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The Effects of Non-Condensable Gases in Household Refrigerators

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 International Journal of Refrigeration 30 (2007) 19e27
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijrefrig

The effects of non-condensable gases in domestic appliances

Luca Cecchinatoa, Maurizio Dell’Evab, Ezio Fornasieria,*,1, Massimo Marcer b,
Orlando Monegob, Claudio Zilioa
a
Dipartimento di Fisica Tecnica, Università degli Studi di Padova, via Venezia 1, I-35131 Padova, Italy
b
ACC Application Eng. Lab., via Salvatelli 4, I-32020 Mel (BL), Italy
Received 14 December 2005; received in revised form 6 April 2006; accepted 12 April 2006
Available online 7 July 2006

Abstract
It is well known that the presence of non-condensable gases inside a compression vapour refrigerating circuit introduces an
additional thermal resistance at the condenser, which can significantly decrease the energy efficiency of the system. However,
this problem so far has been investigated mainly for shell and tube condensers of large capacity and limited information is avail-
able on small systems, as is the case for household appliances where the internal volumes are extremely reduced and therefore
a very small amount of non-condensable gas has large effect. Moreover, non-condensable gas behaves differently when conden-
sation takes place outside tubes (shell and tube condensers) or inside tubes (condensers of small appliances); in the first case all
heat transfer area is wrapped by a gas layer, whereas in the second case non-condensable gas is collected at the end of the tube.
The effect of non-condensable gas in this work is experimentally investigated by injecting controlled amounts of air into a
refrigerating circuit and by recording the thermal and electric variables during different modes of operation (steady state and
cyclic running). The tested refrigerating circuits are part of two appliances on the market, a household refrigerator and a vertical
freezer. The presence of non-condensable gas was found to spoil energy efficiency, since it brings about an increase in condens-
ing pressure and a concomitant decrease in evaporating temperature, although larger liquid subcooling partially compensates for
the first negative effects: the reason for this behaviour is the clogging action of bubbles of gaseous mixture (air and refrigerant
vapour) that enter the capillary tube.
Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Domestic refrigerator; Experiment; Non-condensable gas; Injection; Air; Refrigerating circuit

Effets des gaz non condensables dans les appareils domestiques

Mots clés : Réfrigérateur domestique ; Expérimentation ; Gaz non condensable ; Injection ; Air ; Circuit frigorifique

1. Introduction

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ39 049 827 6878; fax: þ39 049 The effect of the presence of non-condensable gases
827 6896. during the condensation process of a refrigerant is a topic
E-mail address: [email protected] (E. Fornasieri). extensively investigated (especially from a theoretical per-
1
Member of IIR Commission B2. spective) in the classical case of condensation outside
0140-7007/$35.00 Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2006.04.002
20 L. Cecchinato et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 30 (2007) 19e27

