International Journal of Green Energy

ISSN: 1543-5075 (Print) 1543-5083 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ljge20

Effect of PCM on Temperature Fluctuation during

the Door Opening of a Household Refrigerator

Md. Imran H. Khan, Hasan M. M. Afroz & M. A. Karim

To cite this article: Md. Imran H. Khan, Hasan M. M. Afroz & M. A. Karim (2016): Effect of PCM
on Temperature Fluctuation during the Door Opening of a Household Refrigerator, International
Journal of Green Energy, DOI: 10.1080/15435075.2016.1261705

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15435075.2016.1261705

Accepted author version posted online: 23

Nov 2016.

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Download by: [The UC San Diego Library] Date: 11 February 2017, At: 10:44
 Effect of PCM on temperature fluctuation during the
door opening of a household refrigerator
Md. Imran H. Khan1, 2*, Hasan M. M. Afroz1, M. A. Karim2
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Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology,

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Gazipur- 1700, Bangladesh

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2
Science & Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George St, Brisbane,

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QLD 4000, Australia

*Email: mdimranhossen.khan@hdr.qut.edu.au; Cell: +61 470 415 297

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Abstract
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Temperature fluctuation inside the cabinet of a household refrigerator significantly affects the

quality of preserved food. Phase change material (PCM) is a latent heat storage system that can
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store and release the heat energy by changing its phase from liquid to solid and solid to liquid

respectively. Therefore, use of PCM inside the refrigerator cabinet has the potential for
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minimizing the temperature fluctuation during the door opening and the power failure. However,

very few studies in the literature were dedicated to investigating the role of PCM to reduce the
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temperature fluctuation. The aim of this work is to experimentally investigate the effects of PCM

on temperature fluctuation inside the cabinet of a household refrigerator during the door opening
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and power failure. The results found that a significantly lower temperature fluctuation can be
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obtained using PCM. It was found that during the door opening condition the air temperature in

the cabinet rose rapidly. However, when a PCM container was used, temperature variation was

reduced to 3-5 °C. During the power failure, the system with PCM maintained a lower

temperature inside the storage chamber for a long period of time (about two hours). Moreover,

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the test results indicate that PCM maintains more stable temperature in the foodstuffs inside the

refrigerator. This reduction of temperature fluctuation ultimately improves the quality of

preserved food.

Keywords: Household refrigerator, phase change material, temperature fluctuation, door

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opening, power failure

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1. Introduction

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The conventional refrigeration system is a convenient method of increasing the shelf life of fresh
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food and preserves the taste, texture and nutritional values. However, temperature fluctuation is

an inherent problem of the household refrigerator during storage, as it creates cumulative adverse
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effects on the quality and shelf life of the stored foods (Gormley et al. 2002; Khan and Afroz,

2014b; Blond and Meste, 2004). The door opening and power failure play a major role in
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temperature fluctuations inside the cabin of a household refrigerator due to the transfer of heat

energy between ambient and cabinet air (Khan and Afroz, 2014a). It is reported that the
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frequency of door opening depends on the needs of a user (Khan et al., 2013a). Laguerre et al.
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(2002) conducted a customer survey and found that the average number of door openings during

breakfast, lunch, and dinner are 10, 10 to 20 and over 20 times per day respectively. Although
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the door opening is a part of the user’s daily necessity, frequent door openings ultimately

increase the frequency of temperature fluctuation. This temperature fluctuation affects the quality

of our daily food in a household refrigerator. Flores and Goff (1999) found that the size of ice

crystals was larger in samples stored under fluctuating conditions compared to storage at a

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constant temperature. Donhowe and Hartel (1996) investigated the storage of 1.9 L containers of

ice cream under different storage conditions. It was found that after eight days of storage, ice

crystals were larger in the samples stored under fluctuating conditions compared to the constant

temperature condition. Constant temperatures were defined as product surface temperatures

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undergoing a variation of only ±0.01 °C, compared to fluctuating temperature conditions of ±1

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°C variation. Phimolsiripol et al. (2008) studied the effects of freezing and temperature

