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h i g h l i g h t s
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.
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 15 September 2014
Received in revised form 20 January 2015
Accepted 21 January 2015
Available online 17 March 2015
Keywords:
Household refrigerator
Transient simulation
Door opening
Evaporator frosting
a b s t r a c t
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 semiempirical 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
2 K) when the doors are opened periodically and frost is allowed to accumulate over the evaporator.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Modern refrigerator design is aimed at energy savings and also
at product robustness in relation to evaporator frosting. In this
regard, standardized tests [1,2] as well as tests under real usage
conditions, that is, with doors opened regularly [3,4] allowing
moisture to enter the refrigerated compartment and frost to
accumulate on the evaporator [5] are procedures commonly carried out by most manufacturers.
Nevertheless, since the experimental procedures for frost-free
refrigerators and freezers are costly and time consuming [6,7],
simulation models have been devised to improve the product
development process [815]. None of them, however, can predict
q
An abridged version of this manuscript was presented at the 15th International
Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference at Purdue, July 1417, 2014.
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +55 41 3361 3239.
E-mail address: chermes@ufpr.br (C.J.L. Hermes).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.01.089
0306-2619/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
387
Nomenclature
Dt
Roman
A
C
cp
D
Dfr
G
H
h
Ha
hlv
hsv
k
kfr
L
Le
m
N
NTU
p
Q
r
S
T
UA
v
V
W
w
W
Greek
a
d
ec
ex
/
Dp
door opening is therefore the main aim of this study. The proposed
model follows a quasi-steady-state approach [14], with a steadystate sub-model for the refrigeration loop and a transient submodel for the energy and moisture transfer into and within the
refrigerated compartments. An additional frost growth and densication sub-model was developed to predict the frost accumulation on the evaporator over time.
gg
gv
q
r
f
time-step, s
global compression efciency, dimensionless
volumetric compression efciency, dimensionless
density, m
Stefan-Boltzmann constant, W m2 K4
evaporator dry-out position, m
Subscripts
1
compressor inlet
2
condenser inlet
3
condenser outlet
4
evaporator inlet
5
evaporator outlet
a
ambient, air
c
condenser
cap
capillary tube
d
door
e
evaporator
f
ash-point
ff
fresh-food
fr
frost
fz
freezer
g
saturated vapor at the evaporating pressure
i
inlet
k
compressor
l
saturated liquid
lat
latent thermal load
m
mullion
o
outlet
r
refrigerant
s
isentropic process
sat
saturation
sen
sensible thermal load
ss
steady-state
sub
subcooling
suc
suction line
sup
superheating
v
saturated vapor
x
internal heat exchanger
h2 h1
h2;s h1
gg
UAk T 2 T a
mk
2. Simulation model
2.1. Refrigeration loop
A 433-liter top-mount refrigerator, running with R-134a and
comprised of a 6.76-cm3 hermetic reciprocating compressor, natural draft wire-on-tube condenser, tube-n evaporator and capillary
tube-suction line heat exchanger, illustrated in Fig. 1, was adopted
in this study.
2.1.1. Compressor
The compressor sub-model uses the volumetric (gv) and overall
(gg) efciencies to calculate the compression power and the refrigerant mass ow rate for a given operating condition. The
388
mk gv
NS
v1
10
where N and S are the compressor speed and the swept volume,
respectively. The compression efciencies were tted to the experimental data as linear functions of the pressure ratio, and the UAk
coefcient was expressed as a linear t to the surrounding air temperature data [12,13].
2.1.2. Capillary tube suction line heat exchanger
The internal heat exchanger was modeled according to the
semi-empirical approach introduced by Hermes et al. [17], who
considered the refrigerant ow and the heat transfer as independent phenomena, and derived explicit algebraic expressions for
the refrigerant mass ow rate as follows:
0:145
0:315
mx
Lsuc
Dsuc
1:29
e0:285
x
mad
Lcap
Dcap
v f lf
v g lg
!0:214
3
mad
s
D5cap pc pf pf pe
f
gpe f
6:0
2 ln
g
gpf f
Lcap
vf
g
h4 h3 ex cp;1 T 3 T 5
arad ec rT c T a T 2c T 2a
h5 h4
NTU
m0:57 Lsuc
1:4 ad0:43
Dsuc
2=3
kg
0:1 c 2=3
p;g
g
2.1.3. Condenser
The natural draft wire-and-tube condenser was divided into
three domains, namely superheating, saturation and subcooling
[1214]. The overall heat transfer in the condenser is therefore calculated from:
1 x4 mox hlv
q0
Qc
mk
q0
mx hv h4
fo
where f = Le at t = 0.
