Transient response of finned-tube condenser in household refrigerators

A distributed parameter model for prediction of the transient performance of a condenser is presented. The model is capable of predicting the refrigerant temperature distribution, tube wall temperature, quality of refrigerant, inventory mass of refrigerant as a function of position and time. An efficient two-level iteration method is proposed to obtain the numerical solution of the model without solving a large set of non-linear equations simultaneously. A finned tube condenser of 12 ft3 refrigerator with R12 as working fluid was chosen as a sample and some tests were carried out to determine its transient response. The examination of results indicates that the theoretical model provides a reasonable prediction of dynamic response compared to the experimental data. Transient behavior of temperature, pressure, mass flow rate, mass of liquid and vapor of refrigerant, quality, heat transfer in household refrigerators have been presented. Also time-dependent displacement of interface between saturated and superheated regions has been shown. Extensive examinations of theoretical and experimental results show that with utilization of a controllable compressor, power consumption can be reduced.