Solar Refrigeration Without The Use of Batteries

Summary    Using any renewable energy source forces us to use batteries as an energy storage unit. This causes the use of renewable energy for farmers, dairy producers and many others to be too costly. In order to reduce the cost for any application of refr

Project Title

Solar Refrigeration Without The Use of Batteries

Project Area of Specialization

Mechanical Engineering

Project Summary

Summary

   Using any renewable energy source forces us to use batteries as an energy storage unit. This causes the use of renewable energy for farmers, dairy producers and many others to be too costly. In order to reduce the cost for any application of refrigeration using renewable energy we have replaced the battery, which is chemical energy storage, with the brine at -20°C, which is thermal energy storage. For this purpose we have designed a specifically engineered container that will use conventional currents to cool down any items in the refrigerator. This cost of brine is minimal as it is fundamentally a mixture of water and salt, with salt making up only 5-10% of the solution.

Project Objectives

 Engineering Objective

Our objective is to design and manufacture a refrigeration system that runs on renewable energy but instead of using battery to store energy it will use thermal energy.

 Innovation Objective

Our goal is to design new technologies that will completely change the way the world views the work of cold temperatures. This will not only be closer than the other solution but also much cheaper. In the industrial food supply system, cold storage is one of the most important processes where there is a lot of energy but not the use of renewable energy technologies. The integration of photovoltaic roofs affects the design and operation of automatic refrigerators, which are a preferred option for cold food storage: A reference case in northeastern Italy shows that photovoltaic installation can lead to annual costs and energy savings. The objectives of this project are to help farmers and cool industries to conserve food for longer, as it is about-os of food waste during travel. This project will not only help food conservation but will also reduce the impact of environmental change as it is environmentally friendly The most important feature is that it is customized which means it can be built in accordance with the applications and the type of food we stored as the temperature may vary depending on the type of fuel.

 Industrial Objective

The cold storage industry is an energy pig Globally, cold storage facilities require more energy per cubic foot and consume more than S 30 billion annually, the third highest energy consumption of any industry. With turbulent energy costs, the industry is looking for the best technologies that offer greater energy savings and additional benefits. This project will save lots of energy especially in the night time as the excess energy can be stored in the batteries. This will create a huge impact in the cold chain industries. It is cost efficient as well as have high performance with an incredible feature of variable temperature and customization. This project can store huge amount of food and has the ability to store food for a longer period of time in a cheap cost. It is very helpful in minimizing the pollution and harmful effect in the environment as it is renewable and has almost zero environmental pollution.

Project Implementation Method

Project Synopsis

Research & Design: First step is to design in research the different solutions to energy storage. We have decided to brine with 5-10% salt concentration, which is an innovation and a heap source with higher efficiency than other sources We have designed the schematic for the refrigeration system. We have specially designed the container for brine that will encourage convection too. The design itself has a huge role in the convection of heat

Manufacturing: The only component in be manufactured is the container, it may need  few final touches and testing after the first model is manufactured The container will be housed in a deep freezer and will use a compressor, evaporator and condenser of the freezer. All other components will be purchased from the market and are easily available  in the market.

Prototype: Once the container is manufactured and the components have been purchased we can start assembling the system. We will test the exact brine concentration needed for most efficiency. This prototype in general for   variable applications and can be used for small and large quantities of product.

Installation: The prototype may be installed in any application we have listed. This step mainly focuses on improving the operation cost and efficiency of the system We will also keep commercial consumers in mind during testing.

Production: Once we have established our concept we can begin large scale manufacturing on the project. This project can be implemented in various fond center companies, farms, pharmaceutical companies etc.

Benefits of the Project

 Significance of Project

During transportation lots of food rots, this causes deficiency of food and increase in prices, the transportation of food is itself expensive and due to the dynamic parts of the vehicle it causes harmful impact on the environment. Current cold chain solutions rely heavily on refrigerated trucks which use toxic refrigerant gases. This project can counter this. This project will save food from rotting as it is renewable and have wide applications of storing different types of food, like vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, milk etc.

Farmers of Pakistan are facing lots of trouble in storing their crops and milk, as there is a problem of electricity shortage and in the end they have no choice left but to sell it to the companies and different shopkeepers at a low rate. This will help them save their crops, milk, etc. From getting rot and can be able to sell their product at market prices. They will also be able to sale their product directly to the costumers. The issue of electricity can be overcome by using solar panels or other renewable source and without thermal cooling technology no batteries will be needed for 24/7 cooling. Different companies have the problem to preserve their product like meat and fruits etc. also face the problem of preserving large amount of food, this project will solve this issue as it is customizable and can be modified according to the application. This project is also beneficial in regards of cost, another big problem of companies is the cost of the equipment, and this project is also cost effective and requires little maintenance. This project is environment friendly as it is based on renewable source of energy and has no impact on the environment. Nowadays, technology is shifting towards renewable energy, this project will play a very helping hand in reducing environment pollution. Lots of pharmaceutical companies have problems in storing medicines and different products as these products are stored at low temperatures this will help them in storing their product at its required temperatures. This can be helpful in morgues to store and preserve bodies.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

 Brine Solution Experiment

For this an experiment was conducted in deep freezer over a few days. We created different concentrated solutions of brine and placed them in a deep freezer. The containers were regularly checked for any ice formed and noted. The results are tabulated below

3D Model:

Initial design of the containers was created to allow the brine to flow into the milk container without coming in contact with it. The designs are shown below. Due to difficulties design was changed to a simpler one, without coils.

Brine Container

We used 60 liter container for brine storage. The cooling coils are inserted into the brine and the expansion valve can be seen on top.

 Expansion Valve

Expansion valve was connected to cooling coils to allow the temperature of the coils to drop till -16 C. We were able to achieve this temperate in 2 hours running time.

 Cooling Storage

The inside of the freezer was partitioned and the storage area was made. We water proofed it with silicon to prevent leak on brine.

 AC Compressor

We used AC compressor of 1 rton according to the calculations we made. Experimentally it was also a success as our goal temperature was being achieved.
 We attached temperature sensor to brine to monitor brine temperature. As we are using freezer insulation is already ample enough to stop

 Energy Calculations

Cooling Milk from 38.33 C to 4 C:

Thermal Energy of Milk = mcat

Thermal Energy of Milk 200 X 3.89 X (38.33-4)

Thermal Energy of Milk = 26708.74 kJ

Power = Energy/Time = 26708.74/ (2.5 X 3600)

= 2.967 kW

 Power Calculation

During the day the compressor will be cooling the brine & milk, therefore the power needed will be Total power needed = 2.967+0.873 = 3.84 = 3.84 kW Power in Hp = 5.147 hp

CONVERT TO RTN 3.84/3.5=1.097 Rton

CONVERT IN KW

1.097 1.8=1.97KW

P= 1.97*0.746

P = 1.47 Hp

For the current compressor installed it will take much more time to cool which will be Time = Energy/Power = (29200+22306.5X120 = 119.2 hrs. 5 days

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

Energy

Other Industries

Manufacturing

Core Technology

Clean Tech

Other Technologies

Others

Sustainable Development Goals

Affordable and Clean Energy

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com