Received July 2, 2020, accepted August 5, 2020.

Date of publication xxxx 00, 0000, date of current version xxxx 00, 0000.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3015579

DC Environment for a Refrigerator

With Variable Speed Compressor;
Power Consumption Profile
and Performance Comparison
AHMAD H. SABRY AND PIN JERN KER , (Member, IEEE)
Institute of Sustainable Energy, University Tenaga National (UNITEN), Selangor 43000, Malaysia
Corresponding author: Ahmad H. Sabry (ahs4771384@gmail.com)
This work was supported by the University Tenaga National (UNITEN) under Grant RJO10517844/054.

ABSTRACT DC power distribution in residential sector has regained interest among researchers and
industrial players as new electronics-based appliances became locally available. However, the compatibility
of appliances with DC distribution systems still requires much research effort. This work mainly explores
on the power consumption profile of an inverter-driven Variable Speed Controller (VSC-based) refrigerator
that has not yet been analyzed as one of the most important household loads. This paper compares the
power consumption in two scenarios; 1) using three supply configurations for a VSC-based refrigerator, a
Battery-Inverter-Load, a Battery-Load and Grid-Load, and 2) using a same AC power source to supply a
VSC-based refrigerator and a same-size conventional refrigerator. This analysis helps toward modeling and
energy estimation of PV system applications involving storage batteries. A wireless monitoring circuit has
been employed to handle temperature, current and voltage measurements with a high sampling rate to cover
the potential surge power. The experimental measurements show a better performance on using DC over
AC power source and the power rate consumed has a smooth pattern at the starting-on time until approach
a rated power. The measured efficiency of the Battery-Load topology approaches 99% compared to that of
the Battery-inverter-load topology, which is approximately 78.5%. It is also found that the tested refrigerator
with Battery-Load topology consumes an energy amounting to 1.850 kWh daily, while with Battery-inverter-
load topology consumes 2.466 kWh daily under the same operating conditions. These results can serve as a
model for modeling refrigerators and other appliances that adopt speed controller technology to drive their
motors.

INDEX TERMS Compression refrigeration system, dc microgrid, total power consumption, building energy
modeling, PV-battery systems.

I. INTRODUCTION thermal performances of natural wet cooling refrigerant is

The information on power consumptions and load patterns of
household appliances is necessary to achieve a load manage-
ment in the dwelling correctly. For the refrigeration indus-
tries, improvements are crucial to reduce the compressor
power consumption of refrigerators. Household refrigeration
system is possible to be powered by renewable technologies
such as photovoltaic (PV) power and DC sources. Renewable
knowledge is usually considering techniques of producing
environmentally friendly methods, or reducing energy usage
worldwide. Experimental and numerical investigations for
The associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and
approving it for publication was Jenny Mahoney.
presented in [1]. Two different alternatives for powering
refrigeration systems, they are direct current (DC) or alterna-
tive current (AC) [2]. In recent years, appliances with power
electronics technology have widely spread which not only
reduces the variable frequency, drive size, and cost but also
improves consumption performance. Advances in semicon-
ductor switching devices, simulation and control techniques,
power driving topologies, control software and hardware all
contribute to better appliance performance.
A compressor combines mechanical compression parts and
an electrical motor. The electrical motor drives mechanical
parts by converting an electrical energy into mechanical type
in a refrigerator’s compressor. Variable Speed Compressor

