Evaluating the effect of the space surrounding the

condenser of a household refrigerator

Ramadan Bassiouny*
Dept. of Mech. Power Eng. and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, Minia University, Minia 61111, Egypt
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 4 August 2008
Received in revised form
10 February 2009
Accepted 18 March 2009
Published online 2 April 2009
Keywords:
Domestic refrigerator
Modelling
Simulation
Convection
Air
Air condenser
a b s t r a c t
The paper presents an analytical and computational modeling of the effect of the space
surrounding the condenser of a household refrigerator on the rejected heat. The driving
force for rejecting the heat carried by the refrigerant from the interior of a refrigerator is
the temperature difference between the condenser outer surface and surrounding air. The
variation of this difference, because of having an insufcient space, increasing the room air
temperature, or blocking this space, is of interest to quantify its effect
The results showed that having an enough surrounding space width (s >200 mm) leads
to a decrease in the temperature of the air owing vertically around the condenser coil.
Accordingly, this would signicantly increase the amount of heat rejected. Moreover,
blocking this space retards the buoyant ow up the condenser surface, and hence increases
the air temperature around the condenser. This would also decrease the heat rejected from
the condenser. Predicted temperature contours are displayed to visualize the air plumes
variation surrounding the condenser in all cases.
2009 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
Impact de lespace autour du condenseur dun re frige rateur
domestique : e valuation
Mots cles : Re frige rateur domestique ; Mode lisation ; Simulation ; Convection ; Air ; Condenseur a` air
1. Introduction
Household refrigerators are cyclic systems that consume
a reasonable amount of electric energy to fulll a certain job.
The performance of the different components of the refrig-
erator is of interest for many researchers to investigate and
analyze. These refrigerators prove to be durable, reliable,
and provide a satisfactory service for over 15 years (C engel
and Boles, 1999). Improper operation and placement of
a refrigerator would certainly degrade its performance and
durability.
The basic vapor-compression refrigeration cycle remained
more efcient than the absorption refrigeration cycle and the
thermoelectric refrigeration cycle. Fig. 1 shows a general
schematic of a household refrigerator with a wire-and-tube
condenser attached to the back of the refrigerator. The gure
also shows the domain of interest in the present study. The
performance of each component of the refrigerator affects its
* Tel.: 20 16 391 6415; fax: 20 86 2346674.
E-mail address: ramadan9@yahoo.com
www. i i i r . or g
avai l abl e at www. sci encedi r ect . com
j our nal homepage: www. el sevi er . com/ l ocat e/ i j r ef r i g
0140-7007/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2009.03.011
i nt e r na t i o na l j o ur na l o f r e f r i g e r a t i o n 3 2 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 1 6 4 5 1 6 5 6
overall performance. The challenge for the designer is to
control noise, vibration, heat rejection, and minimize the
power consumption of the compressor; keeping the system
operates at higher efciencies and capacities.
The condenser is the main component in the refrigerating
system. It is responsible for rejecting the heat, absorbed by the
refrigerant in the evaporator, out of the refrigerator
compartment into its surroundings. It may be cooled by
Nomenclature
A area (m
2
)
C
p
air specic heat, J kg
1
K
1
d diameter (m)
g gravitational acceleration (ms
2
)
G ow rate per unit area (kg s
1
m
2
)
Gr Grashof number ()
H condenser height (m)
h heat transfer coefcient (Wm
2
K
1
)
k thermal conductivity (Wm
1
K
1
)
l tube length (m)
_ m mass ow rate, kg s
1
N number of wires ()
p pressure (Nm
2
)
P Pitch (m)
Pr Prandtle number ()
Q heat rejected (W)
Ra Rayleigh number ()
s surrounding gap thickness (m)
T temperature (K)
U overall heat transfer coefcient (Wm
2
K
1
)
u, v velocity (ms
1)
W condenser width (m)
x, y coordinate system (m)
Subscripts
a air
avg average
c condenser, convection
ev evaporator
