See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: [Link]

net/publication/339938909

Conventional Refrigeration Systems Using Phase Change Material: A Review

Article · March 2016

CITATIONS READS

12 5,151

1 author:

Khan Md Imran Hossen

Queensland University of Technology
42 PUBLICATIONS 1,681 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Khan Md Imran Hossen on 15 March 2020.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
Vol. 24, No. 3 (2016) 1630007 (16 pages)
© World Scienti¯c Publishing Company
DOI: 10.1142/S201013251630007X

Conventional Refrigeration Systems Using Phase Change

Material: A Review
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

Md. Imran H. Khan

Science & Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology
2 George St, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
Mechanical Engineering Department
Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology, Gazipur, Gazipur-1700, Bangladesh
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

[Link]@[Link]

Received 2 January 2014

Accepted 1 August 2016
Published 13 September 2016

A phase change material (PCM) is a substance that can store or release signi¯cant amounts of heat
energy by changing its phase from liquid to vapor or vice versa. It has already been proven that
incorporation of PCM with refrigeration systems improves the energy e±ciency as well as the
quality of the frozen food. However, the attachment of PCM system with the refrigeration system is
a challenging task. Di®erent aspects such as PCM thickness, quantity of PCM, PCM phase change
temperature selection for optimizing energy consumptions of refrigeration systems are the main
concerns of today's researches. However, there is no speci¯c study to concern these aspects of PCM
in refrigeration systems. Therefore, in this paper, a comprehensive literature review has been made.
The e®ects of di®erent process parameters such as the thickness of PCM, phase change temperature
of PCM and position of PCM have been discussed. This paper also presents a review of the modeling
approaches as well as experimental approaches for the application of PCM in a refrigeration system.
Moreover, the present status of the refrigeration system with PCM has been presented. Finally, the
limitations of incorporation of PCM in a refrigeration system have been also discussed.

Keywords: Review; household refrigerator; phase change material; thermal energy storage;
performance improvement.

Nomenclature (Continued )

Symbol Name Unit Symbol Name Unit

COP Coe±cient of performance PCM Phase change material

h Latent heat of vaporization kJ/kg S Surface fusion kJ/kg
K
HTF Heat transfer °uid SSPCM Shape-stabilized phase change material
K Coe±cient of exchange kg/sec
T amb Ambient temperature K
Q Energy stored in PCM kJ
T cold Cold compartment temperature K

Density of PCM kg/m 3
V Volume of PCM m3 t PCM working time sec
LHS Latent heat storage TES Thermal energy storage

1630007-1
 Md. I. H. Khan

1. Introduction Among the above technical options, improving the

e±ciency of heat exchangers (condenser and evap-
The contrivance of the refrigeration system in the
orator) has received intense scrutiny. Heat transfer
21st century is one of the worthiest ¯ndings for
through condenser or evaporator can be improved in
human history.1 The great invention lets nature be
many di®erent ways such as installing liquid-suction
controllable, however, also accelerates energy crisis
heat exchangers in the condenser, designing loop
and environmental pollution, that leads to massive
heat pipe-based evaporator, using micro-¯n tubes
global warming problem. Refrigeration and air
for condenser and evaporator, etc.
conditioning sector is responsible for this problem
Using phase change material (PCM) as a latent
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

because refrigerators and air conditioners are the

heat thermal energy storage (TES) system could be
most energy consuming household appliances due to
a new option for performance improvement of a
their widespread use and continuous operation.
household refrigerator by enhancing heat transfer
Undoubtedly, household refrigerators are the most
of the evaporator and reducing e±ciency losses of a
widely used appliances of today's world, and they
conventional compressor. In this research work,
are consuming a huge portion of the total global
this new option of the performance improvement of
energy. For example, in USA households, refrigera-
the household refrigerator has been studied in detail.
tor consume about 14% of the residential electricity
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

In the following section, a brief description of

demand.2 Liu et al.3 studied and revealed that the
PCM is stated for understanding its working
energy consumption of refrigerator-freezers is about
mechanism.
15% to 20% of domestic electricity usage. Mahlia
et al.4 investigated that refrigerator-freezers con-
sumed about 26% of residential electricity in
Malaysia. 2. Phase Change Material
In developed countries, refrigerator production A PCM is a substance with a high heat of fusion,
and application are growing up rapidly: total pro- melting and solidifying at a certain temperature,
duction rose 30% in 2000.5 Worldwide, there are which is capable of storing and releasing large
about 1 billion domestic refrigerators and freezers.6,7 amounts of heat energy. Heat is absorbed or released
Now, China has become the largest refrigerator when the material changes its phase from solid to
producer, and the output of household refrigerators liquid and vice versa; thus, PCMs are classi¯ed as
reached 15.99 million units in 2002.8 latent heat storage (LHS) units. For an example of
In this situation, improving the energy e±ciency H2O PCM, water (H2O) is an excellent PCM which
of the household refrigerator is thus an important stores and releases heat by changing its phases like
issue regarding energy savings and global warming solid to liquid or vice versa.
reduction. Some countries have introduced energy
labeling programs9 and minimum energy e±ciency
standards10,11 of di®erent appliances and equipment 2.1. Requirements of a suitable PCM
to minimize the energy consumption. An appropriate phase change temperature and a
Scientists, engineers and researchers in the ¯eld of signi¯cant melting enthalpy are two obvious
refrigeration and air conditioning now involve requirements of a PCM. They have to be ful¯lled to
themselves in developing di®erent technical options store and release the maximum heat. However, there
for improving the energy e±ciency of household are more requirements for most, but not all appli-
refrigerators. Following are the popular technical cations. These requirements can be grouped into
choices in this regard: physical, technical and economic requirements.
(i) Developing high-e±ciency compressors.
(ii) Improving the e±ciency of heat exchangers by 2.1.1. Physical requirements, regarding the
enhancing the heat transfer. storage and release of heat
(iii) Improving the cabinet and door insulation to (i) Suitable phase change temperature.
reduce heat losses.
(iv) Development of di®erent refrigeration cycles (ii) Large phase change enthalpy.
such as ejector, expander, gas injection and (iii) Reproducible phase change, also called cycling
multi-stage cycle. stability.

1630007-2
 Conventional Refrigeration Systems Using PCM: A Review

2.1.2. Technical requirements, regarding the

construction of storage
(i) Low vapor pressure — To reduce requirements
of mechanical stability and tightness on a vessel
containing the PCM.
(ii) Small volume change — To reduce require-
ments of mechanical stability on a container of
PCM.
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

(iii) Chemical stability of the PCM — To assure a

long lifetime of the PCM if it is exposed to
higher temperature.
(iv) Compatibility of the PCM with other materi-
als — To assure long lifetime of the vessel that
contains the PCM, and of the surrounding
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

materials in the case of leakage of the PCM, this

includes destructive e®ects of the corrosiveness
Fig. 1. Phase change diagram with energy storage of a PCM.
of the PCM with respect to other materials.
(v) Safety constraints — The construction of
storage can be restricted by laws that require (until the PCM phase change completely), the de-
the use of nontoxic, non°ammable materials. sired temperature of the product can be maintained
Other environmental and safety consideration during the o® cycle of the compressor that ultimately
can apply additionally. prolonged the o® cycle. Moreover, if the PCM is
contacted with the evaporator coil, the refrigerant
2.1.3. Economic requirements, regarding the can easily extract the stored heat from the PCM
development of a marketable product through conduction heat transfer process during
compressor on time. Generally, the convection heat
(i) Low price to be competitive with other options
transfer process applies to the conventional refriger-
for heat and cold storage, and to compete
ation system. Therefore, application of the PCM in
with methods of heat and cold supply without
the evaporator section can improve the heat transfer
storage at all.
performance of the evaporator12,13 also whenever the
(ii) Good recyclables for environmental and same phenomenon can be applied to condenser.14
economic reasons.

