Absorption Refrigeration

Geoff Galgon
Gloria Loukota

Contents

page

History of Energy Team

Mission Statement and Identification of Problem

Market Research Methods and Sources

Primary Research
Secondary Research

3
3
3

Summary of Primary Market Research Results

Business Owners
Homeowners

3
4
4

Summary of Secondary Market Research Results

Marketing and Engineering Specification Matrix

Brief Overview of Refrigerator Technologies and Reason for Choice

Sketch and Prototype

General Reasons for Potential Success

Potential Business Plans

Necessary Future Work

10

Appendix A: DFX Considerations

12

Appendix B: Costs & Potential Business Plan/Timetable

14

Appendix C: Absorbency Data

16

History of Energy Team:

A team of five students and professionals worked in Guatemala during the summer of
2008, focusing on human power generation, particularly pedal-power based systems. In
this vein, a series of studies was performed on a pedal power electricity generator. It was
found that even with very efficient (expensive) systems, in order to generate 1 KWh of
energy one would have to pedal at vigorous tempo for 10 continuous hours. In short, the
contextual information gathered from the fieldwork of the team revealed that pedal power
was decidedly inappropriate for their target market. Our team therefore decided not to
pursue this topic any further, and focused on a much different problem--refrigeration.
Other options included work on lighting systems, which has been receiving attention in
the African context recently.
Mission Statement and Identification of Problem:
In rural Guatemala, the cost of running a refrigerator is prohibitive to many who wish to
either start a business selling refrigerated products, or expand their current business to
include the sale of these products.
Our mission is to provide an economically appropriate refrigeration system that can be
used by both of these groups to improve their earning potential, as well as by those
individuals already operating a refrigerator who want to save on the heavy electricity cost
of operation. Our refrigerator must use either minimal, or preferably zero, electricity to
run.
Based on our contextual (market) findings and specifications, as well as the inherent
capabilities and limitations of various technologies, we've identified an absorption-based
heat-regenerated refrigeration system as a possible solution. Due to the requirement of a
frequently operated heat source in this technology and financing requirements, our
primary initial target market is comedores and tortillerias.
Market Research Methods and Sources:
Primary Research:
In-depth interviews of 35 business owners (17 tiendas, 8 comedores, and 10
tortillerias).
In-depth interviews of 32 homeowners (farmers, juice and phone card sellers,
etc.)
Observational experience. Both members of the team are personally familiar
with what typical tiendas, comedores, and tortillerias look like.
Secondary Research:
Kiva.org microloan for refrigerator and juice supplies purchase.
Summary of Primary Market Research Results:

Business owners:
All comedores have refrigerators with freezers, all tiendas have refrigerators,
and half of the tiendas have freezers provided by Saita, an ice cream
company. Roughly 20% of tortillerias have refrigerators used to sell natural
juices and sodas.
The cost of running one refrigerator is roughly $30/month. Depending on the
electricity savings of a new refrigerator, business owners therefore
expressed a willingness to pay $10-$30/month towards its purchase.
Cerveceria Centroamericana, Coca-Cola, etc. often provide refrigerators for
free under the condition that the business sells 300-400 units of product
(beer/soda) per month. If these requirements are not met, the company
lender can forcibly remove the refrigerators. Because of the high cost of
purchasing a new refrigerator however, only 10% of the business owners
surveyed had such a non-affiliated refrigerator
Homeowners:
Household size generally varies from 5-12 people.
Almost all of those surveyed (92%) were interested in starting a business
selling refrigerated products from their home, provided of course that it
increased their earning capacity. We shouldnt be surprised with this figure,
given the observable ubiquity of small home-based shops in Guatemala and
surrounding countries.
The space that could be allotted for such a refrigerator is (base x height) ~
(50-75 x 100-150 cm).
Homeowners expressed a willingness to pay $2-$13/month to finance a
refrigerator (again provided that there was electricity savings).
Summary of Secondary Market Research Results:
Kiva loan: Kiva distributed a loan through the Foundation for Assistance for Small
Businesses in Guatemala in August 2008 to Irma Martinez of $475 to purchase a
$400 refrigerator and $75 dollars worth of juice. Irma is running her business
from prison, and shes able to buy unrefrigerated juice for $.25 and sell it back
refrigerated for $.50.1
This type of refrigerator to support business loan is especially common in parts of
Africa and South Asia.
Marketing and Engineering Specifications Matrix:
Based on our market research, we formulated the following list of market specifications,
and translated these (where appropriate) to engineering specifications:
Marketing Specifications
Electricity savings over existing
refrigerators

