3M: The benefits of Aluminum Foil Tapes in Refrigeration Systems
Seeking improvements in the manufacturing process and to increase the thermal efficiency in refrigerators, the appliance industries extensively used aluminum tapes to replace mechanical fasteners to attach tubes inside refrigerators. In many cases however, there are not many studies clearly showing the benefits of using tapes and having many tape options may cause doubts as to which one to choose. Nowadays there are several types of tapes, including options that can be applied automatically, without tearing the aluminum foil, leading to more efficiency in the production line.
The operation logics of the main current cooling systems can be understood by studying the operation system of a common household refrigerator, also known as a mechanical steam compression system (Figure 1). In the refrigeration cycle, there are six basic components: refrigerant gas, compressor, condensers, evaporators (inside the freezer), capillary tube and polyurethane foam [1].