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VOLUME 8, 2020 1
 A. H. Sabry, P. J. Ker: DC Environment for a Refrigerator With Variable Speed Compressor
FIGURE 1. The main diagram of the Permanent Magnet Brushless DC
Motor drive and control.
FIGURE 2. A basic refrigeration system [4].
based (VSC-based) refrigerator includes permanent magnet
brushless DC motor (PMBLDC). This motor is a type of
self-synchronous rotary motor controlled by electronic com-
mutations, where the rotor is a permanent magnet with posi-
tion sensors with its rotor [3]. The main diagram of a BLDC
motor is shown in Figure 1.
The inverter of a VSC-based refrigerator receives DC
power via a rectifier from an AC power source to drive
the motor and control its speed by taking a feedback from
the rotor. Therefore, it is possible to supply such type of
motor/compressor by a normal AC or its equivalent DC power
source.
Recently, refrigerator manufacturers have produced
compressors that can operate at smoothly variable speeds
depending on a difference value between setting and actual
temperatures inside the refrigerator. Traditional refrigerators
have compressors with a fixed speed, where the set tempera-
ture is maintained by operating the compressor at that speed.
The compressor continues running until the temperature
inside the refrigerator approaches equal or lower than the set
temperature or when the compressor at defrosting heating.
At this moment, the compressor turns off. When the ambient
temperature becomes one or two degrees higher than the
setting, the compressor starts running again. Although this
operation has a stable steady state rating power, it experiences
a high surge power on starting that inversely affects its life
cycles.
A basic refrigeration system can be modeled as shown
in Figure 2.
The compressor supplies the refrigerant gas throughout
a condenser, a capillary pipe, and an evaporator. The
accumulator ensures only vapor feeds the compressor and
2 VOLUME 8, 2020
FIGURE 3. The temperature variations of food and cold air in the freezer
and compartment.
FIGURE 4. The power consumption of the cooling load and the
compressor of a conventional refrigeration system shown in Figure 1.
two fans supply moist air-flow through the evaporator and
the condenser. The air-flow of the evaporator is separated
between the regular compartment and the freezer compart-
ment. The function of the controller is to turn the com-
pressor ON and OFF to remain the air temperature in the
compartment at a specified temperature deg. C [4].
Unlike shiftable appliances, that have a fixable delay with
a certain consumption-cycle profile, refrigerators are clas-
sified as continuous interruptible load, which is either ON
with fixed energy consumption or OFF. However, their ON
cycle duration depends upon user preference setting [5].
Refrigerators can be categorized as appliances that are ON
24 hours a day. To understand the power consumption of a
conventional refrigeration system, Figure 3 shows the tem-
perature of food and cold air in the freezer and compartment.
The compartment door has opened at the time 11000 sec for
60 sec, which results in a spike in the temperature. The plot in
Figure 4 demonstrates the power consumption of the cooling
load and the compressor of this system that interprets the rate
change of the heat transfer of the evaporator.
The compressor of VSC-based refrigerators uses elec-
tronic power inverter to drive its motor by controlling the
speed according to cooling or heating the compartment load.
It starts running at slow speed and gradually growing up
to a maximum power at a high-speed to achieve the setting
temperature. Unlike a traditional AC compressor that runs at a
fixed speed that consuming all the power directly, the inverter
circuit of VSC drives the compressor with the appropriate
voltage that saving energy. The compressor can then regulate
its running speed according to the ambient temperature. The
VSC-based refrigerators work in silent mode since they run at
A. H. Sabry, P. J. Ker: DC Environment for a Refrigerator With Variable Speed Compressor
slow-speed and do not export loud noise when the compressor
starts. Furthermore, its potential failure is less and has longer
lifetime.
The energy consumption of a particular refrigera-
tor/freezers is dependent on several parameters such as;
thermostat setting position, ambient temperature, door open-
ing [6]and relative humidity [7], [8]. The effects of these
parameters on energy consumption are investigated in this
paper. Several studies address the analysis of refrigerator
energy consumptions [9], [10]. Modeling refrigerator sys-
tems have presented modeling of individual components that
include the compressor [11]–[13] and refrigerator evapora-
tor [14]. Another type of modeling multivariable systems
such as refrigeration is a measurements-based mathematical
model that relies totally on experimental data [15]–[17].
For energy saving considerations, modeling the consumption
patterns of household appliances is a great challenge [18].
Therefore, a model to simplify the behavior of the system
energy consumption is crucial with estimating the variables
that affect the accuracy of an appropriate degree. This will
