Technical Note TN 10/97

VRF BASED AIR

CONDITIONING SYSTEMS
- performance, installation and operation notes

G. R. King
M. H. Smith

VRF Indoor Units

Phase Controllers

Outdoor Unit

Liquid Line
Hot Gas
Cold Gas
 Technical Note TN 10/97

VRF BASED AIR

CONDITIONING SYSTEMS
- performance, installation and operation notes

G. R. King
M. H. Smith

The Building Services Research

and Information Association
Old Bracknell Lane West,
Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 7AH UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1344 426511 Fax: +44 (0) 1344 487575
 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written
permission of the publishers.

ISBN 0 86022 465 1 Printed by Oakdale Printing Co BSRIA 77910 November 1997
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

BSRIA would like to thank the following sponsors for their contribution
which has led to the production of this Technical Note:

Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

Business Gas
Daikin Europe NV
HRP Ltd
Hitachi Europe Ltd
Mitsubishi Electric UK Ltd
National Power
Toshiba (UK) Ltd

The research project was undertaken under the guidance of a project steering
group drawn from industry representatives and BSRIA staff. The Steering
Group contributors were:

Frank Aneca Noel Mulherrin

Roger Berry Jim Radford
Vic Brown Howard Roberts
Luc Dendooven Conrad Schartau
Donald Daw Chris Sweeney
Steve Mace Phillip Vandestene
Robert Morgan Duncan Yelland

Contributing from BSRIA were: Mike Smith, Greg King, George Kalanzi,
Richard Newman.

Every opportunity has been taken to incorporate the Views of the editorial
panel, but final editorial control of this document rests with BSRIA.

BSRIA TN 10/97 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems

PREFACE

PREFACE

This Technical Note describes the three different types of Variable

Refrigerant Flow (VRF) based air conditioning systems available in the
UK. In particular, it indicates their likely installed performance when
subjected to typical UK operating conditions, some key installation
quality recommendations and some common problems to be avoided in
specification, installation and operation.

VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems BSRIA TN 10/97

 CONTENTS

CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1

2 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CATALOGUE AND ACTUAL UK PERFORMANCE ..................... 2

3 BASIC VRF SYSTEM DESCRIPTIONS .....................................................................................4

4 RECOMMENDED INSTALLATION PRACTICES................................................................7

5 VRF UK PERFORMANCE........................................................................................................ 10

6 PROBLEMS TO AVOID........................................................................................................12

7 ANNUAL OPERATING COSTS................................................................................................ 14

8 CONCLUSIONS.......................................................................................................................15

9 COMMENTS.............................................................................................................................. 16

10 FURTHER READING................................................................................................................ 17

FIGURES

Figure 1 Psychometric chart................................................................................................... 3

Figure 2 Cooling only and heating or cooling......................................................................... 4
Figure 3 Simultaneous heating and cooling ............................................................................ 4
Figure 4 Simultaneous heating and cooling system in cooling mode........................................ 5
Figure 5 Simultaneous heating and cooling systems in heating mode ...................................... 5

CHARTS

Chart 1 Installed VRF system performance in cooling mode................................................. 10

Chart 2 Installed VRF system performance in heating mode................................................. 10
Chart 3 Installed VRF system performance in 114% simultaneous heating
and cooling mode.................................................................................................... 11

PHOTOS

Photo 1 Example of an incorrectly made pipe joint............................................................... 12

Photo 2 Example of a correctly made pipe joint................................................................... 13
Photo 3 Example of an incorrectly made pipe joint............................................................... 13

BSRIATN 10/97 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems

INTRODUCTION SECTION 1

1 INTRODUCTION

This Technical Note is the result of research to examine the performance

of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) based air conditioning systems
operating under typical UK conditions. The results and findings from this
project will improve designers' and specifiers' understanding of
equipment, and the actual realised performance. The information will be
of use in energy targeting and estimation procedures.