3. Methodology of Refrigeration
2.2. Working mechanism of PCM in a System with PCM
refrigeration system
Incorporation of PCM with conventional refrigera-
In the conventional refrigerator, the compressor tion system is a very complicated work because of
works in on–o® mode. The refrigerant of the evap- some critical consideration such as the types of PCM,
orator coil takes the cabinet heat during compressor the thickness of PCM, melting temperature of PCM,
on mode. Actually, during the o® mode of the tem- compressor and heat exchanger size, heat capacity,
perature inside the evaporator cabinet starts rising etc. The existing researches have been conducted
due to heat released by the food and also due to based on only experimentation or theoretical research
ambient conditions. If PCM is used in the cabinet, or both. The details of their methodology are brie°y
then it will take most of the heat by changing its discussed in the following sections.
phase from solid to liquid. The temperature is con-
stant until the melting process is ¯nished. The heat
stored during the phase change process (melting 3.1. Experimental approach
process) of the material is called latent heat as Experimental investigation of the performance of
shown in Fig. 1. Therefore, for a particular period refrigeration system depends on the PCM container

1630007-3
 Md. I. H. Khan

geometry, orientation, size and PCM position. The procedure, which considers the whole condenser as
main challenges for developing a PCM-based re- one lumped node, whereas global modeling has been
frigeration system is the design of PCM chamber. limited by its accuracy and ine®ectiveness for
Di®erent shapes of PCM chamber were used in the heat exchangers with refrigerant phase change.21
literature such as rectangular slab12,15 or circular However, distributed modeling is a signi¯cantly
slab16 at various positions of the refrigeration sys- improved modeling procedure where it considers
tem, for instance, PCM at evaporator section,12,13 several control volumes. Very few researchers de-
condenser section,14 or at inside the food storage veloped a mathematical model for investigating the
chamber.17 The PCM container orientation signi¯- performance of refrigeration system with PCM.
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

cantly a®ects the heat transfer performance of heat Cerri et al.22 developed a model for a refrigeration
exchanger. Marques et al.18 investigated the e®ect system with PCM considering di®erent time in-
of orientation of PCM on the spatial temperature cluding transient, quasi-steady and stop modes. The
distribution and air °ow pattern in a naturally- main limitations of their model were very simpli¯ed
cooled compartment. They claimed that vertical assumptions, for instance, no e®ects of PCM surface
orientation provides a circular air°ow pattern in the area on heat transfer. Moreover, PCM addition to
compartment resulting in a strati¯ed temperature the evaporator section resulted in higher compart-
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

distribution, while a uniform temperature distribu- ment temperature; however, they did not consider
tion was found in a horizontal orientation due to that phenomenon. They also ignored the super-
the di®erent air°ow patterns. However, it was cooling e®ect of PCM during modeling.
reported that a combinatory of these orientations Considering the discussed limitations, Azzouz
resulted in a more uniform temperature with the et al.23 developed a model to incorporate PCM in a
bottom and top halves of the compartment mainly conventional refrigeration system. They investigat-
similar to the one for vertical and horizontal ed the PCM thickness e®ect and ambient tempera-
orientations, respectively.19 Onyejekwe20 proposed ture e®ect on the performance of the refrigeration
that PCM at the lower part of the food storage system. The model is so signi¯cant because it was
chamber with vertical orientation be the most op- developed for both compressors start/stop modes
timal con¯guration that provides lower tempera- re°ecting PCM charging/discharging; however,
ture and better energy storage than the horizontal they did not take into consideration the e®ect of
orientation. transient phenomena. Moreover, their experimental
Therefore, these types of contradictory conclu- result, for instance, the compressor on time, was
sions may arise due to the di®erences in compart- not properly ¯tted with the modeling result;
ment height, compartment set-point temperature this happens may be due to the wrong calculation
and phase change temperature. For ¯nding of heat losses through the walls of the food storage
the accurate position of PCM, optimization of cabinet.
PCM position and refrigerator performance are Furthermore, the main drawbacks of the existing
important. model are that they considered the application of
single-node (lumped) modeling approach for heat
exchangers that is not an accurate and e±cient
3.2. Theoretical approach method.
Physics-based theoretical modeling is necessary for
understanding the actual phenomenon that happens
when PCM works in a refrigeration system that
4. E®ect of PCM on Performance of
cannot be observed by only experimental investi- Refrigeration System
gation because of their speci¯ed experimental con- The performance a PCM-based refrigerator depends
ditions and methods. The modeling of heat and mass on di®erent aspects of PCM such as PCM phase
transfer in a refrigeration system can be categorized change temperature, PCM thickness, PCM quanti-
into three groups, namely, single-node modeling, ty, PCM position and thermal load. The e®ects of
zonal and distributed modeling. The single-node these particulars on the performance of conventional
modeling is the ¯rst category of modeling in a refrigeration system are brie°y discussed in the fol-
refrigeration system and is the simplest modeling lowing section.

1630007-4
 Conventional Refrigeration Systems Using PCM: A Review

4.1. E®ect of phase changes proper phase change temperature.25 Super cooling
temperature of PCM on decreases the e±ciency of refrigeration system since
performance of refrigeration system it both prolongs phase change period, and attenu-
ates temperature di®erence between the PCM and
The performance of refrigeration system and the evaporator.26 Therefore, it reduces the heat transfer
quality of stored food are mainly in°uenced by phase rate and prolongs the compressor on time which
change temperature of PCM. The principal purpose consequently increases the energy consumption.
of refrigeration systems is to preserve food; there- Furthermore, thermo-physical properties of dif-
fore, phase change temperature should be compati- ferent PCMs is the another way of selecting the
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

ble with this primary objective. It is necessary to particular phase change temperature. Due to its
keep in mind that selection of the phase change availability, large latent heat value and distinct
temperature is an important design parameter for phase change point, water has received signi¯cant
the proper functioning of PCM and, if applied inside attention due to its unique characteristics for use as
the compartment, the melting point must fall within PCM.27 It is also demonstrated from literature that
the thermostat temperature range of operation.19 eutectic PCM shows a better COP than water PCM,
High phase change temperature of PCM increases it may be due to its lower phase change temperature
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

