Development of a hybrid refrigerator combining thermoelectric and vapor compression technologies

J.G. Vián , D. Astrain

A domestic refrigerator with three compartments has been developed: Refrigerator compartment, at 4°C (vapor compression cooling system); freezer compartment, at -22°C (vapor compression cooling system); and a new super-conservation compartment, at 0°C (thermoelectric cooling system). The thermoelectric system designed for the super-conservation compartment eliminates the oscillation of its temperature due to the start and stop compressor cycles, obtaining a constant temperature and thus, a better preservation of the food. For the design and optimization of this application, a computational model, based in the numerical method of finite differences, has been developed. This model allows to simulate the complete hybrid refrigerator (vapor compression - thermoelectricity). The accuracy of the model has been experimentally checked, with a maximum error of 1.2°C for temperature values, and 8% for electric power consumption. By simulations with the computational model, the design of the refrigerator has been optimized, obtaining a final prototype highly competitive, by the features on food preservation and power consumption: 1.15kWh per day (48.1W) for an ambient temperature of 25°C. According to European rules, this power consumption value means that this new refrigerator could be included on energy efficiency class B.

Mots clés: Thermoelectricity; computational model; refrigeration; Peltier; vapor compression

J.G. Vián, D. Astrain. Development of a hybrid refrigerator combining thermoelectric and vapor compression technologies. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2009, 29 (16), pp.3319. ⟨10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2009.05.006⟩. ⟨hal-00565565⟩