e element
eq equivalent
i inner, element number
l liquid
o outer
r radiation
R refrigerant
s surface
t tube
v vapor
w wall
Greek letters
a thermal diffusivity (m
2
s
1
)
b coefcient of expansion (K
1
)
N ambient conditions
n kinematic viscosity (m
2
s
1
)
r air density (kg m
3
)
Refrigerator
compartment
Compressor
Refrigerator
condenser
Evaporator
tube
Refrigerator
door
Capillary
tube
Drier
Rubber gasket
H
W
Refrigerator
back-wall
wire
s
Interested parameter
Condenser tube
cross-section
air
current
Fig. 1 A schematic of a household refrigerator and the interested domain.
i nt e r na t i o na l j our na l of r e f r i g e r a t i on 3 2 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 1 6 4 5 1 6 5 6 1646
natural draft on freestanding refrigerators and freezers or fan-
cooled on larger models and on models designed for built-in
applications. The natural-draft condenser is attached to the
back wall of the compartment, Fig. 1, and is cooled by natural
air convection under the refrigerator cabinet and up the back.
Mainly a natural-draft condenser consists of a at serpentine
of copper tubes of 4.5 mm outer diameter, and steel wires of
almost 1 mm diameter welded 6 mm apart normal to the
condenser tubes. Generally, one of the most important design
requirements for a condenser includes sufcient heat dissi-
pation at peak-load conditions. Insufcient surrounding air
passage or blocking this passage by a cabinet above the
refrigerator level will degrade the performance of the
condenser and thus the refrigerator (C engel and Boles, 1999).
The refrigerator performance and energy savings are of
great importance for many researchers. Laguerre and Flick
(2004) investigated natural convection inside the refrigerator
compartment. This is important to visualize the cabinet air
movement that will greatly help placing foods in places with
effective heat transfer.
To minimize the radiation effect of the condenser and
compressor surfaces on the interior temperature of refriger-
atorfreezers, a suggestion of covering the refrigerator wall
near the condenser and compressor with an aluminum foil
was studied in Afonso and Matos (2006). The authors
mentioned that putting this aluminum foil reduced the inte-
rior air temperature by 2 K.
The wire-on-tube condensers, used in the R-12 based
refrigerators, were numerically and experimentally studied by
Ameen et al. (2006) when used with R-134a based refrigera-
tors. The authors used the FEM method to analyze free
convection around this type of condensers. They tracked the
refrigerant ow to check the location where condensation
inception occurs. The authors investigated two different
condenser coils with different tube-and-wire pitch, number,
and length. They reported that the two-phase change loca-
tions are shifted downstream with either the increase in the
refrigerant mass owrate or increase in ambient temperature.
Bansal and Chin (2003) presented a useful analysis for the
wire-and-tube condenser. They optimized the condenser
capacity per unit weight by varying wire-and-tube pitches and
diameters. They reached an optimization factor that led to an
improved design with 3% gaining capacity and 6% reduced of
condenser weight. In the same study, the authors reported
that the outer heat transfer resistance contributes to about
80% for single-phase ow and 8395% for two-phase ow.
Further, the dominant heat-transfer mode is by convection,
which contributes to 65% of the total heat transfer.
Bansal and Chin (2002) studied the performance of the hot-
wall condensers, as a replacement of the wire-and-tube
condensers. The authors analyzed the heat transfer charac-
teristics for the condenser. They claimed that a 10% over-
prediction in condenser capacity was attributed to the heat
inltration into the refrigerator compartment, which they did
not consider intheir model. Theyconcludedthat theouter heat
transfer resistance contributes to about 80%and 8395%of the
total heat transfer for single and two-phase ow respectively.
The temperature of the space, in which the refrigerator is
placed, is of importance since it affects the heat dissipation
driving force. Saidur et al. (2002) experimentally studied the
effect of this ambient temperature on energy consumption.
The room temperature was varied from 14

