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SophiA: Sustainable off-grid solutions for Pharmacies and Hospitals in Africa – Self-sufficient cascade system in combination with a thermal energy storage charged by a two-phase thermosiphon.

Number: 0447

Author(s) : SCHMID O., MELITO E., KAUFFELD M.

Summary

Studies predict that a large part of the world's population growth will take place in this region up to the year 2040. However, the grid in these regions are very poor. Patient recovery often cannot be warranted due to unreliable power supply. The aim of the SophiA project is to provide reliable cooling at three temperature levels including +5 °C, -30 °C and -70 °C for rural pharmacies and hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa. For this purpose, a solar-powered cooling container will be developed. The PV panels of the cooling container itself must supply all the electricity, thus the container also needs storage capacity to bridge nights and days when the electricity production is insufficient. In order to reduce the storage capacity of environmentally hazardous lithium ion batteries a thermal energy storage (TES) is implemented in the propane-CO2 cascade. The TES is charged by a two-phase thermosiphon and discharged using the same coils as a condenser for the CO2 refrigerant cycle. The storage material is water ice due to its high enthalpy of fusion and environmentally friendly properties. The melting point of the storage material allows the +5 °C part to be passively cooled by placing the tank uninsulated in the room. In this paper, the construction of the TES is explained and its charging and discharging process is described. Assumptions from a pressure loss simulation are presented, on the basis of which a test setup is constructed.

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Details

  • Original title: SophiA: Sustainable off-grid solutions for Pharmacies and Hospitals in Africa – Self-sufficient cascade system in combination with a thermal energy storage charged by a two-phase thermosiphon.
  • Record ID : 30031541
  • Languages: English
  • Subject: Technology, Developing country
  • Source: Proceedings of the 26th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration: Paris , France, August 21-25, 2023.
  • Publication date: 2023/08/21
  • DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18462/iir.icr.2023.00447

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