Calibration of the OSU Psychrometric Chamber and First Experiments

Abstract

Complete the construction of a new psychrometric chamber at OSU and demonstrate that the chamber is capable of performing accurate and precise experiments on thermal systems with and without a live thermal load. Completion of the chamber involved the development and fabrication of the control system. The control system included both the hardware and software needed to adjust and maintain the conditions in both the indoor and outdoor rooms. After completing the control system the chamber was ran in order to produce conditions needed to perform two experiments. These two experiments include the testing of an 11-ton (39 kW) rooftop air-conditioning unit and the establishment of thermal conductivity for different cold pipe insulation systems exposed to both moist air condensing and non-condensing conditions. Not only was these experiments performed but, the required experimental setup was also design and construct for both. An uncertainty analysis was performed on these setups and it shows to produce excellent theoretical uncertainty. The actual experiments results and accuracies confirm these finding as well as the experimental setups designs, fabrications, and abilities. Furthermore, the validation of the chamber and chamber control system was proven proficient at performing these two different experiments. These two experiments were different in nature; in both experiments a range of conditions were used, further validating the chamber and control system's capabilities.