An Evaluation of Energy Consumption Changes Due to Variations of Operational Parameters of Household Refrigerator

Abstract

This study aims to determine the effect of changing room temperatures, food loading at the freezer and food compartment, relative
humidity and the thermostat settings to the energy consumption of refrigerator. Preliminary experiments were conducted for the coming up with the procedure for the calculation of refrigeration load and to trace out some problems during the final experimentations.

Result shows that the energy consumptions increases with the parameters stated. An increase of every 1 kilogram of load in food compartment or in freezer compartment resulted to an increase in energy consumption by 9021.31 or 2546 joules, respectively. It was also observed that the energy consumptions increases exponentially as the thermostat setting increases. The effect of increasing ambient temperature would result to an increase of energy consumption by 156.14 joules.