Engineering Specifications (Translated)

Use either no electricity, or only electricity for a
small part of the cooling cycle (say 300W for 20

1http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=60260

min/day).
Cheap (or at least comparable) to $150 production cost, leading to $200 price.
purchase
Attractive
Easy to use
Color-code
Durable
Cooling unit able to be dropped from 4 feet
repeatedly while full or operating.
Conveniently sized
Footprint of (.75)^2 meters^2.
Comes in large and small sizes
Modular cooling unit, able to fit in multiple size
coolers
Easy to fix or maintain
Use common, not exotic parts
Require a low replacement frequency (less than
once per year).
Effective
Able to cool a cubic meter insulated box to less
than 6 deg. C for 12 hours.
Brief Overview of Refrigeration Technologies and Reasons for Choice:
The number of basic refrigeration technologies is quite limited, though there have been
many different designs exploiting their thermodynamic cycles in different ways. Broadly
speaking, refrigeration may be achieved by simple evaporative cooling, vaporcompression, vapor-absorption, thermoelectric, or magnetic means. Thermoelectric and
magnetic refrigeration can be quickly rejected for this application due to power
(scalability) and cost, respectively, while evaporative cooling technologies, while by far
the cheapest, would probably only work well during the dry season and could not fully
provide the level of cooling required by our marketing specifications. We believe,
however, that there may be creative ways of increasing the cooling capacity of simple
evaporative systems, though we decided not to pursue this option. Therefore we decided
to proceed with vapor-absorption as an electricity-free or electricity-minimizing
alternative to the vapor-compression standard. Below is our idea. We focused primarily
on the design of the cooling unit, though obviously the integration of this unit into a
display or insulation unit needs to be further considered, based on more specific market
data reflective of the technological capabilities of the system:
Sketch and Prototype (DFX Considerations, Appendix A):
Note: Our physical prototype uses two steel boxes instead of aluminum due to
availability issues.

Physical Prototype

Sketch

Cycle Life:
Regeneration Phase:
The canister containing the absorbent
(in our case cat litter) saturated with
water is placed on the stove, where the
water boils off through a check valve
(or manually operated valve) into the
other chamber. Eventually (in our tests
after 30 or 40 min), the absorbent is
regenerated.

Condensing Phase:
In this phase the device is removed
from the stove and allowed cool. After
a bit of time, the steam will condense
back into water, to later become the
coolant.

Cooling Phase:
The refrigeration unit is inverted and
fit into an insulated box (the
refrigerator). The non-check valve is
opened. If necessary, a vacuum is
applied briefly to the system, in order
to equalize the vapor pressure of the
water to the internal environment.
Once this is achieved, the vacuum is
shut off, and the absorbent will
continuously absorb vapor for several
hours. This absorption process draws
heat from the outside environment, and
cooling is achieved.

General Reasons for Potential Success:

Running cost: Our surveys reveal that the electricity cost of running a refrigerator
is roughly $25/month. The cost of operating an absorption-based system is
potentially zero, provided that waste heat from an oven or stove can be used. Even
if an electrical pump were used to provide a vacuum for increased efficiency (we
demonstrate a cheaper aspirator based pump system that requires only basic water
pressure), this would only need to be run for about 20 minutes per day, at a
monthly cost of at most .3kW*1 hour*30 days=9kWh *$.15/kWh=$1.40/month.
Brand Independence: Use of this refrigerator would obviously not require the
owner to sell a specific set of products, which is the case with company-sponsored
refrigerators. So even though compression refrigerators may be supplied at no
cost by beverage companies (Cerveceria Centro Americana, Coca-Cola, etc.),
shop owners are tied into stocking specific sets of products, so that owning a nonbranded refrigerator would provide an inherent competitive advantage.
Furthermore, these branded refrigerators come with selling-volume requirements,
meaning that a business that relied crucially on the sale of refrigerated products
and had a bad quarter--selling less than the required quantity--might be ruined by
the forced removal of their refrigerator. This of course would not be an issue with
our refrigerator. Furthermore, an electricity savings of $20/month would imply
that a $200 initial investment could be recouped in less than a year, not including
the potential for increased sales due to product variety.
Electricity-less: Multi-day power outages are not uncommon in parts of
Guatemala, so a refrigerator that doesnt use electricity might even be preferred to
one that does, especially if food or other product spoiling/heating is a concern. In
those regions still off the grid, an electricity-free refrigerator has obvious value.
Not Impossible to Use: We imagine a situation where a comedor owner would
regenerate & condense the system at night after closure, and begin the
refrigeration in the morning in time for customers. The slow-cycle of the product
as compared to vapor compression here is not necessarily a huge downside then in
this application. That is, the active refrigeration will be active while the cooler is
opened and closed to retrieve drinks, and passive during the night.
Potential Business Plans:
Weve considered several different potential models for a business based on the sale of
these refrigerators, should they be proven effective. Key is finding a balance between inhouse firm control and outside contracting.
Business Model
No financing, in-house promotion,
manufacture, and sales.