develop a highly accurate and detailed model that involves all
variables and factors, which in turn requires substantial mea-
surements of experimental data. The whole energy efficiency
standard foundation labels are procedures of energy experi-
ments, which denote agreed-upon procedures for measuring
the performance of appliances energy [19]. Such procedures
present methods for engineers, consumers and manufacturers
to evaluate and compare the energy performance consistently
for different household appliances [20], [21]. Experimental
measurements for recently produced refrigerators help to
model the power consumption profile since this type of
load has not yet been analyzed in details after employing
variable speed controller. Several research related fields that
discussed DC environment applications can also benefit from
the outcomes of this study such as [22].
Studies presented frameworks that analyze the power
consumption and load profile of the home appliances indi-
vidually with a high frequency sampling such as [23],
while the authors in [24] modeling of building end-use
power profile using wireless sensor network. The switch-ON
times, switch-OFF times for three appliances including fridge
freezer is identified by [25]. Modeling of such energy profile
for detecting and estimating individual home appliance loads
is performed by [26]. Although these related studies address
the modeling and energy estimation for home appliances as
an overall load or individually, they didn’t discuss the power
consumption profile of inverter-driven refrigerator and its
principle of operation. They didn’t address the compatibility
of such appliances with DC power supply. A very related
study also used a DC power to supply a refrigerator [27] and
[28], where authors used the DC power of a solar PV to supply
a small size (92L) refrigerator that its compressor has been
replaced by a variable-speed direct current (VSDC) (BD35F
Danfoss compressor). However, such studies have the follow-
ing limitations; 1) the new VSDC compressor might not fit
the refrigerator size because the temperature was not identical
VOLUME 8, 2020
when comparing the performance with the same refrigerator
with its original AC compressor, 2) Authors didn’t use the
variable speed feature and fixed on 3000 rpm instead, and
3) Authors have forced to use a DC voltage-level that a VSDC
compressor requires (12V/24V) though these levels become
useless with high power loads due to its losses.
The proposed power topology overcomes the above gaps
by; 1) using a VSC-based refrigerator that recently available
in most brands that can accept DC and AC power, 2) employ-
ing the normal operation with a feature of variable speed
control to accurately controlling temperature with minimal
consumption, and 3) proposing 276-311 V DC power that
is equivalent to the 220V AC, this level can be connected
directly to the refrigerator without any modification. This
work mainly discusses on the power consumption profile of
an inverter-driven refrigerator as one of the most important
household loads, in which electronic speed-controller has
been employed to drive its compressor. The paper discusses
and compares the power consumption patterns of this refrig-
erator towards the modeling and energy estimation for PV
systems involving storage batteries. A wireless monitoring
circuit with a high sampling rate has been employed to access
current and voltage measurements and to cover the potential
surge power [29]. The work considers the overall system
efficiency as a factor to evaluate the system performance
by comparing two DC system topologies, Battery-Load and
Battery-inverter-load.
The main contribution of this work is to exploit the recent
advances of power electronics in the commercial VSC-based
refrigerators to present the appropriate voltage level of a
DC power source equivalent to the normal grid AC power
to operate these refrigerators. This work will contribute to
provide ability for solar PV systems with battery energy
storage to operate without AC power inverters with DC envi-
ronment, which will increase the overall system efficiency
and reduce the cost. The study contributes to understand how
a VSC-based refrigerator consume power and also analyses
the consumption patterns of such refrigerators and compare it
with a traditional one, which contribute to modeling its power
profile.
II. METHODOLOGY
Since this work proposes using batteries with a voltage
level equivalent to the 220V AC of the grid to feed a
VSC-refrigerator, it is essential to select the standard nominal
voltage of the system’s battery. In order to ensure the same
performance in terms of power consumption when connect-
ing DC source to such a refrigerator, the concept that we are
based on is the voltage matching between the source and the
normal operation voltage of the load [18], [30]. Therefore,
for lead-acid batteries, the voltage level is constrained by the
following formula:
Vbat = 12×Kbat (1)
where Kbat ∈ N+ .The rectified maximum voltage (Vmax )
that can be measured of the AC input, which is equivalent to
3
 A. H. Sabry, P. J. Ker: DC Environment for a Refrigerator With Variable Speed Compressor