the coe±cient of performance (COP) of the system (–5  C).28 Many types of PCM to use in refrigeration
due to the lower power consumption; however, it systems were suggested by Zalba et al.29 However,
increases the temperature inside the compartment, all types of PCMs are not suitable for the refriger-
resulting in decreased food quality.23 On the other ation system. A list of PCM that are usually used in
hand, selection of very low phase change tempera- the refrigeration system with their thermo-physical
ture PCM ultimately maintains a very low temper- properties is given in Table 1.
ature inside the storage cabinet. This is more
important for fresh food compartment because its
temperature should never fall below zero (to prevent
4.2. E®ects of quantity of PCM
freezing and food quality loss). Therefore, an al-
lowable phase change temperature range should
on performance of refrigeration
maintain between these two high and low extremes system
while selecting PCM.19 Khan and Afroz24 argued The amount of PCM strongly a®ects the perfor-
that the performance enhancement using PCM mance of the refrigeration system. It is reported that
around evaporator coils was much higher if its increase in the signi¯cant amount of PCM (ap-
melting point was not inferior to the stable com- proximately 40%) resulted in just 6% increase in the
partment temperature. It may occur due to the re- system COP.30 However, whenever increasing, the
duction of on–o® compressor frequency and higher PCM thickness still kept all the PCM participating
evaporation temperature resulting in higher COP. in the phase change process, its e®ect was greatest
The super-cooling e®ect is an interesting phe- on reducing the on–o® time ratio as a consequence of
nomenon that should be taken into account to ¯nd a longer compressor o® time.23 On the other hand,

Table 1. List of PCM that is usually used in refrigeration system.

Melting Latent
No. PCM Composition (% wt.) point (  C) heat (kJ/kg) Commercial name Source

1. H2 O 0.0 333 Water Khan and Afroz13

2. Na2 SO4 /NaCl/KCl/H2 O 31/13/16/40 4.0 234 Eutectic solution Khan and Afroz13
3. CuSO4 /H2 O 11.9 1:6 291 Eutectic solution Hwang et al. 57
4. KNO3 /H2 O 9.7 2:8 296 Eutectic solution Hwang et al. 57
5. C12 H26 /C13 H28 20/80 5:4 126 Organic solution Paksoy et al.41
6. NaH2 PO4 /H2 O 23.4 9:9 214 Eutectic solution Hwang et al. 57
7. KCl/H2 O 19.5 10:7 283 Eutectic solution Khan and Afroz13
8. K2 HPO4 /H2 O 36.8 13:5 198 Eutectic solution Hwang et al. 57
9. NaH4 Cl/H2 O 19.5 18:0 200 Eutectic solution Cheralathan et al.47
10. MgCl2 /H2 O 25 19:4 223 Eutectic solution Hwang et al. 57

1630007-5
 Md. I. H. Khan

application of thicker PCM is more expensive and The main limitations of the placement of PCM in
also initially requires higher compressor work for both evaporator and condenser do not allow the user
making the PCM as solid; thus, PCM thickness to change the plates or even the PCM correctly
should be selected based on the load.19 because it has become another part of the system.
According to Onyejekwe,20 the minimum volume For avoiding these complexities, some authors tried
of PCM to meet required energy can be calculated to incorporate PCM inside the food storage com-
by the following equation: partment and found stable temperature inside the
compartment, however, enhanced lower COP as
Q ¼
Vh ; ð1Þ
compared to other two positions.16,17
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

where, Q is the total energy stored in PCM,
and h Therefore, it can be argued that there are no
are the density and latent heat of vaporization of speci¯c guidelines for placing PCM at various posi-
PCM and V is the volume of PCM. tions. Hence, rigorous studies are needed for inves-
The total energy stored in PCM, Q, can be esti- tigating the proper position of PCM that will
mated from the following equation20: enhance higher energy e±ciency and better food
Q ¼ K  SðT amb  T coldÞt ; ð2Þ quality.
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

where K is the coe±cient of exchange, S is

the surface fusion; t is the PCM working time 4.4. E®ect of PCM on evaporation
(compressor o® time), T amb is the ambient tem- temperature and pressure
perature and T cold is the cold compartment tem- Improving the e±ciency of heat exchangers, partic-
perature. ularly of the evaporator is the most emphasized area
Therefore, the amount (volume) of PCM required in the performance improvement of a household re-
for a refrigeration system can be calculated from frigerator. The power consumption of the refrigera-
Eqs. (1) and (2). tor can be reduced about 3% by the increase of
evaporation temperature 1.0 K.13 Therefore, it is
worthwhile to look for simple means to increase the
4.3. E®ect of PCM position
evaporation temperature for enhancing higher COP.
on performance of refrigeration
Integration of PCM at evaporator section has in-
system teractive e®ects. PCM works as an auxiliary heat
The incorporation of PCM with refrigeration system exchanger; it takes heat from the cabinet during
is a tough task. PCM can be attached to evaporator compressor o® time. This stored heat is taken di-
or condenser or else inside food storage compart- rectly by the refrigerant through conduction during
ment. Placement of PCM at di®erent positions compressor running time. As a result, the cooling
shows di®erent performances.13 It was argued that coil temperature does not require dropping very low
the position of PCM at evaporator section provides to maintain desired cabinet temperature. Conse-
higher COP, shorter compressor on time, longer quently, 2–5  C higher evaporation temperature35
compressor o® time.12,27,31 PCM at evaporator sec- and 0.132–0.171 bar higher evaporation pressure36
tion also gives slower °uctuation of compartment were observed. Azzouz et al.23 observed that the
temperature and more stable conditions against incorporation of PCM increased signi¯cant evapo-
thermal load variations.24,32 However, incorporation ration temperature due to the high latent heat of
of PCM at evaporator section increases the com- fusion of PCM. They also observed that evaporation
pressor running time initially and raises the con- temperature is higher during phase change that is
densation temperature. Considering these problems, essentially controlled by its phase change tempera-
some researchers tried to incorporate PCM at the ture and pressure. On the other hand, higher evap-
condenser section, and they showed the placement oration pressure means higher evaporation
of PCM at condenser section provides higher COP, temperature as a system with PCM and resulting
lower energy consumption, lower condensation higher COP.13 However, the poorer evaporating
temperature and pressure.14,15,33,34 temperature needs longer time for solidifying PCM
However, the problems are more frequent com- because of the heat transfer from PCM as well as of
pressor on–o®, more refrigerant displacement losses. lower COP.27

1630007-6
 Conventional Refrigeration Systems Using PCM: A Review

4.5. E®ect of PCM on compressor higher operating temperature and pressure of con-
on–o® cycling denser. Moreover, higher condensation temperature
and pressure mean more compressor running time
There are two types of losses caused by the on–o®
resulting in higher on–o® cycling.41
cycling. First, throughout the on cycle, the thermal
Furthermore, high thermal load directly a®ects
load of the heat exchangers is higher than it would
both charging and discharging duration of the PCM
be for a constantly controlled system. This e®ect
as it shortens melting time while it prolongs freezing
lowers the thermodynamic e±ciency due to in-
time since the compressor has to both overcome the
creased temperature lift. Second, there are losses due
thermal load and charge the PCM.27 The system at
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

to refrigerant displacements following a compressor

di®erent thermal load can also be a®ected by dif-
start and stop process.31 These causes result in the
ferent types of PCM. The refrigeration system with
energy losses 5–37% as reported by Coulter and
PCM argued that when the thermal load was small,
Bullard,37 Jakobsen38 and Janssen et al.39 There-
eutectic PCM (with phase change temperature
fore, reduction of on–o® compressor cycling is a
of 5  C) had shorter compressor on time, while,
crucial work for enhancing the performance of re-
for higher loads, water was a better candidate28
frigeration system. Some researchers anticipated
because of its higher latent heat of fusion as com-
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

