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Design of a low cost, smart and stand-alone PV cold storage system using a domestic split air conditioner

IR@CIMFR: CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad

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Title Design of a low cost, smart and stand-alone PV cold storage system using a domestic split air conditioner
 
Creator Mishra, R.
Chaulya, S.K.
Prasad, G.M.
Mandal, S.K.
Banerjee, G.
 
Subject Instrumentation
 
Description To reduce post-harvest losses of food produce and ensure a better return to marginal farmers, a small cold storage has been developed using a domestic split air conditioner. The developed solar-powered cold storage is a low cost, simple and energy-efficient unit. Installation, operation and maintenance costs of the cold storage are also less. The cold storage is integrated with IoT-based sensors for remote monitoring and controlling of temperature and humidity as well as tracking of the stored items. It uses multiple sensors and a microcontroller to maintain and monitor the desired temperature and relative humidity. Average recorded temperature and relative humidity of the cold storage chamber is found to be 6.88 (±0.7) °C and 95 (±1) % respectively. Total cost of the designed 10 t capacity cold storage is around $ 15710 in India including installation charges. This low-cost cold storage can be owned by a group of farmers in the same locality for using it on a sharing basis or it can be owned by a produce trader to store a variety of fruits and vegetables. Using the developed cold storage, total savings to farmers is calculated to be $ 7449 per year. Farmers or traders can save around $ 20.46 in storage rent per tonne per week considering an average 70% utilization of 10 t capacity of the cold storage throughout the year. Further, the cost of cold storage can be recouped from the rent benefits within the first 2.1 year period.
 
Publisher Elsevier
 
Date 2020-12
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Identifier Mishra, R. and Chaulya, S.K. and Prasad, G.M. and Mandal, S.K. and Banerjee, G. (2020) Design of a low cost, smart and stand-alone PV cold storage system using a domestic split air conditioner. Journal of Stored Products Research , 89.
 
Relation http://cimfr.csircentral.net/2299/