Solar-Powered Evaporatively Cooled Vegetable Vending Cart

Abstract

A solar-powered vending cart was designed and developed for storage of fruits and vegetables. It was tested for its performance during summer season. The minimum and maximum drop in temperature ranged between 8.1C and 11.2C, and the increase in relative humidity was observed to be up to 15% and 25% inside the vending card chamber in June. The requirement of water ranged between 16.5 and 20.0 litre/day. There was considerable effect on physiological loss in weight of different vegetables kept either inside or outside the mobile chamber. The freshness and shelflife of vegetables increased substantially after storage in the cart.Keywords: Evaporative cooling, fruits and vegetables, solar-powered cart, storage.FRUITS and vegetables account for 92.3% of the total horticultural production in India. Around 2.1% of the production is used by processing industries; the remaining produce is either consumed soon after harvest or stored for later use in fresh form. It is therefore important that effective exploitation of the export capability of fruits and vegetables is ensured. Since fruits and vegetables are perishable, their magnitude of loss is estimated at 35-40% due to poor post-harvest management resulting in huge financial loss each year. India wastes fruits and vegetables each year equivalent to the annual consumption of the United Kingdom.Absence of sufficient storage facilities after harvest results in deterioration in the quality in fruits and vegetables that reach the market. This has an immediate impact on the distribution and availability of the required amount for human consumption. The most imperative parameters influencing the post-harvest life and quality of horticultural produce are temperature and relative humidity (RH). The deterioration in quality of produce after harvest is the result of physical, biochemical, physiological and biological processes, the rates of which are influenced primarily by product temperature (at harvesting) and RH in the vicinity. Rate of spoilage increases 2-3-fold with each 10C rise in temperature. The vital activities of tissues, for example, transpiration, respiration, ripening, etc. take place even after harvest. Fresh produce needs low temperature and high RH during storage. Immediate cooling is important to minimize quality loss when the produce is harvested at high temperatures or at an advanced stage of maturity. Preserving such commodities to remain fresh demands that the chemical, biochemical and physiological changes are restricted to a minimum by close control of temperature and RH. The high cost involved in developing cold storage or controlled atmosphere storage on a movable cart is a pressing problem in India and several developing countries. Evaporative cooling is an efficient and economical means for reducing the temperature and increasing RH in an enclosure.Evaporatively cooled storage has proved to be useful for short-term storage of fruits and vegetables in hot and dry regions 1 . It has been extensively used for enhancing the shelf-life of horticultural...

A low‐cost storage for horticulture commodities for enhancing farmer's income: An overview on evaporative cooling

“…Samuel et al (2016) developed a solar-powered vending cart for fruits and vegetables. The maximum and minimum temperature drop ranged between 8.1 C and 11.2 C, and the RH was increased up to 15% and 25% inside the chamber in June.…”

Battery assisted four-wheel weeder for reducing drudgery of farmers

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