that PCM could be the new option of reduction of

pared to eutectic.
compressor on–o® cycling.23,31,34,40 When PCM is
Therefore, optimization of PCM e®ect at di®er-
used in the evaporator section, the excessive heat
ent thermal loads is important for further improve-
(released by storage food) is absorbed by PCM due
ment.
to its nature of phase (solid to liquid), which does
not allow the compartment temperature to rise
quickly. As a result, it prolonged the compressor o® 5. Present Status of PCM-Based
cycle and ultimately decreased the compressor on– Refrigeration System
o® cycling about 3–5 times and saved 5–30% of the
Many studies have been conducted to develop a
compressor running time.41 Azzouz et al.23 found
PCM-based refrigerator. The quantity of PCM and
that system with PCM could save 28.5–32.6% of the
position of PCM greatly in°uences the COP of re-
compressor running time and autonomy of 4.7–8.5 h.
frigeration system.12,13,15 A summary of the current
The reduction of compressor on–o® cycling ulti-
literature is given in Table 2 and the detailed anal-
mately reduces temperature °uctuation inside the
yses are given below.
storage cabinet and maintains an almost stable
Marques et al.18,27 investigated the performance
temperature resulting in better food quality.16,24
of a refrigeration system after applying PCM slab in
a conventional refrigerator. They found that the
increased cooling capacity enabled more rapid
4.6. E®ect of PCM on thermal load freezing of the PCM. This phenomenon can permit
It is well established that the performance of re- the compressor o®-cycle time to be increased,
frigeration system decreases while increasing the thereby saving energy. It can be seen from their
thermal load. On the other hand, application of model that PCM thickness strongly a®ects the
PCM in a refrigeration system can improve the melting and freezing time, and it increases propor-
system performance. Therefore, it is very crucial for tionally with PCM thickness. The refrigerator heat
analyzing the PCM behavior at di®erent load con- load and compressor cooling capacity depend on the
ditions. Azzouz et al.23 reported that by raising the compressor autonomy, for instance, an increase in
thermal load, system COP decreased even in the ambient temperature from 20 to 43  C resulted in a
presence of a PCM. The reason is that the increase 47% reduction in autonomy.42
in thermal load results in more partially melted The increase of thermal inertia related to the TES
PCM because of lack of su±cient time for phase with PCM and its in°uence on the energy e±ciency
change that ultimately decreases the system COP.12 of refrigerating systems are a matter of many
Khan and Afroz13 found that a signi¯cant amount of investigations.
COP decreases while increasing the thermal load. Simard and Lacroix43 presented an interesting
This e®ect is due to the attenuation of the sub- study on the thermal behavior of a latent heat
cooling impact of the condenser that occurs at the cold storage unit for a refrigerated compartment.

1630007-7
 Md. I. H. Khan

Table 2. Present status of refrigeration system with PCM.

Location of attachment PCM container Size of PCM

No. Reference of PCM material container Types of PCM Result investigated

1. Azzouz et al.12 Between the evaporator Plexiglass 5 and 10 mm Water and COP, evaporation
compartment and thickness eutectic temperature and
insulation at the back pressure,
side of the evaporator compressor on–o®
cycling.
2. Khan and Afroz13 Evaporator coil was Galvanized 0.03 m 3 and 0.04 m 3 Water and COP, evaporation
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

immersed inside the Iron plate eutectic temperature and

PCM and placed pressure,
behind the ¯ve sides of compressor on–o®
evaporator chamber. cycling.
3. Gin et al.16 PCM used as a slab in Anodized 25 mm diameter Aqueous Energy enhancement,
each wall inside the aluminium ammonium temperature
evaporator chamber plate chloride °uctuations.
solution
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

4. Prim17 PCM plates were located Stainless steel 0.0013 m 3 Climsel-18, E®ect of PCM on
horizontally on the (SS) from door opening and
evaporator plates climator power failure.
inside food storage
chamber
5. Cheng et al.15 Condenser tube was Expanded Width and height Para±n Evaporation and
immersed in PCM Natural 12 mm and 8 mm, condensation
Graphite respectively temperature,
energy e±ciency.
6. Wang et al.33 Use as an additional Eutectic Energy e±ciency and
separate heat COP.
exchanger with
evaporator

They developed a mathematical model of parallel PCM does not allow increasing or decreasing the
plates ¯lled with PCM that absorbs heat from the food storage compartment temperature rapidly
°ow of warm moist air. They only discussed the during compressor on–o® cycling. The minimization
e®ects of the design and the operating conditions on of temperature °uctuation inside the storage cabinet
the performance of the system during the melting ultimately keeps the quality of frozen food un-
process. Moreover, the interaction with the refrig- changed.24
eration system was not taken into consideration. Wang et al.33 dealt with the improvement of a
Cerri et al.22 developed a model for application of refrigeration system prototype that incorporated
PCM in a cold storage refrigeration system. The PCM. They used PCM as a heat exchanger in var-
proper operating conditions of the refrigeration ious places of the refrigeration system, for instance,
system with PCM were investigated to attain min- after the evaporator (PCM C), after the compressor
imum power consumption. He also found that the (PCM A) and after the condenser (PCM B) as
system with PCM increases the COP about 12% as shown in Fig. 2. The refrigeration system with PCM
compared to the conventional cold storage refriger- improves the COP and they found that about 7%
ation system. The limitation of their model was that COP increases after incorporating PCM as com-
they did not consider the e®ects of PCM surface area pared to the system without PCM.
on heat transfer as well as the super-cooling e®ect of Furthermore, for coupling PCM heat exchanger
the evaporator. Maltini et al.44 experimentally in- in the refrigeration system, Wang et al.45 developed
vestigated the performance of a household refriger- a dynamic mathematical model. They considered
ator using PCM. In their study, they used sodium the position of PCM slab between the thermal ex-
chloride–water mixture as a PCM and argued that pansion valve (TEV) and the condenser. Although
PCM works as a temperature damper that means the model showed a signi¯cant improvement of

1630007-8
 Conventional Refrigeration Systems Using PCM: A Review

a®ected by thermal load and PCM thickness. The

increase of thermal load from 0 to 9 W ultimately
decreases the COP from 10% to 30%. When the
thermal load is increased then cabinet temperature
rises rapidly, and it triggers the compressor to turn
on, as a result, PCM does not get su±cient time to
change its phase (solid–liquid) completely. There-
fore, there is poor heat transfer rate between PCM
and refrigerant which ultimately decreases the sys-
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

tem COP. This problem can be minimized by re-

ducing the PCM thickness and increasing the
surface area of PCM slab. From their experimental
Fig. 2. PCM heat exchanger integrated into refrigeration result, it was also argued that the types of PCM also
(Wang et al.33). a®ect the system COP due to their di®erent latent
heat of fusion as well as phase change temperature.
dynamic COP, it did not demonstrate the e®ect of Moreover, the COP increase is due to a higher
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

