An Experimental Analysis of Cycling Losses in Domestic Refrigerator-Freezers

This paper identifies and quantifies the cycling losses in a domestic refrigerator-freezer. During cycling operation the refrigerator was found to operate between 5% and 25% less efficiently than the corresponding quasi-steady machine. The cycling refrigerator operates with an evaporator capacity be...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Coulter, William H, Bullard, Clark W
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
COEFFICIENT OF PERFORMANCE
Compressor efficiency
Cycles
DESIGN
Efficiency
ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
ENERGY LOSSES
Evaporation
Evaporators
Food
Freezers
Heat exchangers
Performance degradation
Reciprocating compressors
REFRIGERANTS
REFRIGERATORS
Solenoid valves
Temperature
THERMAL MASS
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Summary:This paper identifies and quantifies the cycling losses in a domestic refrigerator-freezer. During cycling operation the refrigerator was found to operate between 5% and 25% less efficiently than the corresponding quasi-steady machine. The cycling refrigerator operates with an evaporator capacity between 3% and 17% less than that of the quasi-steady refrigerator while at the same time requiring between 1% and 9% more power to operate. This refrigerator performance degradation was attributed to several factors, the most important being the refrigerant migration and the thermal mass of the evaporator and compressor. During the off-cycle, refrigerant migrates from the condenser to the evaporator as the system pressures equalize. The off-cycle migration increases the temperature of the evaporator and necessitates refrigerant redistribution during the on-cycle and thereby tends to reduce system performance. The increased power requirements, traced to the compressor, result from slight differences in system pressure and the reduced compressor efficiency due to a cool compressor. With the cycling losses identified, several possible refrigerator design changes were suggested. It appears that a refrigerator equipped with a reciprocating compressor, solenoid valves to isolate the condenser, and no accumulator should operate in a nearly quasi-steady manner.
ISSN:0001-2505