Mathematical design and performance investigation of evaporator water cooled storage‐cum‐mobile thermoelectric refrigerator for preservation of fruits and vegetables

Abstract

AbstractA storage‐cum‐mobile thermoelectric refrigeration system was designed for passive, active, and total load of refrigeration on the basis of thermo‐physical properties of polyurethane sheet, heat generated by axial fan, and internal heat of commodities stored for refrigeration. A prototype of mobile thermoelectric refrigeration system of capacity 100 L (40 kg per batch) was designed and developed for maintaining the temperature of 15 ± 2°C and relative humidity of 80 ± 5%. The developed system of dimension (45 × 50 × 50 length × width × height), composed of four thermoelectric modules, liquid cooled evaporator, axial fan, diaphragm water pump, fogger, and water tank. The system was operated by 12 V DC power source. Results obtained from experimental performance evaluation indicated that 20.8°C temperature reduction was achieved in 210 min under no load operation, whereas, 23.6°C temperature reduction was obtained in 360 min when the system was loaded with 30 kg of bitter gourd. The temperature was reduced at the rate of 9.65°C/h till temperature of 20°C was attained which latter reduced to 2.23°C/h under no load condition, whereas, rate of temperature reduction was 7.44°C/h till attainment of 20°C and then reduced to 1.43°C/h under loading condition. The techno‐economic feasibility of the system exhibited COP 0.85 which was significantly higher than those reported by several scientists in the range of 0.15–0.50. Developed refrigeration system can be effectively utilized as an eco‐friendly technology for small scale cold storage of fruits and vegetables with causing detrimental effect to environment.Practical ApplicationsDeveloped thermoelectric refrigeration technology is climate friendly without generating any global warming potential and can be commercially used for small scale cold storage of fruits and vegetables to enhance the shelf life of produce. A developed refrigeration system is helpful for fruits and vegetable vendors to maintain the quality of commodity during transportation to minimize the decay of food and fetch good value to the commodity.