Thermal, environmental, and cost analysis of effective solar portable vaccine refrigerator by COMSOL Multiphysics

Abstract

AbstractA thermal, environmental, and cost analysis of an effective solar portable vaccine refrigerator is presented. Combining Peltier module with appropriate finned heat sink, choosing advanced software for thermal analysis, evaluating the environmental impacts of the combination, and comparing with other refrigerators are the key objectives of the present research. The Peltier module and the finned heat sink are professionally designed to enhance the thermal performance of the solar portable vaccine refrigerator. A competent solar panel is proposed to power the Peltier module for clean thermal energy. A set of equations are applied to calculate the overall surface efficiency and the total heat dissipation out of the refrigerator. COMSOL Multiphysics is employed to compute the temperature gradient and the heat flux of the Peltier module with the finned heat sink at steady‐state process. The thermal results show that the maximum overall surface efficiency is 78% with one Peltier module and 10 fins. The environmental results show that the values of the carbon footprint and total energy consumption of the solar portable vaccine refrigerator are reasonable according to the sustainability assessment methodology. The results also show that the manufacturing cost of the solar portable vaccine refrigerator is affordable as compared to others.