13
14
15
h3 h2
12
Q sen Q lat
mx
where h5 = h(pe, T5) and T5 = Te + DTsup. The evaporator superheating, DTsup, varies with time due to the periodic door opening. To
address this issue, a moving-boundary approach, as introduced by
Wedekind and Stoecker [19], was adopted:
fss
T 1 T 5 ex T 3 T 5
11
16
389
ae Ae
Q sen ma cp;a T fr T i 1 exp
ma cp;a
"
Q lat ma hsv wfr wi 1 exp
ae Ae
17
!#
ma cp;a Le2=3
18
P e = 5 Pa
P e = 15 Pa
P e = 25 Pa
P e = 35 Pa
P e = 45 Pa
56
54
52
Pt [Pa]
Gmax cp
0:6976 Re0:4842
D
50
48
46
T fr T e
44
42
40
0,000
0,002
0,004
0,006
0,008
0,010
Ae
Ato
0:3426
Pr2=3
19
60
58
ae
0,012
Va [m/s]
Fig. 4. Characteristic curve of the fan.
1 cosh Ha
kfr Ae
kfr
20
where Ha is the Hatta number, and kfr and Dfr are the effective thermal conductivity and vapor diffusivity of the frost layer, respectively, calculated as described in [23]. In addition, the growth rate
of the frost layer of thickness d is calculated from:
2s
3
2
dd
2kfr 4
bdQ sen
4bdhsv
bdQ sen 5
Gfr 1
1
dt bqfr dhsv
kfr Ae
kfr
kfr Ae
21
390
qfr a expbTfr
22
The accumulated frost mass and the frost thickness are calculated,
respectively, from mfr = mofr + GfrAeDt and d = do + (dd/dt)Dt [5,23].
In addition, the frost density is obtained from qfr(t > 0) = mofr/Aedo,
where the superscript ()o represents the values at the previous
time-step. The defrost process has not been accounted for by the
model.
2.3. Refrigerated compartments
The model for the refrigerated compartments, which was based
on the work of Borges et al. [14], is aimed at determining the psychrometric conditions of the moist air inside the fresh-food and
freezer (frozen-food) compartments over time by means of transient energy and mass balances, which yield the following expressions for the air temperature and humidity of the fresh-food and
freezer compartments, respectively:
A Dt
T T ss; T ss; T o exp
C
23
B Dt
w wss; wss; wo exp
q /
24
T ss;
25
wss;
md; wa m wo
B
26
where
T o rTfz 1 rT ff
Q sen
ma cp;a
wo rwfz 1 rwff
Q lat
ma hsv
27
28
md;
v
u
u2gHd; 1 qa =q
2
K q W d; Hd; t
3
3
1 q =qa 1=3
29
30
Dp
fGmax Ae
2qa Amin
31
f 5:965 Re0:2948
D
0:7671 0:4436
Ae
Nlo
At
2
32
The characteristic curve for the fan, depicted in Fig. 4, was tted to a
third-order polynomial using experimental data obtained in a windtunnel facility [13], illustrated in Fig. 5.
2.4. Solution algorithm
The model was coded in EES [26]. The solution algorithm, illustrated in Fig. 6, is based on a sequential solution for the models for
the refrigerated compartments and the refrigeration loop, whose
391
Table 1
Summary of experimental tests.
Experiment
Test facility
Ambient conditions
Empirical parameter
Fan characteristics
Cabinet hydrodynamics
Refrigeration loop
Door opening tests
Wind-tunnel
Wind-tunnel
Chamber
Chamber
21 C, 50% RH
21 C, 50% RH
6 runs, doors closed, 25 < T < 38 C, 8 < w < 32 g/kg
3 runs, door openings, 25 < T < 38 C, 12 < w < 21 g/kg
3rd-order polynomial
c
r, gv, gg, UAk, UA, UAm, C
K, /, qofr, mok, b
3. Experimental work
The refrigerator was carefully instrumented as illustrated in
Fig. 7. The evaporating and condensing pressures were measured
by means of strain gauge pressure transducers ranging from 0 to
10 bar (2 mbar uncertainty) and from 0 to 20 bar (4 mbar uncertainty), respectively. A Coriolis-type mass ow meter with a measurement uncertainty of 0.03 kg/h was installed at the
compressor discharge. The compressor and fan power consumption were monitored using a digital power analyzer with a measurement uncertainty of 0.1%. Capacitive relative humidity
transducers (2% uncertainty) were installed at the evaporator
inlet and outlet together with pressure takes for air-side pressure
drop measurements using a differential pressure transducer ranging from 0 to 62.5 Pa (0.3 Pa uncertainty). All T-type
thermocouples employed in this study have a measurement uncertainty of 0.3 C. More details can be found in [22].
