But concerns over collector area depend on location. In the developing world, solar powered ice makers allow locals to store the village's food or medicine without any electricity. For example, in May charitable organization, Heifer International, set up three solar ice makers in remote areas of Kenya. Each will be able to keep 26.5 gallons (100 liters) of milk chilled. More than 500 members of two dairy cooperatives are expected to benefit directly.
Most of the interest in such solar refrigeration in Western countries comes from the commercial, not residential, sectors. Cost is one reason—absorption chiller systems typically cost $7,000 to $10,000 per ton of cooling; one-ton window air conditioners from big box retailers start around $250—but companies can save on electric bill as well as enjoy a more benign environmental image.
Building occupancy patterns is another; most Americans are not at home during the day. "We don't have as much daytime occupancy in residential buildings as in commercial," says Pat Hale, sales manager for Yazaki Energy Systems, in Plano, Tex. Other problems include the expense of retrofitting homes to add plumbing to the attic. And the high temperatures associated with concentrating solar collectors raise liability concerns.
But some entrepreneurs think a residential market nevertheless is emerging. Walter Ross is CEO of Austin Solar AC, a start-up that is testing 36,000 and 60,000 Btu solar-fired chillers. The units provide cooling in summer and heating during winter by just using the sun's heat directly. "We're getting a lot of interest from people who have been using propane for heating," he said. "The biggest issue we run into with these is siting: Most neighborhood associations won't allow these things on your roof."
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32 Comments
Add CommentI'm not sure the claims that this technology is cheaper than PV powered refrigeration are correct. Today, you can buy a turnkey PV powered refrigerator of 8 cu.ft. for about $1,500. This includes the fridge, PV panel, battery, charge controller, and wire. A freezer version is about $2,500.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'll believe the claims of lower cost for absorption machines when I see them for sale on the internet.
The concept is valid as I am in the business of absorption refrigeration and many of the refrigerators in RV's are 12v dc power equipped which is essentially a heating element to power what is usually run by a propane, or kerosene gas burner to start the absorption process. Any heat producing element will provide the desired result as long as it get's hot enough. There is also a brand of DC powered refrigerators and freezers that can be purchased for around $1000. Propane refrigerators and freezers are now manufactured in the US up to a whopping 22 cubic feet of capacity.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBen Campbell www.BensDiscountSupply.com
Now this seems like a great idea and one thats long overdue!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJIff
www.privacy-center.be.tc
For crying out loud. Filling the world with lithium bromide and ammonia is better for the environment than putting millions of tons of plant food into the atmosphere?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSA needs to change it's name to SA-Pravda.
40% efficient seems low for solar thermal panels. Also 86sq ft is just over 9'x9', which does not seem that big to me.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisit needs heat for the freon to compress. what do you do in the winter
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisit needs heat for the freon to compress. what do you do in the winter
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisso, how about some directions, or a LINK to directions on how to build one of these?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI see stuff like this all the time. "Save thousands in energy and waste with only a few bucks worth of parts" articles. But there's never any meat. I've been googling for an hour and haven't seen any plans yet.
Sci-Am readers are tinkerers. Help us get started!
I second that... Sci-Am readers are tinkerers. They're also bloggers that record their experiments, stimulating practical improvements, generating industries that respond to market needs... eventually. Come on Sci-Am, give us a link. Real science quotes repeatable experiments, or it's not a far cry from conspiracy theory. Maybe I could build a cooler with an efficiency of 1.1+ ;-)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this..but Google is my research friend & here's a start:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://dvice.com/archives/2008/08/solar_icemaker.php
If you think about the job of providing Solar AC in hot, humid places like Florida, how would a PV electric based Solar AC work at night... with expensive batteries. If you read the details of how this system works, it could be adapted to provide your night time cooling, while the PV system provides the day time cooling.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishere is a good link
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.solarhaven.org/AmmoniaAbsorptionIcemaker.pdf
This solar electronic is awesome.I hope people can invent more and more solar related stuff.Does anybody heard of http://www.shinesolar.net ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is cool solar stuff.I hope we can invent more solar electronics.Have you heard of this company:http://www.shinesolar.net ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf the sun is not shining perhaps there is wind and its kinetic energy may be converted directly into heat or cooling by a Dareus mill (vertical axes), which has holes in its wings to get inside the reduced pressure caused by flowing air on the surface of the wings. The mill drives a compressor and the process is comparable with the heating up of a pump for a bicycle tyre.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA simple model could be tried out for warming seats at a bus stop.
I like to add that to the suggested operation of the Darrieus mill a trick may be needed to overcome centripetal forces and flow inside the wing, perhaps with help of a liquid which is slower than air so that intermittently the proper conditions wil show up.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi wish to see a drawing/picture of a device applying this theory if someone has it. thx.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisif someone has a drawing/picture of a divice that applies this theory -- refrigeration by using water + calcium chloride + ammonia + sun heat -- i wish to see it. according to the description in the text, it should be very simple. many thx
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHmm I'm not sure the tinkerer could whip up an absorption refrigerator - lot's of welding and tube bending to do. I'm working on it myself. I think you could convert any refrigerator with an aftermarket replacement type absorption cooling unit but they are really expensive. For solar you have to have battery backup storage and a good location. I'm sure things will get cheaper as demand grows.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBen
[URL]http://www.BensDiscountSupply.com[/URL]
keep Googleing and you will find sets of plans for calcium chloride and Icyball ammonia and water systems. But anywhere one uses pure ammonia caution, safety, and ventilation are coins of the realm.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow much is this refridgerator? and where can i get one?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYa. Its very good idea to reduce pollution and increse the use of solar energy. We can do a project in our own on this topic. I wanna made a solar refrigerator. I need some suggestions from u those who are interested to give.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEnter Your Comment Here.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEnter Your Comment Here.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPlease, i am so green about solar energy and its products. Can i get tutorials from you. The objective is i live in a rural area where electricity is and will always be an issue. Can you be of any help?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLook up Einstein Refrigerator. He came up with the idea for this process and it may help you find what you are looking for (uuggghhh, today's grammar...)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI also envision automobiles as mobile ice machines, or any internal combustion engine for that matter anything with a radiator! Right now we vent all the heat from combustion of fossil fuels to the environment around us but it could be used in this cycle. You could either use the heat for AC or even to make ice if you have a long enough trip. The ice could be stored and used to keep the inside of the car cool while you are inside w/o running the car, or it could be used for other things.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs I said above about the combustion engine there is even more heat available from a number of places such as the exhaust manifold on back, much energy/heat is released upon braking (which is why hybrids work, they turn the energy into electricity though).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is so much wasted energy all around us which could be harnessed and/or stored with the right technologies. As fuel gets more expensive these technologies will become more attractive.
I found some good articles discussing this type of technique. Here's one PDF file that covers the technology in some detail:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.solarhaven.org/AmmoniaAbsorptionIcemaker.pdf
This solar electronic is awesome.I hope people can invent more and more solar related stuff.Does anybody heard of http://www.solar-ch.com ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscearmic mugs oem ceramic color chang mugs
http://www.ceramic-mug.cn
I might be more impressed if I saw some plans somewhere?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow lets take this concept a little further: lets make a cooling unit for a data center which would use the high temperature of the used cooling air to cool the room down. About 80% of the power used in a computer becomes heat.
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