C to 32

C in an
environmentally controlled chamber located in a laboratory.
The authors mentioned that, according to ASHRAE, 6070% of
the total refrigerator load is due to the temperature difference
between the air surrounding the refrigerator and the refrig-
erator interior temperature. The most signicant conclusion
drawn by the authors is that the room temperature has the
highest effect on energy consumption.
The motivation behind this paper was the way a household
refrigerator is placed in a kitchen or a room. In some narrow
places, the refrigerator backside, where the condenser is
attached, is pushed against a wall leaving a very small gap of
air to carry the condenser rejecting heat. Therefore, it was
thought that there should be a sort of optimization through
quantifying the effect of this gap on condenser rejected heat,
compressor consumed power, and accordingly the refriger-
ator performance.
The present analytical model did beneted froma previous
effective model (Bansal and Chin, 2003), but was modied to
serve a different purpose in this study.
2. Problem formulation
The temperature difference between the condenser-surface
temperature, T
s
, and the surrounding air temperature, T
a
, is
the driving force for rejecting the heat librated from the
refrigerators occupants. In most household refrigerators, the
condenser cooling process takes place naturally. Therefore, it
is very necessary to have an enough free space around the
condenser to allow this cooling process to occur effectively.
Being a part of the space in which the refrigerator is placed,
the condenser surrounding air has essentially the same
conditions as this space. Hence, the temperature of the
refrigerator surrounding affects the condenser effectiveness,
and accordingly the refrigerator performance. It is expected
that as the condenser surrounding space is narrowed or
blocked, the air owing through gets hotter. This would
prolong the compressor time of operation to reach an internal
thermostat set point, and would decrease the refrigerator
coefcient of performance as a result.
The physical domain to be studied is shown in Fig. 1. The
air surrounding the condenser is sandwiched between the
refrigerator back wall to which the condenser is attached and
the room wall. Through this width, s, the air temperature
surrounding the condenser importantly varies. Hence, the
driving force to reject the condenser heat into the surrounding
will be affected.
The analysis considered a certain refrigerant temperature,
and a xed refrigerant ow rate. This assumption helps
keeping the compressor working on a xed pressure ratio. The
goal was the effect of moving a refrigerator against a room
wall on the condenser heat rejected driving force.
3. Mathematical formulation
The mathematical analysis of this natural convection process
is based on an elemental energy balance. So, the element
i nt e r na t i o na l j o ur na l o f r e f r i g e r a t i o n 3 2 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 1 6 4 5 1 6 5 6 1647
approach with variable conductance and air temperature over
the elements is employed. Fig. 2 shows an element of the
condenser. The element length is equal to the tube length, and
its height equals to the tube pitch, P
t
. Heat is rejected from
tube and wires by both convection and radiation. Therefore,
the heat transfer over an element can be represented by the
following equation:
Q
e
UA
e
_
T
R
T
a;avg
_
(1)
where UA
e
is the conductance, and T
a,avg
is the air average
temperature over the element. It is calculated in a weighting
fashion between the temperature of the air entering the
element, T
ai
, and the temperature of the air leaving the
element, T
ai1
, as follows:
T
a;avg
uT
ai
1 uT
ai1
T
ai1
uT
ai
T
ai1
(2)
where u is a weighting factor that is considered 0.5 in this
study for the sake of equally dividing the contribution of inlet
and exit air temperatures over the element. For heat to ow
from the refrigerant inside the tubes to the ambient air
surrounding the tubes, it should overcome a series of resis-
tances. These resistances are the inner convection resistance,
the conduction resistance, and the outer convection resis-
tance. The resistances are connected between refrigerant
temperature, inner wall temperature, outer-surface equiva-
lent temperature, and the average ambient temperature. The
surrounding air temperature was averaged in a weighted
fashion (eq. (2)) between the inlet and exit air temperatures
over the studied element. In addition, the condenser outer-
surface equivalent temperature was related to both the tube
temperature and wire temperature. The conductance is the
reciprocal of the summation of all these resistances. It can be
written as:
UA
e

1
1
h
i
A
i

lnr
o
=r
i

2pk
w
l

1
h
o
A
o
(3)
The outer area includes the area of the tube and the area of
the wires. It can be written as:
A
o
A
t
A
wire
pd
t
l 2pd
wire
P
t
N
The outer convective heat transfer is required. This coef-
cient represents both convection and radiation so, it can be
written as:
h
o
h
c
h
r
(4)
Knowing that convection and radiation take place from
both tube and wires, it is necessary to dene tube outer
temperature, T
t,o
, and wire temperature, T
wire
. The wires act as
ns, so the n efciency concept is adopted for the case of
nite length. Therefore, the n efciency is given as (Holman,
1981):
h
wire

tanh
mPt
2
_
_
mPt
2
_ ; where m

4h
wire
d
wire
k
wire

(5)
The wire temperature can then be calculated as follows:
T
wire
h
wire
T
t;o
u1 h
wire
T
ai
1 u 1 h
wire
T
ai1
(6)
knowing that h
wire
T
wire
T
a;avg
=T
t;o
T
a;avg
and using
equation (2).
Since the wires are normally welded to the tubes, a contact
resistance exists. Due to the wire small diameter, an equiva-
lent temperature taking into consideration the wire-and-tube
temperatures is proposed in Bansal and Chin (2003) as follows:
T
eq

