International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

Hybrid Thermal Energy Based Cooling System

for a Remote Seashore Villages
M. Edwin

S. Joseph Sekhar*

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering,

St. Xaviers Catholic College of Engineering,
Chunkankadai, Nagercoil, Tamilnadu, India
josephsekhar@hotmail.com

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering,

University College of Engineering Nagercoil,
Konam, Nagercoil, Tamilnadu, India
edwinme1980@gmail.com
Abstract In India, more than 22% of milk, fruits and vegetables
produced in the villages are spoiled due to lack of preservation
facilities. Refrigerated cold storages at local level can be one of
the methods to avoid this spoilage. Electrical operated
conventional refrigeration is not viable due to the nonavailability of electrical power as well as the issues in power
transmission. In this paper, the feasibility study of hybrid energy
powered cooling system to satisfy the cooling needs of remote
seashore villages in southern part of India, where the renewable
energy sources are abundantly available has been discussed. A
study has been conducted on the possible of energy sources in the
above said region and a LiBr- Water absorption cooling system
operating with various combinations of available energy sources
has been analysed using the Matlab software. Suitable hybrid
energy systems with maximum overall COP have been identified
and the economic analysis for such systems is also presented.
Keywords Solar, Biogas, Biomass, Cooling, Hybrid

fossil fuel and land prices continue to rise, hybrid energy

system is an attractive option for the stand-alone energy
system [4]. The energy cost of the biomass based hybrid
energy system is economically a good alternative solution for
a diesel based system [5, 6]. Levelised cost of energy, Life
cycle cost and life-cycle unit cost for hybrid energy system are
always lower than that of stand-alone systems. It is suggested
that combination of solar, wind and biomass based hybrid
system is a best alternative solution in remote places where
there is shortage of power grid [7, 8]. It is reported that
Optimal Renewable Energy Model helps to determines the
optimum allocation of different renewable energy sources in
remote places effectively [9]. A tool HYPORA is used to
determine the optimal combination of various renewable
energy sources effectively to meet the energy demand in
remote areas [10]. The proposed renewable energy system
will reduce the burden of the existing resources in the remote
villages [11].
The main objective of the present study is to determine the
optimum Biomass / Biogas/ Gobargas / Solar combination of
a hybrid system that can provide the cooling load needs to
preserve the produce in the remote seashore areas. MATLAB
has been used to simulate the hybrid energy system. Various
generation parameters, including overall system COP, were
studied and compared with the conventional energy system.

I. INTRODUCTION
As per the FAO world agriculture statics, India is one of the
worlds major producers of milk, fruits and vegetables. A
special concern is expressed as regards losses of perishable
foods, especially milk, meat and fishery products where losses
at times may be extremely high. Therefore need for cooling in
long and short term preservation is needed to avoid the
spoilage of such products. Most of the cooling units need
conventional power, which is not freely available in remote
areas. Moreover, the cooling facility has to be located near the
II. MODELLING OF A PROPOSED SYSTEM
source of the raw materials, because it would help in reducing
post-harvest losses, wastages and spoilages. Since India has
enormous bio energy resources, developing Hybrid energy
powered, thermally operated cold storage can help to meet this
shortage.
In some studies, the effect of technical, economical and
sociological factors on hybrid energy based system is reported.
Conventional diesel power system is replaced by the hybrid
energy system to achieve the energy independent and also
improve the environment and socio-economic condition in the
remote places [1]. Hybrid energy system is a cheap, efficient,
reliable and cost effective system compared with a Fig. 1 Available and required quantities of energy sources for cooling in
seashore regions
conventional system and also more environmental friendly
than the diesel based system [2]. A hybrid cooling system is a
To utilize the successful diffusion of the available energy
best technology for the climate change and green-house-gas
sources in remote areas, data pertaining to the available
mitigation [3]. When cost of solar thermal falls and feedstock,

