Analysis of Performance of the Refrigeration Cycle of an Automotive Air Conditioning System

This research presents a study of a refrigeration cycle performance on an automotive air conditioning system, specially the refrigerant charge on the system efficiency. The set is composed basically of a fixed displaceable rotary vane compressor, expansion valve, condenser and evaporator. The objective of this research is to analyze the air conditioning efficiency in a small car, considering its diverse characteristics and environmental conditions. It was made some experiments by using a vehicle inside a climatic chamber with different configurations and environmental conditions, in order to improve the system efficiency by measuring the impact of each variable that affects the operating condition. The experimental results showed a great potential improvement of the system by changing the refrigerant mass.