- lmgonza2@illinois.edu
- Masters Candidate (Expected Graduation – May 2015)
- B.S. Mechanical Engineering – University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- Research Interests: Dynamic modeling, Air conditioning and refrigeration systems
Due the widespread use of air conditioning, refrigeration, and heat pump systems in both residential and industrial applications, heating and cooling exists as a leading means of energy consumption throughout the world today. With this in mind, researchers continue to search for methods of reducing cost through improving system efficiency.
One contributor to decreased performance in refrigeration systems is evaporator frost growth. Due to moisture carried in the air, low evaporator surface temperatures causes frost to begin to build up, and in doing so, the amount of system cooling capacity is decreased. As cooling capacity diminishes, a defrost cycle is required to remove the built up frost so that refrigeration may continue. Most current refrigeration systems make use of two basic types of defrost methods. First, is timer-based, which initiates defrost on a regular time schedule. Because these systems are tuned for worst case scenarios, they tend to be very inefficient as they may run defrost when unneeded. The other common type of defrost method is defrost on demand. This uses sensors for readings of temperature or pressure to determine when defrost is necessary. Although both systems are effective, there is still room for improved efficiency.
Through the use of a model-based approach, a better understanding of frost growth and defrost behavior can be developed, such that more efficient defrosting decisions can be made toward bettering system performance.
