A study on the effectiveness of applying vacuum insulation panels in domestic refrigerators.

Highlights • Experiments were carried out with 16 prototypes of the same refrigerator model. • The gathered data were correlated statistically. • A coverage area of 56% dropped the energy consumption by 21%. • The effect of the VIPs panels is higher when installed in the fresh-food compartment. • The VIP aging cannot be directly inferred from thermal conductivity measurements. Abstract In this work the thermodynamic behavior of a typical domestic refrigerator insulated in 16 distinct ways with vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) was experimentally evaluated. As expected, it was found that the energy consumption is affected by both the coverage area and the position of the panels. It was also found that samples with the same coverage area presented distinct energy consumptions and vice-versa. The gathered data were correlated statistically in order to identify the most promising regions to install the panels. It was observed that the energy consumption is reduced by approximately 6% and 11% when the doors and the rear wall are insulated with VIPs, respectively. It was also found that a coverage area of 56% drops the energy consumption by 21%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]