BSRIA believe there were approximately 16,000 VRF systems installed

in the UK at the end of 1996, and a total of 30,000 throughout Europe.
This includes cooling only, heating or cooling and simultaneous heating
and cooling systems. The UK sales figures for 1995 suggest that the
installed base of VRF systems increased by about 2,500 units that year.

BSRIA's definition of a VRF system is "An air conditioning system

comprising an outdoor unit containing one or more variable speed
compressors (inverter or stepped), heat exchangers, accumulator,
receiver, expansion device and controls, linked via a single flow and
return refrigerant pipework system to a number of indoor units containing
a fan, heat exchanger, expansion device and controls. Each system
contains at least two indoor units (a system can extend to 30 indoor units)
and one outdoor unit and a remote or central controller. All the indoor
and outdoor units are connected via an electronic communications system
and can be controlled by sophisticated software-based systems housed in
the outdoor unit. The indoor units are controlled either individually or in
zones with a remote or central controller which functions as a
combination time clock, fan speed selector, diagnostic panel, air
conditioning mode selector and temperature display unit".

The performance results contained in this document have been obtained

from four separate simultaneous heating and cooling VRF systems
installed in a purpose-built test facility at BSRIA. Different
configurations in the field may produce different results.

The test facility consisted of six separately zoned loads which were used
to imitate a moderate northern European office environment. With the
load applied (heating or cooling), the power consumption and the actual
amount of useful delivered energy produced was recorded. At the same
time, the outdoor unit was subjected to typical UK weather conditions.

BSRIA TN 10/97 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems 1

 Between 1947 and 1975 the dry bulb temperature in the UK was below
30C for 99.84% of the time. For large parts of the year, the external
temperatures in the UK are quite low. For the purposes of the testing the
following temperatures, 13C, 0C 10C and 30C represented autumn,
winter, spring and summer conditions respectively. The British Council
of Offices recommend indoor conditions of 22C ( 2K); this value was
used for internal test conditions. with a humidity of SO% ( 5%).

For most manufacturers' catalogues, equipment performance is stated at

35C outdoor and 27C dry bulb, 19C wet bulb indoors (these criteria
and measurement methods are to standards laid down by ISO, Eurovent,
BSI, AKI, JIS etc). This is because the market for air conditioning
equipment is truly global with many areas characterised by high humidity
or temperature.

Refrigeration-based air conditioning equipment when cooling operates

with low surface temperatures on the air side in the evaporators, typically
less than 10C. The higher moisture content in air at "standard" rating
conditions means that more latent cooling can occur. 'This increase in
total cooling results in the performance being up to 10% higher than can
be achieved at more typical UK office internal conditions.

Care must therefore be exercised in specifying this plant. In addition, real

installations are likely to include considerable horizontal and some
vertical pipe runs, also many joints and bends. Correction Factors given
by manufacturers for these losses must be rigorously applied as the
catalogue data assumes a very minimal installation. Distribution losses in
complex pipework can account for up to 12%; reduction in performance.

When the climatic and piping correction figures arc accounted for. and an
allowance made for system operation, eg defrosting in heating mode, the
realisable system performance may be up to 25% below the nominal
capacity.

The psychometric chart shows some of the relevant operating conditions

and the rationale behind the selection of the test conditions used
(See Figure 1).

2 VRF Eased Air Conditioning Systems BSRIA TN 10/97

 3
VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems
1. Summer catalogue outdoor condition
2. Winter catalogue outdoor condition
3. Summer test condition (not exceeded for 99% of time in UK)
4. Winter test condition (colder than this for 4% of time in UK)
5. Spring test condition (in the region of this for 15% of the year in UK)
6. Autumn test condition (in the region of this for 15% of the year in UK)
(24 hour weather data for London, see BSRIA TN 2/77)
7. Typical northern European office environment
8. Summer catalogue internal condition
Psychometric Chart

BSRIA TN 10/97
 3 BASIC VRF SYSTEM DESCRIPTIONS

Regardless of compressor type, manufacturers' names or refrigerant type,

there are only three generic types of VRF systems. These are:

cooling only
heating or cooling
simultaneous heating and cooling (often referred to as heat recovery
systems).