PCM thickness as well as thermal load on the per- evaporation temperature and thus greater cooling
formance of refrigeration system. capacity. During the running time, the evaporating
Considering such limitations, Azzouz et al.12 ex- pressure is mainly driven by the phase change
perimentally investigated the performance of a temperature of the material and this pressure is
household refrigerator by using PCM. Their original greater than in the absence of PCM. An average
experimental device was a single-door single-com- increase of 0.14 bar with the eutectic mixture and
partment refrigerator that comprised a PCM slab. 0.11 bar with water was observed for a thermal load
The PCM plate is located on the back side of the of 19.94 W. This increase in the evaporation pres-
evaporator as shown in Fig. 3. It must be noted that sure corresponds to an increase in the evaporation
a consequence of this modi¯cation is that both faces temperature of approximately 3 K that ultimately
of the evaporator are used in this con¯guration. Two increases the system COP.
setups with a di®erent quantity of PCM (thickness 5 Furthermore, Azzouz et al.46 developed a math-
and 10 mm) were used for the performance tests. ematical model of the vapor compression refrigera-
Their results indicate that the performance of tion cycle with the application of PCM and
the refrigeration system with PCM was strongly validated the model by their experimental data.

Fig. 3. Experimental setup with PCM (Azzouz et al.12).

1630007-9
 Md. I. H. Khan

Their result showed that the incorporation of PCM

with refrigeration system enhances the heat transfer
rate from evaporator resulting in higher evaporating
temperature that ultimately increases the system
COP about 72%.23 It was also observed that PCM
does not allow the rise in the compartment tem-
perature rapidly. Consequently, PCM enables the
system to run several hours without power supply.
This improvement is because of the cabinet heat
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

extracted by the PCM during both compressor on

and o® mode and continues up to its (PCM) com-
plete phase change. After that, the stored heat
is extracted by PCM during compressor on Fig. 5. Front view of the evaporator cabinet with PCM box
mode, therefore, faster heat transfer rate from the (Khan and Afroz13).
evaporator.
The main limitations of Azzouz works were that
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

they placed PCM between evaporator and insulator

inside a PCM box that was made by plexiglass. location of the PCM box with the evaporator cabi-
Therefore, the PCM box material (plexiglass) works net. The outer volume of the evaporator cabinet box
as an insulator among the PCM, refrigerant and was 0.04 m3 with cooling coil (Fig. 4(a)) inserted
cabinet although the plexiglass is a conductor. into the empty PCM box (0.11 m 3 Þ (Fig. 4(b)). The
Consequently, poor heat transfer rate may take thickness of the annular space between PCM box
place from the PCM, cabinet and refrigerant.13 and evaporator cabinet box was 0.006 m.
Considering the discussed problem, Imran and They found that the system with PCM improved
Afroz13 experimentally investigated the e®ect of the COP about 20–27%. However, it depends on
PCM on the performance of a household refrigera- thermal load and the types of PCM. The PCM
tor. They used a single evaporator cabinet with a volume also a®ects the performance of the system.
single door conventional household refrigerator in After increasing about 30% of the amount of PCM,
the modi¯ed form of PCM slab located behind the 6% COP enhancement was observed. The COP in-
evaporator cabinet to carry out their necessary creased after increasing the volume of PCM due to
experiments. In their experiment, the PCM was lo- more amount of PCM providing a higher amount of
cated on the ¯ve sides of the evaporator cabinet in latent heat of fusion. However, at the higher thermal
which the evaporator coil was in an immersed con- load, this signi¯cant amount of PCM sometimes
dition. Figures 4 and 5 show the details of the drops the system COP as it works as an extra load at
the initial stage. They also observed that between
two di®erent PCMs the COP improvement for eu-
tectic solution is higher than water because of the
eutectic solution that has the higher latent heat of
fusion as compared to water. The system with PCM
reduced average compressor running time per cycle
about 2–36% as compared to without PCM this was
because PCM stores cabinet heat at both com-
pressors, on and o® modes. Furthermore, Khan
et al.37 experimentally investigated the e®ect of
PCM on evaporating pressure of household refrig-
erator, and found that the evaporating pressure in-
creased 0.132–0.171 bar. The enhancement of higher
evaporating pressure of the system with PCM in
comparison without PCM follows the sequence as
Fig. 4. (a)–(d): The arrangement of the PCM-based evapo- Eutectic-2 is greater than Eutectic-1 than water due
rator (Khan and Afroz13).
to their higher latent heat of fusion.

1630007-10
 Conventional Refrigeration Systems Using PCM: A Review

Onyejekwe20 incorporated PCM into a freezer

Phase change material
and accomplished the optimal performance of the
container in the freezer, experimentally. He used
eutectic solution (NaCl þ H2 O) as a PCM and Insulation
placed it between the lower part of the freezer and
the evaporator wall. Although they found the sys- Aluminium Foil
tem with PCM increases the performance, using
these types of PCM leads to severe corrosion and
sub-cooling. Subramaniam et al.40 designed a
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

method of a novel dual evaporator based on a do-

mestic refrigerator with PCM that provided thermal Condenser tube
storage to improve food quality and prolong com-
pressor o® time. Also, there would be scope to op-
timize capillary and gas quantity of refrigerant for
the new PCM-based system, which also would help
to maximize energy savings.
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

Fig. 6. Schematic representation of the heat storage condenser

Cheng et al.15 experimentally investigated the with HCE-SSPCM (Cheng et al.15).
performance of a novel refrigerator with shape-sta-
bilized PCM heat storage condensers. They used an
ordinary three-star compartment household refrig-
erator for making a comparison between the system
with PCM and without PCM. The maximum tem-
perature of the freezer during the operation was
required to be not higher than 180  C. Hot-wall
condensers were placed on both sides of the refrig-
erator. To improve the overall heat-transfer perfor-
mance of the refrigerator, they used para±n as a
Uncoated
PCM and located in the condenser as the form of
heat conduction-enhanced shape-stabilized PCM (a)
(HCE-SSPCM), which was prepared by high-
density polyethylene and expanded graphite. They
made the PCM-based condenser by wrapping the
conventional condensers with the HCE-SSPCM.
The schematic diagram and the pictures of the heat
storage condenser are shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Their
experimental results indicate that the condensation
heat was stored in the shape-stabilized PCM during
the compressor on mode and released to the envi-
ronment while the compressor at the o® mode. Coated by Aluminium foil tape
Therefore, the heat dissipation of the refrigerator is (b)
continuous during a complete cycle. As a result, the
condensers overall heat transfer performance is im- Fig. 7. Pictures of the uncoated and coated heat storage
condensers (Cheng et al.15).
proved signi¯cantly, which ultimately raises the
evaporation temperature, and drops the condensa-
tion temperature as well as a much larger sub- novel refrigerator could increase the energy e±-
cooling degree at the outlet of the condenser. Com- ciency by about 12% with an only little increase of
pared to the conventional refrigerator, the total the cost. Furthermore, Cheng and Dong14 dynami-
cycle time and the ratio of on-time to the total cycle cally developed a model for a novel household re-
time of the ordinary refrigerator were much smaller, frigerator with SSPCM heat storage condenser.
which led to more frequent starts of the compressor Their simulation results show that the COP in-
but lower energy consumption. They also found the creased about 19% due to the LHS of SSPCM that

