Influence of the louver angle on the performance of the air-conditioning outdoor units in high-rise apartment buildings

Abstract

The split-type air conditioners are widely used in high-rise apartment buildings in the major urban areas, especially Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam, because of its convenience. In the apartments with limited space, the installation of outdoor units not in accordance with technical guidelines will affect the performance of the air conditioning system and the aesthetics of the apartment building. The aim of this study is to propose the technical room in apartments for properly installing outdoor units of air conditioning systems. The CFD method is utilized through Ansys Fluent software to determine the inlet air temperature of condensers and COP corresponding to the louver angle of 0o, 10o, 20o, 30o và 40o. The results obtained from the simulations show that increasing the louver angle results in rising the inlet air temperature of condensers and reducing COP. The average temperature of the air which entering the condensers does not change significantly when the louver angle increases from 0o to 30o. When the louver angle is more than 30o, the inlet air temperature of outdoor units exceeds the continuous operating temperature of 48oC. To maintain the high performance of the air conditioner during operation, the louver angle is adjusted as small as possible and limited to a value of about 30o.