Renewable Energy 72 (2014) 367e376

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

A new zero energy cool chamber with a solar-driven adsorption

refrigerator
Md. Parvez Islam*, Tetsuo Morimoto
Department of Biomechanical Systems, Ehime University, 3-5-7 Tarumi, Matsuyama 790-8566, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A new zero energy cool chamber (ZECC) consisting of two cooling systems, a solar-driven adsorption
Received 24 February 2014 refrigerator and an evaporative cooling system, was developed and then evaluated as low-cost and eco-
Accepted 19 July 2014 friendly cooling storage for storing fruit with moderate respiration rates. The solar-driven adsorption
Available online 12 August 2014
refrigerator, consisting of a solar collector containing activated carbon as an adsorbent, a condenser and
an evaporator, cools water based by evaporating methanol and adsorbing it on activated carbon, and then
Keywords:
makes ice. The methanol adsorbed on the activated carbon is desorbed by applying solar heat. The ice is
Solar-driven adsorption refrigerator
then used to cool the storage space, which can be done for a long time without the need for electricity.
Evaporative cooling
Storage
The evaporative cooling system also cools the storage space by evaporating water from the wet walls
Eco-friendly containing wet filler. The combined use of two cooling systems reduced the average inside temperature
of the new ZECC to 12.07
C compared with an average outside temperature of 31.5
C and extended the
shelf life of tomatoes from 7 to 23 days. These results suggest that the new ZECC proposed here is low-
cost and energy-saving and is useful for storing fruit and vegetables in areas where electricity is
unavailable.
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Cooling is required to maintain the freshness of fruit and veg-
etables during storage. Conventional vapor compression cooling
systems that use chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydro-
chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
contribute to ozone depletion and global warming. The Interna-
tional Institute of Refrigeration in Paris (IIF/IIR) has estimated that
approximately 15% of all the electricity produced in the world is
employed for refrigeration and air-conditioning processes of
various kinds, and the energy consumption for air-conditioning
systems has recently been estimated at 45% for all households
and commercial buildings [1]. Therefore, an eco-friendly refrigerant
with a newer refrigeration system is required to reduce the emis-
sions of harmful gases.
In recent years, adsorption refrigerators driven by solar energy
have been receiving much attention as a replacement for conven-
tional vapor compression refrigeration cycles driven by electricity.
In the adsorption system we are proposing, methanol is used as a
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ81 89 946 9823; fax: þ81 89 947 8748.
E-mail addresses: engr_parvezfpm@agr.ehime-u.ac.jp, engr_parvezfpm@yahoo.
com (Md.P. Islam).
refrigerant instead of harmful CFCs, HCFCs or HFCs, and solar en-
ergy is used to drive the refrigerant (methanol) without electricity.
Adsorbent (activated carbon) is used to adsorb the methanol and
promote its evaporation. The storage space is cooled using ice made
by the adsorption refrigerator. Solar energy is safe, environmentally
friendly and abundant. Therefore, a solar-driven adsorption
refrigerator is lowcost, eco-friendly, energy-saving and simple in
structure. Several noiseless and non-corrosive solar refrigeration
systems such as liquid/vapor, solid/vapor absorption, adsorption,
vapor compression and photovoltaic-vapor/compression systems
have been developed [2e11]. However, the most promising method
of producing ice by using solar energy is with an activated carbon
(adsorbent)-methanol (adsorbate) pair, which could be driven by
relatively low heat temperatures and is less expensive [2,12]. The
cooling load of such a system is generally high when solar radiation
is high.
In developing countries, most agricultural areas do not have a
grid electricity supply. As a result, large quantities of fruit decay due
to the unavailability of electric-powered vapor compression
refrigeration systems. This lack of refrigeration also causes sharp
differences in food supplies between the harvest and off harvest
periods. Using an evaporative cooling technique is effective in
overcoming this problem. We have developed a zero energy cooling
chamber (ZECC) using an evaporative cooling technique [13]. We

