Abstract
For many years, photovoltaic power has been used in areas without grid electricity for vaccine refrigerators with a lead-acid battery to store electric energy and to provide the start current for the compressor. The problem with this technology is that the lifetime of the battery is short due to deep discharging of the battery during periods with low irradiance and high ambient temperature. The development of solar “direct drive” refrigerators started in 1999 at Danish Technological Institute (DTI). It was demonstrated that the energy density of ice produced by a compressor is at the same magnitude as the lead-acid battery. As of to date (January 2019), 40 direct drive vaccine coolers from eight different manufacturers are listed on the website of the World Health Organization (WHO), with the technology being one of the fastest growing technologies in the vaccine cold chain. This paper describes the status and new development and discusses how the technology can be used for other purposes in the future. The paper also discuss how remote monitoring can help to prevent destruction of vaccines by early warning and automatic call for service.
Info
Conference Paper, 2019
In Refrigeration Science and Technology, 2019
UN SDG Classification
DK Main Research Area
Science/Technology
