Eco-Friendly Solar-Fridge Cools Food Off-Grid

Apr-05-15 A new environmentally-friendly solar fridge able to maintain a cool temperature for three months could offer rural areas a new way to preserve food.

Developed by Susana Elvia Toledo Flores at the Institute of Science of the Meritorious University of Puebla, the solar fridge eschews chlorofluorocarbons in favor of using zeolite to distribute methanol during the solar cycle. As the sun warms the zeolite, the methanol vapor is driven from it and routed into a storage tank. During the cooler temperatures of night, the zeolite cools down, reducing the methanol vapor pressure. As the coolant begins to evaporate, it is again adsorbed by the zeolite, "generating cooling temperatures of five degrees Celsius. The adsorption process continues all night until morning.”

According to Toledo Flores, the system could also be used to cool houses or preserve medicine.

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