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2014.07.038
0960-1481/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
368 Md.P. Islam, T. Morimoto / Renewable Energy 72 (2014) 367e376
Nomenclature
ZECC zero energy cool chamber
P pressure (Pa)
T temperature (
C, K)
V control valve
COPS solar coefficient of performance
Q thermal energy (kJ)
M mass (kg)
Cpw specific heat capacity of water (kJ kg1 K1)
L latent heat of ice fusion (KJ Kg1)
I total amount of heat input absorbed by the solar
collector during one day of operation (MJ)
X1 initial weight (g)
X final weight (g)
also applied an intelligent optimization technique to minimize the
inside temperature of the ZECC by controlling the watering [14].
The ZECC is low-cost, eco-friendly and energy-saving and is useful
for increasing the shelf life of stored fruit [15e17]. The evaporative
cooling process in the field is quite complex and is affected by many
factors such as solar radiation, ambient temperature, relative hu-
midity, the watering condition for evaporative cooling, and the
loading condition of stored fruit [12].
This paper proposes a new ZECC with two cooling systems, a
solar-driven adsorption refrigerator and an evaporative cooling
system, aimed at developing a low-cost, eco-friendly and energy-
saving fruit-storage system which would be useful in developing
countries. The cooling performance and the shelf life of fruit and
vegetables in the new ZECC were mainly investigated during the
hot and dry seasons of the year.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Structure of the new ZECC
A new zero energy fruit-storage chamber with two eco-friendly
cooling systems, a solar-driven adsorption refrigerator and an
evaporative cooling system, was set up at the Faculty of Agriculture,
Fig. 1. A new zero energy cool chamber (ZECC) with two cooling systems, a solar-driven adsorption refrigerator and an evaporative cooling system.
Greek symbols
D variance
Subscripts
w liquid water
amb ambient
gen generation
con condensation
ev evaporation
ads adsorption
fus fusion
max maximum
ref refrigerant
co cooling effect
Ehime University, as shown in Fig. 1. The chamber consists of a
double wall (inner and outer walls), a filler (evaporating medium)
inside the double wall, a storage space for fruit and vegetables, two
cooling systems, and a shading curtain. The outer and inner walls of
the zero energy storage chamber were made of porous lava stones
and solid clay bricks, respectively. The storage space was 1100 mm
long  900 mm wide  600 mm high. The evaporating medium
between the walls consisted of two layers: sand-zeolite and gravel
stone. The gap between the outside and inside wall was 65 mm,
55 mm of which was packed with filler consisting of a mixture of
sand (80%) and natural zeolite EOLITE No. 1 (ITT, Japan) (20%), and
the remaining 10 mm was packed with filler consisting of gravel
stone (2 mm). The natural zeolite was added to the sand to increase
the water retention capacity and gravel stone was used to enhance
the evapotranspiration rate. Tap water from an overhead water
tank (97 mm wide  25 mm deep; at a height of 150 mm) was
supplied to the filler material through a G240 low pressure micro
sprinkler (Takagi, Japan) with 0e10 GPH and 360-degree gentle
stream pattern. The amount of watering was set to 0.40 ml s1. A
two-port pilot kick type PKA valve (CKD Corporation, Japan)
controlled by a programmable timer supplied water to the water
pipe. The inside wall and bottom of the storage area was covered
with 5 mm thick polystyrene (expanded type) heat insulation
 Md.P. Islam, T. Morimoto / Renewable Energy 72 (2014) 367e376
board. A shading curtain that reduces solar radiation by 60% was
also used. A replaceable aluminum made ice box used for the solar-
driven adsorption refrigerator was set up at the center of the
storage space. The ice box was covered with heat radiating fins and
was 400 mm long  300 mm high  100 mm wide.
Field testing of the new zero energy fruit-storage chamber was
done continuously from 1 to 23 July 2013 during summer. The
experimental prototype was positioned north-south, which was
the average frequent air direction at the location during the
experiment period. The average total solar radiation was
18.25 MJ m2 during the experiment period. The cooling perfor-
mance of the new prototype was tested under a load condition with
5 kg of tomatoes to determine stored fruit qualities.
2.2. Two types of cooling system
This system is cooled in two ways: one is a solar-driven
adsorption refrigerator which evaporates methanol and adsorbs
methanol on active carbon and the other is evaporative cooling of
