Do it yourself solar panels and propane gas freezer

Hi,

there are gas fridges that you can buy, electrolux used to make some, I am not sure that it is an "easy" home projectunless you are an Engineer for AC and similar as the tools you need would cost more than you would save I feel...

You may also want to change your gas type, Butane has a quite a lot more energy in it than Propane, provided that the cylinder does not get too cold in winter. e.g. Far cheaper to run.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propane

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butane

http://www.cam.net.uk/home/StKilda/electrolux.html

http://www.beacon-stoves.co.uk/download/096_fuel_values_conversion_factors.pdf

On the last link, be careful, the gallons appear to be Imperial not US Gallons, staying with liters is therefore a good idea....this shows that Butane contains more energy per liter....

I hope this helps!!

Thanks,

Butane is an excellant idea, i can probably find it anywhere. But would it be as easy regulated as propane ? So far pretty much every one is using propane ref. as well as for cooking, here , up north in fishing camps in quebec, it is quite well organised. But i will check the sites for the technical aspects, ie we want to use an hybrid system propane and solar (parbolic light beams) , this will reduce quite a bit the need for propane. amonia is not hard to find and it is already in use in the existing ref.. It is even more used in the usa. We used to buy amonia for our blue print machines, but now ... it is funny, creating cold from heat ...

Butane's only drawback is the low pressure when very cold, propane does not have that. Otherwise is all about the same!!! except that for the same burner, you generally need a lower Butane pressure than Propane. In the UK for camping caravans cookers etc.for example, 38mb for propane and 28mb for Butane....

I do not know how plentiful Butane is outside of europe...

About the only way you can find butane in the retail market here on the other side of the pond is in cigarette lighters and the refill units ( < 1 liter)

That could be a problem. We have many suppliers of Butane in usually a blue color to distinguish it from propane. It also has different threads for mounting the reducer....

Here's a link to a website (that I stumbled onto just the other day, actually) that shows you how to make a solar cell from household(ish) materials.

http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/echem2.html

Though the linked instructions are for a cylindrical cell, it also has a link for a flat panel cell, as well as a simple hydrogen fuel cell. None of these are particularly efficient designs, of course, as they are designed as simple teaching tools.

Borrow an idea from the 18th and 19th centuries - build an insulated ice house, harvest ice in the winter and store it for use in the summer time. I understand that it worked well for Tom Jefferson at Monticello in the 1700's. A local farm museum from the 1800's also has one in fair condition.

Save the propane for keeping warm.

if you want to make an ice fridge or freezer, there are much more inexpensive ways than solar-electric conversion or consumable fuels.

You can make a system less complex than a gas or electric system by using scrap wood or paper heat or by a fresnel concentrator lense on the chamber of refrigerant to be heated. There is a solar heat system that makes about 10 pounds of ice every 4 hours in direct summer sun if you block the light every 3 hours. It works at about 200 psi when heated and uses calcium chloride as a substance to store the ammonia in the heated elements.

To simplify the method, you just take stainless steel tube and pack with ammonia saturated Calcium chloride (about 3.5" dia.x5'length), run tubing (appx. 1" dia) uphill to a water filled jacketed condenser coil (appx. 20'x1"dia) and then downhill to a collection tube (appx. 4"dia.x1') that is shaded from the sun in an ice chest. Put your water to be frozen in plastic bags and pack around collection tube. Heat anhydrous ammonia to vaporize and collect at around 200 psi. working pressure by testing for your size rig. When it reaches pressure you should have condensed, pressurized ammonia in collection chamber. Cover heated boiler tube and lower pressure, ammonia will vaporize at ambient temperature back to Calcium Chloride tube and take water heat in ice chest with it leaving ice.

If you make system to not exceeed 200 psi in direct fresnel concentrated sunlight or wood heat and only need one batch a day, it is set-and-forget using sun day/night cycle.

Take caution to use only stainless steel in the construction, ammonia will eat other metals and work at a pressure no more than around 200 psi. Ammonia is poisonous but not a greenhouse gas and is broken down easily by the environment.

Hope that helps.