Optimal Control of a Domestic Frost-Free Refrigerator Inlet Freezer from the Perspective of Reducing Energy Consumption

Abstract

This study is dedicated to the development of a mathematical model based on shape optimal control of the inlet domestic frost-free refrigerator in the context of energy consumption reduction. A three-dimensional thermofluid model is established for the numerical studies. As the physical system (with shelves and fruits) can be seen as a porous medium, the coupled state equations of the transport mechanism (for velocity and temperature fields) are governed by Navier–Stokes–Forchheimer/Fourier equations. Then, based on the finite element method, the numerical scheme computation is made with FreeFem++ software (Version 4.6). Numerical results are shown for three different cases: empty without shelves, empty with shelves, and loaded with foods. For each case, the velocity and temperature fields’ results are discussed for the optimal configurations. The characterization of these physical parameters would help engineers in domestic frost-free refrigerator design.

Keywords

• CFD
• simulation
• optimal control
• domestic refrigerator