Design and Performance Analysis of Small-Scale Milk Chiller by Using PV System
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Date
2018-10
Authors
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Publisher
AAU
Abstract
Photovoltaic powered refrigerators are a new technology for chilling milk in remote areas of
developing countries. This thesis project primarily aims at design and analyzing the performance
of small-scale milk chiller using PV for cooling 50 liters of milk from 33
o
c to 4
c within four
hours of time.
Preserving perishable goods primarily milk as soon as they are harvested is the main concern for
the farmers in the rural areas of Ethiopia due to lack of cold storage facilities and absence of
electricity supply. To supply ample facilities in the rural areas of the country this project is aimed
to provide cold storage facilities incorporating renewable energy (Solar energy) and batteries; it
will give a total off grid solution to the problem of storing perishable goods and ensure food
security. The designing system of the cold storage consists of solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels,
batteries, charge controller, freezer and a DC compressor. The DC compressor, which is replaced
by the AC compressor in the freezer, is the most vital component of the system as it runs the
freezer taking DC output from the PV panels. The power supplied from the PV panels
simultaneously runs the DC compressor and charges the batteries through the charge controller.
The batteries give backup and run the DC compressor at night in nonappearance of the sun.
In doing this, it’s used the weather data for estimating the annual performance of the system is
average meteorological year data for Semera region. The electrical characteristics, programming
algorithm and MAT-LAB code based on the manufacturer’s data and hourly converted data has
been developed. The optimum tilt angle is calculated for both summer and winter season is used
and a MAT-LAB code is used for variation of hourly angle as well as declination angle. The PV
system also employs a battery of 24V, 360Ah for two day autonomy and Outback FLEXmax30/40
series (MPPT) charge controller. In general the system has the complete solution for
supplying cold storage facilities in off grid areas and gives an environment friendly solution of
the storage problem.
o
Description
Keywords
PV System, Design, Small-Scale Milk Chiller