Energy-Saving Technologies for Inverter Air Conditioners

Almost all residential air conditioners in Japan are inverter air conditioners in which a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) is driven by a PWM inverter. The inverter technology can reduce the energy consumption to less than half that of air conditioners driven by a constant-speed induction motor (IM). This paper reviews the trends and the latest energy-efficient technologies for the motor and the power converter that achieve considerable energy saving. Copyright © 2008 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.