Analysis of defrosted water evaporation from three water trays in refrigerators

The evaporation of defrosted water from vapour compression domestic refrigerators can be a real problem in tropical countries with hot and humid ambient conditions. This poses a challenge to the refrigerator manufacturers to design a water tray with minimal additional cost but with significantly improved evaporation rates. This paper, therefore, analyses the performance of three types of water trays that were tested in dual temperature frost-free domestic refrigerators to study the evaporation rates of defrosted water. A dynamic simulation model has been developed to predict the evaporation rates from these trays. The model is based on the fundamental equations of conservation of mass and energy and includes the effects of cyclic run times of the compressor. The defrosting of the evaporators occurs only during the compressor ‘off’ cycle at a preset time and for a predetermined interval, as determined by the microprocessor. The model is successfully validated with the experimental data from the water trays.