Exergy analysis of a solar PV driven DC refrigerator for different ambient conditions

Abstract

In this work a PV powered DC refrigerator was experimentally studied and exergic analysis was performed in both the refrigerator and PV panel. In this study the maximum exergic loss was observed in the PV panel which amounted to approximately to 86.23% loss. This was due to the thermal and electrical loses in the PV panel thus it is important to reduce the cell temperature to improve the performance of the PV panel. In the refrigeration side the experimentation was performed in a controlled environment chamber test facility at 25°C, 28°C, 31°C and 34°C to maintain consistency. A DC regulated power supply was used to power the refrigerator with the operating current and voltage. The operating current and voltage were obtained from the PVsyst software for a given solar irradiance and ambient temperature. The maximum exergic loss was observed in the compressor followed by the evaporator then the condenser and minimum exergy loss was observed in the expansion device. All the exergic loses in the refrigeration unit were directly proportional to the ambient temperature and minimum exergy loss was observed at 25°C.