Vol. 12, Special Issue 8 (2023)

Author(s):
Barkha Shakeel and Waheed Manzoor

Abstract:
Ice-cream is a widely consumed food across the globe especially during the summer season. The global ice-cream market, according to various reports, is expanding and is expected to touch greater heights with time. Due to high temperatures and inefficiency of conventional ice-cream storage units, the street vendors face challenge of storing ice-cream especially during peak summer times due to load shedding issues. To address the issue a solar powered ice-cream cart was designed, developed and evaluated for its performance and economic feasibility. The system was developed using off-the-shelf components viz, a chest freezer, a solar photovoltaic (SPV) array, a solar conditioner, a battery bank, and a hand-driven cart. The cost of the system was 96,000/- INR which was found to be reasonable keeping in view the benefits obtained from it. The system was tested at no load, 25% load, 50% load and full load conditions and the results obtained approved its feasibility. The minimum temperature of more than 22 °C was observed and the system provided a backup period of 16 hours. The instant COP of the system was found to be greater than 1 despite fluctuations in load and solar intensity. The total daily load of the system was calculated to be 1.92 kWh. The net present worth analysis, considering a system lifespan of 20 years, yielded a value of Rs. 24,530, the payback period for the invested capital was found to be 0.56 years, the benefit-cost ratio was calculated to be 1.7, supporting the system's economic viability. Additionally, the internal rate of return (IRR) over the system's 20-year lifespan was determined to be 35.8%. In terms of environmental impact, the system was shown to mitigate approximately 0.506 tons of CO₂ emissions per year, assuming an operational period of 330 days annually.