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

energy sources, livestock population and cooling requirement

are collected from the local Govt. and non-Govt. agencies, etc.,
the average values are plotted in Fig.1, which shows that the
available quantity of energy from each resource is less than
the energy required. Therefore, to meet the total energy
requirement of a cooling system, all the energy sources have
to be used in suitable combinations.
A. Description of a system
Based on the nature of the above said region, biomass,
biogas, gobargas and solar energy are taken as the energy
sources. For this solar energy conversion, an evacuated tube
solar collector is proposed. In the biomass gasifier, coconut
stem, coir pith, coconut shell, etc., are used as feedstock
materials. In the biogas plant, municipal solid waste and food
waste from houses are considered as the sources of energy.
The LiBr-water vapour absorption system considered has 0.5
to 0.7 COP, 5C to 10C evaporator temperature and 80C to
110C generator temperature [12].
B. Mathematical Model
Fig.2 shows that the various stages for the simulation in the
hybrid energy system to operate the vapour absorption
refrigeration system deployed in the remote seashore villages.
The energy conversion of the biomass gasification is based on
the conversion efficiency of the selected agro wastes. The heat
produced from the biomass energy sources are determine from
(1)
The data shows that the quantity of bio-waste available is 450700 kg/day. The quantity of bio-waste required to produce
1m3 biogas is assumed as 23 kg [11]. The heat produced from
the biogas energy sources are determine from
(2)
The survey shows that the 550- 600 kg of cow dung is
collected per day in the seashore region. The gobargas
production from the cow dung has been worked out, based on
the assumption that 4kg to 7kg dung per cow per day is
produced, and the quantity of cow dung required to produce
1m3 gas is assumed as 12kg [1]. The heat produced from the
gobargas energy sources are determine from

The solar radiation, absorber area of the collector, conversion

efficiency of the solar, biomass, biogas and gobar gas energy
sources, generator temperature, COP of the vapour absorption
chiller, hot water set point temperature and hot water flow rate
are the inputs for the system design. The coefficient of
performance of the chiller is determined based on the heat
capacities of the evaporator and generator. The evaporator
load (Qe) in the steady state condition is obtained from
(5)
The overall system performance of the proposed hybrid
energy system is determined from

(6)
The various energy conversion systems considered, are
biomass gasifier, biogas plant, gobar gas plant and solar
collectors. The cooling load is taken from the quantity of milk
available in a seashore region. The average values obtained
from the survey are used as the numerical inputs for milk
production, availability of agro waste, etc. MATLAB software
has been used to simulate the hybrid energy based cooling
system in a seashore region.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Stand-alone energy systems and hybrid energy based
systems, with various combinations of alternative energy
sources as given in Table 1, were analysed using the proposed
simulation procedure.
The overall COP of the stand-alone energy systems for the
various cooling capacities plotted in Fig.3, shows that the
increase in COP due to the increase in the cooling load is high
for solar energy systems. However, due to the high initial cost
and variation in the intensity of radiation, solar energy may
not be considered as a viable source. The other three sources
show a similar trend in COP with the increase in the cooling
load.

(3)
The average solar radiation is about 800 W/m2 in a clear
sunny day. The evacuated tube solar collector is used to
convert the solar to thermal energy and the average collector
efficiency is assumed as 40% [14]. The useful amount of
thermal energy output from a collector in a steady state
condition is determine from
(4)

Fig. 3 Performance of the stand-alone energy systems with the increase in the
quantity of milk

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

Fig. 2 Flow chart of the proposed hybrid energy system

Fig. 4 Cooling capacity of the hybrid energy system in various combinations

In the seashore region (SR), the average quantities of

biomass, biogas and gobar gas sources available are 70-150
kg/day, 430-720 kg/day and 15-310 kg/day respectively. Fig.
4 shows that the average cooling capacity of the hybrid
systems obtained from the maximum use of available energy
sources in various combinations such as BM-BG, BM-GG,
BG-GG and BM-BG-GG are calculated as 6.5kW, 6.6kW,
7.1kW and 10.1kW respectively. Therefore, solar energy