The pipework configuration is different for each type. For cooling only
and cooling and heating configuration it is analogous to a conventional
split type DX air conditioning system but with multiple room terminal
units and pipe work in a parallel or "ladder" configuration (Figure 2).

VRF Indoor Unite

Branch System

Outdoor Unit

Figure 2
Cooling Only and Heating
or Cooling
Liquid Line

Hot Gas

VRF Indoor Units

Phase Controllers

Outdoor Unit

Figure 3
Simultaneous Heating
and Cooling

Liquid Line
Hot Gas
Cold Gas

4 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems BSRIA TN 10/97

 For simultaneous heating and cooling VRF systems, (see Figure 3) each
zone to be air conditioned has a refrigerant phase controller associated
with it in the pipework system. The phase controller communicates
electronically with the remote or system controller for the zone operating
requirements. It determines the phase of refrigerant that each zone
receives; thus when an area requires heating the phase controller supplies
high pressure hot gas refrigerant to condense (and supply heat) and for
cooling, the phase controller supplies high pressure, tepid liquid
refrigerant to expand (and extract heat), (see Figures 4 and 5).

Fan Fan Heat Rejection

Heat
Figure 4 Exchanger
Simultaneous Heating and Compressors
Cooling System in Cooling
Mode
VRF Indoor Unit

Liquid Line Heat Intake

Hot Gas
Cold Gas

Fan Fan

Heat
Intake
Figure 5
Simultaneous Heating and
Cooling Systems in Heating
Mode
Compressors
Heat
Exchanger
VRF Indoor Unit

Heat
Liquid Line Rejection
Hot Gas
Cold Gas

BSRIA TN 10/97 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems 5

 For simultaneous systems, the outdoor unit supplies both high pressure
hot gas refrigerant and high pressure tepid liquid refrigerant via one or
two flow pipes (manufacturer-dependent) and a return pipe conveys low
pressure, low temperature gas back to it. These simultaneous heating and
cooling systems are sometimes referred to as "three pipe systems''
although at least one manufacturer uses only two. The phase controller
can be either dedicated to a single zone or a single controller can serve up
to ten independent zones; this is manufacturer-dependent
(see Figure 3).

6 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems BSRIA TN 10/97

 The suggestions and recommendations here are the combination of the
project observations and training course notes that are supplied by the
participating VRF manufacturers.

Unlike most other traditional refrigerant systems. VRF systems do not

have sight glasses, indoor unit isolation valves and refrigerant Level
indicators (some Japanese manufacturers suggest that sight glasses
should not be used in any unitary split systems to prevent overfilling).
This means that there is no visible method of determining if a system
contains moisture or is losing refrigeration. Therefore when these
systems arc installed they must be totally free from leaks, moisture or
installation debris.

1. Purging - during installation dry, oxygen-free nitrogen (OFN) must

be used to purge during brazing. Nitrogen purging has two main
purposes. One, if the pipe contains only nitrogen during brazing, the
likelihood of copper oxide forming inside the pipe is reduced. Copper
oxides inside the pipework can become loose and block capillaries
and expansion valves., which affects the system operation. Two, the
presence of dry nitrogen in the pipework prevents moisture from the
surrounding air entering the system.

2. Covering - the ends of refrigerant piping must always be covered

when stored or when being passed through insulation or walls. This
is done either using the caps supplied by the pipe manufacturers or
by pinching the pipe and soldering or taping the pinched end up.
Covering prevents insulation, dirt, water, insects or other debris
entering the system during construction.

