Use of an earthen clay pot refrigerator with a thermoelectric cooler for extending farm produce shelf life

IF 4.7 2区工程技术 Q1 ENGINEERING, MECHANICAL

Frontiers of Mechanical Engineering Pub Date : 2023-05-23 DOI:10.3389/fmech.2023.1189860

N. Patel, S. Pawar, V. Bhojwani

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Conventional cold storage systems increase the risk of damage and are no longer used for the long-term storage of agricultural products. Thus, newer affordable and energy-efficient storage systems are required for enhancing the shelf life of farm produce. We investigated the coefficient of performance (COP) of an earthen clay pot refrigerator with a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) and explored cooling strategies to enhance cooling and electrical performance for increasing the shelf life of farm produce. We used MATLAB Simulink to analyze Peltier TEC module efficiency. The intrinsic characteristics, including the Seebeck coefficient (α), thermal conductivity (K), and electrical resistance (R), were determined, forming the basis of the Peltier module in MATLAB Simulink. Thermal characteristics such as COP and cooling capacity were studied as a function of system voltage (Vin) and current (Iin). The model was equipped with a 12 V/6 A, 60 W TEC and was verified by simulation investigation. We also used psychrometric measures (e.g., wet bulb, dry bulb, and dew point temperatures and relative humidity) to determine the extent of wetness or dryness of an object and monitor other temperatures of the clay pot refrigerator. The results revealed that the ambient temperature and cold and hot side temperatures fundamentally affected TEC performance. The TEC extended the shelf life of tomatoes, potatoes, and spinach by 60% compared to those stored under ambient conditions, thereby reducing their wastage. In conclusion, earthen refrigeration using TEC doubled the shelf life of farm produce compared to storage under ambient conditions, saving money, resources, labor, and supplies and enabling the development of efficient and environmentally friendly refrigeration systems.

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使用带热电冷却器的土罐冰箱延长农产品的保质期

传统的冷藏系统增加了损坏的风险，不再用于农产品的长期储存。因此，需要更新、价格合理、节能的存储系统来提高农产品的保质期。我们研究了带有热电冷却器（TEC）的粘土罐式冰箱的性能系数（COP），并探讨了提高冷却和电气性能的冷却策略，以延长农产品的保质期。我们使用MATLAB Simulink来分析Peltier TEC模块的效率。确定了固有特性，包括塞贝克系数（α）、热导率（K）和电阻（R），构成了MATLAB Simulink中Peltier模块的基础。研究了COP和冷却能力等热特性作为系统电压（Vin）和电流（Iin）的函数。该模型配备了12 V/6 a、60 W的TEC，并通过仿真研究进行了验证。我们还使用湿度测量（例如，湿球、干球、露点温度和相对湿度）来确定物体的湿度或干燥程度，并监测粘土罐冰箱的其他温度。结果表明，环境温度以及冷侧和热侧温度从根本上影响TEC性能。与在环境条件下储存的番茄、土豆和菠菜相比，TEC将其保质期延长了60%，从而减少了浪费。总之，与在环境条件下储存相比，使用TEC的土制制冷使农产品的保质期延长了一倍，节省了资金、资源、劳动力和供应，并有助于开发高效环保的制冷系统。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Frontiers of Mechanical Engineering Engineering-Mechanical Engineering

CiteScore

7.20

自引率

6.70%

发文量

731

期刊介绍： Frontiers of Mechanical Engineering is an international peer-reviewed academic journal sponsored by the Ministry of Education of China. The journal seeks to provide a forum for a broad blend of high-quality academic papers in order to promote rapid communication and exchange between researchers, scientists, and engineers in the field of mechanical engineering. The journal publishes original research articles, review articles and feature articles.