DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF SOLAR ASSISTED

REFRIGERATION SYSTEM

PROJECT REFERENCE NO: 38S0201

COLLEGE : SJB INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, BANGALORE

BRANCH : MECHANICALENGINEERING
GUIDE : MR. MADHUSUDHAN T
STUDENTS : MR. ARJUN V
MR. CHETAN KUMAR
MR. NARENDRA M
MR. VINAY G
Keywords:
Absorption Refrigeration System,Evacuated Vacuum Tubes,Shell and Tube Heat
Exchanger,Insulation,Solar Energy.

Introduction:
In the early years of the twentieth century the vapour absorption cycle using water-
ammonia systems became popular and widely used but after the development of the vapour
compression cycle, it lost much of its importance because of its low coefficient of performance
(about one fifth of that of the vapour compression cycle). The vapour absorption cycle is used
only where waste heat is available or where heat is derived from solar energy. Absorption
refrigerators are popular alternative to conventional compressor driven refrigerators. where
electricity is costly, unreliable, or unavailable, and noise from the compressor becomes a
problem. Absorption cooling was invented by the French scientist Ferdinand Carre in 1858.

Solar refrigeration has the potential to improve the quality of life for people who live in
areas where electricity supply is inadequate and important role in industrial and commercial
sector for cooling and heating applications. The use of refrigeration is to keep food fresh, has
become a part of our daily life in this society. Several solar refrigeration systems have been
proposed and are under development such as absorption systems including liquid/vapour
compression and photovoltaic vapour compression systems. However major goal is to develop a
CFC-free refrigeration system that can utilizes waste heat or renewable energy sources. Solar

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adsorption cooling systems promise to provide a safe alternative to CFC based refrigeration
device. In the last few decades, more investigations on the performance of the absorption
refrigeration system were conducted considering various absorbentabsorbate working pair.
Most of solar energy is harnessed by photovoltaic cells. These array of cells are massive in
size and cost of manufacturing is also high. Solar cells have lower efficiency and its efficiency
decreases with increase in temperature and hence not suitable in all places. Thus harnessing of
solar energy by using evacuated vacuum tubes can be replacement for solar photovoltaic cells in
refrigeration system. As evacuated vacuum tubes cost of manufacturing is cheap and even
occupies less space.
Some of the works carried earlier on absorption system usage for cooling purpose supports
the fact.
M. Carmo elvas et.al[1]: In 1858 a French scientist named Ferdinand Carr invented an
absorption cooling system using water and sulphuric acid.
K. Lingeswaranet.al [2]: He explained the working process of absorption refrigeration system
by giving heat energy using parabolic reflector and he also stated that working range is 80-150C
with 35% concentration ammonia and he used helium to maintain the constant pressure of 8
bars. He also explained the dimensions of required parabolic reflectors to achieve effective
refrigeration.
Dharamvir Mangalet.a l [3]: He suggests evacuated vacuum tube over flat plate solar
collectors. vacuum tube usesThermo siphonsystem, it has two tubes separated by vacuum which
reduces the conductive and convective heat loss from tube, as a result it is more efficient than
flat plate collector this paper also gives specification of evacuated vacuum tube.
DimitriosA. Kouremenoset.al[4]: He compares H2/NH3 and He2/NH3 gas mixture by
considering all type of boundary conditions like thermodynamic properties (enthalpy,
entropy..etc.) and transportation properties(density, viscosity.etc.). Then he concludes by
saying that Helium is better substitute to hydrogen for ammonia absorption system.
O.B Akinbisoyeet.al: They used activated carbon & methanol as refrigerant and he analysed
the amount of heat absorbed in different time intervals during the day and results are plotted by
using graphs. The amount of heat absorbed or rejected during each process is studied and given
formula to calculate. He has used flat plate solar collector to run the refrigerator.
R T Dobson et.al:He describes a natural circulation of closed loop thermosyphon system that
can transfer heat over large distances without any moving parts such as active controlsand
pumps. In this paper, a theoretical basis on which to analysis and predict the flow and heat
transfer per the physical layout of the loop to be theoretically modelled in this paper.

