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Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Author ORCID Identifier

SERTAN AKSOY: 0009-0006-5524-9657

KAMİL ÇETİN: 0000-0003-1029-5626

SEZAİ TAŞKIN: 0000-0002-2763-1625

Abstract

This study presents the design and experimental validation of a nonlinear sliding mode controller developed for a deep freezer equipped with a variable-speed compressor. The proposed control strategy aims to minimize energy consumption while maintaining rapid and stable cooling performance under varying ambient conditions. A detailed thermal model of the deep freezer was established using an equivalent resistance–capacitance network representation, enabling precise analysis of temperature dynamics. The sliding mode-based control algorithm dynamically adjusts the compressor’s operating frequency according to temperature deviation, ambient conditions, and time-dependent factors, providing robust performance without requiring parameter retuning for different models. Beyond theoretical-based analysis, a significant contribution of this work is the implementation and validation of the proposed controller in a real experimental test setup, conducted in climate-controlled cold test chambers that comply with international refrigerator testing standards. These tests were conducted in climate-controlled environments in 16ο C, 32ο C and 43ο C, validating the effectiveness of the model. The proposed method achieved up to 26% improvement in freezing capacity and a 12% reduction in the energy efficiency index relative to conventional control strategies. The findings highlight that sliding mode–based control can significantly improve both energy efficiency and freezing capacity in household refrigeration systems.

DOI

10.55730/1300-0632.4281

Keywords

Deep freezer, variable-speed compressor, thermal model, sliding mode control, energy efficiency, freezing capacity

First Page

900

Last Page

917

Publisher

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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