A
t
T
t;o
A
wire
T
wire
A
o

d
t
lT
t;o
2d
wire
P
t
NT
wire
d
t
l 2d
wire
P
t
N
(7)
Substituting equation (6) into equation (7) gives:
T
eq

d
t
lT
t;o
2d
wire
P
t
NT
wire
d
t
l 2d
wire
P
t
N
a
1
T
t;o
a
2
T
ai
a
3
T
ai1
(8)
where the coefcients are dened as:
a
1

1 2NFh
wire
1 2NF
; a
2

2uNF1 h
wire

1 2NF
;
a
3

21 uNF1 h
wire

1 2NF
and the factor F represents a geometric ratio dened as:
F
_
d
wire
d
t
_ _
P
t
l
_
The outer-radiation heat transfer coefcient, h
r
is calculated
based on the energy balance between the radiation and
analogy to convection. The walls were assumed to have the
same temperature of the air since this free convection and the
air velocities are very small. Therefore, this outer-radiation
heat transfer coefcient, h
r
is calculated using the following
relation:
h
r
3
app
s
T
4
eq
T
4
a;avg
T
eq
T
a;avg
(9)
where 3
app
represents the apparent emissivity, which is an
identication parameter for the heat exchanger. It is taken
0.88 as a reasonable value (Bansal and Chin, 2003). The Stefan
Boltzmann constant, s, is 5.67 10
8
W/m
2
K
4
.
Tagliaco and Tanda (1997) proposed a correlation to
compute the outer convective heat transfer coefcient for the
wire-and-tube condenser. This correlation is given as:
h
c

Nuk
a
H
; where Nu
0:66
_
RaH
d
t;o
_
0:25
_
1
_
1 0:45
_
d
t;o
H
_
0:25
_
e
sw=4
_
(10)
and Ra Gr Pr bgT
t;o
T
N
H
3
=na.
Ta
i
Ta
i+1
P
t
Single
tube
Wires
Tube length
Q
e
Fig. 2 One-element layout for wire-and-tube
conguration.
i nt e r na t i o na l j our na l of r e f r i g e r a t i on 3 2 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 1 6 4 5 1 6 5 6 1648
The parameter 4 28:2=H
0:4
sw
0:9
st
1:0
28:2=H
0:8
_
264=
_
T
t;o
T
N
_
0:5
sw
1:5
st
0:5
while swp
wire
d
wire
/d
wire
, and st p
t
d
t
/d
t
.
The solution procedure is presented in the ow chart
shown in Fig. 3. It is not easy to model the process without
setting some assumptions. In this study, the airow was
assumed to be steady state, laminar (Ra <10
9
), and the wires
and tube have constant temperatures. The refrigerant satu-
ration temperature corresponding to the condenser pressure
is dominant over the condenser length. In this analysis,
a degree of superheating and subcooling was assumed to be
5

C. As a result, a theoretical cycle was plotted on the pres-
sureenthalpy diagram of R-12, and an average condenser
temperature was calculated based on the condenser inlet
temperature in the superheated region, the saturation
temperature at P
c
, and the condenser exit temperature in the
compressed liquid region.
The inner convective heat transfer coefcient can be
calculated based on ASHRAE (1997) correlation for condensa-
tion in horizontal tubes. This correlation is in the form of:
hD
k
l
0:026
_
m
l
C
p
k
l
_
1=3
_
DG
eq
m
l
_
0:8
(11)
where G
eq
G
v
r
l
=r
v