circular tubes; the well-known result is that an additional penalisation, but from the clogging effect of bubbles of
thermal resistance arises, deriving from a diffusion process gaseous mixture (air and refrigerant vapour) that enter
of the vapour inside the layer of non-condensable gas that the capillary tube, the throttling device typically used for
tends to concentrate close to the condensing surface, being the considered systems.
carried by the centripetal motion of the vapour toward the In this work two different household appliances on the
tube. From a different point of view, Nusselt theory explains market (a refrigerator and an upright freezer) were tested.
this penalisation in terms of a decrease in the driving poten- The tests were performed at different fractions of air
tial, due to the lower saturation temperature at the external injected into the refrigerating circuit and according to two
interface of the falling film of the condensate, as an effect basic procedures concerning continuous running or cyclic
of the partial pressure of the non-condensable gas. It is man- running under oneoff control, dubbed ‘‘energy consumption
ifest that a small fraction of non-condensable gases causes test’’.
large damage, since they are not uniformly distributed inside
the internal volume of the refrigerating systems, but gather
close to the surface where condensation takes place. To 2. Experimental setup
get a deeper insight into this subject, the reader can refer
to the wide review paper of Jensen [1] or to the specific sec- 2.1. The tested appliances
tions of handbooks, such as the ones by Burghardt [2] and
Webb [3]. The experimental analysis has been carried out on two
As far as the present authors are aware, in the case of the domestic appliances.
condensation inside tubes, there are no contributions avail- (1) A single door refrigerator (cooler) of 320 litres inter-
able in the open literature except from the present authors nal volume, R600a operated (see Fig. 1a). The main compo-
[4,5]. The reason for this is perhaps that this topic entails nents are:
technological aspects that are not well known by scientists
and academics, although they are of the greatest interest e A condenser, made by a coil pipe bond to a louvered
for the refrigeration industry. plate with 10.2 m total length and 91 cm3 internal vol-
When a liquid receiver is present at the condenser outlet, ume, directly connected by a liquid line to the dryer,
as is recommended for predictable performance of the just before the capillary tube.
refrigerating circuit, all non-condensable gas accumulates e A reciprocating hermetic compressor, ACC HQT
inside this volume, since a liquid seal prevents the gas 55AA model, lubricated with mineral oil.
from escaping, while the vapour motion draws it inside e An evaporator embedded in the back wall of the inter-
this trap. This circumstance causes the last portion of the nal compartment with 17.7 m total length of circuit and
condenser tubes to be flooded so as to cause liquid subcool- 527 cm3 internal volume.
ing. As a matter of fact, only adequate subcooling can pre-
vent liquid from flashing when it expands entering the At the outlet of the evaporator the suction line is directly
receiver, where the vapour partial pressure is lower than connected to the compressor, while in the original appliance
the total one by the amount pertaining to non-condensable the suction line has part of the capillary tube inside it,
gas; it must be borne in mind that vapour cannot enter the forming a sort of tube-in-tube heat exchanger. This modifi-
receiver, as it cannot escape from it nor can it condensate, cation was introduced to simplify the circuit and to make
since this vessel is practically adiabatic. A moderate amount easier the analysis of the effect of the injected air; the length
of non-condensable gas is therefore not very detrimental to of the capillary tube was suitably reduced to compensate for
performance, since a certain amount of flooding of the the effect of the absence of heat transfer. Later tests, not
condenser can be useful. reported here, have shown that the penalisation arising
The circuits investigated in this work are typical of from non-condensable gas is even worse in the original
a small capacity appliance and do not include a liquid appliance; in any case the reaction of the circuit to the pres-
receiver, as dictated by the common practice for refrigerat- ence of non-condensable gas is of the same kind. The circuit
ing systems using a capillary tube as throttling device. The is charged with the nominal amount of refrigerant R600a
analysis of the effect of non-condensable gas on the oper- (isobutane), 40 g (0.2 g).
ation of the system will be proposed in Section 4 where (2) An upright freezer of 243 litres internal volume,
the experimental results will be discussed; the variation R600a operated (see Fig. 1b). The main components are:
of the operational variables as a function of the mass frac-
tion of non-condensable gas present inside the circuit e A condenser, made by a coil pipe bond to a louvered
shows clearly how this occurrence affects the performance plate with 12.70 m total length and 110 cm3 internal
of the system. To summarise, when condensation takes volume. After the condenser outlet, the line of the liq-
place inside tubes, the non-condensable gas is carried uid refrigerant is bonded to the frame of the door, form-
away from the heat transfer surfaces and consequently ing the heating circuit that prevents ice formation along
the detrimental effect does not stem from heat transfer the door gasket (this circuit is lacking in the appliance
 L. Cecchinato et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 30 (2007) 19e27 21

Fig. 1. (a) The tested single door refrigerator. (b) The tested upright freezer. (c) The doping special pipe. (d) The doping pipe connected to the
compressor.

