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Technical note
Abstract
In this paper, we will present the performances, the simulation responses and the dynamic
behaviour of a photovoltaic (PV) refrigeration plant using latent storage. This approach uses
a new storage strategy of stand alone PV plants which substitutes the battery storage with
thermal, eutectic, latent or a hydraulic storage. The measurements and the evaluation of these
less battery storage systems at several climatic conditions and under load disturbances allow
us to evaluate the PV system reliability and to compare its performances with classic battery
storage systems. 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Battery storage; Latent storage; Photovoltaics; Refrigeration
1. Introduction
Solar refrigeration is a promising photovoltaic (PV) application, especially in
countries with a high level of solar insolation. It is usually used in the pharmaceutic,
medical and food industries but their main application is the transportable vaccine
cold chain in hospitals and remote areas.
Unlike domestic refrigerators, the realization of these systems is based on new
ideas and techniques of thermal insulation, storage, control and monitoring.
144
Nomenclature
l
C
X
S
M
r
T
P
Q
W
e
f
Ip
Icc
Vp
Rs, Rp
K
COP
h
t
dcdc
dcac
Conductivity (W/m K)
Specific heat (J/kg K)
Thickness of the exchange section (m)
Surface of the exchange section (m2)
Mass of the section (kg)
Density (kg/m3)
Temperature (K)
Power (W)
Evaporator heat flow (W)
Eenergy (WH)
Door openings vector
Insolation (kW/m2)
Panel output current (A)
Short circuit panel current (A)
Panel output voltage (V)
Serial and shunt panel resistance ()
Themal exchange coefficients (W/m2 K)
Refrigerator performance ratio
Efficiency
Time (s)
Continuous to continuous converter
Continuous to alternative converter
Indices
i
p
s
c
a
e
Internal
Product
Storage
Ice
Ambiant
Opening perturbation
Fig. 1.
145
Configuration of a PV plant.
Fig. 2.
146
Fig. 3.
climatic conditions, the latent storage substitutes the evaporator and behaves as an
auxiliary cold source [4].
The measured temperatures of the PV refrigerator represented in Fig. 3, demonstrate that the desired temperatures are reached in 6 h. The refrigerator disposition
is horizontal in order to reduce the power losses. Its size is about 1.357580 m3.
The storage and the internal section capacities are 50 kg of ice and 150 kg of products
(vaccines). The insulation thickness of the refrigerator (in polyurethane) is 8 cm.
4. Modelling
The physical model of the cooling system is based on a local discretization of the
exchange sections. This method was initially developed by Timoumi [5]. In order
to simplify the state model and to reduce the system order, we consider the reduced
model of the Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
147
The refrigerator temperatures of Fig. 4 can be divided into four variables which
constitute the state variable. These are: the temperatures of the storage section, Ts;
the product section, Ti; the latent accumulation product, Tc; and the load (product)
temperature, Tp.
The system input is the solar radiation and the ambiant temperature which affect
the output power of the PV panel and the dynamic evaporator power, Qe.
The door opening disturbance is given by the vector (e) which is assumed to a
random noise corresponding to the frequency of openings (0, closed; 1, opened).
The transfer equations can be expressed as:
Storageambiant interface:
rsSsXsCs
dTs
dTs
MsCs
QePsaPsiPsc
dt
dt
QePpvhdc/ac(COP),
(1)
(2)
where Ppv is the PV panel power output which can be expressed as [6]:
PpvVpIpIccIs[expA(VpRsIp)1](VpRsIp)
(3)
and COP is the performance ratio of the refrigeration unit and hdc/ac is the
inverter efficiency.
Storageload interface:
rcScXcCc
dTc
dTs
MsCs Psc.
dt
dt
(4)
Internalambiant interface:
riSiXiCi
dTi
dTi
MiCi PiaPipPi.
dt
dt
(5)
Internalproduct interface:
rpSpXpCp
dTp
dTp
MpCp
Pip.
dt
dt
(6)
(7)
where A represents the thermal exchange coefficients matrix; B is the control matrix;
T is the state vector of the temperatures constituted of the storage, internal and product temperatures; U is the control input vector constituted of the insolation and
ambiant temperature with:
148
TI
lis
lc
KsaSs+ Sis+ Sc
lis
Xc
MsCs
lcSc
XsMsCc
TC
TS
lcSc
lcSc
XcMcCc XcMcCc
TP
b0
lisSis
XisMiCi
0
Tc
lisSis
XisMsCs
lis
lp
KiaSia+ Sis+ Sp+ekS
Xis
Xp
lpSp
MiCi
XpMiCi
lpSp
XpMiCi
lpSp
XpMiCi
MsCs
Ti
0
Tp
0
Ts
KsaSsa
MsCs
KiaSia+ekeSe
MiCi
Qe
.
Ta
Fig. 5.
Fig. 6.
149
Fig. 7. Daily storage and consumed energy with a solar radiation perturbation.
Fig. 8.
150
Fig. 9.
Fig. 10.
Fig. 11.
Fig. 12.
151
Fig. 13.
152
WH/m2/day. We have integrated these values for monthly periods in order to have
the annual consumption profile.
5.6. Thermal losses and insulation
We have computed the thermal losses and the optimal insulation of the storage
and product sections. The results led to the significant conclusions:
thermal losses constitute ca. 70% of the consumption power;
the optimal insulating thickness is 8.7 cm for the storage section (Fig. 14).
5.7. Conclusions
The analysis results show that:
With good climatic conditions (PEJ 5000 WH/m2/day), the storage starts at 10
H and the storage energy is about Wst=705 WH/day (Fig. 5). This energy can
ensure an autonomy of 1 day (with the same load). More, in a previous economical
study [7], we have evaluated the PV cost in function of the climatic conditions
as 1.2 $/kWH for a PEJ=5000 WH/m2/day.
For a PV plant of 200 W and a load of 1000 WH/day, the provided energies are
(Fig. 13):
consumption Wcons=179 kWH/year;
storage Wst=115 kWH/year;
the satisfaction rate is ca 87%.
These systems should work and function with an optimal load computed as a
function of the PV and refrigerator parameters (Fig. 12).
Yet, with solar irradiation perturbations, the LBSS parameters decreased and we
did not reach the storage regime (Figs. 7 and 8).
The door openings and the load disturbances increase the thermal losses but do
not affect the storage temperature (Figs. 9 and 10).
Fig. 14.
153
6. Conclusion
In this paper, we have presented the simulated responses of a new refrigeration
plant using latent storage. The dynamic simulation results at several climatic disturbances show a good efficiency, reliability and autonomy of the PV system at favourable climatic conditions and a sturdiness at door-openings and load perturbations.
However, the systems efficiency and its performances decrease relatively with solar
radiation disturbance because the PV LBSS requires good climatic conditions to
reach the storage regime.
References
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ENIT, Tunis, 1997:5053.
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1992;5:325.
[4] Dhouib A, Cherif A. Optimization and management of a PV refrigeration plant. In: Proceedings of
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VII, France, 1986.
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Tunis, 1993.
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