Performance Characteristics of a Refrigerator-Freezer with Parallel Evaporators using a Linear Compressor

Conference Year

2016

Authors

Byungchae Min, Graduate School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Korea, Republic of (South Korea)Follow
Sangjin Song, Graduate School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Korea, Republic of (South Korea)Follow
Kiyoul Noh, Graduate School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Korea, Republic of (South Korea)Follow
Geonwoo Kim, Graduate School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Korea, Republic of (South Korea)Follow
Teaseung Yoon, Graduate School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Korea, Republic of (South Korea)Follow
Sangkyung Na, Graduate School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Korea, Republic of (South Korea)Follow
Sanghoon Song, Engineering Design Department, Refrigeration Division, LG Electronics,Korea, Republic of (South Korea)Follow
Jangsik Yang, Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre, Pusan National University, Korea, Republic of (South Korea)Follow
Gyungmin Choi, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Korea, Republic of (South Korea)Follow
Duckjool Kim, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Korea, Republic of (South Korea)Follow

Keywords

Domestic refrigerator, Linear compressor, R600a, Experimental simulation, performance

Abstract

A linear compressor for a domestic refrigerator-freezer has energy saving potential compared with a reciprocating compressor because of a low friction loss and free piston system. A linear compressor can control the piston stroke since it does not have mechanical restriction of piston movement. Therefore, the energy consumption of a domestic refrigerator-freezer using a linear compressor can be reduced by changing the cooling capacity of the compressor. In order to investigate the performance of a refrigerator-freezer with parallel evaporators using a linear compressor and the relation between cooling capacity of the linear compressor and cooling load, experimental simulation is conducted with variation of the capacity of a linear compressor, an ambient temperature, and cooling load. In addition, the power consumption of a linear compressor is compared to that of an inverter reciprocating compressor in a refrigerator-freezer. The performance of a linear compressor is measured with variation of the capacity of a linear compressor from 60% to 100% of the maximum capacity in a refrigerator-freezer. Based on the experimental data, the power consumption of a linear compressor is reduced by 22.4% with 70% capacity compared to 100% but on-time ratio is increased by 12.8%.