3. Cutting - all copper pipes should be cut using a sharp pipe slice.
The ends of the pipework must be cleaned and reamed out to the
original internal diameter before brazing. Hacksaws must not be
used.

4. Flushing - when all the site joints have been made. but immediately
before connecting to the system components, high pressure nitrogen
(OFN) is flushed through the pipe, This may remove oxidation
bubbles formed inside copper pipes if nitrogen purging is insufficient
during brazing. It also removes moisture and debris and it can be
used to make sure no liquid- and gas-pipes have been incorrectly
connected.

5. Minimising refrigeration leakage - the number of joints must be kept

to a minimum and should preferably be brazed. Flare joints are
prone to leakage. Provision should be made for the maintenance
technicians to be able to conduct thorough leak tests. so joints in void
spaces should be avoided.

BSRIA TN 10/97 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems 7

 SECTION 4 RECOMMENDED INSTALLATION PRACTICES]

6. Pressure testing - pressure testing is in two parts: one, an aural

inspection technique used during installation and two, the structured
and recorded method carried out as part of commissioning (which is
kept for the customer's records).

The aural inspection consists of listening to the indoor units as the

transportation flare caps are removed. Most indoor coils are charged
with nitrogen during manufacture. If they have lost gas pressure in
transit and there is no aural indication when the flared cap is
removed, this normally indicates a leak or at least prompts further
investigation.

The formal pressure test involves a multiple stage pressure test.

Initially nitrogen is fed into the liquid and gas lines with all the
solenoid and expansion and capillary valves open. The actual
pressures used in testing are manufacturer-, product- and site-
dependent but some typical values are as follows:

Stage 1 - 3.0 kg/cm2 to indicate major leaks for 2 to 3 minutes

Stage 2 - 15.0 kg/cm2 for 10 minutes to indicate minor leaks
Stage 3 - 28.0 kg/cm2 for 24 hours to indicate pipe porosity or
small flare joint leaks.

7. Vacuum drying - after successful pressure testing the site-erected

pipework (excluding the outdoor unit) it is put under vacuum. The
evacuation process has two functions, firstly any moisture in the
system is vaporised, this can then be removed from the system via the
vacuum pump. Secondly if the system cannot hold a vacuum and is
internally dry then this is an indication of a very small leak (some
leaks may occur under vacuum that may not appear under a positive
pressure test if a fitting or seal is incorrectly made).

8. Triple evacuation and charging - this process is used by all good

refrigeration and air conditioning installers to make sure that all the
oxygen and moisture is removed from the system pipework. First the
pipework is evacuated to -755 mmhg for 1 to 2 hours and the
vacuum is broken with oxygen-free dry nitrogen, this process is then
repeated. After a third evacuation, refrigerant is used in place of
nitrogen to break the vacuum.

9. Additional charge - as each installed system is different, refrigerant

may need to be added to enable longer pipe runs. The amount differs
depending upon the manufacturer and (in all cases) the length of the
longest liquid line. The charge should be added with accurate scales
within 100 grams of the calculated charge.

10. Bends and fittings - in VRF systems, as in all refrigeration

applications, tight bends (elbows) are not recommended; elbows tend
to have high frictional losses. In practice, swept bends or, best of all,
hand formed bends should be used. (A hand formed bend is a trade
term for a bend made in the copper pipe using a pipe bending tool).
When hand bending, the correct spring or mandrel must be used to
prevent necking or barrelling.

8 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems BSRIA TN 10/97

 11. Good installation design - good installation can minimise regrigerant
pipework frictional and heat losses. Proper site investigation prior to
installation will optimise the positioning of the phase controller and
the outdoor unit. Good planning will reduce liquid line length,
numbers of bends, vertical lift, horizontal runs and the need for
additional refrigerant charge. During testing it was estimated that
approximately 2.0 kW of useful cooling or heating effect was being
lost in the refrigeration distribution network.