1630007-11
 Md. I. H. Khan

continuously transfers heat of condenser. However, Cheralathan et al.47 experimentally investigated

the energy saving is 12% and o®sets about 7% by the the performance of an industrial refrigeration sys-
heat leakage increase because of the SSPCM inside tem integrated with encapsulated PCM based on
the insulation layer. cold TES system. In the experimental setup, a ver-
Gin and Farid32 experimentally investigated the tical PCM storage tank was incorporated with the
e®ect of PCM panels placed against the internal evaporator of the refrigeration system. They repor-
walls of a freezer. They found temperature inside the ted that e®ects of inlet heat transfer °uid (HTF)
evaporator cabinet in a freezer containing PCM temperature on the performance of the refrigeration
panels that showed lower temperature °uctuation system and it was concluded that the thermal per-
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

than in a freezer without PCM. formance of the storage system can be improved by
Gin et al.16 investigated door opening e®ect, de- charging the refrigeration system at higher evapo-
frost cycle and electrical energy loss on a freezer with rator temperatures as well as lower condensing
PCM (aqueous ammonium chloride solution). For temperatures.
their experiment, a vertical freezer (model Elba Moreover, Ri®at et al.48 demonstrated and tested
E150, Fisher & Paykel) with a storage volume of a thermoelectric refrigeration system with PCM
153 L was used in their study. An aqueous ammo- slab. It was found that the replacement of the con-
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

nium chloride solution with a phase change tem- ventional heat sink system with an encapsulated
perature of 15:4  C was used by a PCM container PCM (ClimSelC7) gave an improvement in the
(PCM panel) made by anodized aluminium, because performance of the thermoelectric refrigeration sys-
aluminium has an excellent thermal conductivity, tem, as well as in the cooling storage capability.
while the anodized layer provided corrosion protec- Furthermore, Omer et al.49 experimentally ana-
tion. Seven of these panels were placed against the lyzed a 150 W thermoelectric refrigeration system
walls in the freezer covering 26% of the surface area with encapsulated PCM. The system was tested by
of the walls, and occupying 3% by volume of the using an encapsulated PCM heat sink and a con-
freezer storage space. The placement of the panels ventional heat sink system. Their result showed that
can be seen in Fig. 8. They argued that the appli- the system with PCM improved the heat transfer
cation of PCM in the freezers reduced the temper- rate and provided stable temperature inside the
ature °uctuations inside the compartment air storage compartment.
and the products. Moreover, the inclusion of PCM Mingu et al.50 developed a novel refrigeration
into the freezer decreased the energy consumption system incorporating PCM, and they found the
during defrost cycle by 8% and by 7% during door system with PCM consumes less energy and pro-
openings. duces much lower local greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions as compared to the conventional refriger-
ation system. Sharma and Buddhi51 studied the
performance of refrigerated van system with PCM,
and they tried to show generating o®-site refrigera-
tion e®ect. The results demonstrate the system with
PCM consumes less electrical energy and produces
much lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The
PCM is charged by a refrigeration unit located on
the vehicle when stationary. The PCM is discharged
and provides cooling when in service.
Prim17 developed a model for improving the
thermal performance of household refrigerator using
PCM. For his studies, he used a vertical commercial
freezer (370 UFR DIFRIHO) with a capacity of
270 L, with and without macro-encapsulated PCM
in SS panels. During this work, the author used a
Fig. 8. Schematic of the freezer showing positions of the commercial PCM (Climsel-18, from Climator)
evaporator, defrost heater and placement of the PCM panels which melts at 18  C. The PCM plates were lo-
(Gin et al.16). cated horizontally on the evaporator plates, leaving

1630007-12
 Conventional Refrigeration Systems Using PCM: A Review

For example, most of the salt hydrate PCM does not

freeze immediately leading to cooling below the
melting temperature; however, starts crystallization
after a temperature well below the melting temper-
ature. These types of e®ects are de¯ned as sub-
cooling e®ect. If nucleation does not occur at all,
then the latent heat cannot be released and the
material stores sensible heat only.52 To attempt to
overcome this problem, Kumano et al.53 investigat-
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

ed the e®ects of a polymer additive on the sub-

cooling of water. The samples were prepared by
dissolving polyvinyl alcohols (PVAs) in water (tap
water, pure water and ultra-pure water were used as
solvents). Sub-cooling was inhibited by adding PVA
to water (from 3 wt.% to 5 wt.%).
Moreover, poor stability of the material proper-
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

ties and corrosion between the PCM and its con-

tainer ultimately reduces the PCM long-term
stability.54
Corrosion is an important issue for selecting a
(a) (b) PCM container. PCM container should have anti-
corrosive properties, high thermal conductivity, as
Fig. 9. Freezer used in the experimentation and location of the
plates inside it (Prim 2011) (a) Experimental setup and (b)
well as most reliability. Cabeza et al.55 tested anti-
PCM container. corrosive properties of ¯ve di®erent commonly used
metals by using the combination of three di®erent
salt solutions and deionized water and recom-
enough room on the sides for a proper air circulation mended SS is better for using salt solutions. A sim-
inside the freezer as shown in Fig. 9. From his ilar investigation was carried out by Yilmaz et al.56
results, it is clearly concluded that the use of PCM for aluminum, SS, laminated black carbon steel,
minimizing the temperature goes up inside the cabin copper and galvanized steel by using NaCl and KCl
of the freezer and the products in it during door during one week and one month. According to their
opening and electrical power failure. In the most test result, copper and carbon steel container must
important scenario, which was the longer electrical be avoided for using any type of PCM due to their
power failure (3 h), the PCM started to melt but did high corrosion rate and the presence of precipitates
not melt completely. The result also shows the and pH changes.
freezer with PCM can sustain interior temperature Although aluminium has high thermal conduc-
almost constant (from 12  C to 14  C) for much tivity, it should not be used as PCM container be-
longer than 3 h without power. cause of bubbles appearance and pitting on its surface
that could cause changes in material properties such
as holes in the container.56 Therefore, SS can be
6. Limitation of Application of PCM
recommended for PCM container though its thermal
in Refrigeration System
conductivity is less than the aluminium and copper.
Refrigeration system with PCM can improve the
system performance. However, the attachment of
PCM with the refrigeration system has some lim- 7. Challenges of Application of PCM in
itations. The main criteria that have limited the use Refrigeration System
of PCM in di®erent refrigeration systems are the Undoubtedly, PCM enhances the heat transfer rate
selection of PCM container material, the number of through changing its phase from solid to liquid or
cycles they can withstand without any degradation, vice versa. Therefore, successful application of
cycling stability and corrosion e®ect of PCM. PCM in the household refrigerator would be the
There were many problems found while using PCM. energy-e±cient next generation refrigerator-freezer.

