Portable psychrometric test apparatus and method for air conditioning equipment

Claim 2

Portable in situ psychrometric test apparatus for determining operating capacity of an air conditioner comprising: (a) air flow means for passing intake and discharge evaporator air therethrough in response to normal operation of the air conditioner, said air flow means having first and second mutually isolated air flow chambers adapted to be detachably secured in air sealed manner to the evaporator side of the air conditioner; (b) means for detachably securing the air flow means to the evaporator air side of the air conditioner; (c) means for withdrawing samples of the intake and discharge air from each of the first and second air flow chambers; (d) means for measuring the wet bulb and dry bulb temperatures of each of the air samples at the end of a predetermined period of normal operation; (e) means for measuring the velocity of a sample of the air flowing through at least one of said air flow chambers, said sample being less than the total volume of air flowing therethrough, and (f) means for measuring the dry bulb air temperature adjacent the environmental air inlet to the condenser side of the air conditioner.

Claim 3

Portable in situ psychrometric test apparatus for determining, without the use of standard environmental test rooms, the capacity that an air conditioner would exhibit when operated under predetermined standard environmental test conditions, said apparatus comprising: (a) air flow means for passing intake and discharge evaporator air therethrough in response to normal operation of the air conditioner, said air flow means having first and second mutually isolated air flow chambers adapted to be detachably secured in air sealed manner to the evaporator side of the air conditoner; (b) means for detachably securing the air flow means to the evaporator air side of the air conditoner; (c) means for withdrawing samples of the intake and discharge air from each of the first and second air flow chambers; (d) means for measuring the wet bulb and dry bulb temperatures of each of the air samples at the end of a predetermined period of normal operation; (e) means for measuring the velocity of the air flowing through the first air flow chamber at the end of said predetermined period of normal operation; (f) means for measuring dry bulb air temperature of the environmental air in the vicinity of the condenser air inlet outside the air flow chambers at the end of said predetermined period of normal operation; (g) whereby the in situ operating capacity of the air conditioner may be determined from said measurements and converted to operating capacity under standard environmental test conditions by application of a predetermined correction factor a function of said environmental air temperature derived empirically from multiple tests of a similar design air conditioner taken under the standard environmental test conditons.

Claim 4

Portable in situ psychrometric test apparatus for determining, without the use of standard environmental test rooms, the capacity that an air conditioner would exhibit when operated under predetermined standard environmental test conditions, said apparatus comprising: (a) air flow means for passing intake and discharge evaporator air therethrough in response to normal operation of the air conditioner, said air flow means having first and second mutually isolated air flow chambers adapted to be detachably secured in air sealed manner to the evaporator side of the air conditoner; (b) means for detachably securing the air flow means to the evaporator air side of the air conditoner; (c) means for withdrawing samples of the intake and discharge air from each of the first and second air flow chambers; (d) means for measuring the wet bulb and dry bulb temperatures of each of the air samples at the end of a predetermined period of normal operation; (e) means for measuring the velocity of the air flowing through the first air flow chamber at the end of said predetermined period of normal operation; (f) means for measuring dry bulb air temperature of the environmental air in the vicinity of the condenser air inlet outside the air flow chambers at the end of said predetermined period of normal operation; (g) whereby the in situ operating capacity of the air conditioner may be determined from said measurements and converted to operating capacity under standard environmental test conditions by application of a predetermined correction factor a function of said environmental air temperature derived empirically from multiple tests of a similar design air conditioner taken under the standard environmental test conditons.

Claim 5

The test apparatus of claim 1 in which the first and second air flow chambers are at least coextensive in cross-section with the evaporator air inlet and evaporator air outlet, respectively of the air conditioner.

Claim 6

The test apparatus of claim 1 or 2 in which the air sampling means for each chamber includes (a) an elongate perforated tube extending transverse to a substantial portion of the air flowing therethrough, (b) an air suction device and (c) air conduits connecting the air sampling tuber to the temperature measuring means and further connecting the temperature measuring means to the air suction device.

Claim 7

The test apparatus of claim 4 in which the air velocity measuring means comprises a vane type anemometer and the first air flow chamber has, at its inlet end, air straightening vanes to create a uniform velocity profile across the inlet area of the air flow chamber.

Claim 8

The test apparatus of claim 4 in which the temperature measuring means comprise solid state thermistor probes positioned within the path of the sampled air flowing through the conduit.

Claim 11

The method of claim 7 further including the steps of determining in situ input power and converting the in situ input power to operating input power under standard environmental test conditions by application to the in situ result of a predetermined correction factor derived emperically from multiple tests of similar air conditioners under said standard environmental test conditions.

Claim 12

The method of claim 7 or 8 in which said predetermined period of normal operation is approximately fifteen minutes.