Modelling of cold store for agro-products using solar-driven adsorption chiller under Rwandan environmental conditions

Ahmed Alammar, Ahmed Rezk, Abed Alaswad, Stephanie Decker, Joseph Ruhumuliza, Quenan Gasana

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

There has been an increasing need to address the lack of food cold chain in order to save wasted food in Sub-Saharan Africa. TRNSYS has been considered as a powerful tool to simulate transient energy systems. In this study, TRNSYS has been utilised to model a standalone year-round adsorption cooling system driven by solar thermal energy to preserve fruits and vegetables after the harvest in Rwanda. The required solar collector area and heat storage size were optimised to run the adsorption refrigeration system 24/7, meet the cooling demand of the cold room and maintain its conditions. A combination of evacuated tube solar collector area of 45 m2 with a hot storage size of 10 m3 and 50 m2 with 8 m3 were found optimal to drive the cooling system 24/7 and maintain a cold room of 38 m3 at the desired operating temperature of 10oC to preserve a selected range of fruits and vegetables.

Original languageEnglish
Number of pages5
JournalEnergy Proceedings
Volume10
Publication statusPublished - 10 Dec 2020
EventICAE2020: The 12th International Conference on Applied Energy - Bangkok, Thailand
Duration: 1 Dec 202010 Dec 2020

Keywords

  • Adsorption cooling system
  • Food cold chain
  • Food waste
  • Solar thermal energy
  • TRNSYS

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