Development and Cooling Operation Modeling of a Solar-Powered Refrigerator System with an Incorporated Solar Tracker

https://doi.org/10.65770/VKDU7640

ABSTRACT

The ever-increasing energy demands, rising costs, and alarming depletion of fossil fuels, combined with the environmental risks associated with their use for energy generation, have been driving forces behind the use of renewable energy sources such as solar energy.  The conversion and utilization of solar energy as an alternative source of energy, has increasingly aroused the interest of many researchers. In meeting the needs of some Africa countries, especially Nigeria, with unstable and erratic supplies of electricity, a solar-powered refrigerator using electricity from the national grid and the power generated by photovoltaic was designed, developed, and then modelled. The system works on power from the grid system when there is supply of electricity and automatically switches to be powered by the PV whenever there is power failure from the grid system. Moreover, a dry cell battery was built into the system to store charges and run the system at night or when there are no solar insolation and supply of electricity.  Due to the variation in the insolation received by a particular surface with respect to time, a solar tracking system was incorporated. From the field performance test results, the cooling rates of the system when being powered by PV and AC are approximately 0.4^oC/min. Therefore, there was a significant improvement recorded in the avoidance of the spoilage of perishable products as compared to when the system was only being powered by the erratic electricity supplies from the grid system. The applicability of the system to different climatic regions in most Africa countries is quite enormous and as it could be used for perishable food storage, it will also contribute to improvement in the health services and living conditions in most regions in Africa countries where there are irregular supplies of electricity from the grid. Since the system requires very little routine maintenance, it is essentially beneficial in developing countries where maintenance facilities are usually poor.

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WSN 220 (2026) 24-34

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