Design and Implementation of a Photovoltaic Solar Powered Ice Cube Making Machine for off Grid Applications

Ice cube making machines are widely useful in beverages, hospitals, healthcare, retail stores, manufacturing, entertainment, seafood, agriculture, horticulture, construction and emergency services. Most of these are grid-connected and work on AC supply. For some of the applications, like mobile food vans, roadside vendors, and military and research stations, will require off-grid ice cube-making machines. Off grid ice cube-making machine works with solar power without any grid connection. Harnessing maximum solar power for an ice cube-making machine is a challenging task. In this paper, an off-grid ice cube-making system has been developed with the help of a solar PV panel, MPPT charge controller, solar battery and inverter. The proposed system has been developed to provide six to eight hours backup even when there is no irradiation during rainy, fog and dark conditions. The hardware results proved that the proposed ice cube-making machine is a novel solution, and it is ideal for off-grid applications.