Funding for a small engineering project
I would like some last minute feedback for this, I am very open to changing it up just don't know where! (also its 296 words which is technically over 250 count but there is a 300 max limit in the text box)
Many of my family members reside in Bangladesh. My mother's side of the family lives in mud huts in a small village where electricity, heat, and other commodities are not often available. My widowed aunt and my two young cousins do not have the luxury of having a fridge. Because of this, they can only have foods like meat, fish, and other perishable foods in small quantities, if ever. To alleviate their situation a little, I would like to design a fridge that runs off renewable energy.
In the village, sunlight is plentiful, thus placing photovoltaic solar panels outside, connected to the fridge using a wire, will allow refrigeration to run with little to no cost. To prevent damage to the solar panels, they would be placed on the roofs of the mud huts, so they are not harmed during the monsoon seasons. The use of solar energy is especially helpful when considering the limited resources that my relatives can spend on. Because sunlight energy is free and can be stored, the fridge will remain running even in the absence of light.
The current design of a fridge uses an expansion valve, compressor, evaporator, condenser, and refrigerant. These items work in conjunction to allow the expansion and compression of gas to change the temperature. The expansion valve controls the amount of refrigerant that is released into the compressor, where it is either condensed or evaporated in the appropriate area to release or store heat. This simple mechanism will be used in my fridge because it is the most efficient method of refrigeration.
Through the funding for a solar powered fridge project, at least one family in a third world country will live slightly more comfortably having access to foods that they once saw as a luxury.