12. Electrical commissioning & installation - one of the VRF

manufacturers has analysed the major installation problems. They
conclude that wiring faults accounted for 46% of all installation
problems. For this reason it is vital that power lines and
communication cables are correctly installed, labelled and connected
prior to commissioning. Some recommendations suggest a 300 mm
separation between data and power cables. Electromagnetic
compatibility shielding must be applied where appropriate to ensure
the security of the system electronic communications.

13. Commissioning tests -it is important during commissioning that

correct phase rotation of motors is proven. Also that the current
actually being drawn by the compressors with the system on full load
is recorded to establish that the system will develop full capacity.
Care should be taken during these tests as some of the high voltage
components associated with the inverter speed drives can cause
severe electric shock even when the equipment is isolated.

14. Documentation - it is vital that on completion of commissioning,

thorough documentation is produced recording all additional
refrigerant charge, cable connections and selection (DIP) switch
settings to facilitate future. maintenance and fault finding.

BSRIA TN 10/97 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems 9

 5 VRF UK PERFORMANCE

The graphs in this section are the averaged performance of four 10 hp

simultaneous heating and cooling systems. The total load (in kW) is
presented as a scalar value being positive for both heating and cooling.
The system COP is defined as the ratio of net useful load served in the
occupied zones to the total electrical power drawn by the system
(including all controls and fans).

When designing a system which is based on an outdoor unit of nominally

10 hp, manufacturers suggest that the summation of the nominal indoor
units is between 110% - 150% of the outdoor unit capacity; this results in
11 - 15 hp nominal indoor capacity. All the participating manufacturers
recommend that, because of high diversity in actual use, the sizing of the
indoor units can exceed 100% of the nominal outdoor unit capacity. For
this reason BSRIA selected a range of indoor units that had common
sizing between all manufacturers and that were considered typical of the
average installation (6 indoor units with 5 m of vertical lift in the
refrigerant pipework and 20 m horizontal run to the index unit). This
summed to 114% of the nominal outdoor unit capacity.

In the BSRIA Test Facility, the system was loaded by varying the number
of fully loaded room terminal (Indoor) units in use. This method of
testing produced seven load conditions from 25% (2.5 hp) to 114%
(11.4 hp) of the system nominal output.

Chart 1 Installed VRF system performance in cooling mode

35. 3.5

30, 3.0

25' 2.5

20 2.0
Load(kW)

COP

15 1.5

10 1.0

5 0.5

0 0.0
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Capacity (%)

10 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems BSRIA TN 10/97

 Chart 2 Installed VRF system performance in heating mode

35 3.5

30 3.0

25 2.5
Load (kW)

20 2.0

COP
15 1.5

10 1.0

5 0.5

0 . 0.0
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%

Capacity (%)

Chart 3 Installed VRF system performance in 114% simultaneous heating and cooling mode
35 3.5

30 3.0

25 2.5
Load (kW)

20 2.0
COP

15 1.5

10 1.0

5 0.5

0 0.0
Heating Capacity (%) 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%

(Cooling Capacity (%)) (120%) (89%) (82%) (64%) (57%) (50%) (25%) (0%)

BSRIA TN 10/97 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems 11

 6 PROBLEMS TO AVOID

Examples of poor installation practice are:

Brazing without continuous nitrogen purging (see Photo 2 for good

example and Photo 3 for bad example)
Not nitrogen flushing the system
Insufficient evacuation due to site time pressures
Incorrect use of service valve and gauge connections
Installers not following the manufacturers' recommended procedures
Copper tees installed incorrectly (swept bend the wrong way round)
Bends incorrectly formed (bent round knee causing undesirable
reduction in pipe diameter) (see Photo 1 for bad example of bending)
Pipes cut and burrs left inside pipe
Pipes flattened, restricting flow
Poor insulation of refrigerant pipework
Insufficient refrigerant leaks detection/ prevention, not resolving small
leaks and ad-hoc additional charge added by maintenance personnel to
try to improve performance.
Insufficient checking of the full range of operational functionality -
will it develop full capacity in cold weather?
Ad-hoc changes to communications wiring connections and control
switch settings
Unauthorised wiping of fault logs
Not detailing electrical commissioning checks and not producing
electrical and data connection schematic diagrams and schedules.

