Portable Vapor-Compression Solar Refrigeration System for use in the Agricultural Harvesting Site

Abstract

There is a growing interest in implementing sustainable technologies within reach of the population to cover the need for the rational energy consumption of refrigeration systems. Therefore, this work shows the design and simulation of a cooling chamber, which will be part of a vapor-compression solar cooling system, useful for the agro-industrial sector to conserve perishable products directly at the harvesting site. This portable system uses photovoltaic panels as a source of motive power. The above was developed from the knowledge of the fruit to be conserved for its modeling and subsequent simulation. In this case the fruit is guava. Also, a photovoltaic analysis was carried out. It is possible to obtain a cooling capacity for the chamber of 183.10 W and a heat loss of 6.85 W. Detailed data of the formulas used for designing and simulating the chamber, its isolation calculus, the guavas and their wooden boxes, and the Photovoltaic panels, were provided to clarify the procedure for the proposed prototype.