ENERGY AND EXERGY ANALYSIS OF A DOMESTIC REFRIGERATOR: APPROACHING A SUSTAINABLE REFRIGERATOR

Year 2019, Volume: 5 Issue: 5, 469 - 481, 22.09.2019

Niyaj Shikalgar

https://doi.org/10.18186/thermal.624159

Cited By: 10

Abstract

In the perspective of reducing the household energy consumption, current research in conventional refrigeration is
concentrating on introducing innovative designs and enhances the energy efficiency of the refrigeration system. This research work
compares the performance of the domestic
refrigerator by employing hot-wall air cooled and box type shell and tube
water-cooled condenser. The energy and exergy analysis methods help to localize exergy losses in the refrigerator. The investigation is carried out according to ISO
15502:2005. Experimental studies were conducted in the same
refrigerator unit operating with a different condenser to determine the coefficient
of performance, exergy efficiency, and exergy loss in all components of the domestic refrigerator. The experimental result shows that COP is increased by 18-20% and the
exergy efficiency of the refrigerator with water
cooled condenser unit is found to be higher by 6.89-9.13% than the one
with a hot-wall air cooled condenser. The
per day energy consumption of a refrigerator with a water-cooled condenser reduces by 17% in comparison with
conventional refrigerator. The irreversibility of the refrigerator with the water-cooled
condenser is reduced by 34 % than that of
the conventional system under similar operating conditions.  The
total equivalent warming impact of refrigerator working with the water-cooled condenser is 16% lower than that
the refrigerator with air cooled condenser. The utilization of water-cooled
condenser in household refrigerators enhances
energy efficiency.

Keywords

Refrigerator, Water cooled Condenser, Hot wall Condenser, Energy, Exergy

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