system is combined with the other three energy sources, to

meet the required cooling load of 12.5kW.
Table 1 shows that the COP of various combinations,
suitable to the SR. The Base Component is taken as any single
energy source, and the Mixture Component is the combination
of the other three energy sources. The constant ratio of energy
sources in the Mixture Component is also shown in Table 1.
In the plots, the proportion of base component increases from
left to right, whereas that of the mixture component increases
from right to left in the X axis. In all proportions the ratio of
the energy sources in the mixture component is kept constant
for a particular combination.
The variation of the COP with respect to the proportion of
energy sources as shown in Fig. 5, 6 and 7. Fig. 5 shows that
the blends CM2 and CM3 give high COP, when biomass,
gobargas and solar contribution are kept at the maximum
value. If the energy ratios of biogas, gobar gas and solar
energy sources are changed to 0.5: 0.25: 0.25 (CM1) the COP
observed is less than that of CM2 and CM3. However, if the
base component is more than 80% in all the combinations, the
COP reaches to high values.

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

TABLE 1
COMBINATIONS OF FOUR AVAILABLE ENERGY SOURCES IN VARIOUS PROPORTIONS IN THE SEASHORE REGION

Combinations

Base Component

Energy Sources
in the Mixture
Component

CM1
CM2
CM3
CM4
CM5
CM6
CM7
CM8
CM9

BM
BM
BM
BG
BG
BG
GG
GG
GG

BG:GG:SO
BG:GG:SO
BG:GG:SO
BM:GG:SO
BM:GG:SO
BM:GG:SO
BM:BG:SO
BM:BG:SO
BM:BG:SO

Ratio of the
Base
component
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

Ratio of Energy
sources in the
Mixture
component
0.50:0.25:0.25
0.25:0.50:0.25
0.25:0.25:0.50
0.50:0.25:0.25
0.25:0.50:0.25
0.25:0.25:0.50
0.50:0.25:0.25
0.25:0.50:0.25
0.25:0.25:0.50

COP
0.159-0.235
0.173-0.235
0.179-0.235
0.133-0.214
0.133-0.202
0.133-0.210
0.184-0.193
0.167-0.184
0.184-0.189

of the Base component is less than 50%. If the base

component composition is greater than 85% the COP variation
of CM7 and CM9 is very narrow and 10% higher than that of
CM8. Hence, any combination can be used if the base
component is greater than 85%.

Fig. 5 Overall performance of the cooling systems with the combinations of

CM1, CM2 and CM3

Fig. 7 Overall performance of the cooling systems with the combinations of

CM7, CM8 and CM9

Fig. 6 Overall performance of the cooling systems with the combinations of

CM4, CM5 and CM6

The overall performance of CM4, CM5 and CM6 plotted in

Fig. 6 shows that the performance variation among these
blends is narrow when the base component is more than 50%.
Therefore, any combination can be used. However, to have a
high COP, the base component has to be kept less than 20%.
Fig. 7 shows that the COP of CM7 is 10% higher than that of
CM9, and 55% higher than that of CM8, when the proportion

Fig. 8 Overall performance and payback period of the selected combinations

in the seashore region

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]
Fig. 9 Capital cost and Running cost of the selected combinations in the
seashore region
[8]

Fig. 8 shows that the overall performance and the payback

period for the selected combinations (i.e, CM2 and CM3) in
the seashore region. It shows that the overall performance of
the CM2 and CM3 are close to each other. Hence, any
combination can be used in the seashore region. But the
payback period of the CM2 is less than the CM3. Also Fig. 9
shows that the capital and running cost of the CM2 is less than
that of CM3. Based on the overall performance, capital cost,
running cost and the payback period of the system, it has been
identified that the blend CM2 is better than CM3.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
The possibility of combining the renewable energy sources,
such as solar, biomass, biogas and gobar gas as energy inputs
in a vapour absorption cooling system, to meet the cooling
load of milk and agro preservation in seashore region has been
studied. Based on the results obtained from the simulation, the
following conclusions are made.
1. In the seashore region, the four various energy
sources have to be combined to meet the required
cooling load.
2. Since the overall performance shown by CM2 and
CM3 are close to each other, both combinations
can be used.
3. The capital cost, running cost and the payback
period calculated for CM2 is much higher than
CM3. Therefore, the combination CM2 is
identified as the most suitable one in the seashore
region.
All the observations show that the maximum usage of
biomass energy source significantly influences the overall
COP, whereas gobar gas plays the major role in the reduction
of capital cost, running cost and payback period.

[9]
[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

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