A); then the liquid line passes through a dryer and filled in with the nominal amount of refrigerant
afterwards enters the capillary tube. R600a (isobutane), 110 g (0.2 g).
e A reciprocating hermetic compressor, ACC HQT
90AA model, lubricated with mineral oil. Both the compressors are controlled according to ON/
e An evaporator with 29.7 m total length of tube and OFF mode using a conventional thermostat; the thermostat
1012 cm3 internal volume. The tube is bent into a series is bound to the evaporator plate in both the appliances.
of horizontal coils with two arrays of straight wire
welded on the opposite sides, forming the shelves for 2.2. The measuring system
foodstuffs. At the outlet of the evaporator, still inside
the freezer compartment, a small cylindrical vessel is The two appliances were instrumented in order to measure
inserted along the vapour line to collect and to retain their performance (i.e. the electrical power spent to keep the
any liquid amount escaping from the evaporator; after inside volume at the required temperature) and to determine
this vessel the suction line forms the tube-in-tube the temperature profiles along the heat exchangers so as
heat exchanger with the capillary tube inside it and to make it possible to get information on the change in
then is connected to the compressor. The circuit is operating conditions caused by non-condensable gas.
22 L. Cecchinato et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 30 (2007) 19e27

Coppereconstantan thermocouples (T type) were used as temperature and the lowest one recorded by each sensor is
temperature sensors. The estimated accuracy of the entire lower than 0.5  C and when there is no significant deviation
system for temperature measurements is 0.36  C. of other important thermodynamic parameters, according to
Twenty-one and 10 thermocouples were thermally CECED [7]. Thereafter the data from the measuring sensors
anchored on the pipe wall of the condensers, respectively are acquired for 1 h at intervals of 20 s. The resulting outputs
in the case of the refrigerator and of the freezer, for tracing are the time-averaged values of the relevant variables. The
the temperature profiles; for the evaporators, 10 and 11 ther- ambient temperature was 32  C (0.5  C).
mocouples, respectively were used to the same purpose; for
the refrigerator and the freezer; 6 thermocouples were used 3.2. Energy consumption test
to monitor the temperature of the compressor shell and adja-
cent pipes (bottom and top of the shell, suction line, For the energy consumption test, the appliance is tested
discharge line). Since this research work was conducted at at a fixed thermostat set point and ambient temperature of
the laboratory of an industrial firm in the framework of a 25  C (0.2  C). The compressor runs cyclically for at least
cooperation aimed at a technological investigation, measur- 24 h or until thermal equilibrium is established as specified
ing instruments and procedures were typical of industrial in UNI/EN 153 [9] and in UNI/EN/ISO 7371 [10], for the
applications; of course the sensor temperature does not refrigerator, and in UNI/EN/ISO 5155 [6], for the freezer.
perfectly match the temperature of the refrigerant inside For the refrigerator the equilibrium is reached when for
the tube, but the deviation is low enough to support the 24 h the measured temperature of the refrigerator compart-
theoretical analysis and the experimental results were always ment does not differ more than 0.5  C from the mean
consistent with the theory. value [7], whereas for the freezer thermal equilibrium is
For determining the temperature inside the compartment, assumed if two conditions are met: (i) for each of the M
different procedures were used for the refrigerator and for packages the maximum (as well as the minimum) values
the freezer. According to UNI/EN/ISO 7371 [10], three ther- of temperature recorded during each operating cycle through
mocouples were put inside the refrigerator compartment, 24 h fall inside an interval 0.5  C wide [7], (ii) no marked
which was kept empty, while in the case of the freezer, trend of deviation from the mean temperature during a
test packages were put inside the foodstuffs compartment 24-h period is verified [7].
according to UNI/EN/ISO 5155 [6] and temperatures were Thereafter the data from the measuring sensors are
measured by one thermocouple put in the middle of each acquired for 24 h at 20-s intervals. Typical test results
of eight M packages (measurement packages), placed using are energy consumption expressed in kWh/d (accuracy:
the loading scheme stated by the manufacturer. 0.02 kWh/d), on and off times of the compressor (accu-
Two thermocouples were put in the climatic room racy: 0.13 s), run time percentage and the time-averaged
according to UNI/EN/ISO 5155 [6] and CECED [7]. values of suction and discharge pressure during the on
Pressures were measured at the suction and discharge time.
sides of the compressor. The accuracy of the transducer The test is repeated with different thermostat settings for
(FS ¼ 10 bar A for suction side and FS ¼ 20 bar A for dis- determining by linear interpolation the final results accord-
charge side) was 0.04% FS, as declared by the manufac- ing to the reference test temperatures: 5  C as the mean
turer. The accuracy of the entire system of pressure temperature of the refrigerator compartment and 18  C
measurements is estimated as 0.01 bar A. as the temperature of the warmest M package for the freezer,
Electrical parameters (absorbed power, current and as stated in EN 153 [9] and UNI/EN/ISO 7371 [10].
applied voltage) were recorded through a power analyser
with an estimated accuracy of the entire measurement 3.3. Doping procedure
system of 0.7 W for the power, 3 mA for the current
and 0.3 V for the voltage. To allow injecting a controlled amount of ‘‘doping’’ air,
The tests were carried out inside a climatic room built the service tube of the compressor was modified as follows.
according to UNI/EN/ISO 5155 [6] and CECED [7]. As shown in Fig. 1c and d, a special manifold fitted with five
‘‘T’’ joints was welded to the service tube, having the end
closed by a Hansen fitting. The free ends of the mentioned
3. Testing procedures ‘‘T’’ joints are closed by rubber plugs, accurately sealed
on the tube, so as to permit injecting air with a delicate
3.1. Continuous running test syringe (50 cm3 total capacity), piercing one of the rubber
plugs. After the injection, the plug was resealed with a suit-
Continuous running tests were carried out conforming to able adhesive to prevent any unwanted air infiltration.
ANSI/AHAM HRF-1-1988 [8]. To assure the exact fraction of non-condensable gas (air)
To summarise, the compressor runs continuously (no ther- during the tests, before each doping operation the circuit was
mostatic control) for at least 24 h until thermal equilibrium is evacuated until a pressure lower than 0.2 mbar was reached
established, when for 5 h the difference between the highest and thereafter the evacuation pump was kept running again
 L. Cecchinato et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 30 (2007) 19e27 23

