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Article history:
Received 18 September 2008
Accepted 11 May 2009
Available online 20 May 2009
Keywords:
Frost-free refrigerator
DPIV
Experimental research
Supply-air opening
a b s t r a c t
In household frost-free refrigerators, the air ow eld is the most important factor that affects temperature distributions in chambers, while the performance of the supply-air openings for each chest determines the character of the ow eld in the chest. Thus, it is necessary to perform experimental research
on the air ow performance at the supply-air openings to improve the service performance, furthermore,
to reduce the energy consumption of frost-free refrigerators. In this study, the airow performance at the
supply-air openings in a BCD-190W type household frost-free refrigerator was investigated. A transparent model was built based on similitude theory. The measurement system using 2-D Digital Particle
Image Velocimetry (DPIV) technology and the proper tracer particles were adopted. The velocity distribution performance of typical rectangular supply-air openings in the refrigerator were measured. In addition, the problem in ow rate and location design of supply-air openings were presented on the basis of
the analysis of the experimental results. The results show that DPIV can be applied to obtain the air ow
performance at supply-air openings in frost-free refrigerators. Moreover, the structure of supply-air
openings in each chest and the design of the supply-air tunnel resistance in cooling chamber should
be improved.
2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
1. Introduction
In frost-free refrigerators, the air cooled by the evaporator is
transported and distributed to each chest through the air circulation tunnel, the supply-air openings and the return-air openings.
Special air ow styles are built to maintain required air velocity
around the food to keep uniform cooling. The temperature distribution characters in the frost-free refrigerator have signicant
inuence on the performance and energy consumption [1], and
the temperature distributions depend on the ow eld in the
chambers. The air ow performance at the supply-air openings is
the key factor that affects the velocity distribution in each chamber. Therefore, it is very important to study the air ow performance of the supply-air openings so as to improve the service
performance and reduce energy consumption of frost-free
refrigerators.
Several investigators studied the air velocity and temperature
distributions in frost-free refrigerators. The numerical simulation
on air ow elds near the fan zone was carried out by Su [2]. The
simulation results indicated that increasing the distance between
the fan and the supply-air opening board would be helpful to eliminate the vortex ow and improve the uniformity of the air supply
velocities. The laminar ow model was adopted by Bing to calculate
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: xzmeng@mail.xjtu.edu.cn (X. Meng).
1359-4311/$ - see front matter 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2009.05.009
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the cooling chamber was 585 mm, while the height of the top
chest, the second chest, the third chest and the bottom chest was
150 mm, 120 mm, 160 mm and 155 mm, respectively. The width
of the top chest was 390 mm, and all other chests were 450 mm
wide. The depth of the top chest, the second chest, the third chest
and the fourth chest were 350 mm, 370 mm, 390 mm and 440 mm,
respectively.
In this study, the tracer particles were generated by heating a
kind of silicon oil with a fog generator. The average diameter of
the tracer particles was about 12 lm. Thus, the particles were
with good follow movement property and easy to be dispersed.
3. Experiment results and analysis
3.1. Experiment results and analysis for freezing chamber
3.1.1. Performance analysis of the supply-air openings for the left part
of the top chest
There were three sets of supply-air openings with the same size
in the top left chest of the freezing chamber, and each set included
three openings, see Fig. 3a. The guide plate with about 10 mm high
was normal to the air supply board. Fig. 5 shows that two vortexes
existed in the measurement zones because of the combined action
of the supply-air openings and the return-air openings. The measurement results show that the air jet velocities of the top two layers of the supply-air openings were larger than those of the lower
openings. The measured largest velocity of the air jets was 2.22 m/
s. The injection effects of the upper layer openings resulted in the
air jet of the lower layer openings deviating upward and merged
with the air jet of the upper openings to form the high velocity
stratum. This ow type is favorable to protect heat transfer from
the envelope and the door. If the food was placed in the chest, it
would not destroy the mean ow type signicantly. Since the air
jets from the supply-air openings deviated upward, the upper
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Fig. 4. Velocity distributions in the center plane of supply-air openings for the left part of the top chest of the freezing chamber.