0:5
G
l
.
Equation (11) is reported in ASHRAE (1997) (eqn. (13) by
Ackers et al. table (3), chapter 4) for a lm-type condensation
in horizontal tubes. The parameter G is the mass velocity
(mass ow rate/area), i.e. G
v
m
v
/A
v
, and G
l
m
l
/A
l
. Knowing
that m m
v
m
l
or 1 x m
l
=m, and AA
v
A
l
. The mass
No
Yes
No
yes
No
yes
h
wire
= h
o
Correct guessed
T
t,o
y = y + P
t
T
a i
= T
a i+1
Start
Input refrig. Temp., refrig. flow rate, tube and
wire element geometric data, conductivity
Calculate
wire
, T
wire
, T
eq
,

h
r
Update air properties based on T
eq
, and obtain h
c
and h
o
Calculate h
i
, and then Q
e
based on the resistances eq.(1)
Print T
ai
, T
ai+1
, Q
e
Stop
Initial guess of T
t,o
, h
wire
, and T
a i
Calculate T
t,o
, and element exit temp. T
a i+1
|T
t,o
- T
t,o,
g|
< 0.01
| h
o
- h
wire
| < 0.01
First tube and wire element, y = 0, P
t
Is y = condenser
height
Fig. 3 Flow chart of the analytical solution procedure.
i nt e r na t i o na l j o ur na l o f r e f r i g e r a t i o n 3 2 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 1 6 4 5 1 6 5 6 1649
velocities can be approximated as: G
v
G, and G
l
(1 x)G for
a certain refrigerant ow rate.
Since heat transfer from the refrigerant to the ambient
equals to heat transfer from the refrigerant to the outer
surface of the condenser in the steady state, the outer tube
temperature can be calculated as:
T
t;o
T
R
Q
e
_
lnr
o
=r
i

2pkl

1
h
i
A
i
_
(12)
The heat rejected by the condenser outer surface is carried
by the airow surrounding the condenser. Hence, the exit air
temperature over an element is obtained through a heat
balance between the amount of heat rejected by convection
and radiation over that element with the air enthalpy change
and given as:
T
a;i1

Q
e
_ m
a
C
p
T
a;i
(12a)
The gap between the condenser and the room opposite wall
was treated as an enclosure of a rectangular cross-section.
Hence, at the condenser bottom this area along with an
assumed very low inlet air velocity and density was used to
estimate the inlet air mass owrate, neglecting the open-ends
effect, as the study focuses on a two-dimensional owand the
ow was assumed upward due to the buoyancy effect.
A FORTRAN program was written, based on the ow chart
shown in Fig. 3, and used the above-mentioned governing
equations to analyze the wire-and-tube condenser behavior.
4. Experimental measurements
Some measurements were carried out on a wire-and-tube
condenser of a real household refrigerator type (Ideal
RC225LF, 125 W) works on 145 g of R-12. The condenser
congurations are as listed below:
- Tube outer diameter 0.0045 m
- Wire diameter 0.001 m
- Tube pitch0.05 m
- Tube length0.45 m
- Condenser height 0.8 m
- No. of wires per side 64
- No. of tube elements 16
The refrigerator was placed against a roomwall leaving the
interested gap to be studied. Thermocouples were placed into
this gap at the condenser bottom, middle and upper levels to
measure the upward air temperatures at different cross-
distances. Thermocouples were soldered to the outer surface
of the tube and their junctions were wrapped to isolate the
junctions from the convection and radiation effect from
surrounding. The condenser temperature was averaged based
on three values at the bottom, middle, and upper portions.
The thermocouple accuracy was 1

C. For a certain internal
load at a setting evaporator temperature, the condenser
average outer-surface temperature was measured for the
three distances (30 mm, 100 mm, and 200 mm) and was found
to be 51

C, 47

C, and 41

C, respectively. These values were
considered in the analytical model to predict the condenser
heat rejected for the three cooling gaps. The refrigerant
temperature was assumed to be one degree above the outer
surface temperature since the tube thickness is small. The
refrigerant ow rate was considered varies from 0.0005 to
0.0007 kg s
1
. The whole cycle was plotted on the R-12 ph
diagram and the condenser heat rejected was found almost
between 120 W and 97 W; as the distance varies from 200 mm
to 30 mm. The cycle coefcient of performance was calculated
and found to be approximately from 2 to 3 for the same
refrigerating effect.
5. Numerical analysis
The computational uid dynamics, CFD, was used as a tool of
numerical visualization to model this buoyancy-driven
problem. Ansys, a commercial nite element program, was
used to predict the ow pattern through the different gap
thicknesses. The ow was assumed to be laminar (Ra <10
9
),
steady, and two-dimensional.
Since the natural ow around the condenser is mainly due
to the buoyancy effect, it is necessary to know the velocity
pattern and temperature variation as a result. This requires
solving for the momentum equations considering the effect of
buoyancy force on the pressure gradient. Then the energy
equation is solved to predict the temperature distribution.
Hence, the considered governing equations are the conser-
vation of mass, conservation of momentum, and conservation
of energy equations. Denitely, there is an order of magnitude
between the u and v values as well as their variation. These
equations, as given in Bejan, 1984 and listed below, predict the
air velocity and temperature variation under different
conditions.
vu
vx

