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A refrigerator (often called a "fridge" for short) is a cooling appliance comprising a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pumpchemical or mechanical meansto transfer heat from it to the external environment, cooling the contents to a temperature below ambient.

Freezer units are used in households and in industry and commerce. Most freezers operate around 0 F (-18 C). Domestic freezers can be included as a separate compartment in a refrigerator, or can be a separate appliance. Domestic freezers are generally upright units resembling refrigerators, or chests resembling upright units laid on their backs. Many upright modern freezers come with an ice dispenser built into their door.

Heat pump and refrigeration cycle

Thermodynamic heat pump and refrigeration cycles are the models for heat pumps and refrigerators. The difference between a heat pump and a normal air conditioner is that a heat pump can be used to heat a home as well as cool it. Even though the heat pump can heat, it still uses the same basic refrigeration cycle to do this. In other words a heat pump can change which coil is the condenser and which the evaporator. In cooler climates it is common to have heat pumps that are able only to heat the house, making the pumps simpler and cheaper, since cooling is rarely necessary.

1. Vapor

cycle, cycle

2. Gas

cycle, and cycle refrigeration can further be compression refrigeration

3. Stirling Vapor

classified as:
1. Vapor 2. Gas

absorption refrigeration

Gas cycle

Before the invention of the refrigerator, icehouses were used to provide cool storage for most of the year. Placed near freshwater lakes or packed with snow and ice during the winter, they were once very common. Natural means are still used to cool foods today. On mountainsides, runoff from melting snow is a convenient way to cool drinks, and during the winter one can keep milk fresh much longer just by keeping it outdoors.

The first successful application of frozen foods occurred when General Foods heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post (then wife of Joseph E. Davies, United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union) deployed commercial-grade freezers in Spaso House, the US Embassy in Moscow, in advance of the Davies arrival. Post, fearful of the USSR's food processing safety standards, fully stocked the freezers with products from General Foods' Birdseye unit. The frozen food stores allowed the Davies to entertain lavishly and serve fresh frozen foods that would otherwise be out of season. Upon returning from Moscow, Post (who resumed her maiden name after divorcing Davies) directed General Foods to market frozen product to upscale restaurants. Home freezers as separate compartments (larger than necessary just for ice cubes), or as separate units, were intoduced in the United States in 1940. Frozen foods, previously a luxury item, began to be commonplace.

Refrigerator : (reverse the cycle of heat engine) Absorption some heat from cold reservoir and reject it to the hot reservoir, also a net among of work is done to the system from its surroundings. This system is called refrigerant.

As it has been described in the earlier articles, a refrigerator uses the concept of evaporation of a liquid to absorb heat. When you put some water on your skin, it evaporates by taking the heat from your body and making you feel cool. If you put alcohol on your skin, it will make your skin feel even cooler as it evaporates at a lower temperature as compared to water. And the liquid used in a refrigerant evaporates at an extremely low temperature enabling the refrigerator to keep things cool and create freezing temperatures inside. If you put some refrigerators refrigerant on your skin, it can freeze your skin as it evaporates (Dont try to do it). Thus it is mainly due to the evaporation of the refrigerant that the things kept inside the refrigerator are kept cold. The heat from these things is carried by the refrigerant and a steady cold temperature is thus maintained.

Similar to an air conditioning system, a refrigerator also has five main parts:
Compressor Heat-exchanging pipes- coiled set of pipes outside the unit Expansion valve Heat-exchanging pipes- coiled set of pipes inside the unit Refrigerant- the liquid that evaporates inside the refrigerator to create cold temperatures. Many industries use pure ammonia as a refrigerant, which evaporates at 27 degrees Fahrenheit, i.e. 32 degrees Celsius. Many different kinds of refrigerants are used depending on the installations a factory has and its working.

Basic Working Of Refrigerators The basic working of a refrigerator is somewhat like this: The compressor compresses the refrigerant gas used in the refrigerator. This compression increases the refrigerants temperature. The outside coil or the heat exchanging pipes are then used to dissipate the heat of the refrigerant. As the refrigerant cools, it condenses into liquid form and flows through the expansion valve. The liquid refrigerant is then allowed to move from a high-pressure zone to a low-pressure zone as it flows through the expansion valve. This makes the refrigerant expand and evaporate. The evaporation lets the refrigerant absorb heat and turn the temperature down. The heat exchanging pipes that are inside the refrigerator allows the refrigerant to absorb heat thus making the temperature inside the refrigerator drop. The cycle goes on and the refrigerator is able to keep things cold.

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