AUG 12

Next month, attendees of the MIT Emerging Technologies conference may see a prototype of a very cool refrigeration system. Promethean Power Systems is working on a solar-powered refrigerator for use in rural areas where electricity is scarce or unreliable, so perishables like dairy and medicines can be safely stored.

The invention sounds pretty neat – solar panels on the roof of the refrigeration shed will gather the energy needed to convert electricity into cold air via thermoelectric modules. Should the project be a success, and commercialization possible, this could be a huge relief for rural areas.

One may be wondering how on earth a poor area could get an expensive machine such as this. Promethean Power is eyeballing businesses like food distributors and processors in India that want a better method than diesel generators to keep their products cooled. This will enable them to further save money by reducing the transportation costs involved in collecting products from farmers several times a day – they can make the trips just once.

However, the big challenge still is getting a highly efficient, affordable product put together, and one that will stay cold when the sun isn’t around to generate the energy needed for cooling. Promethean Power will be hunting for funding after the prototype is completed.

Via cnet

Comments (3)

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written by Mark Kiernan, August 12, 2008

Very good, alone with solar air con this would bring very good utilities to poor countries, and places like hospitals. How about some for the rest of us too? ;)

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written by Peter Mackay, September 12, 2008

Sorry guys, you are wasting your time using a peltier system for refrigeration like this. This method of heat transfer is even less efficient than absorption systems. A heat pump with eutectic storage with a co-efficient factor many times better than the system proposed, is the way to go.

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written by Ronald Brak, March 14, 2009

Solar powered refrigeration gnerally works well even though it's not sunny all the time. When there is less sun around around because of winter or clouds it is almost always cooler, reducing the amount of refrigeration needed. Also, by dropping the temperature lower than it needs to be when there is lots of sunshine a refrigeration unit is able to store coldness which acts like a free battery. And if for some reason that's not enough it is easy enough to use freezer packs or ice to keep things cold during periods of little sunlight.

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