vy
vy
0 (13)
u
vu
vx
y
vu
vy

1
r
vp
vx
nV
2
u (14)
u
vy
vx
y
vy
vy
nV
2
y gbT T
N
(15)
u
vT
vx
y
vT
vy
aV
2
T (16)
The y-momentum equation, eqn. (15), adopts the Boussinesq
approximation for the body force term. The momentum
equations (14) and (15) account for the change of momentum
due to free convection, and due to viscous effect due to the
buoyancy force effect. Equation (16) takes care of the energy
balance between heat dissipated by conduction and
convection.
Fig. 4 shows a schematic for the adopted boundary condi-
tions along the computational domain. No slip conditions
were assumed along the walls: the room wall, the refrigerator
back wall, and the condenser tubes outer surface. The bottom
inlet air to the condenser was assumed to have the same
temperature as the roomair. Avery tiny value of air velocity in
the y-direction, v
in
, was assumed to be a solution trigger. The
i nt e r na t i o na l j our na l of r e f r i g e r a t i on 3 2 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 1 6 4 5 1 6 5 6 1650
atmospheric pressure was considered at the top exit boundary
conditions. Radiation cannot be neglected due to the nature of
the surfaces and the expected air low velocity around the
condenser. In the computational analysis, radiation model
was invoked through setting wall emissivities, and
temperatures.
To show grid sensitivity, a gradual mesh renement was
adopted. The solution started with a relatively coarse grid, and
the traverse and vertical air average temperature between
tubes was plotted successively until there was no signicant
variation. This tested the grid independent solution.
Quadrilateral elements with a quadratic approximation of
the shape function were used. The program forms the
element equation based on this selection. Then, elements
assembly to form the global matrix is carried on based on two
criteria: the continuity of the primary variables (velocity and
temperature) and the balance of the secondary variables
(ux). The prescribed boundary conditions are then applied
and the solution process using the tri-diagonal matrix algo-
rithm is carried out. Fig. 5 displays an enlarged portion of the
computational domain of the gap bounded by the refrigerator
back wall, where the condenser is attached, and a room wall.
6. Results and discussion
The heat rejected from the condenser is dependent on the
temperature difference between the condenser-surface
equivalent temperature and the surrounding air temperature.
Therefore, the main goal behind this study was to investigate
the effect of the surrounding gap around the condenser on its
heat rejection under a certain condition of refrigerant ow
rate.
Fig. 5 Enlarged view of the computational domain for the three distances considered.
a b
No kitchen cabinet With kitchen cabinet above.
u = v = 0
T = T
w
u = v = 0
T = T
w
u = v = 0
T = T
w
u = v = 0
T = Teq
u = v = 0
T = Teq
u = 0, v = v
in
, T = T
in
u = 0, v = v
in
, T = T
in
P = p
atm
P = p
atm
u = v = 0
T = T
w
u = v = 0
T = T
w
y
x
Fig. 4 A schematic of the interested domains with the corresponding boundary conditions. (a) No kitchen cabinet, (b) with
kitchen cabinet above.
i nt e r na t i o na l j o ur na l o f r e f r i g e r a t i o n 3 2 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 1 6 4 5 1 6 5 6 1651
6.1. Effect of surrounding space
Fig. 6 depicts a qualitative seen for the temperature contours
around the condenser coil for the three-studied distances. A
remarkable difference is shown in terms of the temperature
variation between the three studied gaps. The gure shows
almost a laminar boundary layer around the tubes at the lower
part of the condenser within almost 150 mm from the inlet.
Beyond this point, an intermittent ow disturbance and the
ow wiggle around the tubes. Tagliaco and Tanda (1997)
mentioned that ow around wire-and-tube condensers are of
different regimes depending on the condenser height. More-
over, in the narrow gap (s 30 mm), almost a symmetrical
temperature distribution is noticed around the condenser
tubes with the higher temperature exists around the tubes
surface. As the gap width gets bigger, the symmetry trend is
lost. In addition, it can be seen the decrease in the transverse
air temperature across the gap for the 100 mm width
compared to the case of 30 mm. A further move of the
refrigerator from a room wall improves the rate of heat
rejected from the condenser. This can be attributed to the
enough sink in which the condenser rejects its heat. These
contours can depict the air plumes trapped around the
condenser tubes and room wall. Practically, as the condenser
can effectively reject the heat absorbed from the interior of
the refrigerator, the compressor time of operation can be
saved. This could improve the refrigerator coefcient of
performance as a result.
Quantitatively, the average air-temperature variation
inside the gap surrounding the condenser is presented in Fig. 7
for an ambient air temperature of 30

