Transient simulation of a two-door frost-free refrigerator subjected to periodic door opening and evaporator frosting

• Published in: Applied energy Vol. 147; pp. 386 - 395
• Main Authors: Borges, Bruno N., Melo, Cláudio, Hermes, Christian J.L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2015
• Subjects: Door opening; energy; energy use and consumption; Evaporator frosting; frost; heat; Household refrigerator; mass transfer; prediction; refrigeration; refrigerators; simulation models; temperature; Transient simulation; Household refrigerator; Door opening; Transient simulation; Evaporator frosting
• ISSN: 0306-2619; 1872-9118
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.01.089

•Transient behavior of a refrigerator under periodic door opening is simulated.•The refrigeration loop is modeled following a semi-empirical quasi-steady approach.•Energy and moisture transfer into and within the compartments are modeled.•Key heat and mass transfer parameters were derived from in-house experiments.•Predictions followed closely the experimental trends for power and temperatures. This paper describes a quasi-steady-state simulation model for predicting the transient behavior of a two-door household refrigerator subjected to periodic door opening and evaporator frosting. A semi-empirical steady-state model was developed for the refrigeration loop, whereas a transient model was devised to predict the energy and mass transfer into and within the refrigerated compartments, and also the frost build-up on the evaporator. The key empirical heat and mass transfer parameters required by the model were derived from a set of experiments performed in-house in a climate-controlled chamber. In general, it was found that the model predictions followed closely the experimental trends for the power consumption (deviations within ±10%) and for the compartment temperatures (deviations within ±2K) when the doors are opened periodically and frost is allowed to accumulate over the evaporator.