A Study on the Effect on the Refrigeration Cycle by the Distance between the Insect Screen of Discharge Opening and the Outdoor Unit in an Apartment House

Since the establishment of the new rules for mandatory indoor installation of air conditioning outdoor units for apartment houses, a safe working environment for their installation and maintenance has been secured in Korea. However, in some apartments and high-rise buildings, low cooling performance and excess energy cost by air conditioners have been reported; these were not expected in the numerical analysis at the design stage. This study focuses on the obstruction to the discharge airflow owing to the insect screen installed on the opening of the outdoor unit room; this was overlooked in previous studies. The effect on the refrigeration cycle owing to the insect screen was analyzed by measuring the condensation parameters of the operating air conditioner installed in a real apartment house. By this research, improvements in the building design and HVAC equipment installation method were intended from a practical perspective.