Description
Abstract
This engineering project looks at the Design of an indirect evaporative cooling system for preserving perishable farm produce. An indirect evaporative cooling system for preserving the shell life of perishable farm produce was designed using locally available materials such as copper tubes, fiber glass, galvanized mild steel, stainless steel and foam (pad). The system is divided into four parts viz Heat exchanger, cooling chamber, body frame, and electrical part. The cooling chamber was constructed with galvanized metal steel, stainless steel, and polystyrene foam which were used for lagging. Upon completion of the system, it was tested for 10days using fresh tomatoes to evaluate its performance and efficiency. From the test, an efficiency of about 70.37% was obtained for the designed system. It was shown that the average cabinet temperature (21.6oC) drops when compared to the average ambient temperature (31oC) while the relative humidity of the cabinet increases from 40% (ambient condition) to 75%. Hence, the conditions in the chamber, therefore, can be considered very conducive for storing fruits and vegetables because the storage temperature and the relative humidity were kept within the optimum level thus keeping the fruits and vegetables fresh. Experiments need to be performed to identify more locally available materials that can successfully be used as absorbents.
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