Development of an Outdoor Test Facility for Wind Convectors

Abstract

This paper deals with measurement of heat transfer performance of wind convectors, an alternative air source evaporator system for heat pumps. An automatically controlled and monitored outdoor wind convector test facility that is capable of measuring heat transfer rates and overall heat-transfer coefficients to within ± 5 percent measurement uncertainty for up to three wind convectors has been designed, built, and tested. Data on air temperature and humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed and direction are simultaneously collected. The choice of measurement technique for each variable and an error analysis for each sensor is discussed. Typical graphical test results are presented.