water from a wet wall containing wet filler between inner and
outer walls.
(1) Solar-driven adsorption refrigerator
The solar-driven adsorption refrigerator was designed and
fabricated based on the solid adsorption refrigerator developed by
Pons and Guilleminot [2], Excell et al. [5], Headley et al. [6], Excell
[18], Sumathy and Zhongfu [19], and Ahmed and Abd-Latef [20].
Fig. 2 shows a schematic view of the solar adsorption system. The
flat type solar collector (Fig. 2e) containing the adsorbent bed
consisted of 12 copper tubes 50 mm in diameter and 1 m long with
an effective exposed area of 1.2 m2 and each copper tube was
loaded with 1.6 kg of activated carbon. Activated carbon (F13
1.5 mm in grain size, Sanei Kako Co. Ltd., Osaka, Japan) was selected
to be used with methanol (Nacalai Tesque Inc., Kyoto, Japan). Dur-
ing day time, the solar radiation passes through a transparent cover
of the solar collector, and impinges on the blackened adsorber plate
and copper tube surface. The transparent cover is used to reduce
convection losses from the copper tube through the restraint of the
stagnant air layer between copper tube and the transparent cover.
It also reduces radiation losses from the collector as the short wave
radiation from the sun passes through the transparent cover but it
is nearly opaque to long -wave thermal radiation emitted by the
blackened adsorber plate and copper tube (greenhouse effect). A
large portion of the adsorbed heat energy by adsorber plate
transferred it to the cooper tube, while loosing as little heat as
possible upward to the atmosphere and downward through the
back of the casing. Because underside of the adsorber plate and the
side casing are well insulated using rockwool to reduce conduction
losses. The advantage of this configuration is the compactness of
the components and the reduction of heat transfer resistance from
the solar collector to the activated carbon [21]. The tilt angle of the
solar collector was adjusted to 30
to set its optimal value based on
BRI [22]. The air cooled condenser consisted of seven copper tubes
and the outer condenser's heat transfer area was 0.70 m2. Forty-
seven square copper fins 0.3 mm thick and 80 mm long  80 mm
wide were used to enhance the cooling process as shown in Fig. 2.
The refrigerant flow through the condenser was controlled by two
valves (Vev1 for gaseous methanol after isosteric heating; Vcon for
liquid methanol after cooling). The evaporator in Fig. 2 consisted of
a 500 mm long  300 mm high  10 mm wide stainless steel
container separated into two chambers: one for refrigerant meth-
anol storage and the other for water storage (3.5 L) for making ice.
The refrigerant flow through the evaporator was controlled by
three valves (Vev2 and Vev3 for gaseous methanol after adsorption;
369
Vcon). The evaporator was placed inside the highly insulated
storage chamber, where cooling was achieved by natural convec-
tion. After assembling the solar collector, adsorbent bed, condenser
and evaporator, the entrapped air/moisture inside the whole sys-
tem was evacuated using a vacuum pump to test the system for
leakage. Five liters of methanol were loaded onto the adsorbent bed
and during this process all valves were closed. Because the solid
adsorbent can absorb approximately 30% by weight of methanol
vapor [23].
The static thermodynamic principle of a solar-driven adsorption
refrigerator is illustrated in a Clapeyron diagram (ln P vs. 1/T dia-
gram), as shown in Fig. 3(a). Ruthven [24] stated that adsorption
occurs at the surface interface of two phases, in which cohesive
forces including electrostatic forces and hydrogen bonding act be-
tween the molecules of all substances irrespective of their state of
aggregation. Unbalanced surface forces at the phase boundary
cause changes in the concentration of molecules at the solid/fluid
interface.
The adsorption refrigeration cycle consists of four cycles which
was modified from a previous study by Akinbisoye and Odesola
[25]:
(a) AB is the isosteric heating process of the adsorbent (pres-
surization; Fig. 2a)
The adsorbent (activated carbon inside the copper tube) is
heated up together with adsorbate (methanol) that was trapped in
the micro pores of activated carbon particles. During this phase, the
solar collector is not connected to the condenser and the pressure
increases from Pev to Pcon. Concentration of methanol inside the
activated carbon in this process remains changed. Energy input
(energy losses are not taken into account) to heat activated carbon
and methanol can be calculated by Eq. (1), as shown below:



QAB ¼ Cac $Mac þ CM $MM Tgen  Tcon (1)
where
QAB is heat supplied to heat activated carbon and methanol
from point A to point B in Fig. 3;
Cac and CM represent heat capacities of activated carbon and
methanol, respectively;
Mac and MM are masses of activated carbon and methanol
adsorbed (MM ¼ xA$Mac), respectively;
and Tcon and Tgen are activated carbon and methanol-activated
carbon temperature at points A and B, respectively.
(b) BC is the isobaric heating process of the fluid (decreasing the
fluid concentration; Fig. 2b)
The activated carbon releases the methanol to the condenser
and decreases with heating; therefore, concentration of methanol
(x) is no longer a constant in this process. Energy input for
desorption of methanol from activated carbon is shown in Eq. (2):



QBC ¼ Cac $Mac þ CM $M M Tmax  Tgen þ Dx$Mac $Hd (2)
where
QBC is heat supplied to heat activated carbon and methanol,
leading to desorption;
MM is the average mass of methanol, which can be calculated
approximately using M M ¼ ðM MB þ MMC Þ=2;
Tgen and Tmax are the temperature of points B and C, respectively;
Dx is concentrated variation that is calculated by Dx ¼ xB  xC;
and Hd is desorption heat constant for a given pair.
370 Md.P. Islam, T. Morimoto / Renewable Energy 72 (2014) 367e376

Fig. 2. Solar-driven adsorption refrigeration system.

 Md.P. Islam, T. Morimoto / Renewable Energy 72 (2014) 367e376
Fig. 3. Experimental method of a solar-driven adsorption refrigerator.
(c) CD is the isosteric cooling of the adsorbent (depressuriza-
tion; Fig. 2c)
In this process, the sensible heat of activated carbon and
methanol inside the condenser is removed by external cooling
source air and energy balance can be expressed as:
QCD ¼ ðCac $Mac þ CM $MMC ÞðTmax  Tads Þ
where
QCD is heat removed from the activated carbon and methanol
by an external cooling source; and Tmax and Tads are activated
carbon temperature at points C and D in Fig. 3.
(d) DA is the isobaric cooling process of the fluid (evaporating
the methanol and adsorbing the methanol vapor by acti-
vated carbon; Fig. 2d)
Once the pressure reached Pev, the connection between evapo-
rator and solar collector is established, and activated carbon started
absorbing methanol from the evaporator. In the meantime, the
evaporation of methanol results in useful effect of water cooling. At
first temperature of water decreases to 0
C; then the liquid water
started phase-change (ice) at constant temperature, and finally ice
temperature is under-cooled until the methanol contained in the
evaporator is completely evaporated. Cooling output can be
calculated approximately using Eq. (4):
QCO ¼ ðDMM $Lo þ CM $DMM ÞðTcon  Tev Þ
where
QCO is cooling output;
Lo is latent vaporization of methanol (treated as a constant in
ideal case analysis);
DMM is mass of liquid methanol that equates to (MMBMMC);
and Tcon and Tev are the condensing and evaporating tempera-
ture, respectively.
Fig. 3b shows a schematic diagram of the solar-driven adsorp-
tion refrigerator, which is similar to a conventional electric-driven
vapor compression refrigeration system and in this system the
adsorbent acts as a chemical compressor driven by solar heat.
During the daytime, the activated carbon and methanol filled
copper tube inside the solar collector was heated by solar radiation
371
and this process continued until the activated carbon rose to
temperature Tgen. As a result, at point B the vapor pressure of the
desorbed methanol increased to Pcon. During this process, both
condenser and evaporator were isolated from activated carbon
filled copper tube of the solar collector by valves Vev1, Vev2, Vev3 and
Vcon. Once the methanol vapor pressure reached Pcon, valve Vev1 was
open and valves Vev2, Vev3 and Vcon were closed to equalize the
(3) activated carbon filled copper tube inside pressure with the
condenser pressure and to allow the methanol vapor to flow to-
wards the condenser. However, the temperature continued to in-
crease but the amount of methanol inside the activated carbon
continued to decrease as more adsorbate methanol vaporized from
the activated carbon.
The condensed methanol was then stored inside the evaporator
by opening valve Vcon., while valves Vev2 and Vev3 were closed to
maintain the inside methanol pressure. During the night time
period, at point C the solar radiation decreased to 0 and the acti-
vated carbon of the solar collector temperature fell due to
convective and radiative heat transfer to the surrounding envi-
ronment. Both temperature and pressure inside the activated car-
bon dropped until the pressure reached the evaporator pressure at
point D. During this stage, valves Vev2 and Vev3 were opened and
valves Vev1 and Vcon were closed to allow the condensed methanol
vaporized by absorbing heat from the water tank to flow towards
the activated carbon of the solar collector. As a result, the temper-
ature of the water in the water tank decreased to such a level that
liquid water changed to solid ice. Later during the daytime, the
produced ice stored inside the ice box, and then radiated the cold
(4) heat to the warm air in the chamber through radiation as the warm
air contacted the ice box heat radiating fins. As a result the tem-
perature inside the storage chamber decreased until the next ice
producing cycle started. The valve-controlling method for phase
scheduling of the thermodynamic cycles for producing ice is shown
in Table 1.
(2) Evaporative cooling system
The evaporating cooling technique of water is not sufficient to
cool the storage chamber, but it is low-cost and energy-saving. Tap
water was supplied to the filler between the outer and inner walls
through a sprinkler with dimensions of 97 (W)  25 (D)  188
(H) mm. The timing of the watering was controlled using a pro-
grammable electronic timer. The amount of watering was set to
45 L/d. The working principle is as follows: when the dry surface of
a heat exchanging wall is in contact with air, the opposite wet
372 Md.P. Islam, T. Morimoto / Renewable Energy 72 (2014) 367e376

