LAPSE:2018.0539
Published Article
LAPSE:2018.0539
An Experimental Investigation of Thermal Characteristics of Phase Change Material Applied to Improve the Isothermal Operation of a Refrigerator
Seok-Joon Lee, Seul-Hyun Park
September 21, 2018
We investigated the thermal performance of a refrigerator with a functional duct unit (FDU) which was charged with a phase change material (PCM) and designed to replace the existing expandable polystyrene (EPS) duct unit. Since the performance of the FDU is dependent upon the thermal characteristics of the PCM, the eutectic water⁻salt solution as the PCM was prepared and tested to optimize the thermal characteristics. The thermal properties of the PCM were examined by the T-history method. When the PCM contained 1 wt.% eutectic molten salt compounds, the phase change temperature was approximately −0.5 °C, the supercooling temperature was approximately −2.9 °C, and the latent heat was 304.9 kJ/kg. Compared with other PCMs of different eutectic molten salt concentrations, this PCM was found to have the most appropriate thermal properties for the FDU. Therefore, the PCM with 1 wt.% eutectic molten salt compounds was used in the FDU, which was installed in a 200 L top-mounted freezer (TMF). For a quantitative comparison of the operational performance, an FDU and an EPS duct were installed alternately in a refrigerator operated under the same conditions and analyzed in terms of internal temperature variation and operational characteristics. When the EPS duct was replaced by the FDU, the temperature deviation measured during a defrosting operation was observed to become smaller. Moreover, during a power outage, the refrigerator with the FDU released heat owing to the phase change of the PCM, thereby preventing temperature rise inside the refrigerator.
Keywords
eutectic molten salt compounds, functional duct unit, phase change material, T-history method, thermal properties
Subject
Suggested Citation
Lee SJ, Park SH. An Experimental Investigation of Thermal Characteristics of Phase Change Material Applied to Improve the Isothermal Operation of a Refrigerator. (2018). LAPSE:2018.0539
Author Affiliations
Lee SJ: Department of Mechanical System & Automotive Engineering, Graduate School of Chosun University, 303 Pilmum-Daero, Dong-gu, Gwangju 61452, Korea
Park SH: School of Mechanical System & Automotive Engineering, Chosun University, 303 Pilmum-Daero, Dong-gu, Gwangju 61452, Korea
[Login] to see author email addresses.
Journal Name
Energies
Volume
11
Issue
8
Article Number
E2017
Year
2018
Publication Date
2018-08-02
Published Version
ISSN
1996-1073
Version Comments
Original Submission
Other Meta
PII: en11082017, Publication Type: Journal Article
Record Map
Published Article

LAPSE:2018.0539
This Record
External Link

doi:10.3390/en11082017
Publisher Version
Download
Files
[Download 1v1.pdf] (3.4 MB)
Sep 21, 2018
Main Article
License
CC BY 4.0
Meta
Record Statistics
Record Views
407
Version History
[v1] (Original Submission)
Sep 21, 2018
 
Verified by curator on
Sep 21, 2018
This Version Number
v1
Citations
Most Recent
This Version
URL Here
https://psecommunity.org/LAPSE:2018.0539
 
Original Submitter
Calvin Tsay
Links to Related Works
Directly Related to This Work
Publisher Version