Assessment of a novel defrost method for PV/T system assisted sustainable refrigeration system

Abstract

Energy consumption has continuously increased depending on the rapidly growing human population, enlarging economies, advancing technologies, and improving living standards. A noteworthy share of the energy consumption has been arising from the buildings all across the world. Refrigeration, heating, and air conditioning systems have accounted for a significant portion of the energy consumption in the buildings. Therefore, it is possible to both reduce energy consumption, and mitigate the carbon footprints by efficiently designing, constructing, and operating these systems. In this framework, the present research has centered on the refrigeration systems, and aimed to develop a novel defrost method for photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) assisted sustainable refrigeration systems. In the conventional refrigeration systems, the frost process occurs when air condenses on the evaporator surface as a result of the evaporator surface temperature being below the freezing point of water or the dew point temperature of the air in the conditioned space. Differently in the present work, PV/T system is used to prevent the frost process in the refrigeration system, unlike the conventional systems. Accordingly, the efficiency loss caused by the temperature increment will be prevented by cooling the PV module, and it is aimed to be more efficient by reducing the daily power consumption as an alternative solution method to the frost that occurred on the evaporator in refrigeration systems. On this purpose, a novel evaporator design is developed, and used for defrosting in this study. Accordingly, this novel design includes a refrigerant line inside the evaporator and a hot water line from the PV/T in this design. In the results, it is noticed that the system designed for winter conditions could be used for defrosting. While an average of 605 W for heat energy was used for each defrost process, the average defrost duration was recorded to be approximately 4 min. While the average electrical efficiency of the PV module was found to be 13.6%, the average total efficiency was found to be 38%. Besides, Average PV module surface temperature was determined as 36.4 °C, average water storage tank temperature was determined as 26.4 °C. In addition, the coefficient of performance (COP) of the refrigeration system is calculated to be 4.18. COP increased by an average of 9% during defrosting. Furthermore, the environmental economic cost was calculated to be 14.6 $/h. In the conclusion, it is proven that the novel defrost method proposed in the present work can be used for refrigeration systems, and contribute to both the reduction of energy consumption and mitigation of carbon emissions arising from the buildings.