Thermal performance characterization of a photovoltaic driven domestic refrigerator

This paper presents the cool-down, warm-up and steady state performance of a 100 W AC operated domestic refrigerator powered by a field of photovoltai c panels, a battery bank and an inverter. It is shown that there is no degr adation in the performance when a non-sinusoidal waveform AC source is used to operate the refrigerator although it may involve only a slight addition al heating of the hermetic compressor, Thermal mapping of the temperatures at various points on the refrigerator is provided for steady state, cool-do wn, warm-up, periodic opening of the door and ice making. An energy flow di agram is given for a steady state sunny day operation. Major sources of los ses are identified. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd and IIR. All rights reser ved.