Análise baseada nos 4E de um sistema de refrigeração doméstico acoplado a um PCM utilizando o algoritmo de otimização ACVO

Abstract

Domestic refrigerators account for 30% of Brazil’s average residential electricity consumption. One of the alternatives to improve the performance, energy consumption, and costs of domestic refrigerators is the use of phase change materials (PCM) as a thermal energy storage device. The PCM takes heat from the condenser and changes from the solid phase to the liquid phase. The thermal inertia provided by the PCM phase change allows heat rejection to the environment to be slower and more uniform with a reduction in the condenser's peak temperature. To determine the refrigerant fluid as the most appropriate for use in a domestic refrigerator with a PCM integrated into the condenser, this work carried out a numerical simulation of the behavior of the equipment using the refrigerant fluids R134a, R600a, R1234yf, and R290. The operational conditions were optimized using the anti-coronavirus optimization algorithm. A comparative analysis was carried out using the energetic, exergetic, environmental, and economic approaches, to guide which fluid was the most appropriate for the proposed application. The R1234yf fluid presented the best results in the analysis. In a new optimization using the variable thermal load for this fluid, it was observed that the lowest thermal load, 142.0 W, was the one that provided the best results. This behavior was expected, depending on the compressor drive power. Although the results of the analysis indicate the R1234yf fluid as the most appropriate fluid, there is a strong incentive to use fifth-generation fluids, natural fluids, such as R600a.