Costs and Benefits

Pro: Complete control over the distribution of
product. Potentially able to cut costs.
Con: Virtually impossible for a small firm to
handle all of these aspects of their operation,
especially in a foreign environment.

No financing, contract with local

maintenance/smaller shops

No financing, contract with larger

sellers (Azteca/Electra, etc.)

In-house financing plan, with other

permutations above

Contract with MFI (Micro-finance

Institution) for financing system

Pro: Remove the burden of operating a retail

business while still maintaining control over
distribution, product location, etc.
Con: Possibly difficult to manage effectively
sales by third parties in several different locations.
Depending on the agreement with local shops,
varying degrees of revenue are lost by the
contract.
Pro: Dont need to manage distribution, only
control manufacture. Potentially large coverage,
advertising, etc.
Con: Possibly virtually no control over the
distribution, sales, pricing, etc. part of the
business. Potentially significant losses in (direct)
revenue. Obviously difficult to contract with such
venders.
Discussion: In general, offering a financial plan
to offset a large initial cost that would be
recouped rather quickly offers us the potential to
reach more customers. In terms of offering our
own financing plan, this would have the benefit of
being able to control interest rates to a reasonable
level, contract with whomever we judge
investment worthy, etc.
However, in the microfinance industry,
particularly with regard to micro lending, the
return on equity (and moreover the default rate)
that MFIs can offer varies significantly between
institutions2. Broadly speaking, this is probably
because MFIs have different abilities to identify
good borrowersthose that will not use the
money to, say, finance a childs wedding
ceremony. Such ability comes with experience, so
we believe that in this case its best when dealing
with micro credit packages that we, not having
such experience, contract with what are typically
termed financially self-sustainable MFIs. Lists are
available of such Guatemalan MFIs3

Our preferred business model would be the final one detailed above (MFI partnership), in
conjunction with a distribution system based on local shops (not the Electra-size

2http://www.mcafee.cc/Classes/BEM106/Papers/2008/Microfinance.pdf
3http://www.microfinancegateway.org/content/article/detail/39344

distributers). That is, we would contract with a local manufacturer to make the
refrigerator, then distribute this product to local hardware or repair shops for sale. They
would then collect a commission based on how many units sold. Such a model strikes a
balance between personal control, profit sharing, and effectiveness. A total cost
breakdown of such a business may be found in Appendix B. Under this analysis, we
foresee a small-scale business operating into profitable margins at maturity.
Necessary Future Work:
In terms of our progress, we believe we've demonstrated that at least in certain
circumstances in Guatemala, it's economically feasible to harvest waste energy from
cooking fires for use as the energy input in an absorption-based refrigerator system. We
also believe that there may exist a significant potential for absorption based refrigeration
systems to be distributed anywhere where large quantities of heat are essentially wasted
(tortillerias and comedores in Guatemala, chai shops in Nepal, Dhabas in India, etc.). So
even though the efficiency of these refrigerators might not be as high as compression
systems, their usage costs, and potentially their construction costs, would be dramatically
lower in these environments. Indeed, in locations without electricity, short of installing
some sort of generator, evaporative cooling or absorption systems are the only options.
Such potential wide application might mean that securing research funding for future
work would be made easier. Furthermore, this application of the technology (absorption
refrigeration) in this way is a somewhat novel idea today, evidenced by the fact that
currently available absorption systems either use large solar collectors for true energy
independence in remote regions or are meant for the high-end American RV market.
Obviously the potential impact that an appropriate technology could have here worldwide
in terms of food spoilage prevention, etc. is great.
Therefore, we'd be thrilled if this topic continued to receive attention from future
E105/Landivar classes. Both of us would be happy to act as advisors to future groups
(though perhaps not possibly in person). Indeed, a lot of further work needs to be done on
the technological development of our system, much of it probably requiring a laboratory
or workshop setting. Specifically, in order to have a truly successful product, we believe
that the following broad design issues need to be addressed further:
Determining the cooling power of the system under various configurations.
That is, under various pressures, refrigerant/absorbent pairings, etc. We werent
able to build a fully functional prototype in time for the conclusion of the class,
due to an error in pipe length that required a re-weld, which prevented proper
sealing of the system. However, we were able to perform a proof of concept test
for an inexpensive vacuum generator, capable of inducing sufficient vacuum (<50
torr) to boil water at room temperature in a few seconds.4 Furthermore, an
extended discussion with Yuri Sylvester, a member of a team at Cornell that

