Supercapacitor-Buffered DC-Operable Refrigerators for DC Homes

Efficiency improvements in whiteware will help reduce the overall power consumption of a household. Modern inverter-driven whiteware, such as refrigerators, operates internally on a DC bus, permitting direct powering from the DC bus of a renewable energy system. However, the fluctuating nature of renewable energy DC sources mandates an energy storage system to increase the reliability of DC operations. In this paper, we present the data related to the conversion of a 230 V, 50 Hz AC operable household refrigerator to operate from a solar DC bus, with a supercapacitor bank forming an integral part of a supercapacitor-assisted (SCA) low frequency DC-DC converter. In addition, experimental results of DC camping refrigerator powered from a solar DC bus and the essential details of the new low-frequency SCA converter are also presented.