Hi All,

I'm a complete newbie to the whole area really, I studying a PhD in computer science and as part of the work I'm currently doing I'm trying to understand how to calculate the energy efficiency of air-conditioning systems relative to the outside temperature.

The equation I have been using to calculate the COP is this:

COP = 1 / (Th/Tl -1)

Where Th is the outside temperature and Tl is the (cooled) indoor temperature (reversed carnot)

The question I have about this is whether this model assumes that the heat being removed by the aircon is being generated by heat transfer from the outside?

What I am looking at though is computer server-farms (typically well insulated) where the main heat source is generated by the equipment and not the outdoor temperature. How does this effect the above calculation of COP? how do I factor in the 3rd value i.e. the heat generated by the computer servers?

To put this another way, if I were to use the above equation to measure the COP of 2 refrigerators with the same Th and Tl, but placed a heat source in one, surely the COP would not be the same??



(Sorry if this is not the correct forum for this but any help would be greatly appreciated)