Table 1 The total amount of ice production mice at a temperature of Tev

Controlling method for the thermodynamic cycles of the solar adsorption system. from initial temperature of Tw is given in Eq. (6):
Start time Activity Valve Solar radiation
(W m2) Qco
Mice ¼   (6)
(Sunrise: 5:00; Sunset 19:00) Cpw ðTw  273Þ þ Lfus þ Cice 273  Tev
6:00 Isosteric heating Vev1, Vev2, Vev3, 0
(adsorbent heated) Vcon closed
9:00 Desorption (adsorbent heated Vev1 open, Vev2, 300 (peak 864.1) where
and desorbing process) Vev3, Vcon closed
18.00 Isosteric cooling (condensation Vcon open, Vev1, 0 Mice is the total amount of ice production (Kg cycle1);
and cooling of methanol) Vev2, Vev3 closed
Cpw, Lfus, and Cice are the specific heat of water, the latent heat of
21.30 Adsorption (evaporation, Vev1,Vcon closed, 0
refrigerant effect) Vev2, Vev3 open
ice fusion (KJ Kg1), and the specific heat of ice respectively
(KJ Kg1 K1).

surface of the same heat exchanging wall absorbs heat from the dry
side and then transfers it to the evaporative medium. As a result,
the water molecules of the wet evaporative medium release this
heat to the environment through evaporation, and therefore cool
the dry side. This method has the advantage of maintaining a lower
temperature without adding further moisture to the air inside the
chamber. Experimental observations [26] show that under an ideal
operating condition, heat flow from the product air (inside the
storage chamber) travels in a counter-flow manner to the working
air (outside air) and the two airstreams have a good balance of heat
flow rates over a contact area of outside wall, evaporative medium
and inside wall of the passive evaporative cooler. As a result, the
product air temperature on the dry side of the inside wall reaches
the wet bulb temperature of the incoming working air and the
temperature of the working air on the wet side of the outside wall
increases from its incoming dry bulb temperature to the inside
product air dry bulb temperature and becomes saturated.
(3) Working rule of two cooling systems
2.3. Measuring sensors
Temperature was measured using four 47SD digital thermom-
eters with data logger function (Sato Shoji Inc., Japan), each with
four thermocouples (0.3 mm f) having an accuracy of ±0.1
C.
Relative humidity was measured using two HT-SD thermo-hy-
grometers with data logger function (Sato Shoji Inc., Japan). Air
speed was measured using two AM-14SD digital anemometers
with data logger (Sato Shoji Inc., Japan). A Revex PT60D program-
mable timer (Ningbo Bainian Electric Appliance Co. Ltd., China) was
used to control the watering operation during the experiment
period. All measurements were taken at intervals of 1 min for all
the tests conducted. Vapor pressure was measured by a BeHAUS T-
525 pressure gauge (Niigata Seiki Co. Ltd., Japan) with measuring
ranges from 0 to 1 MPa. Solar radiation was measured using a solar
power meter with data logger function (SPM-SD; Sato Shoji Inc.,
Japan). These data were recorded at intervals of 60 s for 24 h
resulting in 1440 readings per day. The locations of the sensor and
measuring devices are shown in Fig. 4.

