This thesis presents an approach for identifying critical model parameters in dynamic air-conditioning systems using limited sensor information. The expansion valve model and the compressor model parameters play a crucial role in the system model's accuracy. In the past, these parameters have been estimated using a mass flow meter; however, this is an expensive devise and at times, impractical. In response to these constraints, a novel method to estimate the unknown parameters of the expansion valve model and the compressor model is developed. A gray box model obtained by augmenting the expansion valve model, the evaporator model, and the compressor model is used. Two numerical search algorithms, nonlinear least squares and Simplex search, are used to estimate the parameters of the expansion valve model and the compressor model. This parameter estimation is done by minimizing the error between the model output and the experimental systems output. Results demonstrate that the nonlinear least squares algorithm was more robust for this estimation problem than the Simplex search algorithm. In this thesis, two types of expansion valves, the Electronic Expansion Valve and the Thermostatic Expansion Valve, are considered. The Electronic Expansion Valve model is a static model due to its dynamics being much faster than the systems dynamics; the Thermostatic expansion valve model, however, is a dynamic one. The parameter estimation algorithm developed is validated on two different experimental systems to confirm the practicality of its approach. Knowing the model parameters accurately can lead to a better model for control and fault detection applications. In addition to parameter estimation, this thesis also provides and validates a simple usable mathematical model for the Thermostatic expansion valve.