for about 8 h; then the circuit was charged with the required The results of the tests, performed at 32  C ambient tem-
amount of refrigerant and the appliance was put inside the perature, are reported in Table 1 and Figs. 2e5.
climatic room at 25  C (0.5  C) and 50% relative humid- The analysis of the condenser data shows a significant
ity, and switched on. After thermal equilibrium was estab- effect of the injected air on the operating conditions of this
lished, while the compressor was running, the desired air component where, increasingly with the molar fraction of
volume (1.0 cm3) was injected as previously described. air, for both the refrigerator and the freezer, the following
The mass of injected air is determined from the variation can be observed:
in the internal volume of the syringe, being known temper-
ature and pressure inside it. (1) increase in pressure at the discharge side of
compressor;
4. Analysis of the experimental results (2) increase in the condensed subcooling;
(3) increase in the wall temperature in the saturated region
4.1. Continuous running tests of the condenser, according to pressure.

These tests have been very useful to get an insight into The change in the operating conditions of the condenser
the reasons why non-condensables affect the performance clearly is the effect of liquid flooding that increases along the
of the refrigerating circuit; an important contribution for fraction of injected air. The cause of this behaviour can be
understanding the effect of non-condensables is given by ascribed to a clogging action on the capillary tube carried
the temperature profiles at condenser and evaporator that out by non-condensable gases: if we compare the reference
point out the transfer of refrigerant charge between these case (no air) with the maximum molar fraction of air (1.46%
components. for the refrigerator and 1.69% for the freezer), we must

Table 1
Continuous running tests results

Single door refrigerator

Air molar fraction % 0 0.29 0.59 1.17 1.46
Air mass g 0.00 0.06 0.12 0.24 0.29

Room temperature (tout) C 32.0 32.1 32.1 32.0 31.9

Compartment mean temperature (tin) C 7.4 6.6 6.9 6.1 4.1
Suction pressure bar A 0.71 0.66 0.69 0.68 0.65
Discharge pressure bar A 6.4 6.5 6.9 7.4 7.6

