Development of a PID-Controlled Refrigeration System for Reduced Power Consumption
1 Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Taraba State University, Jalingo, Nigeria.
2 Department of Electrical Engineering, UNT College of Engineering, University of North Texas, Discovery Park Denton, Texas USA.
3 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Klipsch School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, New Mexico State University, USA.
Research Article
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2024, 24(01), 2435–2449
Publication history:
Received on 06 September 2024; revised on 14 October 2024; accepted on 16 October 2024
Abstract:
Refrigerator systems are used for food preservation as well as other applications. However, the cost of running the system is high due to rising fuel and electricity prices. Traditionally, these systems are controlled by On/Off controllers. This study proposes the use of a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller algorithm to reduce costs for domestic and industrial refrigeration without negatively affecting the system performance.
To accomplish this, a physical model was developed, comprising a domestic refrigerator, microcontroller, and MATLAB computer software for analysis. A mathematical model of second-order lead and second-order lag transfer function was also developed for a typical refrigerator system. The physical model was connected, and open-loop temperature-time response data was collected for system modeling. In addition, Data were collected from industries namely Fan Milk Industry and Benue State University Teaching Hospital Mortuary for a robust system analysis. All data sets were imported into MATLAB's system identification toolbox to estimate model parameters. The ultimate gains, frequency, and period were determined for each feedback closed-loop model, allowing the application of Ziegler-Nichols and Tyreus-Luyben PID tuning settings. The closed-loop models were then simulated in MATLAB to evaluate system performance.
Simulation results showed that the Tyreus-Luyben model performed better, and offered better temperature response, less undershoot, and faster settling time than the Zeigler-Nichols method. Both PID models outperformed the traditional On/Off controller, with energy consumption reduced to less than one-third of the conventional method. The study concludes that PID controllers are a better alternative to On/Off systems when properly tuned.
Keywords:
Refrigerator; PID-controller; Microcontroller; Temperature response; and Energy Efficiency.
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Copyright © 2024 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0