Solar Powered Refrigerators

As the name suggests, solar powered refrigerators are being developed in order to harness solar energy for cooling processes. Some of the basic objectives behind the development of solar powered refrigerators are stated below.

• Prevent Global Warming: One of the biggest objective behind the development of solar powered refrigerators was to prevent global warming. Normal refrigerators that are powered by electricity, use up a lot of energy and indirectly contribute a lot to global warming.
• Energy Crisis: Another very big reason behind the development of solar powered refrigerators was to prevent energy crisis. As mentioned above, refrigerators that are powered by electricity consume a lot of energy. The solar powered refrigerators however cool and preserve food with the help of abundant solar energy.
• Eradication of Food Shortage: Solar powered refrigerators would prove to be more advantageous, if they are put to use in tropical regions, suffering from food shortage. The tropical regions face the direct glare of sun rays and thus are potential places where solar energy can be used. The more intense the solar energy the more food can be stored in the refrigerator.

Some solar powered refrigerators of huge capacities are already being employed in some regions of Africa and are running very successfully. One of the biggest advantages of these devices is that, they are energy efficient refrigerators.

How do Solar Powered Refrigerators Work?
The refrigerator basically deploys the concepts of solar power conduction and convection. This device does not require any electricity and the cooling method that is deployed pretty different from the normal refrigerator. The cooling device is made up of two cylinders that are located one inside another. The cylinders can be designed and made with the help of any material that include wood, cardboard and even metal. The gap that is left between the cylinders is then filled up with organic matter like wood, animal waste, organic or kitchen waste etc. This decomposable matter is then saturated with generous quantities of water and is left out in the sun. The heat of the sun evaporates the water that is present in between the cylinders. The water that turns to steam, takes all the heat with it while escaping to the atmosphere, thus cooling down the temperature inside the inner cylinder to about 6 degrees Celsius.

Another type of solar powered refrigerator is the one that works with the help of a regular solar panel. This type of refrigerator generates electricity with the help of solar panels and then uses the electricity like a normal plug in refrigerator. Though this type of refrigerator is powered by solar energy, it is not hundred percent eco-friendly as the cooling gases that are used in the refrigerator and the ones generated due to cooling, contribute to global warming and depletion of the ozone layer.

Practical Advantages of Solar Powered Refrigerators
One of the biggest practical advantages of solar powered refrigerators is that they can be made using the least possible resources. On the other hand, the ones powered by solar panels, are expensive to manufacture and are also rather bulky. The solar powered refrigerators work according to the atmospheric temperatures i.e. the greater the heat of the sun, the lesser the temperature will be there in the inner cylinder. The drop and rise in the heat of the sun directly affects the rate of cooing. This solar powered heating device can be use to replace the energy efficient refrigerators. Many scientists predict that the solar powered refrigerators would totally replace all the electricity powered refrigerators as the most energy efficient refrigerators.