Thermodynamic Design of a Solar Refrigerator to Preserve Sea Products

Abstract

-This project was developed to determine a means of providing refrigeration to communities lacking conventional energy sources. The design of an absorption refrigeration system operating with solar energy was carried out. The refrigerator is used to conserve sea food. The system is adapted to an industrial size cold-storage room. A maximum of 200 kg of fish in ice may be introduced to this room daily, up to a total capacity of 2 tons. The lowest temperature the evaporator reaches is -10 C, the high and low system pressures are 13.4 atm and 2.87 atm respectively. The refrigerant-absorbent mixture is ammonia and water, where the refrigerant is ammonia. The design of this system requires six effective solar hours to generate the refrigerant needed by the refrigerator to work eighteen hours daily. Evacuated tube solar collectors are used. Only solar energy is used to operate the system. To compare the cost effectiveness of this solar refrigerator with a vapor compressor refrigerator of the same capacity, the following was considered: the vapor compression refrigerator requires electricity generated by internal combustion plant. The period of comparison is twenty five years with a MARR of 4.5%. Initially, solar energy refrigeration is more monetarily expensive, but less expensive ecologically than conventional refrigeration. However, at twenty three years of operation they become the same monetarily. Beyond twenty three years, conventional refrigeration is more expensive.