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Design and Fabrication of a Portable Solar Powered Thermoelectric Refrigerator for Insulin Storage

Abstract:

Due to the inherent Philippine geography, there are still some areas in the country that are having difficulty in receiving medical aid for some diseases. This is true, especially for diabetes. Diabetic people living in remote areas have a hard time in acquiring and storing insulin because of the need to be refrigerated until it is ready to be used. The main goal of this study is to design, develop and fabricate a solar-powered portable refrigerator that will be able to attain the desired temperature for the storage of insulin. In the design, a thermoelectric refrigerator operating under the principle of Peltier effect was fabricated. The device was powered with solar energy through the use of 3.50-watt solar panels to charge a 12V 100Ah lead acid battery. The device was able to completely run on solar energy. The refrigerator maintains a temperature of 2 to 8 and has an average COP of 0.004. It is designed to cut off at 2 and cut in at 7.2. This is to lessen the power consumption of the device and to prolong battery life.