’The Project on Design and Manufacturing of Diffusion Absorption Cooling System with Home Type Alternative Energy Source Ejector’, which was started as a doctorate thesis in 2007 and was included among the Industrial Theses (San-Tez) by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in December 2001, will be complete in 2 years.

In the project where the temperature of the mini bar could be reduced down to minus 15 degrees, which ran on geothermal, solar energy and disposed heat in the in vitro studies, technical preparations necessary for bigger capacity fridges have already been started. The researchers await summer for the last tests toward operating of the mini bar on solar energy. In 2009, the product is expected to become commercial available. Although bureaucratic barriers are encountered occasionally in execution of the project, because the project was included within the scope of Industrial Theses last year, it does not seem to have any barrier ahead.

The fridge will be supported up to 200 thousand YTL within the scope of Industrial Theses. Besides, the support by Menteşeoğlu Soğutma A.Ş., which is the industrial partner of the project, is another important factor. The experimental studies of the project were held in Gazi University Technical Education Faculty and Karaelmas University Karabük Technical Education Faculty workshops. And its serial production will be started after having obtained its patent in 2009. Significant demand is expected for the product because it would eliminate the energy costs.

Two things are necessary to operate the mini bars and fridges with special installation to utilize geothermal energy or disposed heat: One is a well-insulated pipe system of a hot water source taken to the location of the fridge or mini bar. The second is warm water installation requiring practical connection to the system. The cost of such warm water installation is about 50 YTL. If the fridge is to run on solar energy, a solar collector will also be necessary. Apart from such expenses to be made for once, no additional energy expense will be necessary in the fridges to run on geothermal, solar energy and disposed heat.

For example, a hotel with 24 hours of warm water will be able to operate the mini bars without any additional expense. Considering the fact that a fridge with a no frost deep freezer spends approximately 50-90 Kwh power a month, we would not be wrong if we said a refrigerator running on alternative sources apart from electricity is quite advantageous.  Calculations show that mini bar running on different energy sources like solar and geothermal will be available in the market at a price between 50-60 YTL except for its source of heat. It will not be any different from the existing mini bars running on electricity in terms of form and size. Although no statement is made on market price yet because the studies with big capacity refrigerators are just started, they are not expected to be more expensive than refrigerators using electricity.

One of the interesting characteristics of the coolers working with different sources is that they work silent. Silence is achieved in the experimental studies because a thermal compressor is used instead of compressor on the prototype. Because the system features diffusion, it does not need the pump used in the absorption systems. Besides, the products will not require maintenance and there is only a low chance of breakdown... Let us remind something at this point: Currently, this kind of mini bars run on electricity in the world and in our country with quite low efficiency. With this project, they will both be available using alternative energy sources with regard to energy (solar, geothermal and even natural gas), and increase their efficiency with an ejector used to reach a widespread utilization possibility.

Energy Savings to be Ensured
Considering that approximately 3 million home type fridges are currently in use in Turkey, a high ratio of energy savings is expected if the fridges running on different energy sources get widespread. Because Turkey is a country importing energy, taking into consideration the fact that this will continue in the prospective years it will use electrical energy expensive, the contribution of fridges running on geothermal and solar energy to the country economy cannot be denied. Its contribution to the country economy will even be more considering the fact that the project of a refrigerator running on alternative energy sources is a significant step for air conditioning running on solar energy. Maybe 3-4 years later, electricity consumption will not reach the peak particularly in Aegean and Mediterranean regions thanks to air conditioning devices running on solar energy.

Who are Working?
This project is led by Asc. Prof. Adnan Sözen, an instructor of Mechanical Department of the Faculty of Technical Education of Gazi University. In the project Design and Manufacturing of Diffusion Absorption Cooling System with Home Type Alternative Energy Source Ejector’ launched as a thesis subject by Engin Özbaş, a doctorate student, coworkers are Ass. Prof.Tayfun Menlik and Ass.Prof. Veysel Özdemir.

The project also involves Köksal Ömer Boloğlu, commissioned as technician by the Ministry of Industry in the project. Project chairman Asc. Prof. Adnan Sözen held office as Deputy Chairman of the Mechanical Department of Faculty of Technical Education of Gazi University between 2003 and 2006. He also was included for the first time as a Turkish scientist in Emerging Research Fronts suggested for August 2005 of the database arranging scientific indicators of THOMSON ISI (Institute of Scientific Information) with his study on Artificial Intelligence Approach in Cooling Systems with Absorption Cooling Systems. Sözen has about 50 scientific books included in the international publication indexes. Sözen studied on the project on cooling with solar energy years before with Veysel Özdemir, who went to Gazi University from Hitit University within the framework of this project. Another member of the team, Tayfun Menlik, has different studies in the field of cooling with solar energy. Project chairman Adnan Sözen said: "Turkey uses 3 million home type fridges currently. With th espread of an alternative energy source like the solar energy in the cooling technology, a serious amount of energy will be saved. Turkish economy will enjoy the great contribution of the project of an environment-friendly fridge which does not harm the ozone layer and which would open the path to utilization of the natural resources of Turkey."

Source: Fortune Magazine / Genç Sertkaya

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