C, and a condenser
temperature of 50

C. The gure clearly describes the variation
of air average temperature at different gap widths. The gure
indicates that having a sufcient cooling gap around the
condenser (s >200 mm) would absorb the rejected heat, and
hence slightly affecting the surrounding air temperature
along the condenser. This sufcient space decreases the
convective and radiant resistance in front of the rejected heat,
and accordingly improves the overall heat transfer coefcient.
The gure illustrates the steeper boundary layer for the
narrow width (s 30 mm) compared to that is approaching
a atten prole at s >200 mm. It can be quantitatively
concluded that increasing the gap width around the
condenser from 30 mm to 300 mm resulted in almost a 70%
decrease in the air average temperature along the condenser
height, which will accordingly improve the heat transfer rate.
The variation of air average temperature and the corre-
sponding heat rejected is shown in Fig. 8. The gure illustrates
the decrease of the average air-temperature as the condenser
surrounding space gets wider. A signicant linear drop in the
Fig. 6 Air temperature contours along the condenser tubes (T
N
[30 8C).
i nt e r na t i o na l j our na l of r e f r i g e r a t i on 3 2 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 1 6 4 5 1 6 5 6 1652
air temperature is shown up to a space width of 300 m, and
then the trend intends to approach an asymptotic behavior
beyond this gap thickness. This trend is under certain oper-
ating conditions of xed: refrigerant ow, condenser capacity
per weight, and cooling capacity. The gure can conclude that
the existence of a sufcient space around the condenser
would improve the heat reject driving force and accordingly,
allow more heat to be rejected from the condenser surface.
It is important to validate the analytical as well as the
numerical predictions through some measurements. Fig. 9
compares the vertical variation of air average temperature at
three different gap widths under the same operating
conditions. All trends are qualitatively similar; however,
there was a numerical overprediction at the lower part of
the condenser and a slight underprediction at the upper
part. This could be a result of a round-off error exists in the
numerical analysis.
6.2. Effect of room air temperature
Masjuki et al. (2001) mentioned that compressor efciency
declines as the ambient temperature rises, and the refriger-
ator consumption of electricity is sensitive to the ambient
temperature. The authors concluded that energy consump-
tionincreases around 40 Wh for a 1

Cincrease in the ambient
temperature. Hence, as the room air around the condenser
gains heat (roominternal loads, the refrigerator is placed close
to a gas stove as in a kitchen, or the refrigerator condenser is
exposed to the sun), the driving force for dissipating the
refrigerator internal load into surrounding decreases. There-
fore, in addition to the space around the condenser, there will
be a problem if the air in the room in which the refrigerator is
placed gains heat before owing up to the condenser tubes.
Fig. 10 presents an analysis for the effect of room air-
temperature increase on the amount of heat rejected by the
condenser. The analysis considered an average condenser
temperature. The gure shows a linear decrease of the heat
rejected with a line slope that is the heat capacity, UA, as the
room air temperature increased that means the decrease of
heat rejected per 1

C decrease of temperature difference
(T
eq
T
a,avg
) for a constant condenser temperature. The gure
also indicates that the resistance in front of the rejected heat
is strongly existed in the narrow gap thickness, s 30 mm.
The results showed that for a constant condenser tempera-
ture, increasing the room air temperature decreases the heat
rejected by almost 65%.
6.3. Effect of air blockage
Blocking the air passage around the condenser would signi-
cantly affect the air behavior and the condenser effectiveness
as a result. An example of blocking the air around the
condenser is having a cabinet with a certain depth and at
a certain distance above the refrigerator. Such a cabinet
existence would affect the natural convection process and the
rate of heat reject as a result. The present study visualized
through the CFD the effect of having such a cabinet (15 cm
above the level of a refrigerator). Fig. 11 quantitatively
compares the average air-temperature variation in both cases.
An increase of almost 6

