New energy test procedures for refrigerators and other appliances

Many innovations in refrigerator design rely on microprocessors, sensors, and algorithms to control automatic defrost, variable speed,and other features. Even though these features strongly influence energy consumption, the major energy test procedures presently test only a refrigerator's mechanical efficiency and ignore the software aspects. We describe a new test procedure where both hardware and software tests are fed into a dynamic simulation model. A wide range of conditions can be tested and simulated. This approach promotes international harmonization because the simulation model can also be programmed to estimate energy use for the ISO, DOE, or JIS test. The approach outlined for refrigerators can also be applied to other appliances.