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fluctuations on dough and bread quality during freeze storage. They found that quality and

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weight loss were significantly affected by a larger temperature fluctuation. They suggested that

temperature variations should be kept to a minimum, and not more than ± 3 ºC. Gormley et al.
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(2002) compared the effect of fluctuating versus continuously frozen storage temperature

regimes on quality parameters of selected food products. Temperature fluctuation cycles were
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found to produce stress damage and other harmful effects such as fat oxidation, changes in color,

and increased bacterial growth. Moreover, the fluctuating regime gave the highest values of
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peroxide and free fatty acid production. Furthermore, it is reported that compressor on-off

cycling significantly increases while power failure happens (Khan and Afroz, 2015) and
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consequently increases the temperature fluctuation.

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Therefore, for maintaining the quality of refrigerated food, reduction of temperature fluctuation

(due to the door opening as well as from power failure) inside the refrigerator/freezer cabinet is
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considered as an important issue for the design of better quality household refrigerators. Use of

PCM could be an excellent method for minimizing the temperature fluctuation inside the

evaporator cabinet. A Phase change material is a latent heat thermal energy storage system that

melts and solidifies at a certain temperature. During the time involved in phase change time, the

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material is capable of storing and releasing large amounts of heat energy. List of some common

PCMs and their properties are presented in Table-1

In the conventional household refrigerator, the compressor works in on /off mode. During the

compressor on mode, the refrigerant passing through the evaporator coil absorbs heat from the

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cabinet. During the compressor off mode or during power failure (which is very common in

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many developing countries), the temperature inside the evaporator cabinet starts rising due to the

heat gain from the environment through refrigerator walls, open door (during door opening) and

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heat released by the food (Khan and Afroz, 2013b). If PCM is used in the cabinet during this

period, it will take most of the heat by changing its phase from solid to liquid. PCM maintains a
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constant temperature until the melting process is completed. Thus, for a period of time (until the

PCM melts completely), the desired temperature of the product can be maintained during the off-
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cycle of the compressor, which can ultimately prolong the off cycle (Khan and Afroz, 2013c).
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However, very few experimental and theoretical studies on the use of PCM to minimize the

temperature fluctuation in the household refrigerator can be found in the literature. Maltini et al.
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(2004) performed an experimental study of a household refrigerator/freezer using a sodium

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chloride–water mixture as a cooling storage system. It was observed that the PCM behaved as a

temperature damper and hence minimized the temperature fluctuations, resulting in better
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preservation of food. However, they did not show the effect of PCM on temperature fluctuation

during the door opening and power failure. To address this gap, Oró et al. (2012) investigated the

thermal performance of household refrigerator using PCM. They stated that application of PCM

in the household freezer could minimize the temperature that increase in the cabin during the

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door opening and electrical power failure. In the case of a long electrical power failure (3 hours),

the PCM started to melt. The results also show that the freezer with PCM can sustain almost

constant interior temperature (from -12 to -14 °C) for much longer than 3 hours without power.

Gin et al. (2010a and 2010b) investigated the impact of incorporating PCM panels with the

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internal walls of a domestic freezer to maintain a stable temperature in the presence of heat

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loads. Energy consumption tests have shown that the inclusion of PCM into the freezer has

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decreased the power consumption by 8% and by 7% during defrosts cycle and door openings

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respectively. Recently, Khan and Afroz (2014) experimentally established that the temperature

fluctuations in the Freezer could be reduced by using PCM. Their results showed that a
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temperature fluctuation could significantly be reduced using water as a PCM.

In the above studies, PCM were used for a low temperature (-14 to -30 oC) application in the
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Freezer. However, they did not investigate the effect of PCM at high temperature (0-4 0C)

application in refrigerator. As most of the household refrigerators are combination of freezer and
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refrigerator, it is necessary to investigate the role of PCM on temperature fluctuation in

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refrigerator section. Therefore, the primary aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of PCM

on temperature fluctuation in a household refrigerator during both power failure and door
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opening times.
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2. Experimental methodology

A conventional one door one chamber household refrigerator (model: LG- GR-051SSF, Volume:

50 liters, dimension: width 443mm, height 501mm, and depth 450mm, Refrigerant: R 134A,

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Polyurethane insulated cabinet, and weight 17 kg) with a PCM container was used in this

experiment. Polyethylene glycol-400 was used as a PCM in a stainless steel container as shown

in Fig 1(a). The phase change temperature of the PCM was 5 – 6 °C. The experimental set-up

comprised of a refrigerator, thermocouples, digital energy meter, and data acquisition system.

