondary loop refrigeration units, which allow for much more flexible control of the cooling operation, the urge to test sophisticated control schemes on hardware has risen drastically. Since experimental investigations of mobile refrigeration units during development are costly and sometimes not feasible due to incomplete hardware, this work presents a test bed for mobile refrigeration systems, particularly for evaluating controllers. The test bed stands out due to its simple, low-cost construction and the absence of environmentally harmful coolants. The test bed comprises multiple cooling units and a cooling chamber, enabling low-cost experiments for high-level temperature controllers. With a electric heater and a door spanning one side of the cooling chamber, it is possible to investigate the influence of door openings and other disturbance heat flows on the controller performance.