Abstract: This paper studies the energy consumption of a 300L chest freezer with a bottom-mounted evaporator in accordance with the test method specified in EN 62552—2020, and analyzes the impact of defrost power of aluminum tube heater and defrost cycle on the overall energy consumption and defrost incremental energy consumption of the freezer. The results show that under the same conditions, when the total power of the aluminum tube heater is the same, the configuration with a power per unit length of 25 W/m reduces the overall energy consumption by 0.68%~1.02% compared with the configuration of 23 W/m. Under identical configurations, with the shortest defrost cycle fixed at 12 hours, the longest defrost cycles of 48 hours reduce overall unit energy consumption by 2.61%~2.95% compared to a 24 hours cycle. Meanwhile, the longest defrost cycles of 72 hours and 96 hours increase energy consumption by 0.11%~0.72% and 0.02%~0.57% respectively compared to a 48-hour cycle. When selecting the longest defrost cycle, the 48hours option offers the best cost-effectiveness.

Key words: Air-cooled chest freezer, Energy consumption, Defrost cycle, Aluminum tube heater