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Figure 1(b) shows the schematic diagram of the experimental set-up. Temperatures at various

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locations (compressor, condenser, evaporator, and cabinet) were measured with K-type (copper–

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constantan) thermocouples having 0.0005 m diameter as shown in Fig. 2. The uncertainty of the

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temperature measurements by the thermocouples was estimated to be ±0.1 °C. In total, 10 K-type

thermocouples were used for the measurement of the air temperature within the cabinet. Two of
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them were located in the top section, two in the middle section, and two at the bottom of the

cabinet space and another one on the surface of the stored food (Apple). A thermostat was used
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to control the compressor on/off cycles, while the thermocouple of the thermostat was located at

the center of the cabinet. The experimental set-up was equipped with a data acquisition system
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linked to a personal computer.

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In this study, 12 granny smith apples (weighing about 2 kg) were used as internal thermal loads.

The experiments were carried out in a room where a controlled environment (in terms of
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temperature and humidity) was maintained with the aid of an air conditioner. During the

experiments, the room temperature was maintained at 22-24 °C with a relative humidity of 55-
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60%. Data was collected using the data acquisition system after ensuring the steady state

condition of the refrigerator. The set point temperature inside the cabin was maintained at 3-5 °C

using a user controlled thermostat. To determine the effect of PCM on temperature fluctuation

during power failure time, the power was disconnected for two hours.

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3. Results and Discussions

Figure 3 shows the average air temperature inside the cabinet of the experimental refrigerator

without PCM. From this figure, it can be seen that at the top part of the cabinet the temperature

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was higher than the set-point temperature (3-5 °C) whereas at the bottom part it was lower than

the set-point temperature. Therefore, due to a considerable variation from set point temperature,

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the top, and the bottom sections were not selected as appropriate for the comparisons. On the

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other hand, it can be seen that the temperature at the middle part of the cabinet was close to the

set point temperature; and consequently, it was selected as the appropriate for comparison
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between the system with and without PCM.
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Figure 4 shows the effect of PCM on average air temperature inside the cabinet of the household

refrigerator. The average temperature fluctuation was 3-5.5 °C without PCM whereas, with PCM
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the temperature fluctuation decreased to 2-2.5 °C. Consequently, the system with PCM

maintained a more stable temperature in the closed-door condition.

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On the other hand, in the door opening conditions, the temperature peaks rapidly and causes a
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significant temperature fluctuation in the absence of PCM. With PCM about 3-5 °C lower

temperature variation was observed, compared to the variation without PCM. This is because the
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PCM works as a temperature damper.

The compressor on-off mode was triggered by the thermostat which was located in the

evaporator compartment. The thermostat set point was adjusted to start the compressor at 3 °C

and to stop at 5 °C. This adjustment was made to keep the evaporator cabinet temperature around

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5 °C. In the absence of PCM during compressor off mode, the cabinet temperature rose quickly

due to the heat inlet from the door opening. During the time the door was open, hot and humid

ambient air entered the chamber and mixed with the cold air raising the inside air temperature.

As a result, thermostat sensed a higher temperature than the set point temperature and the

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compressor continued to run until the lower set point temperature was reached. The same cycle

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was repeated every time the door was opened. The frequency of this compressor on-off mode

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produces temperature fluctuation inside the cabin of the refrigerator (Khan & Afroz, 2015; Khan,

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2016). On the other hand, when PCM was used, this additional heat was absorbed by the PCM

and therefore did not allow the compartment temperature to rise as quickly as without PCM. It
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was found that a lower temperature close to the desired point was maintained inside the cabinet

during the whole melting period of the PCM. Therefore, the compressor was not triggered to
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switch-on frequently by the thermostat. As a result, a prolonged compressor off mode was

obtained. This longer off mode of compressor ultimately reduced the number of on-off cycles,
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which resulted in reduced temperature fluctuation inside the evaporator cabinet.

