Independent farmers throughout India grow and sell crops to generate income. However, depending on market conditions, many farmers are forced to either sell their produce at unreasonably low prices, or to allow it to perish. In fact, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that more than 40% of the produce in India is wasted every year, which represents a value of US$14 Billion (12.42 billion euro) annually [1]. These problems associated with fair prices and food wastes could be substantially alleviated if independent farmers in India had access to cold storage. Herein we design and evaluate solar powered coolers for produce storage in India. As a case study we select cauliflower farming in Nanded district, India. Cauliflower is a valuable source of nutrients including protein, vitamin B, vitamin C, and is an important wither vegetable in India.A solar powered cooler is designed to store half of the cauliflower harvested from a land area of 10 acres at a temperature of 10 °C for 20 days. The volume of the cooler required to store the cauliflower is 38.2 m 3 . To estimate the cooling load, the heat of respiration from the cauliflower, the heat of infiltration through the cooler doors, the heat gain through the cooler walls, and the metabolic heat gain from working in the cooler were taken into consideration. The cooling load, including a 20% safety factor, is ~ 6,200kW.Two different options are considered to provide power to meet the required cooling load: an air conditioner equipped with CoolBot Technology [2], powered by photovoltaic (PV) cells, and a solar-powered absorption-based cooling system. The average solar insulation throughout India ranges from 4-7 kWh/m 2 •day, providing 1,500-2,000 hours of sunshine per year. The use of solar energy minimizes greenhouse gas emissions and enables the cooler to be operated in remote locations.
ResumenLa contribución de la Energía Solar Térmica para las instalaciones de calefacción de agua caliente sanitaria y piscinas climatizadas se ha incrementado notablemente desde la entrada en vigor del Código Técnico de la Edificación, superando ya los dos millones de metros cuadrados de ocupación. En este trabajo se establecen unas pautas para la correcta revisión y peritación de este tipo de instalaciones, tomando por referencia una instalación real con 43 captadores de placa plana correspondientes al centro Salesianos Carabanchel, con el objeto de facilitar la intervención a aquellos profesionales de la edificación que estén inmersos en el ámbito de la rehabilitación.AbstractThe contribution of Solar Thermal Energy for heating hot water and heated pools has increased significantly since the entry into force of the Technical Building Code, already exceeding the two million square meters of occupation. In this work some guidelines for proper review and inspection of such facilities are established, taking by reference a real installation with 43 collectors flat plate corresponding to the center Salesian Carabanchel, in order to facilitate the involvement of those building professionals who are engaged in the field of rehabilitation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.