Ice Battery: Design Basis For Solar Vaccine Chiller
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 10.19.06
In earlier posts, Lloyd and I wrote about a fairly elegant, somewhat complex way of using ice-making capabilities to increase the overall efficiency of commercial and residential air conditioning. It is called the "Ice Bear". Using similar principles, designers sponsored by several international organizations (see below), have now come up with the "Ice Battery," a design which looks to be the product of graduates from an "un-engineering" school. It uses three 60W panels to run a direct current compressor, enabling the cooler to produce an ice bank that maintains the required temperature. This “ice battery” is used in place of an expensive electrical battery to maintain cooling when the sun goes down. So simple is it, that it provokes the immediate response 'why didn't they think of this before?' From the linked website: - "Greenpeace International, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organisation (WHO), GTZ Proklima, Programmes for Appropriate Technologies in Health (PATH) and the Danish Technological Institute have championed the Solar Chill project, which has developed a solar powered refrigeration system to store vaccines in areas without electricity. Lack of dependable electricity supplies is a main reason for the spoiling of vaccines before they can be used." We tip our hat especially to Greenpeace on this one, having recently roasted them a bit on a computer ranking regime. Cool alternative energy design is obviously their strong set.
There are several manufacturers of 12V domestic size fridge and Freezers with much more insulation than normal, Australian I think, specifcaly designed to allow power from solar to be 'stored'.
Well, as the author of the guest post you call a "roast" of Greenpeace, permit me to point out that I said in that article the following:
"Over several decades GP has brought many important environmental issues to the public’s attention when no one else would or seemed capable of doing so. I respect them for that, and for some of good creative, ground-breaking work they have done in areas such as renewable energy and alternative technologies."
Greenfreeze and SolarChill are part of what I was refering to. In fact, I wrote about Solarchill in my own blog 9 days ago: "Eco-Help for the Cold Chain" http://www.temasactuales.com/temasblog/?p=59
In the same vein, I had positive things to say about GP's joint project with EPIA and GWEC on outlooks for solar and wind power, respectively: http://www.temasactuales.com/temasblog/?p=63 and http://www.temasactuales.com/temasblog/?p=64
I would suggest that alternative energy, creative design & collaborative efforts with industry (BTW, your article -- just like GP's press release about Solarchill -- fails to note the two for-profit companies, Danfoss Compressors GmbH and A/S Vestfrost, that helped develop the technology) and/or IOs seem to be areas GP is developing a strong track record for constructive contributions.
Regards, Keith R