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P.Selvakumaret.al:He discuss the experientialstudy conducted on solar evacuated tube
collector mounted at different angle of inclination. The temperature characteristic obtained as
result of experiment show that the performance doesnt vary with respect to angle of inclination.
Sandeep Ket.al: A characteristic of heat exchanger design is the procedure of specifying a
design. Heat transfer area and pressure drops and checking whether the assumed design satisfies
all requirement or not. The purpose of this paper is how to design the shell and tube heat
exchanger which is the majority type of liquid to- liquid heat exchanger. General design
considerations and design procedure are also illustrated in this paper.
Vindhya Vasiny Prasad Dubeyet.al: This paper consists of thermal analysis of the effects of
severe loading conditions on the performance of the heat exchanger. Model of shell and tube
type heat exchanger has been designed using kerns method to cool the water from 55C to 45C
by using water at room temperature. Then they have carried out steady state thermal analysis on
ANSYS 14.0 to justify the design. Theyhave also tested the heat exchanger under various
ambient temperatures to see its effect on the performance of the heat exchanger
K Karthiket.al: This paper is based on an Electrolux refrigeration system using solar energy as
input. The principle behind Electrolux refrigeration is that it uses three gases to accomplish its
cooling effect namely ammonia (refrigerant) water (absorbent) and hydrogen.and parabolic
collector to trap solar energy

Objectives:

To make effective refrigerator using solar energy.

To make use in rural areas.
Pollution free system.
It can be used in food storage plants.
Refrigeration system having low maintenance cost
One time investment with minimum running expense
To make refrigerator with less moving parts

Methodology:
Stages in theProject:
1. DesignandConstruction:
Material selection: Basedon cost, precision needed, machining capabilityand
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 ease ofprocurement,majorconstructionwasbasedonMSandSteelwasusedfor
construction of manifold, expansion tank.Copper tubes were used for
connecting heat exchanger and manifold.Also itwasmadesurethatthe
prototypeiscomparabletoindustrialscaleproductsand suits the requirements
Designconstraints:Ease ofmachining, transportation,
constructionand manufacturing. Standardavailable sizesof
materialandaverage size of household rooftops and easein tracking was also
considered.

Figure 1 Figure 2

Figure 3

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2. Installationandinstrumentation:

InstallationwasperformedatMechanicalDepartmentrooftopofSJBITCollegeofEng
ineering.Thesitewasselectedbasedonthelowwind
speedsachievedduetootherbuildingsavailablearounditalsothesebuildings did not
hinder anysun light availability.
Theother auxiliaryinstruments used were:

K-TypeThermocoupleswithDigitalTemperatureIndicator was
usedformeasuring temperature.
Water level pipe was used to measure the oil level in the manifold and heat
exchanger

3. Operation:
The transformer oil in the evacuated vacuum tube gets heated up by trapping the solar energy
due to density difference the hot fluid flows up to manifold and the cold fluid flows down to
evacuated tubes. The heated transformer oil flows to the heat exchanger through copper tubes
and transfer the heat to the generator to run the absorption refrigerator. After transferring the
heat the transformer oil flows back to the manifold and this cycle repeats.

Results and Discussion:

On testing with three thermic fluids namely palm oil, water and transformer oil,
transformer oil was found to be the best suited for this system as thermal conductivity was very
high when compared to others.
Connecting tubes like polymer composite tubes and copper tubes were tested for this
system and copper pipes were found to be better suited because of their flexibility and could
retain its shape even at high temperatures.
For a driving temperature of 160C to 190C of oil we obtained a cabin temperature of
15C to 5C. for a time period of 9am to 12pm with steady sunshine the oil temperature raised
to 174.8C.
An additional backup heater was provided to the system so that it can work in the
absence of sun light.

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 A solar thermal driven absorption system is designed. And for a driving temperature in
the range of 120C 150C, low temperatures up to 8C to 0C is obtained at the refrigerator
cabin can be achieved by using this design. Even though this design have certain disadvantages
the advantages are very high and to attain a year round working an electrical heater is combined
with this device. This system would reduce the power consumption and would direct us towards
the path of green energy.

Conclusions:

The conceptual model of using evacuated vacuum tubes for running vapour absorption
refrigerator in practical yields productive results as evacuated vacuum tubes occupies more
space when compared to that of electricity. So it is highly suitable for rural areas.

In apartments and flats the evacuated vacuum tubes can be wall mounted and can be used
as split system.

The upscale model can be adopted to build a cold storages, mortuaries, package air
conditioners, central plant system for storage plants etc.

In Over all, the evacuated vacuum tube technology could be the solution to harness solar
energy for cooling purpose and especially where space constraint is least.

ScopeforFutureWork:

SincetheareaisstillunderdevelopmentinIndiamore scope exists for

design&developmentof efficient solar evacuated vacuumcollector.
Scope exists to reduce the size of evacuated tubes so that can be used in urban
areas where there is high space constraint.
This model can be scaled up to manufacture cold rooms, which will help farmers to
store fruits and vegetables.
This technology can also be utilized to for central air conditioning system.
The COP of vapour absorption system is comparatively low which can be increased
with further research.
The efficiency of solar thermal devices can be improved to have an efficient solar
refrigeration system.