The experimental plan, summarized in Table 1, was designed to
provide all of the empirical information required for the sake of
model closing. The doors were opened and closed using a purpose-built door-opening device attached to both the freezer and
fresh-food doors [3], so that they could be operated independently.
The arrangement is placed within a climate chamber, depicted in
Fig. 8, which provides a strict control of temperature, humidity
and air velocity.
The time between door opening events and the length of time of
the event are both easily programmed. Patterns comprised of 4
cycles of door opening events, each cycle lasting 1 h and applied
in sequence, were adopted, with a 4-h interval between cycles.
After this period, the system was kept running for 8 h with the
doors closed. The pattern was repeated every 24 h. In a door opening cycle, the freezer door was opened every 12 min for 10 s over a
period of 1 h, totalizing 5 opening events per hour. On the other
hand, the fresh-food door was opened every 2.5 min for 30 s, totalizing 20 opening events per hour.
4. Results
The model predictions were compared with the corresponding
experimental data for ambient conditions of 32 C and 70% RH.
392
25
17
Tff, Experimental
16
Tff, Simulated
1.8
15
15
10
Temperature [C]
1.9
5
0
Tfz, Experimental
-5
Tfz, Simulated
1.7
14
1.6
13
1.5
1.4
12
1.3
11
1.2
10
1.1
-10
20
2.0
Pc, Simulated
Pe, Simulated
Pc, Experimental
Pe, Experimental
1.0
0.9
-15
-20
0.8
0.7
0
-25
0
60
120
180
240
300
360
420
480
540
Time [min]
60
120
180
240
300
360
420
480
540
Time [min]
Fig. 10. Time evolution of the condensing and evaporating pressures.
The simulations were initiated at the compressor start up immediately after a defrost cycle and lasted until the next defrost cycle
began. Fig. 9 shows the predicted and experimental results for
the refrigerated compartment temperatures for the whole period.
Two door opening cycles can be clearly seen, the rst from 30
to 90 min and the second from 330 to 390 min. It should be
noted that the model follows closely the experimental trends, with
an average deviation of around 2 C, the maximum discrepancies
occurring during door opening.
393
200
30
Experimental
Experimental
Simulated
Simulated
180
Experimental
Simulated
Simulated
25
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
15
10
5
20
0
0
0
60
120
180
240
300
360
420
480
540
60
120
180
240
Time [min]
300
360
420
480
540
Time [min]
12
120
Experimental
1st Row
2nd Row
3rd Row
4th Row
5th Row
Simulated
Simulated
10
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
60
120
180
240
300
360
420
480
540
Time [min]
Fig. 12. Time evolution of the evaporator superheating.
0
0
60
120
180
240
300
360
420
480
540
Time [min]
Fig. 14. Time evolution of the accumulated frost mass along each evaporator row.
394
Acknowledgments
This study was carried out at the POLO facilities under National
Grant No. 573581/2008-8 (National Institute of Science and
Technology in Refrigeration and Thermophysics) funded by the
Brazilian Government Agency CNPq. The authors are grateful to
Mr. Rafael Ges for his valuable support in the experiments.
Financial support from Whirlpool Latin America S.A. is also duly
acknowledged.
Appendix A. Refrigerator characteristics
Refrigerator
Type: Top-mount frost-free.
Refrigerant type/charge: HFC-134a/100 g.
Cabinet internal volume: 439 liters.
Fan power consumption: 7 W.
Compressor
Type: Hermetic reciprocating compressor.
Stroke: 6.76 cm3.
Speed: 60 Hz.
Condenser
Type/material: wire-and-tube/steel.
Length of the discharge line: 1600 mm.
Condenser height/length of the wires: 1210 mm.
Condenser width: 540 mm.
Tube outer diameter: 5.1 mm.
Bend radius: 28.8 mm.
Number of tubes: 21.
Wire diameter: 1.4 mm.
Number of wires: 90.
Surface emissivity: 0.81.
Internal heat exchanger
Type/material: concentric/copper.
Capillary tube outer diameter: 1.90 mm.
Capillary tube inner diameter: 0.80 mm.
Capillary tube length: 2.55 m.
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