Development of an off-grid solar photovoltaic thermoelectric cooling system for sustainable fish preservation

Abstract Keeping fish refrigerated during the fishing process significantly enhances the quality and safety of the fish. This process is highly reliant on traditional and industrial methods, most of which are costly for small-scale fishermen, have reduced effectiveness for some, and depend on fossil fuels, hence generating GHG emissions. Therefore, a shift to controlled clean solar energy is necessary due to its feasibility and potential to reduce GHG emissions. Therefore, it aimed to assess solar energy (SE) use to develop a solar cooling unit (SCU) based on the thermoelectric cooling prototype powered by a solar photovoltaic system for fish preservation during the fishing process. Cooling chamber, heat exchanger, Peltier Modules (PMs), solar power unit, and control unit are considered the main components of the designed SCU. The results indicated that the greatest temperature reduction inside the SCU, 4 ᵒC, was achieved using a triple PM configuration at the highest specific energy consumption with a value of 0.079 kWh/kg, and a minimum performance cooling coefficient with a value of 0.039. Also, the relative cooling performance improvement values were 67 and 108% for dual and triple PM, compared to the single PM, according to the Monte Carlo statistical analysis. Moreover, the economic feasibility study indicators showed that the triple PM attached with the developed SCU is the most economically advantageous, enhancing the shortest payback period of 0.15 years. Furthermore, the robust Monte Carlo simulation revealed that the triple-PM setup provides a 76.2% probability of successfully maintaining critical preservation temperatures (T cool ≤ 7ᵒC) under dynamic field conditions. The findings show that the thermoelectric module has a high potential in improving a direct cooling method. However, future adoption of this cooling system lies critically on new, better conversion efficiency thermoelectric material discoveries and development of higher efficiency systems.