Verifying the cooling capacity and power consumption of thermoelectric cooling holders for vaccine storage

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to verify the power consumption of different topologies of cooling system for the storage of vaccine in a portable solar powered vaccine carrier box for the domestic use in South Africa. The efficiency of the cooling holder is evaluated under normal operating conditions to determine if its cooling capacity is adequate. It is important to know the exact power requirements for the design in order to determine the correct size of the photovoltaic panels and batteries. The cost of the power supply increase with the increase in power consumption due to the increase in the power ratings of the photo voltaic panels and batteries to provide enough power to the Thermoelectric Cooling Modules (TECMs). The objective is to keep the power consumption to a minimum so that the cost of the power supply is kept as low as possible, but still providing enough cooling power for the refrigeration compartment. Various simulations done in SolidWorks® and the temperature profile of different cooling holder topologies were evaluated and discussed and the best topology for the scenario is proposed