Improvement of Criteria for Assessing the Energy Efficiency of Thermoelectric Refrigerators Used in Supply Chains

Refrigerators play an important role in perishable goods supply chains and are expected to operate efficiently. Thermoelectric refrigerators need specific criteria for assessing their energy efficiency. The existing criteria do not take into account the insulation properties of a refrigerator cabinet, which results in a low credibility of the assessment of energy parameters of thermoelectric coolers. The aim of the research was to develop and approve a new universal criterion for assessing the energy efficiency of stationary thermoelectric refrigerators used in supply chains. It was proposed to replace the known criterion of specific power consumption with a new indicator Pk, that takes into account the overall thermal transfer coefficient of the refrigerator cabinet. Based on experimental studies, the approval of the proposed indicator was carried out on the example of a comparative analysis of four thermoelectric refrigerators from different manufacturers. The indicator application resulted in changes in ranking of the examined refrigerators. It was found that the proposed criterion allows us to assess the effectiveness of a thermoelectric cold source more adequately, including the electric power supply and temperature control system. The research results may constitute guidelines for the design and application of standards for assessing the effectiveness of thermoelectric refrigerators.