1630007-13
 Md. I. H. Khan

However, there are many challenges to incorporate QUTPRA scholarship and Dhaka University of
PCM in a refrigeration system. For example, choice Engineering & Technology, Bangladesh for provid-
of PCM thickness is very crucial for designing PCM- ing su±cient ¯nancial help to carry out this
based refrigerator. Low thickness of PCM reduces the research. The author would like to thank Prof. Dr.
COP13 while high thickness (amount of PCM) works Hasan Mohammad Mostofa Afroz, Dhaka Univer-
as an extra thermal load, therefore reduces the com- sity of Engineering & Technology and Dr. Azharul
pressor e±ciency.31 The thickness of PCM mainly Karim Queensland University of Technology
depends on the cooling capacity and size of the re- for their sincere guide and help in writing the
frigerator or the freezer. No study showed the opti- manuscript.
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

mum thickness of PCM for a household refrigerator.

Furthermore, selection of PCM container is an-
other challenge. Most of the PCMs have a corrosive References
property that damages the PCM container. SS has 1. W. F. Stoecker and J. W. Jones, Refrigeration and
been recommended to make PCM container for Air Conditioning, 2nd edn. (McGraw-Hill Book
using the corrosive PCM.56 However, SS has poor Company, NY, 1982).
thermal conductivity which ultimately decreases 2. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Home
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

the heat transfer rate between PCM and heat energy use and costs: Residential Energy Consump-
tion Survey (2004), ([Link]
exchanger.
recs/[Link].).
Therefore, to investigate the optimum PCM
3. D. Y. Liu, W. R. Change and J. Y. Lin, Performance
thickness and perfect PCM container is the ultimate comparison with e®ect of door opening on variable
challenge for incorporating PCM in a conventional and ¯xed frequency refrigerators-freezers, Appl.
refrigeration system. Therm. Eng. 24 (2004) 2281–2292.
4. T. M. I. Mahlia, H. H. Masjuki, R. Saidur, I. A.
Choudhury and A. R. NoorLeha, Projected elec-
8. Conclusion tricity savings from implementing minimum energy
This review paper presents a comprehensive review e±ciency standard for household refrigerators in
of the application of PCM with the conventional Malaysia, Energy 28 (2003) 751–754.
refrigeration system. For designing a PCM-based 5. F. Billiard, Refrigerating equipment, energy e±-
refrigerator system, many important factors should ciency and refrigerants, Bull. Int. Inst. Refrig. 85
(2005) 12–25.
be considered that are discussed in this paper. It is
6. International Institute of Refrigeration IIR. (2002);
found that the selection of PCM mainly depends
Report on refrigeration.
on PCM phase change temperature, latent heat of 7. D. Cogan and L. Harrington, Proceedings of the APEC
fusion, and available thermal load. The PCM Symposium on Domestic Refrigeration Appliances.
thicknesses signi¯cantly a®ect the COP. Although International Institute for Energy Conservation, Asia
the system with PCM signi¯cantly increased the Regional O±ce (IIEC Asia) for the APEC Secre-
COP, energy e±ciency and cooling time, practical tariat, (2000), [Link]/download/.Ener-
incorporation of PCM with conventional refriger- gy Testing/2000/117/Proceedings [Link].
ation system is complex. It is also discussed that 8. National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS), China
the compressor on–o® cycling and temperature Statistical Yearbook 2002 (China Statistical Press,
°uctuation inside the cabin reduced signi¯cantly Beijing, 2002) (in Chinese).
with PCM as compared to without PCM; howev- 9. E. Vine, P. du Pont and P. Waide, Evaluating
the impact of appliance e±ciency labeling pro-
er, the long-term stability of the materials, corro-
grams and standards: Process, impact, and
sion, phase segregation, stability under extended
market transformation evaluations, Energy 26
cycling or sub-cooling are the main problems for (2001) 1041–1059.
incorporating PCM in a conventional refrigeration 10. P. Waide, B. Lebot and M. Hinnells, Appliance energy
system. standards in Europe, Energy Build. 26 (1997) 45–67.
11. I. Turiel, Present status of residential appliance en-
ergy e±ciency standards — an international review,
Acknowledgments Energy Build. 26 (1997) 5–15.
The author is sincerely grateful to the Queensland 12. K. Azzouz, D. Leducq and D. Gobin, Enhancing the
University of Technology, Australia for funding performance of household refrigerators with latent

1630007-14
 Conventional Refrigeration Systems Using PCM: A Review

heat storage: An experimental investigation, Int. 26. F. Wang, G. Maidment, J. Missenden and R. Tozer,
J. Refrig. 32 (2009) 1634–1644. A review of research concerning the use of PCMs in
13. M. I. H. Khan and H. M. M. Afroz, Experimental air conditioning and refrigeration engineering, Adv.
investigation of performance improvement of Build. Technol. 2 (2002) 1273–1280.
household refrigerator using phase change material, 27. A. Marques, G. Davies, G. Maidment, J. Evans and
Int. J. Air Cond. Refrig. 21 (2013a) 1350029-1–8. I. Wood, Novel design, and performance enhance-
14. W. L. Cheng and Y. X. Dong, Numerical analysis of ment of domestic refrigerators with thermal storage,
a novel household refrigerator with shape-stabilized Appl. Therm. Eng. 63 (2014) 511–519.
PCM (phase change material) heat storage con- 28. M. I. H. Khan and H. M. M. Afroz, E®ect of
densers, Energy 59 (2013) 265–276. phase change material on the performance of a house-
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

15. W. L. Cheng, B. J. Mei, Y. N. Liu, Y. H. Huang and hold refrigerator, Asian J. Appl. Sci. 6 (2013b) 56–67.
Y. X. Dong, A novel household refrigerator with 29. B. Zalba, J. M. Marin, L. F. Cabeza and H. Mehling,
shape-stabilized PCM (phase change material) heat Review on thermal energy storage with phase
storage condensers: An experimental investigation, change: Materials, heat transfer analysis, and
Energy 36 (2011) 5797–5804. applications, Appl. Therm. Eng. 23 (2003) 251–283.
16. B. Gin, M. M. Farid and P. K. Bansal, E®ect of door 30. M. I. H. Khan and H. M. M. Afroz, An experimental
opening and defrost cycle on a freezer with phase investigation of the e®ects of Phase Change
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

