An experimental analysis of thermal storage materials applied to natural-draft condensers.

Abstract

The aim of this work is to study the effect of applying thermal storage materials (TSMs) into natural draft condensers of household refrigerators. To this end, three types of TSMs were integrated into the wire-and-tube condenser of an appliance. Energy consumption tests were carried out under different system operating conditions with each TSM in order to compare the results with those of an off-the-shelf refrigerator. It was found that the energy consumption benefits are strongly dependent on the contact resistance between the condenser and the material, on the compressor on and off times and on the material thermal capacity, regardless of the ambient temperature. Energy savings of up to 7.4% were achieved with the integration of 700g of a copolymer compound into the condenser of an A++ European appliance.