Solar-Driven Refrigeration Systems for Post-Harvest Crops Reservation: The State of Art of the Systems
Abstract
Renewable Energy Resources is being used to provide an electrical power source through using appropriate technologies like Photovoltaic, Wind Turbine or Hybrid Technology associated with storage system to provide the needed power during the period when these renewable energy resources are not available. There are many agriculture crops that are being cultivated in Egypt reclaimed deserts areas. Therefore, to deliver such crops at high product quality, after harvest to the consumers, the transport storage environment need to be at appropriate temperature and humidity levels to maintain highest product quality to the end user. Solar energy is being utilized to be used for cooling and refrigeration. This paper presents the state of art of solar driven refrigeration systems that used for agriculture crops reservation. It concluded that solar driven vapor compression refrigeration system is the most appropriate system for this application. This due to it has higher COP than the solar thermal refrigeration systems. Moreover, its size (footprint) is smaller than other solar driven refrigeration systems as well as it could be easily transportable. The main hindrance of this its higher initial cost compared to other conventional driven refrigeration systems.
Keywords
Solar refrigeration – ejection – absorption – adsorption – desiccant – vapor compression –