Repeatability of Energy Consumption Test Results for Compact Refrigerators

摘要

Recently, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) has been interested in examining the current procedure that is used to measure the energy consumption of compact refrigerators (ANSI/AHAM HRF-1). As part of the DOE's Appliance Standards Program, NIST performed round-robin tests of three compact refrigerators using their facilities in Gaithersburg, MD and three independent laboratories. The round-robin test results revealed several major issues, which caused significant differences in the measured energy consumption from laboratory to laboratory. After the completion of the round robin tests, the compact refrigerators used in this study underwent extensive testing at NIST to further examine the effects of the noted problems with the procedure. This paper reports the results of the round robin tests, and the results of the extensive testing at NIST. This paper also suggests possible changes to the testing procedure that would reduce problems with the repeatability of the test results.