Evaporation sat. temperature (at compressor suction) C 20.7 22.0 21.0 21.3 22.4

Condensation sat. temp. (at compressor discharge) C 47.4 47.9 50.3 53.3 54.2

Middle condenser temperature C 45.5 45.6 47.2 47.3 46.8

Condenser outlet temperature C 41.4 37.4 35.8 33.2 33.3

Dryer temperature C 40.8 36.9 35.3 33.2 33.3

Subcooling of liquid at dryer C 6.6 11.0 15.0 20.1 20.9
Input power W 59.5 57.7 59 59.4 58.6
Input power/(tout  tin) W/K 1.51 1.49 1.51 1.56 1.63

Upright freezer
Air molar fraction % 0.00 0.43 0.85 1.27 1.69
Air mass g 0.00 0.24 0.47 0.71 0.94

Room temperature (tout) C 32.3 32.4 32.3 32.3 32.4

Compartment mean temperature (tin) C 30.6 31.4 31.6 31.2 30.9
Suction pressure bar A 0.39 0.39 0.40 0.43 0.47
Discharge pressure bar A 5.73 6.37 7.37 8.45 9.69

Evaporation sat. temperature (at compressor suction) C 33.7 33.7 33.1 31.6 29.7

Condensation sat. temp. (at compressor discharge) C 42.9 47.1 53.0 58.8 64.8

Middle condenser temperature C 42.4 43.8 44.4 43.6 43.3

Condenser outlet temperature C 41.5 39.2 35.6 34.8 34.9

Dryer temperature C 40.3 32.1 29.0 28.8 29.1

Subcooling of liquid at dryer C 2.6 15.0 24.0 30.0 35.7
Input power W 67.3 68.1 70.4 74.0 79.0
Input power/(tout  tin) W/K 1.07 1.07 1.10 1.17 1.25
24 L. Cecchinato et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 30 (2007) 19e27

54

51
Wall Temperature [ºC] 48

45

42

39 0.00 0.29
0.58 1.17
36
1.46
33

30
0.0 1.3 2.6 3.8 5.1 6.4 7.7 8.9 10.2
Length [m]

Fig. 2. Condenser wall temperatures in continuous running tests for the refrigerator.

notice that, even though subcooling is increased respectively the considered system; as condensation goes on, the vapour
from 6.6 to 19.9  C and from 2.6 to 35.7  C and the pressure quality decreases and the flow pattern from annular flow
difference at the compressor is increased from 5.7 to 7.0 and tends toward stratified flow, plug flow and finally bubble
from 5.7 to 9.7 bar, the mass flow rate through the capillary flow, but, unlike the case of condensation of a pure fluid,
tube is reduced, as can be inferred by increased refrigerating bubbles cannot collapse, because they contain an air/vapour
effect per mass unit, for being lower the liquid temperature mixture and condensation stops when the partial pressure of
at the dryer, and similar refrigerating power. As a matter the refrigerant vapour inside the bubbles becomes equal to
of fact the refrigerating power depends primarily on the the saturation pressure of the surrounding liquid; thus, bub-
temperature difference between inside volume and outside bles are carried inside the capillary tube and clog the flow.
environment and therefore is nearly constant (in the case The strong temperature difference between the exit of the
of freezer), or slightly reduced (in the case of refrigerator). condenser and the dryer, occurring in the case of the freezer,
Please note that the subcooling values in Table 1 are conven- deserves a comment; it is an effect of the heating circuit at
tional, referring to the saturation temperature at the con- the door, where the condensed liquid refrigerant comes
denser inlet. into contact with a cold region. From the point of view of
To explain how non-condensables choke the flow energy efficiency this solution is far more effective than
through a capillary tube, it is enough to recall the similar the more usual scheme that uses, instead of the condensed
action performed by the presence of residual vapour at the liquid, the vapour coming from the compressor discharge
capillary inlet, which results in lower mass flow rate, the to heat the door gasket. However, it is important to notice
more so as the vapour quality increases. Exactly the same that the very low subcooling in the reference case of no air
effect occurs when non-condensable gases are present inside injected is evidence of a refrigerant charge lower than the

18

12 0.00 0.29
0.58 1.17
Wall Temperature [ºC]

