Analysis of Chiller Performance Using Expeditious Indirect Methods

A low cost methodology of chiller analysis and forecasting was developed to compete with Climacheck, currently the most used equipment on the market. This methodology comprises two types of analysis, internal and external. The internal method analyzes the several chiller elements and evaluates their behavior. The external analysis predicts the equipment's behavior for different load levels and climatic conditions through a previous selected model. In order to assess this new methodology, the obtained results are compared with the ones from Climacheck. First, they are applied to a laboratory case and later to two field cases. With the proposed methodology, it is possible to obtain efficiency values and internal parameters of the refrigeration cycle quite accurately, making it possible to do a system diagnosis.