Identificador: TDX:2950
Autores: Coca Ortegón, Adriana-Clemencia
Resumen:
Solar powered refrigerators driven with photovoltaic panels are a useful solution for food preservation and cold chain management in those regions in which there is no electrical supply, or this supply is unreliable. Currently, these refrigerators have high feasibility, since the cost of photovoltaic panels has been in going down during the last 30 years.
These refrigerators usually use of electrical lead-acid batteries to cover the gap between photovoltaic production and power load; however, it is also possible to use other energy storage options, with lower environmental effects, such us cold thermal storage, with phase change materials (PCMs).
This thesis is focused on a theoretical-experimental study of a photovoltaic solar refrigerator, with cold latent thermal storage, using PCMs, in order to increase the autonomy time of the refrigerator, improve its integration with the photovoltaic system and reduce the size of conventional electrical batteries. The integration of the phase change materials has been carried out by installing a PCM slab, in contact with the evaporator-wall of the refrigerator.
In order to analyze the effects of the PCM slab on the refrigerator, a theoretical model was implemented. This model includes the photovoltaic system, the refrigeration system, the PCM slab, and the refrigerated cell. The validation of the refrigerator model with the PCM slab was carried out by testing the refrigerator inside of a climatic chamber, according to EN 62552.
The heat transfer in the PCM uses a one-dimensional conduction heat transfer model and to solve the differential equations of the model, the finite difference method was used. The final simulations carried out for three tropical locations indicate that the proposed system is technically and economically feasible.
Repositori URV