change panels, Energy Convers. Manage. 51 (2010a) Material on Coe±cient of performance (COP) of a
2698–2706. household refrigerator, Proc. Int. Conf. on Me-
17. E. O. Prim, Improvement of thermal performance chanical Engineering and Renewable Energy 2011
of commercial freezers using phase change ma- (ICMERE2011), Chittagong, Bangladesh, 22–24
terials, Masters Thesis, University of Lleida, Spain, December 2011.
(2011). 31. M. I. H. Khan and H. M. M. Afroz, E®ect of phase
18. A. C. Marques, G. F. Davies, J. A. Evans, G. G. change material on compressor on-o® cycling of a
Maidment and I. D. Wood, Theoretical modeling household refrigerator, Sci. Technol. Built Environ.
and experimental investigation of a thermal energy 21 (2015) 462–468.
storage refrigerator, Energy 55 (2013) 457–465. 32. B. Gin and M. M. Farid, The use of PCM panels to
19. M. M. Joybari, F. Haghighata, J. Mo®at and P. Sra, improve storage condition of frozen food, J. Food
Heat and cold storage using phase change materials Eng. 100 (2010b) 372–376.
in domestic refrigeration systems: The state-of-the- 33. F. Wang, G. Maidment, J. Missenden and R. Tozer,
art review, Energy Build. 106 (2015) 111–124. The novel use of phase change materials in refriger-
20. D. Onyejekwe, Cold storage using eutectic mixture ation plant Part 1. Experimental investigation,
of NaCl/H2O: An application to photovoltaic com- Appl. Therm. Eng. 27 (2007a) 2893–2901.
pressor vapors freezers, Solar Wind Technol. 6 34. F. Wang, G. Maidment, J. Missenden and R. Tozer,
(1989) 11–18. The novel use of phase change materials in refriger-
21. G. I. Ding, Recent developments in simulation ation plant. Part 3: PCM for control and energy
techniques or vapor-compression refrigeration sys- savings, Appl. Therm. Eng. 27 (2007b) 2893–2901.
tems, Int. J. Refrig. 30 (2007) 1119–1133. 35. M. I. H. Khan, H. M. M. Afroz and M. M. Rahman,
22. G. Cerri, A. Palmieri, E. Monticelli and D. Pezzoli, Enhancement of higher evaporating temperature of
Identi¯cation of domestic refrigerator models in- household refrigerator using phase change material,
cluding cool storage, Proc. 20th Int. Cong. Refrig., Int. Conf. Mechanical, Industrial and Materials
Washington, 2003. Engineering (ICMIME), Rajshahi, Bangladesh, 1–3
23. K. Azzouz, D. Leducq and D. Gobin, Performance November 2013c, pp. 906–911.
enhancement of a household refrigerator by addition 36. M. I. H. Khan, H. M. M. Afroz and M. Mahiuddin,
of latent heat storage, Int. J. Refrig. 31 (2008) 892– Experimental investigation of e®ect of Phase change
901. material on evaporating pressure of household re-
24. M. I. H. Khan and H. M. M. Afroz, Diminution of frigerator, Proc. 6th Int. Mechanical Engineering
temperature °uctuation inside the cabin of a Conf. & 14th Annual Paper Meet (6IMEC&14APM),
household refrigerator using phase change material, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 28–29 September 2012, HT 09.
Recent Adv. Mech. Eng. 3 (2014) 43–52. 37. W. H. Coulter and C. W. Bullard, An experimental
25. E. Oró, A. De Gracia, A. Castell, M. Farid and L. analysis of cycling losses in domestic refrigerator-
Cabeza, Review on phase change materials (PCMs) freezers, ASHRAE Trans. 103 (1997) 587–596.
for cold thermal energy storage applications, Appl. 38. A. Jakobsen, Energy optimization of refrigeration
Energy 99 (2012) 513–533. systems: The domestic refrigerator — A case study,

1630007-15
 Md. I. H. Khan

Ph.D. Thesis, Refrigeration Laboratory, Technical 47. M. Cheralathan, R. Velraj and S. Renganarayanan,
University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark, (1995). Performance analysis on industrial refrigeration
39. M. J. P. Janssen, J. A. D. Witt and L. J. M. Kuij- system integrated with encapsulated PCM-base cool
pers, Cycling losses in domestic appliances: An thermal energy storage system, Int. J. Energy Res.
experimental and theoretical analysis, Int. J. Refrig. 31 (2007) 1398–1413.
15 (1992) 152–158. 48. S. B. Ri®at, S. A. Omer and X. Ma, A novel ther-
40. P. Subramaniam, C. Tulapurkar, R. Thiyagarajan moelectric refrigeration system employing heat pipes
and G. Thangamani, Phase change materials for and a phase change material: An experimental in-
domestic refrigerators to improve food quality and vestigation, Renew Energy 23 (2001) 313–323.
prolong compressor o® time, Int. Refrigeration and 49. S. A. Omer, S. B. Ri®at and X. Ma, Experimental
by UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND on 12/10/18. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles.

Air Conditioning Conf., Purdue, 2010, pp. 2192– investigation of a thermoelectric refrigeration system
2200. employing a phase change material integrated with
41. H. Paksoy, S. Yilmaz, O. Gok, M. O. Yilmaz, thermal diode (thermosyphons), Appl. Therm. Eng.
M. Mazma and H. Evlia, Thermal energy storage for 21 (2001) 1265–1271.
more e±cient domestic appliances, In Proc E®stock- 50. L. Mingu, S. Wasim and B. Frank, Development of a
International Conference on Thermal Energy Stor- novel refrigeration system for refrigerated trucks
age, Stockholm, Sweden, 2009. incorporating phase change material, Appl. Energy
Int. J. Air-Cond. Ref. 2016.24. Downloaded from [Link]

42. C. Marques, G. Davies, G. Maidment, J. A. Evans 92 (2012) 336–342.

and I. Wood, Application of phase change materials 51. M. K. Sharma and D. Buddhi, Performance studies
to domestic refrigerators, IIR Proceedings Series of refrigerated van having PCM for generating o®
`Refrigeration Science and Technology', 2010/5: site refrigeration e®ect, J. Pure Appl. Sci. Technol. 3
167–175. (2013) 1–12.
43. A. P. Simard and M. Lacroix, Study of the thermal 52. H. Mehling and L. F. Cabeza, Heat and Cold Storage
behavior of a latent heat cold storage unit operating with PCM. An Up to Date Introduction into Basics
under frosting conditions, Energy Convers. Manage. and Applications (Springers-Verlag Berlin Heidel-
44 (2003) 1605–1624. berg, New York, 2008).
44. E. Maltini, G. Cortella, M. Stecchini, M. Deltorre, P. 53. H. Kumano, T. Hirata and T. Kudoh, E®ects of
Pittia, M. Spaziani and G. Mansutti, Design and poly-vinyl alcohol on super cooling phenomena of
performances of a constant temperature compart- water, Int. J. Refrig. 32 (2009) 454–461.
ment for domestic refrigerator, Int. Congress on 54. L. F. Cabeza, A. Castell, C. Barreneche, A. de
Engineering and Food, Montpellier, 2004, pp. 432– Gracia and A. I. Fernandez, Materials used as PCM
434. in thermal energy storage in buildings: A review,
45. F. Wang, G. Maidment, J. Missenden and R. Tozer, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 12 (2001a) 1675–1695.
The novel use of phase change materials in refriger- 55. L. F. Cabeza, F. Badia, J. Illa and J. Roca, Corrosion
ation plant. Part 2: Dynamic simulation model for experiments on salt hydrates used as phase change
the combined system, Appl. Therm. Eng. 27 (2007c) materials in cold storage, Appl. Therm. Eng. 30
2902–2910. (2001b) 2652–2657.
46. K. Azzouz, D. Leducq, J. Guilpart and D. Gobin, 56. S. Yilmaz, F. Sheth, I. Martorell, H. O. Paksoy and
Improving the energy e±ciency of a vapor com- L. F. Cabeza, Salt-water solutions as PCM for
pression system using a phase change material, In cooling applications, Proceedings of EuroSun 2010,
Second Conference on Phase Change Material and Int. Conf. on Solar Heating, Cooling and, Buildings,
Slurry: Scienti¯c Conference and Business Forum 2010.
(2005), pp. 15–17.

1630007-16

View publication stats