Question

What’s inside a refrigerator compressor and how does it work?

Answer 1

Inside a refrigerator compressor, you'll find a few key components that work together to compress and circulate the refrigerant. The primary components include:

1. Motor: The compressor is powered by an electric motor that drives the entire process. When the refrigerator's thermostat signals that cooling is required, the motor starts running.

2. Piston or Scroll: The compressor contains either a piston or a scroll mechanism. In piston compressors, a piston moves up and down in a cylinder, while in scroll compressors, a scroll-like design is used to compress the refrigerant.

3. Refrigerant: Refrigerant is a special fluid with low boiling and condensing points. It is responsible for absorbing heat from inside the refrigerator and releasing it outside.

How the refrigerator compressor works:

1. Evaporation: The refrigerant enters the compressor in a gaseous state, having absorbed heat from the refrigerator's interior. Its low-pressure gas state allows it to flow into the compressor.

2. Compression: Once inside the compressor, the motor activates the piston or scroll, which reduces the volume of the gas refrigerant. As the volume decreases, the pressure of the gas increases significantly.

3. Condensation: The high-pressure gas refrigerant then exits the compressor and moves to the condenser coils located at the back or bottom of the refrigerator. Here, the hot gas releases its heat to the surrounding environment, causing it to condense into a high-pressure liquid.

4. Expansion: The high-pressure liquid refrigerant moves through the expansion valve, where its pressure and temperature drop rapidly. This causes it to turn into a low-pressure, low-temperature mixture of liquid and vapor.

5. Evaporation (again): The low-pressure, low-temperature refrigerant then enters the evaporator coils located inside the refrigerator. As it absorbs heat from the interior of the refrigerator, it evaporates, turning back into a low-pressure gas.

6. Repeat: The cycle then repeats as the low-pressure gas returns to the compressor to be compressed again, extracting more heat from the refrigerator's interior.

This continuous cycle of evaporation, compression, condensation, and expansion is what allows the refrigerator to maintain a cool temperature inside while dissipating the heat outside, keeping your food fresh and cool.