The question was how to combine the solar-driven adsorption
refrigerator and evaporative cooling system. During the night time,
the solar-driven adsorption refrigerator produces ice inside the
water tank of the evaporator by evaporation and adsorption of
methanol on activated carbon. During the daytime, this ice is stored
inside the ice box in the storage chamber to achieve a storage
temperature lower than the ambient temperature favorable for
storing tomato for a longer time. Meanwhile, evaporation from the
wet filler between the double walls of the storage chamber pre-
vents diffusion of higher ambient temperature inside the storage
space and helps to maintain a lower storage temperature all day
long.
(4) Evaluation of cooling performance
The coefficient of performance of the solar adsorption refriger-
ator is defined as the amount of cooling produced by the refrigerant
(methanol) divided by the net solar energy received from solar
radiation, as shown in Eq. (5). The coefficient of cooling perfor-
mance (COPS) was adopted from a previous study by Anyanwu and
Ezekwe [27].
2.4. Qualitative evaluation of stored tomato
The fruit used for the experiment was tomato (Lycopersicon
esculentum Mill. cv. Momotaro) with uniform shape and size and
free from fungal infection. Five kilograms of tomatoes at the
ripening stage (light red) were harvested manually from plants
grown in a Ehime University greenhouse.
Physiological loss in weight (PLW) is one factor in determining
the quality of stored fruit (Eq. (7)). PLW and the shelf life of tomato
were monitored every day using a digital electronic balance (BL-
320S; Shimadzu Corporation, Japan). The readings were made at 1-
day intervals during the experiment period. The shelf life of fruit
and vegetables was based on 5% PLW. A decrease of only 5% in PLW
often results in a loss of freshness and a wilted appearance
[28e30].
 
ðX1  XÞ
Physiological loss in weight; % ¼  100 (7)
X
where
X1 is initial weight (g) and X is final weight (g).

Cooling output Qco Qco Color measurements of tomato fruit were made every third day
COPS ¼ ¼ ¼ (5)
Available solar energy ðQAB þ QBC Þ I using a portable colorimeter (CR-400; Minolta Co., Ltd, Japan)
during storage at ambient temperature and in the integrated ZECC.
where Before the color measurement, the colorimeter was calibrated with
a standard white ceramic plate (L* ¼ 96; a* ¼ 0.14*; b* ¼ 1.63). L*
Qco is cooling output of the useful cooling produced (kJ); and describes lightness (L* ¼ 0 for black, L* ¼ 100 for white), a* de-
I is total amount of heat input absorbed by the solar collector scribes red-green intensity (a*>0 for red, a*<0 for green), and b*
(MJ). describes blue-yellow intensity (b*>0 for yellow, b*<0 for blue). The
 Md.P. Islam, T. Morimoto / Renewable Energy 72 (2014) 367e376 373

Fig. 4. Measuring of the zero energy fruit-storage chamber.

mean value of the two tests was used for a single fruit and three 3.2. Short- and long-term changes in inside temperature of the new
replicate color samples were taken each day until decay. ZECC
The firmness of fruit (kg cm2) depends on the state of maturity
and ripeness. This may be influenced by the variety as well as the Fig. 6 illustrates the dynamic changes in the inside temperature
production area and growing conditions. The determination of and relative humidity of the new ZECC to operations of watering
firmness of fruit by means of a penetrometer is based on the and the solar-driven adsorption refrigerator (ice box). The on
pressure necessary to push a plunger of specified size into the pulp (35 min)-off (55 min) watering started at 5:00 and continued until
of the fruit up to a specific depth. Fruit firmness was measured on the next cycle [14]. The ice box started melting at 5:00 and the ice
two pair surfaces of equatorial regions of the same fruit with a fruit completely melted by 17:00.
hardness tester (KM-1; Fujiwara Co. Ltd., Japan) fitted with a cone Watering lowered the inside temperature to 20.9
C and
tip plunger. The mean value of the two tests was used for a single increased the relative humidity from 74 to 77% under an ambient
fruit and three replicate firmness samples were taken each day temperature of 32.0
C. The inside temperature decreased further
until decay. to 10.1
C and the inside relative humidity increased to 90% due to
During the development of the flesh of a fruit, in many species temperature decreasing. It was found that the combined use of
nutrients are deposited as starch, which during the ripening pro- watering and the ice box with heat radiating fin was effective in
cess is transformed into sugar. The progression of the ripening
process leads to increasing sugar levels. An Atago PR-101a digital
refractometer measures TSS (total soluble solids) with a measure-
ment accuracy of Brix ±0.1%. Three replicate TSS samples were
taken each day until decay.
The pH measurements were taken using a portable digital pH
meter (Horiba D-51; Horiba, Ltd., Japan) through the direct im-
mersion of the electrode in the fruit juice. Three replicate pH
samples were taken each day until decay.