6
1.46
0

-6

-12

-18

-24

-30
-0.3 1.7 3.7 5.7 7.7 9.7 11.7 13.7 15.7 17.7
Length [m]

Fig. 3. Evaporator wall temperatures in continuous running tests for the refrigerator.
 L. Cecchinato et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 30 (2007) 19e27 25

80
76 0.00
72 0.43
68 0.85
Wall Temperature [ºC]

64 1.27
1.69
60
56
52
48
44
40
36
32
28
24
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Length [m]

Fig. 4. Condenser wall temperatures in continuous running tests for the freezer.

optimised value (or of a capillary tube too short): as a matter Instead, in the freezer case (see Fig. 5), the operating con-
of fact, in this situation a partial condensation is occurring ditions at the evaporator are subjected to minor changes,
inside the line near the door frame. resulting, increasingly with the molar fraction of air, in
In general, flooding the condenser involves starving the a slight increase of the pressure at the suction of the com-
evaporator and the change in operation of the evaporator pressor (the opposite with respect to the freezer), while the
during the refrigerator tests can be explained as a direct con- superheating at the exit of the evaporator and therefore the
sequence of the decrease in wet area. In this case indeed, in- dry area fraction seem essentially unaffected by the injected
creasingly with the molar fraction of air, the following can air. A possible explanation is the presence of the vessel at the
be observed (see Fig. 2): outlet of the evaporator in which a reserve of refrigerant
charge is present, contained inside a small cylindrical vessel,
(1) slight lowering of pressure at suction side of the com- thus preventing starvation of the evaporator when refrigerant
pressor (except for the test with 0.29% air molar is transferred from the low pressure side of the circuit to the
fraction); high pressure side.
(2) increase in vapour superheating at the evaporator The small increase in evaporation pressure as the air
outlet; fraction is increased can be explained by the variation in
(3) lowering of the wall temperature in the saturated region refrigerating capacity of the compressor as a function of
of the evaporator, according to pressure. the operating conditions. Suction pressure increases if the

-16
-18 0.00
-20 0.43
0.85
-22
Wall Temperature [ºC]

1.27
-24 1.69
-26
-28
-30
-32
-34
-36
-38
-40
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28
Length [m]

Fig. 5. Evaporator wall temperatures in continuous running tests for the freezer.
26 L. Cecchinato et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 30 (2007) 19e27

refrigerating capacity of the compressor decreases; on the air fractions are directly comparable, since the internal tem-
other hand the refrigerating capacity decreases as the con- perature for the refrigerator and the maximum M-package
densation pressure increases, whereas it increases as the liq- temperature for the freezer are the same, being automatically
uid temperature at the dryer lowers; so the experimental adjusted by the thermostat through different running times
result derives from the combination of two opposite factors, of the compressor. For the definition of the time depending
but it is to be noticed that the variation in liquid temperature variables reference is made to Section 3.2.
is small, being the state of the liquid determined by heat Table 2 offers a clear and direct representation of the
transfer at the door gasket. effect of non-condensable gases on compressor run time,
Energy efficiency is not directly connected only to the energy consumption and operating pressures.
electrical power spent, since the mean temperature of the in- As far as the household refrigerator is concerned the
ternal volume is not constant. For this reason the ratio of the results, in terms of penalisation in energy efficiency due
electrical power to the temperature difference between out- to the presence of non-condensable gas, are in good agree-
side and inside is assumed to be a representative value of ment with the theoretical analysis shown in Section 4.1. It
energy efficiency. is worth noting that the effect of the injected air appears
The results in Table 1 attest that energy efficiency more detrimental during cyclic operation than in continu-
decreases, during continuous running tests, as the fraction ous running.
of non-condensable increases, but for molar fraction lower For the freezer the penalisation is far lower and in
than 1.17 and 1.27 for the refrigerator and freezer respec- some circumstances indeed a benefit appears, as for exam-
tively, the penalisation is scarcely detectable. ple for air fractions of 0.21% and 0.43%. At first glace
this fact appears inexplicable, but a possible explanation
exists and consists in bad design of the capillary tube.
4.2. Energy consumption tests When the capillary tube is oversized, as it seems to be
in this case, a penalisation arises for being the high pres-
These tests were performed at 25  C ambient tempera- sure side starved of refrigerant so that the heating circuit
ture. Here the energy consumption data obtained at different at the door gasket acts as condenser and not as a subcooler