Fig. 5. Velocity distribution in the center plane of supply-air openings for the right part of the top chest of the freezing chamber.
guide plate could protect the air jet from impacting the roof of the
chest to cause the signicant loss of momentum. However, the
lower guide plate had no effects on the air jet, so it should be removed in the design improvement.
3.1.2. Performance analysis of the supply-air openings for the right
part of the top chest
There were seven supply-air openings for the right part of the
top chest of the freezing chamber, see Fig. 2. The guide plates were
located at the under limb of the openings, and the included angle
was about 60. Fig. 5a shows that the velocity of the left-hand supply-air opening was the largest in that of the seven openings in the
chest, the measured largest velocity was 2.21 m/s. The air jet velocities decreased from left to right because of the distance between
the opening and the fan increased. The velocity of the right-hand
opening was 1.22 m/s, see Fig. 5b. Comparison of Fig. 5a with
Fig. 5b shows that, the distance and the inuence zone of the air
jet from the left-hand opening were less than those from the
right-hand opening although its velocity was larger, since the
velocity vectors of the openings for the right part of the top chest
in the freezing chamber all deviated toward right-hand. Thus, the
air jets mainly inuenced the right part space of the chest, and
the mean temperature in the right region would be lower than that
in the left region.
3.1.3. Performance analysis of the supply-air openings for the second
and third chest
There were two symmetric same size rectangular supply-air
openings in the second chest and the third chest of the freezing
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Fig. 6. Velocity distribution in the center plane of supply-air openings for the second chest.
Fig. 7. Velocity distribution in the center plane of the supply-air opening for the third chest.
Fig. 8. Velocity distribution in the center plane of the supply-air openings for the top chest of the cooling chamber.
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openings are located at the end of the air tunnels along the back
of the third chest. Their locations are higher than the shelf of the
third chest. Each air jet owed through the gap between the third
shelf and the back wall and entered the forth chest. Fig. 10 shows
that the air jet ow downward along the back wall of the chest until it reached the bottom, and then it owed toward outside of the
chest. Therefore, the air velocities in the lower part of the chest
were rather large in the chest. The measured center velocity of
the left air jet was 0.31 m/s, and that of the right air jet was
0.14 m/s. This would cause the non-uniform temperature distribution in the forth chest.
Comparison of the measurement results of the cooling chamber
indicates that the center velocities of the supply-air openings for
the second and third chests were rather lower than those of the
other two chests. Thus, the average temperatures in the second
and third chests would be lower than those in the other two chests
of the cooling chamber. The experiment results show that the air
ow rates of the lower three chest were different signicantly, so
the average temperature in these chests would also be different.
Fig. 9. Velocity distributions in the center plane of the supply-air openings for the second chest of the cooling chamber.
Fig. 10. Velocity distributions in the center plane of the supply-air openings for the forth chest of the cooling chamber.
The optimum resistance design of the air tunnel and the openings
is a critical approach to good service performance and energy
saving.
4. Conclusions
In this study, the experiment research on the air ow characters
of the supply-air openings in a transparent BCD-190W type household frost-free refrigerator model was carried out based on the
similitude theory. The experiment results indicate that DPIV technology used for the model experiment could overcome the difculty on measuring the ow eld in the prototype refrigerator,
and the accurate air ow performance at the supply-air openings
were obtained. The measurement results show that all the supply-air openings in this refrigerator should be improved.
In the freezing chamber, good ow type was formed in the left
part of the top chest, but the lower guide plate could be removed
because it is useless. The air jet velocities in the right part of the
top chest of freezing chamber decreased from left to right with
the increasing of the distance between the openings and the fan.
The velocities of each two supply-air openings in the second and
the third chest of the freezing chamber were different obviously.
The air jets of the openings for the third chest had short circuit.
In the cooling chamber, the air jets velocities in each chest were
different clearly, and the air jets velocities in the top chest were
the largest, and those of the middle two chests were the smallest.
The velocity difference between the symmetric two openings in
each chest of the cooling chamber was also obviously because of
the difference of the resistances of the air tunnel and the openings.
From the experiment results and the analysis, it could be suggested that the supply-air openings should be modied. For the
freezing chamber, the under guide plate of the openings for the left
part of the top chest could be removed. Further research on the
ow eld in the space between the back board and the fan should
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