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Fault Detection and Diagnostics for Rooftop Air Conditioners

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111<br />

Table A2-1 Thermal resistance distribution of thermocouple measuring scheme<br />

Thermal<br />

Resistance<br />

R<br />

i<br />

R<br />

ib<br />

R<br />

in<br />

R<br />

o<br />

Value 0.0278 0.0000765 1.052 0.682<br />

Portion 1.6% 0.004% 59.7% 38.7%<br />

Portion 1.6% 98.4%<br />

However, there are two additional factors which would impact the measuring<br />

accuracy of an RTD. One is the thermal contact resistance between the tube wall <strong>and</strong> the<br />

RTD, <strong>and</strong> the other is the temperature distribution of RTD. The <strong>for</strong>mer is straight<strong>for</strong>ward<br />

<strong>and</strong> impacted only by sensor installation method. If thermal grease is applied <strong>and</strong> the<br />

tube’s surface is polished, it would be reduced significantly. However, the latter is<br />

difficult to evaluate <strong>and</strong> is impacted by insulation <strong>and</strong> the installation method, but its<br />

impact on measurement accuracy can be equivalent to that of thermal resistance. So an<br />

equivalent thermal contact resistance, R<br />

contact<br />

, which takes both thermal contact resistance<br />

<strong>and</strong> the resistant effect caused by none-uni<strong>for</strong>m temperature distribution. Since it is<br />

difficult to evaluate R<br />

contact<br />

explicitly, experiments are needed in order to determine all<br />

the values in Table A2-2.<br />

Table A2-2 Thermal resistance distribution of RTD measuring scheme<br />

Thermal<br />

Resistance<br />

R<br />

i<br />

R<br />

ib<br />

R<br />

contact<br />

R<br />

in<br />

R<br />

o<br />

Value 0.0278 0.0000765 ? 1.052 0.682<br />

Portion ? ?<br />

Experiments conducted at FDSI using cold water instead of refrigerant showed<br />

that the measurement error is around 5% of the total temperature difference between<br />

water inside the tube <strong>and</strong> ambient air if the RTD was insulated <strong>and</strong> thermal grease was<br />

applied. Since liquid water has a larger heat transfer coefficient than refrigerant vapor at<br />

the same mass flow rate, the inside thermal resistance value should be modified in order<br />

to estimate the equivalent thermal contact resistance,<br />

R<br />

contact<br />

. Table A2-3 lists all the<br />

value <strong>for</strong> the cold water application. Using the thermal contact resistance value calculated<br />

111

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