24 November 2020

Controller-in-the-loop – New ways of optimizing costs and quality of heat pump systems

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The complexity of heat pumps systems is constantly increasing, and refrigerants are evolving to comply with the F-Gas regulation of the European Union. As a result, the requirements of the heat pump system controllers are also growing. Thus, precise testing of such complex controllers will become more important. Controller tests are usually done regarding the software, or after the production of prototypes. Software tests can only partially map the real operation, whereas prototypes can cover it completely, but are very expensive and required changes to prototypes are very costly. To test the controllers without expensive prototypes, but with conditions very similar to real operation, the controller-in-the-loop (CIL) is suggested. This approach is explained in some detail and illustrated with a real example.