Typically, VRF systems should only have two maintenance visits per year
as part of a manufacturer's warranty agreement. This would entail a
thorough refrigerant leak check, cleaning of all air filters and outdoor
heat exchanger surfaces. Also a diagnostic check of the control system
history of faults (recorded by the microprocessor systems).

Photo 1
Example of an incorrectly
made pipe joint

This shows a poor

joint and
incorrect bending
indicated by the
rippling on the
inside of the bend.

12 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems BSRIA TN 10/97

Photo 2
Example of a correctly
made pipe joint

This is an example of a good brazed joint exhibiting high mechanical

strength, evidence of oxygen-free nitrogen purging and good
penetration of bronze filler material. The only fault is burrs from the
use of a blunt pipe slice.

Photo 3
Example of an incorrectly
made pipe joint

This is a poor joint; the black speckling on the inside of the pipe is
copper oxides generated when bronzing without oxygen-free nitrogen
purging. The swaging has been done incorrectly and bronze filler
material penetration is very poor.

BSRIA TN 10/97 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems 13

 A modelling exercise has been carried out to estimate a typical annual
operating cost. The model was of a single storey six zone small office
building complying with the 1990 Building Regulations and operating for
normal hours. It assumes that a simultaneous heating and cooling system
would be fitted as part of a refurbishment, primarily to cope with
increasing cooling loads, and this would supplement the existing healing
system. The model was built in the Facet Apache thermal simulation
software package and run through a full weather year. The results
revealed a requirement for simultaneous heating and cooling which
ranged from 147 days (for a 1.5 W/m2 small power load) to 186 days (for
a 25 W/m2 small power load).

The hour by hour thermal loads in each zone were summated arid
processed into data packages that were comparable with the averaged
measured performance data. This allowed calculations to be performed
that indicated the number of running hours in each of the three operating
modes and the number of kilowatt hours of delivered thermal energy.
This in turn allowed an estimate of the amount of electricity used and
hence operating cost. Based on an electricity supply cost of 0.05/kWhr.
the average cost per kilowatt hour of delivered thermal energy was
0.0212. Alternatively. this could be expressed as 1.32/m2/year for the
model (there was a need for additional healing in the model that is not
included in this cost) or as 16.37 kg CO2/m2/year (assumes 0.62 kg CO2/
kW hr) .

A major conclusion call be drawn from this model: since, in the UK,
weather patterns tend towards a predominant heating requirement, if parrs
of a building have a consistent year round cooling load. this type of
equipment can take maximum advantage of this to considerably offset the
heating required and hence optimise operating energy usage and costs.

A further conclusion based solely upon the model is that these systems
have an advantage in their ability to respond to demands for heating and
cooling with minimal distribution system losses. This is compared with a
four pipe fan coil system where the boiler and chiller must both be at
operating temperature with pumps running and water circulating etc for
all operating hours to be able to respond in the same way. The extent of
this advantage cannot be staled as there is no comparable system
performance operating data.

14 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems BSRIA TN 10/97

 The stated capacity of the simultaneous heating and cooling system
without any correction factors used arid at the manufacturers' test
conditions was in the region of 30 kW. it is essential that
manufacturers' recommendations with regard io correction factors, for
long pipe runs for example are followed when designing such systems
to ensure the sizing is accurate.