Table 2
Energy consumption tests results

Single door refrigerator

Air molar fraction % 0.00 0.29 0.59 1.46
Air mass g 0.00 0.06 0.12 0.29

Room temperature C 25.0

Compartment mean temperature C 5.0
Suction pressure bar A 0.72 0.66 0.63 0.62
Discharge pressure bar A 5.2 5.4 5.5 6.4

Evaporation temp. (comp. suction) C 20.0 22.0 23.1 23.5

Cond. temp. (comp. discharge) C 38.9 40.7 41.4 47.3
Energy consumption kWh/day 0.57 0.59 0.64 0.68
Energy consumption variation % e 3.5 12.3 19.3
Run time % 38.6 41.7 47.4 49.5
Run time variation % e 8.0 22.8 28.2

Upright freezer
Air molar fraction % 0.00 0.21 0.43 0.64 0.85 1.06
Air mass g 0.00 0.12 0.24 0.35 0.47 0.59

Room temperature C 25.0

M-package maximum temperature C 18.0
Suction pressure bar A 0.52 0.52 0.51 0.50 0.51 0.52
Discharge pressure bar A 5.0 5.4 5.8 6.2 6.7 7.5

Evaporation temp. (comp. suction) C 27.4 27.8 28.3 28.3 28.3 27.4

Cond. temp. (comp. discharge) C 38.0 40.5 43.3 46.1 49.2 53.8
Energy consumption kWh/day 0.853 0.845 0.827 0.873 0.898 0.931
Energy consumption variation % e 0.9 3.1 2.3 5.2 9.2
Run time % 40.1 39.5 39.4 41.7 42.3 42.9
Run time variation % e 1.5 1.8 4.0 5.3 6.9
 L. Cecchinato et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 30 (2007) 19e27 27

(see the analysis in Section 4.1). When air is injected, the R.A. Mashelkar (Eds.), Heat Transfer Equipment Design,
main effect is to lower the capacity of the capillary tube, Hemisphere Publishing Corp, 1988, pp. 497e512.
so as to remedy the sizing error. [2] A. Burghardt, Condensation of multicomponent mixture, VDI
Heat Atlas, VDI Verlag, Dusseldorf, 1993, Sect. Jbb.
[3] D.R. Webb, Condensation of vapour mixtures, Heat
5. Conclusions
Exchanger Design Handbook, Hemisphere Publishing Corp,
1995, Section 2.6.3.
Tests conducted on a household refrigerator and on an [4] L. Cecchinato, M. Dell’Eva, E. Fornasieri, M. Marcer,
upright freezer have demonstrated that the effect of non- C. Zilio, The effects of non-condensable gases in household
condensable gases on energy performance results not so refrigerators, in: Proc. 10th International Refrigeration and
much in worse heat transfer coefficient during condensation Air Conditioning Conference at Purdue, 2004.
and evaporation, but in clogging action on the capillary tube. [5] L. Cecchinato, M. Dell’Eva, E. Fornasieri, M. Marcer, O.
Unfortunately a capillary tube does not possess an intrinsic Monego, C. Zilio, The effects of non-condensable gases in
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[6] UNI/EN/ISO 5155, Household refrigerating appliancesd
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Frozen food storage cabinets and food freezersdCharacteris-
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the capillary tube is oversized, a limited amount of non- ators and Freezers, Brussels (Belgium), 2000.
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of refrigerating capacity and energy efficiency, because Household refrigerators/Household Freezers, Chicago (USA),
it can compensate for the excessive capacity of the throt- 1988.
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electrics mains operated household refrigerators, frozen
food storage cabinets, food freezers and their combination,
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[10] UNI/EN/ISO 7371, Household refrigerating appliancesd
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