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Figure 5 shows the average air temperature inside the cabinet with and without PCM during the

power failure condition. The test results show that the air temperature inside the cabinet rose
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rapidly in the absence of PCM, which resulted in large temperature fluctuation in the system.

With PCM, the system was maintained at about 30C lower temperature during the power failure
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time.

With power failure, the temperature inside the evaporator cabinet starts rising due to heat gain

from the environment through the insulation and door opening, in addition to heat released the by

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the stored food. If PCM can be placed in the cabinet, then it absorbs some of the heat by

changing its phase from solid to liquid. The temperature of PCM remains constant until the

melting process is complete. The heat absorbed during the phase change (melting) of the PCM

material, until the PCM melts completely, contributes to maintaining the desired temperature of

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the product during the off cycle of the compressor ultimately prolonging the off cycle and

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reducing the temperature fluctuation.

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Figure 6 and 7 show the effect of the PCM on the surface temperature of stored food. As

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mentioned earlier, Granny Smith apple was used a representative storage food in this study. It

can be observed that the surface temperature of an apple fluctuates quickly in the system without
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PCM. It has been reported that this rapid temperature fluctuation has an adverse effect on the

quality of frozen food (Gormley et al., 2002). It can also be observed from Figures 6 and 7 that
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the inclusion of PCM in the food storage chamber can reduce the temperature fluctuation and

maintain an almost constant (steady) temperature on the surface of the apple. When the
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temperature variation inside a refrigerator cabinet occurs, the surface becomes dried and the
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physical structure of apple changes (Nistor et al., 2012, Donhowe and Hartel 1996). Use of PCM

maintains a uniform temperature in the cabinet as well as in the product and therefore helps to
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maintain better food quality.

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4. Conclusion

Use of PCM to minimizing the temperature fluctuation inside the cabin of a household

refrigerator during door opening and power failure time was experimentally investigated. The

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result shows that a significantly lower temperature fluctuation (about 2 °C) was achieved using

PCM. It was found that in the door opening condition cabinet, air temperature rose rapidly

without PCM whereas with PCM the rise was about 3-5 °C lower. During power failure time,

PCM can work as a backup for up to two hours to maintain the lower temperature inside the

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chamber. This study demonstrated that PCM equipped refrigeration system can maintain a better

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and uniform fresh food temperature that could enhance the nutrition properties of frozen food.

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This finding should encourage refrigerator designers and manufacturer to integrate a PCM in

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their future refrigerators.

Acknowledgment
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The authors are sincerely grateful to the Queensland University of Technology, Australia for
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funding QUTPRA scholarship and HDR tuition fee sponsorship to carry out this research.

Authors would also like to acknowledge Mechanical Engineering Department, Dhaka University
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of Engineering & Technology for the partial funding and the equipment facilities.

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cream. Int. Dairy Journal 6:1209-1221.

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(2004). Design and performances of a constant temperature compartment for domestic

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Fig. 1(a) PCM container (b) Schematic diagram of the experimental set-up

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Fig. 2 Position of thermocouples

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Fig. 3 Average air temperature inside the cabin

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Fig. 4. Average air temperature inside the cabin at door opening condition

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Fig. 5. Average air temperature inside the cabin at power cut off condition

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Fig. 6. Average air temperature on the apple surface of storage food

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Fig. 7. Average air temperature on the surface of storage food at door opening condition

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Table-1. List of some phase change material (PCM)

PCMs Melting point (0C) Latent heat of fusion (kJ/kg)

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H2O 0.0 333

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SbCl5 4.0 33

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POCl3 1.0 85
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Na2SO4 + NaCl +KCl + H2O 4.0 234

Polyethylene Glycol-400 5-6 222

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n-Tetradecane 5.5 226

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n-Pentadecane 10 207
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