Performance improvement of vapour compression refrigeration system using different phase changing materials
A. Karthikeyan, V. Aakhash Sivan, Abdul Maher khaliq, A. Anderson
Abstract
Improving the performance of the household refrigerator plays a major role in the rate of electricity consumption which involves mostly the efficiency of the compressor refrigerators, the thermal load , the ambient temperature and the refrigerant used. The aim of this work is to increase the efficiency of the household refrigerator by attaching phase change materials (PCM) at different locations such as at freezer, fridge and condenser. The PCM used in this analysis is commercial (OM32, OM29, OM03 and HS3N). The PCM is used in the form of slab in both the freezer and fridge section. In condenser, the PCM is arranged in a descending order of their melting temperature in the direction of flow of refrigerant in the form of packets surrounded by aluminum foil . The refrigerator is tested with no PCM, with PCM in freezer and fridge compartment, with PCM in condenser and with PCM in freezer, fridge and condenser. The test results showed that the efficiency of the refrigerator with PCM at all three locations is improved i.e. freezer, fridge and condenser.