Development of a Combustible solid waste powered vapour absorption Refrigerator

Abstract

The electricity crisis, food storage has become very expensive as individuals as well as producers need to pay a lot of money to run generators to power refrigerators. In order to address the aforementioned problem an alternative means of energy source would be required. This study aims to reduce the problem encountered in refrigeration by using vapour absorption refrigeration (VAR) powered by combustible solid waste. A combustible waste refrigerator was designed and fabricated. The combustible vapour absorption refrigerator uses ammonia as its refrigerant, and water is used as the absorbent. The temperatures of the evaporator, generator and condenser were measured and recorded periodically. The performance of the system was evaluated using Carnot Cycle efficiency. The results obtained shows that the refrigerator proved quite functional, achieving a coefficient of performance (COP) of 1.57. This validates the functionality of the system but it was observed that it took 2 hours of heating to produce a 2.1 °C drop (from 34.2 °C to 32.1°C) in evaporator temperature. After 5 hours of heating, there was a 9.1°C drop (from 34.2 °C to 25.1 °C)   in evaporator temperature. However, the atmospheric temperature was 27 °C which means the cooling achieved was less appreciable. Thus, it is recommended that the waste powered VARS application will be viable and suitable for domestic and commercial usage.