3. Results and discussions

3.1. Diurnal changes in inside temperature of the new ZECC

Diurnal changes in solar radiation and ambient temperature

during the cooling system working cycle are illustrated in Fig. 5. The
solid line is ambient temperature, the dotted line is adsorbent bed
temperature and the semi-dotted line is evaporator temperature.
As observed from the figure, adsorbent bed temperature increases
gradually to its maximum of 105
C which guarantees sufficient
desorption of methanol [21]. At the end of the desorption process
and before the beginning of any adsorption process, the cooling
load of 3.5 L of water at ambient temperature was introduced into
the water tank inside the evaporator. During evaporation of
methanol inside the evaporator at the adsorption phase, the
evaporator temperature decreased to 10
C which triggered the
transforming of liquid water to solid ice. The produced ice was then
stored inside the ice box (Fig. 1) to reduce the storage temperature
until the next cooling cycle started. The average cooling perfor-
mance of the solar-driven adsorption refrigerator is shown in Fig. 5. Diurnal changes in the operational temperatures of the solar-driven adsorption
Table 2. refrigerator.
374 Md.P. Islam, T. Morimoto / Renewable Energy 72 (2014) 367e376
Table 2
Performance of the solar-driven adsorption refrigerator.
Adsorption Desorption Condensation Evaporator
temperature (
C) temperature (
C) temperature (
C) temperature (
C)
33 96.3 32 10
a
COPS is calculated as described in Anyanwu and Ezekwe (2003).
reducing the inside temperature. When the ice completely melted
to water in the ice box, the inside temperature of the new ZECC
increased to 12.1
C and relative humidity decreased to 86% by 2:00.
Fig. 7 shows the long-term changes in the inside temperature to
watering and the ice box over twenty-three days. These data ex-
press the performance of the new ZECC as a fruit-storage chamber.
From this experiment, the average inside temperature of the new
ZECC was 12.07
C, while the average ambient temperature during
the experiment period was 31.5
C.
3.3. Physiological loss in weight (PLW) of tomato
Fig. 8 shows that tomato stored at ambient temperature (con-
trol) spoiled after 7 days with a physiological loss in weight (PLW)
of 5.4%. However, the shelf life of tomato stored inside the proto-
type was prolonged to 23 days which is 7 days more than tomato
stored in a conventional ZECC [13,31]. The continuous lower inside
Fig. 6. Short-term changes in inside temperature of the new ZECC.
COPSa
0.071
Fig. 7. Long-term changes in outside and inside temperatures of the new ZECC.
temperature of the prototype offers a unique advantage in lowering
ethylene production and thus decreases physiological loss in
weight (PLW) and other metabolic processes.
3.4. Skin color of tomato
Tomatoes in the control sample stored at ambient temperature
tended to have increasing skin yellowness (b*Control) from the
beginning with values of 22.20e23.71 until 7 days of storage
(Fig. 9(c)). However, tomato stored inside the prototype showed
decreasing skin yellowness (b*Prototype) from 21.63 to 20.45 and
further decreased to 19 by 7, 15 and 23 days of storage, respectively.
For tomato stored inside the prototype, L* and b* (Fig. 9a, (c))
decreased but a* increased (Fig. 9b). If tomatoes are ripened at high
temperature (from 12
C to 30
C), causing a better plastid con-
version, and yellowing takes place due to inhibiting lycopene
synthesis and accumulating yellow/orange carotenoids, then b*
undergoes large changes [32,33]. When red pigments start to
synthesize, a decreasing value indicates the darkening of the red
color [34]. This behavior was observed in all samples.
3.5. Firmness of tomato
The development of firmness, that is, the softening of the fruit,
was significantly affected by storage time and temperature. Fig. 10
illustrates that the firmness of tomatoes (control) stored at
ambient temperature was significantly lower than tomatoes stored
inside the prototype. Fruit softened under both storage conditions
during the storage period. Under the exposure of higher ambient
temperature, the hemicelluloses and pectin of tomato become
more soluble, which results in disruption and loosening of the cell
walls [35]. As a result, the rate of loss of firmness of tomato stored
inside the prototype decreased significantly compared with those
stored at ambient temperature. The lower inside temperature of
the integrated ZECC reduced the enzymatic activities of fruit,
resulting in the lower loss of firmness [36e40].
Fig. 8. Physiological loss in weight: (a) tomatoes stored outside the prototype in
ambient temperature (control) and inside the prototype.
 Md.P. Islam, T. Morimoto / Renewable Energy 72 (2014) 367e376 375

