Performance of a two-cycle refrigerator/freezer using HFC refrigerants

A two-cycle 18 ft{sup 3} (0.51 m{sup 3}) refrigerator/freezer was tested utilizing American National Standards Institute/Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (ANSI/AHAM) standards for energy consumption testing. A 34.9% energy consumption reduction was realized for a 1984 model refrigerator/freezer (1020 kWh original energy use). This paper presents a proven method of reducing the current Department of Energy (DOE) minimum energy-efficiency standards for refrigerator/freezers to the proposed year 2001 standards utilizing existing technology. For a top-mount, frost-free refrigerator/freezer having the above volume, the current DOE minimum energy standard is 770 kWh/year, and the proposed DOE year 2001 standard is 530 kWh/year (a 31% reduction). Therefore, some significant reductions may be obtained by implementing the modifications discussed in this paper into newer refrigerator/freezer models. The paper gives an overview of the modifications implemented by a Danish university on a US refrigerator/freezer and presents experimental performance testing results of the refrigerator/freezer. The modifications will cause the refrigerator/freezer to be more expensive, but the performance enhancements should offset cost. No cost analysis is presented in this paper, but a detailed cost analysis of a two-cycle refrigerator/freezer is contained in a 1993 US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report (EPA 1993). The refrigerator/freezer was tested using fourmore » refrigerants and compressors. Two compressors and refrigerants were tested in the freezer cycle, and four were tested in the fresh food cycle.« less