Performance analysis of a solar-powered electrochemical refrigerator

• A solar-powered electrochemical refrigeration system is studied.
• The thermally regenerative electrochemical refrigerator is powered by a photovoltaic system.
• Parameter analysis is conducted to evaluate the system performance.
• Performance of the proposed hybrid system for practical use is simulated.

An analysis of a solar-powered electrochemical refrigeration system consisting of a photovoltaic (PV) system and a thermally regenerative electrochemical refrigerator (TRER) was conducted. To evaluate the system performance, the impacts of operating temperatures of the PV module, hot/cold reservoir temperatures, and direct irradiation of the sun on the power consumed, refrigerating capacity, and coefficient of performance (COP) were systematically analyzed. For each calculation, the voltage and current of the TRER system are iterated to make them equal to those of the PV modules based on the fact that the power consumed by the TRER is supplied by the PV modules. Results revealed that the refrigerating capacity and COP decrease with increasing temperature of the hot reservoir and increase with increasing temperature of the cold reservoir. There existed an optimal PV operating temperature leading to the maximum refrigerating capacity. Meanwhile the COP of the TRER achieved its minimum value. Larger surface irradiance resulted in larger refrigerating capacity, however lower COP. Furthermore, the performance of the proposed solar-powered electrochemical refrigeration system for practical use in real life applications was also simulated.