C in the air temperature can be seen
near the upper part of the condenser, when the cabinet exists.
This increase can be attributed to the accumulation of hot
plumes of air belowthe cabinet surface. This would eventually
decrease the ability of condenser to reject its heat. On the
Air Temperature, C
25 30 35 40 45
V
e
r
t
i
c
a
l

D
i
s
t
a
n
c
e
,

m
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
s = 0.03 m
s = 0.1 m
s = 0.2 m
s = 0.3 m
s = 0.4 m
s = 0.5 m
Fig. 7 Average air temperatures distribution along the
condenser height.
Cooling Gap Thickness, m
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
H
e
a
t

R
e
j
e
c
t
e
d
,

W
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
A
v
e
r
a
g
e

A
i
r

T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
,

C
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
(T = 30 C)

Fig. 8 Effect of gap thickness on air average temperature

and condenser heat rejected.
i nt e r na t i o na l j o ur na l o f r e f r i g e r a t i o n 3 2 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 1 6 4 5 1 6 5 6 1653
other hand, the effect of the cabinet is not felt at the lower part
of the condenser up to a distance of 0.2 m.
Fig. 12 shows a qualitative numerical visualization of the
air temperature contours for the case of s 100-mm width.
The gure clearly shows the difference when a cabinet is
existed above the refrigerator. The gure depicts the warm
air plumes accumulation near the cabinet due to closing
the vertical passage in front of the buoyant air. This indi-
cates a stratication effect. It can be shown the increase of
air temperature around the condenser tubes as well as
where the upward-owing air is leaving the refrigerator
back wall.
Room Air Temperature, C
15 20 25 30 35 40 45
C
o
n
d
e
n
s
e
r

H
e
a
t

R
e
j
e
c
t
e
d
,

W
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
s = 0.03 m
s = 0.1 m
s = 0.2 m
s = 0.5 m
T
c
= 50 C)
Fig. 10 Effect of room temperature variation on condenser
heat rejected.
Air Average Temperature, C
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
V
e
r
t
i
c
a
l

D
i
s
t
a
n
c
e
,

m
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
s = 0. 03 m (num.)
s = 0. 03 m (analy.)
s = 0.03 m (Exp.)
Air Average Temeprature, C
V
e
r
t
i
c
a
l

D
i
s
t
a
n
c
e
,

m
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
s = 0.1 m (num.)
s = 0.1 m (analy.)
s = 0.1 m (Exp.)
Air Average Temperature, C
V
e
r
t
i
c
a
l

D
i
s
t
a
n
c
e
,

m
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
s = 0.2 m (num.)
s = 0.2 m (analy.)
s = 0.2 m (Exp.)
Fig. 9 Average air temperature along the cooling gap at the three distances considered.
Average Air Temperature, C
0 10 20 30 40 50
V
e
r
t
i
c
a
l

D
i
s
t
a
n
c
e
,

m
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
No Cabinet
With Cabinet
Fig. 11 Air-temperature variation through the 0.1 m gap
without and with a kitchen cabinet almost 0.15 m above
the level of the refrigerator.
i nt e r na t i o na l j our na l of r e f r i g e r a t i on 3 2 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 1 6 4 5 1 6 5 6 1654
7. Conclusions
A household refrigerator placed in a space where insufcient
surrounding air surrounds the condenser would certainly
degrade its performance. The aim of this paper was to
investigate the effect of this surrounding space on the
condenser capacity to reject heat. Some conclusions can be
drawn from the study. The results showed that having an
enough space (s >200 mm) around the condenser increases
the driving force of heat transfer from the condenser. On the
other hand, if the room air temperature increased, even for
an enough space, the amount of heat rejected will decrease.
Blocking the space around the condenser will resist the up-
ow of buoyant air and allow for hot air accumulation close
to the upper part of the condenser. Accordingly this would
decrease the driving force to reject heat out of the condenser
surface.
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Fig. 12 Temperature contours for the 0.1 m gap with and without a kitchen cabinet above the level of the refrigerator
(T
N
[30 8C, T
c
[50 8C). (a) No kitchen cabinet, (b) with a kitchen cabinet.
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