Fig. 9. Color changes in tomatoes stored at ambient temperature and inside the prototype.

Fig. 10. Changes in firmness (a) and TSS (b) of tomatoes stored at ambient temperature and inside the prototype.

3.6. Total soluble solids (TSS) content of tomato 4.70 after 23 days of storage. This rise in pH indicates that acid
concentration in the fruit declines with maturity [35,41,42].
Soluble solids are a large fraction of the total solids in tomato.
Soluble solid content is an indicator of sweetness, although sugars
are not the sole soluble component it measures. TSS content de- 4. Conclusion
pends on the maturity stage, and it generally increases progres-
sively during the ripening process due to the hydrolysis of In this study, a new ZECC with two types of cooling system, a
polysaccharides to maintain the respiration rate. As shown in solar-driven adsorption refrigerator and an evaporative cooling
Fig. 10, the TSS of tomatoes (control) increased from 4.10 to 5.00% at system, was developed. The solar-driven adsorption refrigerator
ambient temperature after 7 days of storage and from 4.10 to 5.10%
after 23 days of storage inside the prototype, respectively. As a
comparison, the maximum TSS of “Momotaro” tomato was re-
ported as 5.56% [40]. From the qualitative point of view, however,
soluble solid concentration reached an absolute maximum at the
end of the storage period.

3.7. pH level of tomato

Fig. 11 illustrates that the pH of the juice from the fruit in the
control sample (pHControl) tended to increase quickly from the
beginning to 7 days of storage under ambient temperature condi-
tions with values of 3.93e4.60. However, the pH of tomatoes inside
the prototype (pHPrototype) increased slowly from 3.94 to 4.49 Fig. 11. Changes in pH of tomatoes stored at ambient temperature and inside the
after 19 days of storage, and then further increased at a faster rate to prototype.
376 Md.P. Islam, T. Morimoto / Renewable Energy 72 (2014) 367e376
produced about 3.5 kg of ice per day with a solar COP of 0.071. The
ice was then stored in the ice box and cooled the storage space well
throughout the following day. Both cooling systems allowed
lowering of the inside temperature of the new ZECC without any
electricity. The inside temperature during the diurnal change was
lowered to 20.9
C by watering and then further reduced to 10.1
C
by applying the solar-driven adsorption refrigerator, while the
ambient outside temperature was 32.0
C. The average inside
temperature of the new ZECC for twenty-three days was 12.07
C,
while the average outside temperature was 31.5
C, and the shelf
life of tomatoes was extended from 7 to 23 days. Physiological loss
in weight (PLW) of 5.4%, firmness of 0.3 kg cm2, TSS of 5.1% and pH
of 4.7 were obtained after storing tomatoes for 23 days. Thus, the
new ZECC proposed here is very effective in lowering the storage
temperature and expanding the shelf life of fruit and vegetables in
an area without electricity. This system can help to store medicine
and vaccine in the remote areas of the developing countries. The
effectiveness of this new system could be improved by finding new
light weight, low-cost, high heat conducting, and environmental
friendly materials for collector, condenser and evaporator; it is
necessary to conduct field trial in the farmer's level.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support
provided by the United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences
(UGAS), Ehime University, Japan, under its student research project
support program (2013e2014), and Grants-in-Aid for Scientific
Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (No.
26450354).
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