FIGURE 5. The main methodology diagram shows a comparison of (a) source type AC/DC supplying VSC-based refrigerator; (b) the performance of two
types (VSC-based/traditional) refrigerator.

the single phase, 220 Vrms grid voltage, is given by:

√2
Vmax = 2 × Vrms = 311VDC (2)

This voltage is supposed to be the maximum battery voltage,

which is the fully-charged voltage. Since the lead-acid bat-
tery of 12V nominal voltage has about (13.5-13.6) V fully-
charged voltage, the number of serially-connected batteries
(Kbat ) is 311/13.5 ≈ 23. Thus, the nominal voltage is 276V.
With such a voltage, the circuit of charging batteries by the
grid is more efficient since the voltage drop between the
grid (as a source) and the battery are close together [31].
The experimental set-up in this work uses two configuration
scenarios; FIGURE 6. An application for the proposed configuration.

1) The first configuration is to supply the VSC-based

refrigerator by two source types. The proposed DC
level, which is between 276-311 V DC, and an AC
power (220V), by using an inverter and directly from
a grid. The objective of this experiment is to ver-
ify the suitability of the proposed DC level and to
get the power pattern for future modeling and energy
estimation purposes.
2) The second configuration is to use an AC power
source for refrigerators, a VSC-based and a traditional.
The objective here is to check the effectiveness of
the VSC-based technology as compared with the old
traditional experimentally.
Figure 5 demonstrates these scenarios respectively, where
serially connected batteries provide an energy with a voltage
DC to a DC-AC inverter then to a VSC-based refrigerator,
and to compare with the directly connection from the battery
pack to the same refrigerator as shown in Figure 5(a). The
performance of the VSC-based refrigerator is evaluated by
comparing its cabinet temperature and rate of change of
power consumption with that of a traditional refrigerator in
same size and brand as shown in Figure 5(b).
An appropriate application for the proposed configuration
of using DC with VSC-based refrigerators is the topology
of solar PV systems with battery energy storage that shown
in Figure 6.
A. MONITORING CIRCUIT
A wireless power monitoring circuit has been developed to
record voltage and current measurements with a high sam-
pling rate of 11Hz to cover the potential surge power, this
monitoring system presented in our previous effort [18], [32].
The circuit represents a wireless communication transceiver
node located at the household of the refrigerator, which has
the necessary elements used for measuring the energy param-
eters (the current and the voltage along with the time) as
well as receiving control signals required for managing the
potential consumption of energy. The measurements have
been calibrated with respect to the Fluke 434-II Energy Ana-
lyzer. Three pieces of thermocouple amplifier and K-Type

4 VOLUME 8, 2020
A. H. Sabry, P. J. Ker: DC Environment for a Refrigerator With Variable Speed Compressor

FIGURE 7. (a) Circuit diagram for monitoring wireless device (b) Photo of the monitoring device.

