How does a household refrigerator work?

In order not to get lost in case of breakdown of kitchen appliances, the modern housewife has to understand how the refrigerator, microwave, stove and other human helpers work. The purpose of the refrigerated cabinet is to preserve the freshness of the products, so its work must be uninterrupted, because sometimes it is impossible to immediately call the master for repair. Understanding the principle of operation of a domestic refrigerator can save time and money, and some of the damage can be corrected by yourself.

What are the parts of the cooling unit?

Everyone knows that a refrigerator keeps cold, cools and freezes food, preventing its rapid deterioration. At the same time, few can clearly imagine where the cold comes from inside the chamber, how it is produced by the refrigerator unit, why the refrigerator sometimes turns off.In fact, the cooled air does not appear anywhere from itself - its temperature decreases right in the camera during operation of the refrigeration unit (Fig. 1). Read more in the article.how to adjust the temperature in the refrigerator.

Fig. 1. 1 - evaporator, 2 - condenser, 3 - filter drier, 4 - capillary, 5 - compressor

The working unit of the refrigerator consists of 4 parts:

• compressor;
• capacitor;
• evaporator;
• refrigerant.

The real heart of the whole system - compressor. It circulates the refrigerant through a multitude of thin tubes, some of which can be seen on the back outside wall of the refrigerator. The other part is hidden under the panel inside the chamber in modern models, but in the old refrigerators they form the walls of the freezer compartment or are simply mounted on the ceiling of the chamber. During operation, the compressor is very hot, like any engine, and should rest from time to time. So that it does not fail due to overheating, there is a relay inside, which, when the engine reaches a certain temperature, opens the electrical circuit. At this point, the compressor turns off.

The tubes on the outside of the fridge are capacitor. Its purpose is to give heat to the surrounding space. The compressor, pumping refrigerant, drives it into the condenser under pressure. As a result, the gaseous substance (freon, isobutane) goes into a liquid state and heats up quite strongly. These surpluses of heat should be dispersed into the external environment in order for the refrigerant to cool to room temperature.

The instructions for refrigerators usually say that set they need to be away from heating appliances.

Knowing how the refrigerator should work, diligent owners will try to provide their assistant with the best conditions for easy cooling of the compressor and the condenser. This will help him last longer.

In order to get the cold in the chamber, there is another part of the pipe system, where the liquefied gas then enters. She is called vaporizer. It is separated from the condenser by a filter drier and a capillary - a very thin tube that does not let all the liquefied refrigerant flow right away, but forces the compressor to push it into the evaporator with an effort.Once there, small amounts of freon instantly boil and expand, again passing into a gaseous state. A large amount of heat is absorbed during this process. The tubes inside the chamber cool themselves and cool the air in the refrigerator. Then the refrigerant returns to the compressor, and the whole cycle begins again.

To prevent the products in the chamber from turning into ice, it is installed inside thermostat. The scale with divisions allows you to set the desired level of cooling, and as soon as the desired performance is achieved, the refrigerator turns off.

Single-chamber and two-chamber refrigerator

The cooling unit in all models of modern refrigerators arranged by a single principle. But the difference in the work of different modifications is still there. It is concluded in the features of the flow of the refrigerant in refrigerators with one or two cameras.

According to the scheme described above, a single-chamber refrigerator works. Regardless of whether the evaporator is directly in the chamber, as in the old models, hidden behind the wall with a drip system, or in a modification No frostThe working principle is the same.But when a freezer is located above or below the cooling compartment, the refrigerator needs another compressor. The work scheme for the freezer remains the same.

The cooling compartment, where the temperature does not fall below 0 ° C, begins to work only later, when the freezer has cooled sufficiently and turned off. At this point, the refrigerant from the freezer system begins to flow into the chamber compressor with a positive temperature, and the condensation and evaporation cycle is already at this level. Therefore, the question of how much the refrigerator should workuntil the cooling chamber is turned on, it is impossible to give an exact answer. It all depends on the volume of the freezer and the settings of the thermostat.

What is fast freezing?

These words indicate one of the functions of the freezer in the two-chamber models. Depending on the modification, the refrigerator in this mode can work for a long time without shutting down the compressor. Thus, an accelerated freezing of a large volume of products is achieved.

When the quick freeze mode is activated, the lights on some cameras light up indicating that the compressor is on and the refrigerator is working.In this case, you need to remember that the automatic shutdown will not occur, and the forced operation of the unit for a long time leads to a reduction in resource.

The quick freeze mode should not be activated for more than 72 hours.

After it is turned off manually, the indicators on the panel go out and the compressor engine shuts down.

Modern models of refrigerated cabinets are very diverse. The current housewives are unfamiliar with this type of homework, as defrost the refrigerator. Drip systems and non-freezing cameras have significantly simplified human life, but the basic principles of operation of these household appliances have remained the same.