• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.105-111
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• 2013

The present study has been carried out to reduce the heat loss from a built in refrigerator by using reverse heat loss method to discern the region with larger heat loss. To perform this purpose, an infrared thermographic camera has been used to measure the surface temperature of the refrigerator and tried to improve the heat loss near the ice dispenser. The numerical heat transfer analysis also has been accomplished to clarify the heat transfer mechanism near the ice dispenser. The possible applicable method to reduce heat loss was increasing the curvature radius at the ice dispenser corner. The curvature radius has been changed from 0mm to 40mm to see the effect of the curvature at the corner. From the present research, the optimal curvature radius for the reduction of heat loss at the ice dispenser could be 30mm.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.303-308
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• 2011

The present study has been carried out to predict the heat transfer characteristics of reverse heat loss method for a residential refrigerator by using numerical analysis and corresponding experiment. From the measured values of temperature and heat input, one can conclude that, the temperature inside the refrigerator has a nearly linear relationship with heat input. The effect of gasket heat loss was examined with the change of thermal conductivity of gasket region. The appropriate thermal conductivity of gasket region was acquired from the comparison of heat losses with the experimental result and numerical analysis. The result of calculated heat losses had accuracy within 1.8% error with the experimental result. With the selected thermal conductivity of gasket region, the effectiveness of reverse heat loss method was examined with the change of thermal conductivity of vacuum insulation panel.