Creation of an Exergetic Based Leak Detection and Diagnosis Methodology for Automotive Carbon Dioxide Air Conditioning Systems

Abstract

Carbon dioxide automotive air conditioning (AC) systems have been under development for over a decade. Although the AC system construction is important, a reliable refrigerant leakage detection system is also vital. A detailed thermodynamic simulation model and fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) system, with proposed validation plans, has been developed at Rochester Institute of Technology. A discussion of simulation models that have been developed for various compressors and heat exchangers is presented; they are compared to actual AC systems to develop a realistic experimental setup. Assumptions from previous work are examined and improved. Portions of this paper were previously published in the ECOS'05 and ECOS'07 conference proceedings.