4http://ugcs.caltech.edu/~galgon/Refrigerator_Video.mp4

10

worked on a similar device5 provides proof of technological capability (cooling

ability of water/zeolite absorption-based systems).
Cycle optimization. A key point of our design is that the cooling device can be run
through several cycles without modifying the internal components. We suspect
that while this may be possible, overtime losses of efficiency and ability might
appear (due to trapped water, rust, pressure difficulties, etc.). Work needs to be
done to investigate how to ensure that this doesnt happen.
Integration Into Insulated Box. In addition to the cooling device, a mature
product would need to be paired with an insulated box, or potentially a variety of
such containers for making ice in one application, cooling certain sets of products
in another, etc. Modifications to broken compression refrigerators could also be
considered, as well obviously of commercially available cheap (<$10-$15)
coolers.

5http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpEG0ATylzo

11

Appendix A: DFX Considerations.

Note: This is not a complete list. There are probably unintentional omissions that weve
mentioned in past assignments, but at least in terms of the Design For X ideas
themselves, the reader can judge for himself whether their implementation (or at least
attempted implementation) is considerate or not.
Design for Manufacture/Assembly:
Our design uses entirely standard parts. Competent welding is all thats required
for assembly. Exact dimensions of components arent important, so long as seals
are robust.
Design for Re-use:
If screw-fittings are used (which we have in our prototype, because we anticipated
cycles of disassembly & assembly, and wanted to be able to take it on a plane, but
which cost more than welded sealing), then even if the product stopped being
used, the chance that the NPT threaded pipe, ball-valves, or other fittings
would be damaged is small, and there is always a demand for these products in
the market. The vacuum potentially employed (aspirator) is entirely solid state
and would not lose re-sell value. Furthermore, unlike a traditional refrigerator,
there arent potentially hazardous chemicals in our design, and disassembly is
rapid and worthwhile for parts if the product isnt needed anymore.
Design for the Environment:
Again, unlike compression designs, particularly older ones that use Freon & close
derivatives, etc., this product does not contain any materials hazardous to the
environment.
Design for Sustainability:
By focusing on potential income generation to act as an engine for sales growth of
the refrigerator, we envision a sustainable business that automatically advertises
itself every day due to the visibility in tortillerias, etc. of the product. It is our
hope that alternative refrigerator designs to vapor compression can eventually
help alleviate some of the problems that come with food spoilage worldwide. The
idea is that the juice sales market is potentially easier to enter and to prove
oneself in, given businesses greater financing capability.
Design for Extremely Low Cost:
Several steps were taken to minimize cost, including:
-Use of standard parts
-Use of low-cost absorbent/refrigerant (maximum combined cost of $2
dollars)
-No complicated machining (odd shapes)
-Very simple component-type design.
Design for Maintainability:

12

Our prototype allows entry at several points, though a more mature version of the
product probably would not (see remarks earlier). However, there should always
be an entry point integrated into one or both of the boxes.

Design for Human Interface/Ergonomics & Safety:

Our original design called for a type of handle to facilitate movement and
inversion of the product that turned out to be ergonomically awkward. A simpler
version was identified fairly immediately with the help of the actual prototype.
The red color of one of the boxes, along with probably a fire icon, will indicate
which compartment to expose to flame to help prevent misuse.
More exotic and effective, but potentially dangerous refrigerants were not
considered.
The weight of the (completely filled) devise is around 10 kiloswe thought that
anything larger, which would naturally have more cooling power, would not be
ergonomically appropriate.
Design for Reliability:
We conducted a drop test, dropping the prototype onto the ground. No
observable damage was done. However, due again to a re-weld the sealing of the
prototype couldnt be properly established, so we werent able to test if the drop
might affect that (though this seems unlikely with good welding).
Ideally though, we can envision a more encapsulated (structurally framed) version
of the product that would prevent undue environmental interaction with the
internal components.
Design for Cultural Acceptability:
The entire idea of marketing such a refrigerator towards tortillerias, etc., knowing
by survey work that many people are receptive (and financially capable) to the
idea, is based around cultural considerations.

13

Appendix B: Costs & Potential Business Plan/Timetable.

Cost of actual prototype (Note: Labor cost of welding boxes, etc. included in the price of
these items):
Steel box
Threaded tube 2
Threaded tube 6
Union
Ball Valve
Teflon
Screws (1 pound)
Aspirator Pump
Accessories
Tubing
Silica

Quantity
2
2
2
4
2
1
4
& 1
1
1

Total

Price (each)
Q. 150.00
Q. 4.50
Q. 6.50
Q. 4.00
Q. 48.00
Q. 4.50
Q. 10.00
Q. 100.00
Q. 10.00
Q. 10.00
Q. 569.50

Cost of non-airport going version:

Steel box
Tube 3
Ball Valve
Aspirator Pump
Accessories
Tubing
Silica
Extra Labor
Total

Quantity
2
4
2
& 1
1
1
1

Price (each)
Q. 150.00
Q. 4.00
Q. 48.00
Q. 100.00
Q.
Q.
Q.
Q.

8.00
10.00
20.00
550.00

The technician who welded the boxes, etc. for the prototype claims that with production
in volume, the end cost would go down by 25% for these items, leading to a final total
cost (including vacuum) of Q. 450 = $60 for the cooling unit. A re-tooled cooler
(insulated box) would cost an additional $15-$20, depending on the configuration,
brining the total for the entire system up to ~$80.
Business Plan Cost Analysis:
Notes: We imagine a somewhat localized (hence the limitation on numbers), sustainable
business as described above.
Start up Costs:
Administrative (coordination, placement, financing),

$660 + $200
14

3 month @ $10/day + Training

Materials & construction cost (10 units)
Financing System Overhead & Contract
Total

$800
~$10/unit = $100
$1760

Eventual Annual Cost (50 units & 100 units / year):

50 units/year
Administrative (coordination, placement, etc.), 1 year
@ $10/day
Materials & construction cost (50 units)
Misc. Logistics
Financing System Overhead
Total
100 units/year
Administrative (coordination, placement, etc.), 1 year
@ $10/day
Materials & construction cost (50 units)
Misc. Logistics
Financing System Overhead
Total

$2600
$4000
$1000
$500
$8100
$2600
$8000
$2000
$1000
$13600

Eventual Annual Revenue (Selling $170):

Units/year
10
50
100

$1700
$8500
$17000

Timeline:
Period
Startup (10 units, 6 months, 1 month equiv.
salary)
Transition (50 units)
Maturity (100 units)

Time
6 months.

Profit (Revenue-Cost)
-$60

30 months
>30 months

$800
$3400/year

Expansion into non-Guatemalan markets would imply possibility of expansion, and we

believe that given a viable, proven (Guatemala market) refrigerator this would not be
an impossible challenge. As above, though, far more work has to be done to achieve this
condition. The motivation for this work accordingly should look beyond supplying
comedores with a more efficient way of selling chilled beverages, though this may turn
out to be the best means of providing a specific platform for product development.

15

Appendix C: Absorbency Test Sheets

Test 1; absorptions
Substance
Sodium Bentonite (1)
Silica Gel (2)
Sodium Bentonite (3)
Silica Gel (4)

Dry Mass (g)

70.02
50.57
75.04
76.51

Water Absorption
% Water / Mass
(mL)
50.00
0.71
53.00
1.05
46.00
0.61
70.00
0.91

120 deg. C, 30 min.

Water Absorption
post-heated Mass (g) (mL)
% Water / Mass
88.50
30.00
0.34
62.80
38.00
0.61

Test 2; 2nd absorption

Sodium Bentonite (1)
Silica Gel (2)

140 deg. C, 30 min.

Water Absorption
post-heated Mass (g) (mL)
% Water / Mass
82.50
35.00
0.42
50.90
55.00
1.08

Test 3; 3rd absorption

Sodium Bentonite (1)
Silica Gel (2)
Uses (SB)

% Water / Mass
1
2
3

0.71
0.34
0.42

1
2
3

1.05
0.61
1.08

Uses (Silica)

Conclusions:
Large variability between instances of re-heating indicates that a near complete
regeneration is highly ideal.
Silica is overall superior to the bentonite in terms of both total absorbency
capability and ease of regeneration, etc. It does cost more, but the cost of the
zeolite does not contribute significantly to overall product cost (see above).

16