thermocouple interface were used to measure the ambient B. VSC-BASED REFRIGERATORS

temperature and temperatures inside refrigerator cabinet of The speed of the VSC is controlled by varying the frequency
both VSC-based and traditional refrigerators. and the magnitude of the electric input voltage. Both AC-DC
Mainly, the instantaneous electrical power consumed from and DC-DC converters are used in VSC-based refrigera-
a power source (Ps ) is divided into two parts, power conver- tors, where the input power is converted from single-phase
sion losses (Pc ) and the refrigerator power consumption (Pr ), 220V/50 Hz AC of home electricity outlet to DC, and then the
which in turn can be subdivided into ON-state power (Pr−ON ) later is converted into a controlled voltage level and frequency
and OFF-state power (Pr−OFF ) consumptions as given in the to deliver to the compressor motor. Therefore, the controller
following equations: provides a variable frequency to the compressor motor with
Ps = Pc + Pr = µc .Pr = Is Vs an ability to control its speed. This is done by passing the
( input AC voltage of utility through a full wave rectifier bridge
Is−ON Vs , during ON periods and the DC output of the rectifier is smoothed by a capacitor
= (3)
Is−OFF Vs , during OFF periods bank. The smoothed DC is converted into an output of a
where Is−ON and Is−ON are the ON-state and the OFF-state required voltage and frequency via inverter bridge circuit
measured currents. µc is the converter efficiency, it is one controlled by pulse width modulation (PWM) techniques.
when the source is directly linked to a load (refrigerator). The The block diagram describing the main system components
electrical energy consumption over the interval (tstart − tend ) for such a refrigerator is shown in Figure 8.
is Er and is given by: The objective of these measurements is to understand
the power consumed of such type of refrigerator over one
Ztend cycle, and to recognize the difference in the power pattern
Er = µc . Ps (t) dt = µc .V s as compared with traditional refrigerators. The interesting
tstart specifications of the tested refrigerator are with a 476L
Z tend Z tend 
capacity, a digital inverter compressor, 50Hz, 425W, and a
× Is−ON (t) dt + Is−OFF (t) dt (4) (220-240) V supply voltage. The conducted experiments
tstart tstart
include supplying the refrigerator with both AC and DC
The calculation of efficiency (µ) is based on the following
power. The experimental measurements of the power con-
formula:
sumption profile have been conducted on a VSC-based
Econsumed
µ= (5) refrigerator shown in Figure 9.
Edelivered
where Edelivered denotes the energy delivered from the supply, III. RESULTS
while, Econsumed denotes that energy consumed by the load. Experiments have been carried out with the developed log-
The current and voltage signals are delivered to a condition- ging and monitoring prototype of around 11 samples per sec-
ing circuit which synthesizes the inputs to be suitable for ond to capture a potential surge power that might happen at a
XBee node limits. The circuit diagram and its physical photo starting on-time of the load operation. To understand how this
are shown in Figure 7(a) and 7(b), respectively. type of refrigerator consumes energy, one power cycle of the

VOLUME 8, 2020 5
 A. H. Sabry, P. J. Ker: DC Environment for a Refrigerator With Variable Speed Compressor
FIGURE 8. The general main system components of a VSC-based refrigerator.
FIGURE 9. VSC-based refrigerator.
VSC-based refrigerator is performed for analyzing with some
details. About more than one hour of logging measurements
has been recorded started from the first second of the turning
ON of the refrigerator. The refrigerator consumption-rate
profile of one-cycle, with RMS voltage equal to 220V, over
one-cycle operation is shown in Figure 10.
After about 15 minutes, the consumption has risen due
to start running of the compressor to recover the difference
between the setting and the ambient temperature. It starts with
6 VOLUME 8, 2020
about 50% (210W) of its maximum consumption (420W) and
gradually increases, which agrees with the model in [33].
When the cabinet temperature inside the refrigerator becomes
lower than the setting, the power will decline back to its lower
value.
In order to verify the suitability of the proposed DC level
for PV systems and to get the power pattern for future
modeling and energy estimation purposes, we divide the
remaining results into two scenarios according to the adopted
configuration in the methodology section as follows:
A. SCENARIO 1: AC AND DC SUPPLYING THE
VSC-BASED REFRIGERATOR
In this scenario, the average values of each one-hour measure-
ments of the power consumption have been calculated and
plotted to compare the consumption of the VSC-based refrig-
erator under the traditional configuration (Battery-Inverter-
Load), the proposed one with the appropriate voltage-level of
DC (Battery-Load), and a normal Grid-Load configuration.
Figure 11 demonstrates the difference between these supply-
ing environments on the refrigerator’ consumption over a full
day. To quantify the experiment conditions and its outcome,
Table 1 lists these values in detail.
In order to determine the daily energy consumed by
a refrigerator (Er−day ) in (Watt.h), the area under the
power consumption at an 11Hz sampling frequency (fsmp ) is
accumulated over a full day time by using:
Ztend k=t
X end
Er−day = µc . Ps (t) dt = µc . Ps (k),
0 k=0
where tend = fsmp ∗ 24 ∗ 60 ∗ 60 (6)
It is found that this refrigerator consumes electricity amount-
ing to 2.466 kWh, including the DC-AC inverter (red color),
while amounting to 1.850 kWh per day when connected
directly to the proposed DC voltage-level (blue color).
As compared with AC Grid-Load configuration, the full day
energy (kWh) is slightly higher than the direct Battery-Load
A. H. Sabry, P. J. Ker: DC Environment for a Refrigerator With Variable Speed Compressor

FIGURE 10. Experimental results of one cycle power consumption.

FIGURE 11. Comparison of the average power consumption for the VSC-based refrigerator over a full day.

energy since the experiment of the Battery-Load topology
excludes the rectifier circuit of the VSC-based refrigerator.
The experimental measurements show a better performance
on using DC over AC power source and the power rate
consumed has a smooth pattern at the starting-on time until
approach a rated power, which agree with results obtained in
[28]. The measured efficiency for (Battery-Load) topology
approaches 99% over that for (Battery-inverter-load) which
is around 78.5% due to inverter losses.
For PV system applications, the harvested daily energy of
the solar PV can also be obtained from (6) by substituting
the instantaneous power (Ps ) with the PV power at maximum
power (Pmp ), while µc represents the efficiency of the solar
charge controller including MPPT, µc < 1. The PV daily
energy (EPV −day ) must satisfy the following:
k=t
X end
EPV −day = µc . Pmp (k) = Er−day + Elosses−day (7)
k=0

VOLUME 8, 2020 7
 A. H. Sabry, P. J. Ker: DC Environment for a Refrigerator With Variable Speed Compressor
FIGURE 12. Experimental measurements of the temperatures for the traditional and VSC-based refrigerators inside the cabinets and the
ambient temperature.
TABLE 1. Experimental quantitative comparison between
battery-inverter-load and the proposed battery-load.
where Elosses−day represents the daily losses energy such as
that in system batteries and wires.
For example, if we assume Elosses−day = 0.2E r−day . For
the 1.850 kWh, EPV −day = 2.22kWh.
According to the practical measurements of one-day
weather conditions in Malaysia (Selangor), it is possible to
size the required solar PV panels [34]. Furthermore, the total
power of the required PV panels over a third of a day must
be greater than 2.22 kWh/8 = 277.5 W, if we assume there is
an eight hours a day time. Therefore, one standard (280-300)
W panel is sufficient to cover the demand of the refrigerator
energy for such size in Malaysia weather.
B. SCENARIO 2: AC POWER SOURCE SUPPLYING BOTH A
VSC-BASED AND A TRADITIONAL REFRIGERATORS
In order to check the effectiveness of using a refrigerator
of VSC-based technology with respect to the old tradi-
tional one experimentally, both refrigerators were monitored.
8 VOLUME 8, 2020
The experimental measurements were carried out under the
following conditions:
• All measurements were performed with empty cabinet
and after making sure that the temperature inside and
outside the refrigerator cabinet are identical.
• Making sure that the refrigerator door remains closed
during the experiment time.
• The thermostat was adjusted to a maximum cooling
level in this refrigerator (-6Co ), which may make the
compressor to operate at a high running conditions to
maintain the lower temperature.
• Maintaining same ambient conditions for both refriger-
ators during the test.
• Switching ON both refrigerators in a same time, and all
the measurements have recorded with 11 sample/sec by
a base station computer.
The measurements of the temperatures inside the cabinet
and the ambient were recorded over about three and a half
hours. These profiles are shown in Figure 12. On a same
context, measurements of the power consumptions over three
and a half hours were recorded for the two refrigerators
simultaneously as shown in Figure 13.
It can observe that the data recording starts at 27o C in
both refrigerators, which is the same as the ambient temper-
ature. From temperature recordings, it is observed that the
profiles for the traditional and VSC-based refrigerators are
almost same in the cycling but VSC-based has a less band
of variation. Although both refrigerators approach the setting
temperature on same time during the initial pull-down period,
the power consumption of the VSC-based refrigerator has a
soft rate with lower energy as compared to the traditional one
A. H. Sabry, P. J. Ker: DC Environment for a Refrigerator With Variable Speed Compressor
FIGURE 13. Experimental measurements of the power consumption for the traditional and VSC-based refrigerators over three and a half
hours.
FIGURE 14. Comparison between conventional, traditional and advanced
refrigerator operations.
that has a high surge power in the starting ON time. For the
traditional refrigerator, each OFF-ON transient has a surge
power of a value that may double the rated power, which
requires a hard stress done by the compressor. In contrast,
for the VSC-based refrigerator, the frequency of the OFF-ON
transient is much smaller and with no surge power.
Based on several experimental attempts and referring to
most references in the literature motioned in the introduction
section, the comparison in ideal operations between a
traditional compressor and VSC can be described in
Figure 14. The figure demonstrates the variation of the com-
pressor rotational speed and the energy consumed over an
operation time.
It can be observed that the traditional refrigerator cycles
ON and OFF at a fixed speed whereas the VSC-based
refrigerator operates with various speed by controlling its
VOLUME 8, 2020
power electronically. VSC-based refrigerator works at a low
speed and consumes a lower amount of energy efficiently, and
its power rate declines along with ON time. The figure also
shows that VSC-based starts its cycles at low speed and grows
gradually. Therefore releases less noise.
Unlike the soft rate of power consumption in the
VSC-based refrigerator, the high surge transients in power
experienced by the traditional refrigerator have negative
effects on its operation since it is required to be connecting via
a higher capacity inverter to the battery pack of a PV system.
A higher capacity of a charge controller and an inverter lead
to high cost system as well as higher conversion losses.
IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper, experimental tests have been conducted to
evaluate the performance of a VSC-based refrigerator and the
effectiveness of using such refrigerator with the proposed DC
level of voltage towards the solar PV applications. Based on
the obtained results, the followings can be concluded:
1) Since the power circuit of the new commercially-
available inverter-driven refrigerators is already recti-
fying an AC input, it is possible to efficiently use such
refrigerators with the DC voltage level that equivalent
to the rectified grid AC without any modification.
2) Using VSC-based refrigerators with the proposed
(Battery-Load) has better performance than that with
the traditional (Battery-Inverter-Load) configuration
of PV systems, which increases system efficiency,
prolongs system storage and decreases cost through
dispensing the use of inverter.
3) As compared with the traditional, the power
consumption pattern of the VSC-based refrigerator
does not have any surge power, in which it is possible
9
 A. H. Sabry, P. J. Ker: DC Environment for a Refrigerator With Variable Speed Compressor
avoiding the using a very high capacity inverter and bat-
teries even with the traditional configuration Battery-
Inverter-Load.
4) The outcome of the conducted experiments for power
consumption patterns can serve for further anal-
ysis such as; refrigerator consumption modeling,
forecasting, and control purposes.
5) It is recommended to use a VSC-based refrigerator for
systems that have battery pack within the solar PV
scheme as the system would be more efficient and
economical.
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