Experimental Investigation of a Household Refrigerator Performance Using Chimney-Type Condenser

Abstract

In this study, the condenser unit was investigated experimentally in order to search for the effect of using chimney on the performance of a household refrigerator charged with 139 g of R134a refrigerant. An experimental design based on chimney-type condenser has been developed, and three chimneys having different size were produced. A series of measurements were conducted over the climatic conditions of Karabük/Turkey, and results show that the efficiency and energy consumption of the refrigerator vary with the chimney height. Results showed that the best performance observed was for the 170 cm chimney height. Energy consumption of natural convection with chimney was found less than that of natural convection by 5 and 10 % for the loaded and unloaded situations of the refrigerator. © 2015, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals.