PROJECT REPORT

ON
Potable, Compressor less solar powered Refrigerator with
a battery backup for zero energy effective transportation
of vaccines
Submitted to the:

FACULTY OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

GHULAM ISHAQ KHAN INSTITUTE (GIKI), SWABI, TOPI

Submitted By:

Muhammad Usama Chaudhry Sabih Ullah Kaleem Sarmad Hassan Zallan Khan
2017333 2017398 2017416 2017511

Under the guidance of:

Dr. Hadeed Ahmed Sher
Professor Faculty of Electrical Engineering
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2: BASIC THEORY OF SOLAR PANELS AND PELTIER UNITS

2.1 Solar Cells

2.2 Solar Panels

2.3 Peltier Unit

2.4 Buck-Boost Convertor

CHAPTER 3: Literature Review

CHAPTER 4: Methodology

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION:-
Electricity generation is the leading cause of industrial air pollution in the country. Most of our
electricity comes from coal, nuclear, and other nonrenewable power plants. Producing energy
from these resources takes a severe toll on our environment, polluting our air, land. The aim of
this Project is the development of a certain fridge to provide efficient and immediate cooling in
designated locations for transportation of vaccines. Along with the aspect of portability in the
project more emphasis has been done on the power source. The project will be developed such
that it is completely self-sufficient, by powering it by solar energy. Another important aspect of
the fridge is such that it will be made compressor less and other techniques will be used for the
cooling process, which will be discussed further on.

Renewable energy sources can be used to produce electricity with fewer environmental
impacts. It is possible to make electricity from renewable energy sources without producing
CO2. Renewable energy is energy derived from natural resources that replenish themselves
over a period of time without depleting the Earth's resources. These resources also have the
benefit of being abundant, available in some capacity nearly everywhere, and they cause little,
if any, environmental damage. Energy from the sun, wind, and thermal energy stored in the
Earth's crust are examples. For comparison, fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas are not
renewable, since their quantity is finite once we have extracted them they will cease to be
available for use as an economically-viable energy source. While they are produced through
natural processes, these processes are too slow to replenish these fuels as quickly as humans
use them, so these sources will run out sooner or later. So this project is intended at the
development of a solar based compressor free mini fridge. This fridge will be suitable for
cooling purposes meant for small objects and will have a relatively small chilling time as
compared to the normal refrigeration systems. In most of the rural areas of our country, the
electric supply is either sporadically available or not available at all. The most severe effect of
this problem is on the Primary Health Care Centers. Due to no electricity, most of the PHC’s do
not maintain adequate supply of medicines and equipment which need to be kept in a cold
environment. So in case of any emergency, the patient is to be referred either to the town or
city hospital which results in loss of precious time and may prove fatal for the patient. Large
areas of many developing countries have no grid electricity. This is a serious challenge that
threatens the working of PHC Centre. The main alternatives to electrically powered
refrigerators available for many years— kerosene and gas-driven refrigerators are plagued by
problems with gas supply interruptions, low efficiency, poor temperature control, and frequent
maintenance needs. There are currently no kerosene- or gas-driven refrigerators that qualify
under the minimum standards established by the World Health Organization (WHO)
Performance, Quality, and Safety (PQS) system.

CHAPTER 2

BASIC THEORY OF SOLAR PANELS AND PELTIER UNITS:-

Solar Cells:-
When we bring p-type and n-type material together, diffusion occurs on the surface between
them. Electrons start to diffuse from n-type to p-type. Similarly, holes diffuse from p-type
region to n-type region. This diffusion creates an electron-hole free region in a very short
distance at the interface region. This thin layer is called depletion region.
There is an electric field from the n-side to the p-side of the depletion region. Since the
electrons are negative charges this electric field applies a force to an electron entering the
depletion region. Any electron generated by sun light in the vicinity of the depletion region may
pass to the n-side of the junction very easily. If we connect a wire or any load between the ends
of n-type and p-type region with metal contacts, this electron will flow to the p-type through
this external load. So we need an external energy to create this current: something should
energize the electrons in the p-type region to enter depletion region. Solar radiation is an
excellent energy source to do this job.
Maximum Power (PMAX), Current at PMAX (IMP), Voltage at PMAX (VMP)
The power produced by the cell in Watts can be easily calculated along the I-V sweep by the
equation P=IV. At the ISC and VOC points, the power will be zero and the maximum value for
power will occur between the two. The voltage and current at this maximum power point are
denoted as VMP and IMP respectively.

SOLAR PANELS:-

The diagram above illustrates the operation of a basic photovoltaic cell, also called a solar cell.
Solar cells are made of the same kinds of semiconductor materials, such as silicon, used in the
microelectronics industry. For solar cells, a thin semiconductor wafer is specially treated to
form an electric field, positive on one side and negative on the other. When light energy strikes
the solar cell, electrons are knocked loose from the atoms in the semiconductor material. If
electrical conductors are attached to the positive and negative sides, forming an electrical
circuit, the electrons can be captured in the form of an electric current that is, electricity. This
electricity can then be used to power a load, such as a light or a tool. A number of solar cells
electrically connected to each other and mounted in a support structure or frame is called a
photovoltaic module. Modules are designed to supply electricity at a certain voltage, such as a
common 12 volts system. The current produced is directly dependent on how much light strikes
the module.

Peltier Unit:-
When DC voltage is applied to the module, the positive and negative charge carriers in the
pellet array absorb heat energy from one substrate surface and release it to the substrate at
the opposite side. The surface where heat energy is absorbed becomes cold; the opposite
surface where heat energy is released, becomes hot. Reversing the polarity will result in
reversed hot and cold sides.

BUCK-BOOST CONVERTOR:-

The main objective of a buck-boost converter is to receive an input DC voltage and

output a different level of DC voltage, either lowering or boosting the voltage as required
by the application. The design of a buck-boost converter is similar to a buck converter
and boost converter, except that it is in a single circuit and it usually has an added
control unit. The control unit senses the level of input voltage and takes appropriate
action on the circuit based on that voltage.
CHAPTER 3

Literature Review:-
The impact of on-going progress in Science and Technology has created a variety of systems
that can be used in the generation of power from Renewable Sources of energy and one of
these is Solar Energy. The project which we have prepared utilizes either solar energy with the
use of Peltier Module and Photo-Voltaic panel (PV panel) for generation of energy or simply
direct electricity which we further use for cooling and heating effect. It is basically a portable
cooler which is mainly designed for the convenience of the transportation of vaccines to
remote and hot areas. The most important utilization of this portable cooler is for the
preservation of vaccines in extreme conditions. A Peltier module is used instead of compressor
so that it become portable, as it is based on the principles of Peltier effect. The use of Peltier
effect is to create a heating side and a cooling side so we can use the cool side to cool the
vaccines and the hot side to dissipate the heat.

The photovoltaic driven refrigerator cum heating system powered from solar panels with a
battery bank was implemented by Surith Nivas. M (2013). This was different from conventional
refrigeration systems, thermo-electric refrigeration. It was mainly based on the Peltier effect
and it does not require any compressor, expansion valves, absorbers, condensers or solution
pumps. In this system electrons were used as a heat carrier instead of the refrigerants. They
have made a new refrigeration cum heating utilizing 3 thermo-electric (Te) modules mounted
around a load cabinet. The performance of this method was evaluated with an aluminium
cabinet. The cabinet attained a temperature of about 8◦c (min) till 200◦c (max). It was observed
in this experiment that the life span of thermo-electric heater cum refrigeration was more than
,M,,,0twice the life span of existing conventional refrigeration (or) heater system

The Paper we analyzed was “Thermoelectric Solar Refrigerator” By Arvind Kumar (Lecturer)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, U. N.S.I.E.T. V.B.S. Purvanchal University, Jaunpur. The
Paper states the working of Solar Panel and Solar Cells. Solar panel is combination of a
photovoltaic module, and solar hot water panel, or to a set of solar photovoltaic (PV) module
electricity connected and mount on a supporting structure. A photovoltaic module is a
packaged, connected assembly of solar cells. Solar panels can be used as a component of a
larger photovoltaic system to generate and supply electricity in regular and hotels applications.
The efficiency of a module determines the area of a module given the same rated output – an
8% efficient 230 watt module will have twice the area of a 16% efficient 230 watt module. There
are a few solar panels available that are exceeding 19% efficiency. A solar panel is produce in a
limited amount of electricity. Than big power generation than stabilized the broad solar panel
than make the more power. An inverter, and sometimes a battery and/or solar tracker and
interconnection wiring The P-N junctions of mono-crystalline silicon cell may have adequate
reverse current characteristics that these are not necessary.

S. Haidar et al. described the conversion of thermal energy into electrical energy (Seebeck
effect) or electrical energy into thermal energy (Peltier effect) takes place with the help of
thermo-electric devices. The electromotive force was generated when heating between two
dissimilar metals takes place. In this the reverse operation was also possible. The
transformation of heat from one side to another side was made possible by passing electric
current with the development of semiconductors. In this two Peltier cells were used as a heat
pump. That was used for cooling the small refrigerator, CPU coolers, and electronic component.

CHAPTER 4

METHODOLOGY
We will start the project by going through all the details and the working principles of the
individual components and then we will build upon that because majority of the technical
topics we will be going through and implementing in our project are uncharted territory for us.

We’ll start with Solar Panel. As the project is meant to be portable, we have to focus on
minimizing the weight and size of the components while gaining the maximum possible output.
The one we will be going for will be a Mono-Crystalline Solar Panel over a Poly-Crystalline Solar
Panel. The reason is that it has a greater power output and efficiency as compared to a Mono-
Crystalline panel for the same size of panel. The size of the Solar Panel will also serve as a
binding constraint when determining the final size of the whole assembled project. Our
objective will be to procure a Solar Panel with minimum size while still being economically
viable for us.

We will now look at batteries. The battery we will be going with will be a Lithium Polymer
battery, generally referred to as a LiPo battery. It is a dry cell battery which uses a polymer
electrolyte instead of a liquid electrolyte. It is widely used by high end RC Cars and Plane
companies in their products due to the less weight of the said battery while being capable of
delivering currents of up to 250 Amperes. Traditional Lead-Acid batteries or Absorbed Glass
Mat (AGM) batteries pack a lot of power but unfortunately, they’re generous on the size of
their construction too, thus making them unfeasible for use in a project meant to be easily
portable. A worthy competitor to LiPo batteries is a Lithium-Ion battery but those are more
prone to heat, hence a LiPo battery will be used.
Peltier modules are electrical devices which transfer heat from one of their surfaces to the
other when subjected to a voltage difference between their terminals. This in turn, makes one
of the surfaces of the device hot while the cools the other. The Peltier modules will be doing all
the cooling in the project. We wanted the project to be as efficient as possible so we will be
going with 40-Watt Peltier Modules. They’re small in size and are capable of reducing the
temperature by 16⁰ Celsius in 3-liter space with proper insulation as inferred from its
datasheet.

We will be using an Arduino as the microcontroller for the project. It uses very less power, has
vast support available and is compatible with almost all the transducers in the market.

For MPPT, we will be using a Buck-Boost converter which may be procured or fabricated
ourselves if the need arises. Other power converters will be used to charge the batteries and to
power the Peltier modules.

Now coming on to the working principle of the project. The basic working of the project is
indicated by the diagram below:
The sun will shine on the Solar Panels of the system which will generate a variable DC output
dependent on the intensity of the sunlight and the incident angle it makes on the Solar Panel.
The variable DC power will be fed into a power convertor which will do Maximum Power Point
Tracking to maximize the power output of the Solar Panels. The output of the power converter
will be now multi-level regulated to power the project and most importantly the
microcontroller. The same power will be fed into two separate power converters. One will
charge the batteries while the other will power up and control the Peltier Modules. The Peltier
modules will be housed inside a properly insulated cabin where the vaccines will be kept, the
other side i.e. The hot side of the Peltier modules will have heatsinks attached to dissipate the
heat coming from the inside of the insulated cabin.

In normal operation, and assuming proper sunlight conditions, the project will first power the
Peltier modules and the rest of the electrical energy will be used to charge the batteries. If the
intensity of the sunlight decreases and isn’t enough to power the Peltier modules, battery
backup will kick in and will power the system rather than direct solar energy. This will further
extend the use of the project in real life applications making it not only limited for use in
intense sunlight.

References:-
1) http://www.ijirst.org/articles/IJIRSTV1I9062.pdf
2) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140700707001478
3) https://sites.google.com/a/hanalani.org/deanac/literature-review
4) https://www.slideshare.net/slmnsvn/solar-powered-refrigerator-66585209
5) Shun Chen, Jun Zuo and Dan Xie “Design of solar power semiconductor refrigerator” in
the proceedings of the 8th World Congress on Intelligent Control and Automation July 6-
9 2010, Jinan, China.
6) Haidar. S, Isaac. I “Thermo-electric Cooling Using Peltier Cells in Cascade, ”(2004).
7) Sanjaykumar A Borikar and Uday S Wankhede “Experimental analysis of solar
refrigeration system” in the proceedings of the International Conference at Purdue, July
14-17, 2008.