The following are based upon the averaged performance of four

simultaneous heating and cooling systems as measured in the BSRIA
test facility at typical UK operating conditions:

The maximum summer' cooling output of a 10 hp system was

20.70 kW.
The maximum winter heating output of a 10 hp system was 19.85
kW.
The system COP including all fan power at maximum summer
cooling for a 10 lip system was 2.04.
The system COP at maximum winter heating for a 10 hp system was
1.98.
Maximum system output and COP occurred in autumn when
providing both heating and cooling in the proportions 64% heating
50% cooling. Total useful output was 30.47 kW; the system COP
was 3.12.
None of the systems tested appeared to have any significant
performance advantage over the others.

For successful operation of these types cif system it is essential that:

To maximise the efficiency potential of these simultaneous heating

and cooling systems, the building in which they are to be installed
should have a consistent year round cooling load, typically 12 to
15 kW for a 10 hp system.
The system design and sizing is accurate and the pipework
installation instructions are optimised for minimum pipe run, vertical
lift aid minimum number of bends.
The installation is carried out by competent and trained refrigeration
technicians and close attention is paid to the manufacturer's
recommended procedures (eg pursing with nitrogen whilst brazing.
system flushing, pressure testing, evacuation, adding additional
refrigerant and electrical commissioning checks).
High quality control is exercised during installation, and a rigorous
pipework proving scheme is carried out before the system is
accepted or signed off.
Final documentation for pressure testing certification. electrical
safety checks and where applicable, DIP switch settings is supplied.
and handed over to and kept by the owner.
Any maintenance or service agreement includes regular and
thorough leak testing.

BSRIA TN 10/97 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems 15

 Generally the VRF systems tested performed very well. they have easy to
use controls and they all exhibited very low operating noise. The
majority of problems that occurred during testing were caused by poor
installation,

The total system COPS compare very well with those of similar site-
based chiller performance measurements (which did not include
distribution pumping power and fan coil fan power, BSRIA Technical
Appraisal 1/93).

16 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems BSRIA TN 10/97

10 FURTHER READING

1. BS 4434 : 1995. Specification for safety and environmental aspects in the design, construction
and installation of refrigerating appliances and systems. BSI.

2. Code of practice for the minimisation of refrigerant emissions from refrigerating systems.
Institute of Refrigeration. 1995.

3. Safety code for refrigerating systems utilising chlorofluorocarbons Part I - Design &
construction. Institute of Refrigeration. 1984. ISBN 09504317 37.

4. Safety code for refrigerating systems utilising chlorofluorocarbons

Part 2 - Commissioning, inspection and maintenance. Institute of Refrigeration. 1989.
ISBN 09504317 96.

5. BUTLER D J G. Minimising refrigerant emissions from air conditioning systems in buildings.

BRE Information Paper IP 1/94. BRE 1994.

6. Guideline methods of calculating TEW1 - Issue 1. British Refrigeration Association Specification.

ISBN 1 870623 126.

7. HOLMES M J., ADAMS S. Coincidence of dry and wet bulb temperatures. TN 2/77. BSRIA
1977. ISBN 0 86022 042 7.

8. Heat rejection systems - some methods and their operating costs. TA 1/93. BSRIA 1993.
ISBN 086022 337 X

BSRIA TN 10/97 VRF Based Air Conditioning Systems 17

BSRIA is the UK's leading centre for building services research. We
offer independent and authoritative research; information. testing and
consultancy and market intelligence.

Among our clients are consulting engineers, contractors,

manufacturers. building operators, government bodies and ut
We work closely with these clients, taking full account of individual
priorities and needs, and maintaining individual confidentiality at all
times. Our specialist skills, knowledge and facilities will complement
your expertise at every stage of the building process.

Founded over 40 years ago, BSRIA now has a staff of 120 and
operates from two well equipped laboratories and office premises in
Bracknell and Crowthorne. As a member-based organisation we also
provide a focus for cooperative research. offering a partnership
between industry and government.

The Association offers:

* A wide range of member services
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requirements
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Our technology centres offer research and consultancy on:

* Domestic, commercial and industrial heating
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For further details contact Marketing Services at BSRIA

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