Forced-Air Evaporative Cooling Chambers
Off-grid pre-cooling of fruits and vegetables
Features of the forced-air evaporative cooling chamber
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Provides the greatest value in hot and dry climates
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Ideal for fruits and vegetables that store well in high humidity environments
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Lower energy consumption and half the cost of refrigerated cold rooms
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Forced airflow is ideal for rapid pre-cooling
MIT D-Lab collaborated with Solar Freeze in Kenya and Hunnarshala Foundation in India to build pilot forced-air evaporative cooling chambers.
Both chambers have the capacity to store 168 crates of produce (~3,000 kg).
The chamber built in Kibwezi, Kenya is a fully off-grid system and vegetables cost $15,000 to build.
The chamber built in Bhuj, India is an on-grid system and vegetables cost $8,100 to build
The CoolVeg team is continuing to work with Solar Freeze and Hunnarshala Foundation to provide technical support, monitor the usage of the chambers, and evaluate the benefits the chamber provides to users and the community.
Extending spinach shelf-life
Solar Freeze conducted shelf-life experiments with the pilot forced-air evaporative cooling chamber in Kibwezi, Kenya.
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The images to the left are from experiments with spinach showing that the shelf life can be extended from 2 days to over 5 days when stored in the chamber.
Components of the Airflow System
A head-on cross-sectional schematic of the key components in the airflow system of the chamber.
Modular and Mobile Chambers
CoolVeg Foundation received a research and development grant from Efficiency for Access' Agritech Call to develop modular forced-air cooling chambers that can be tailored to meet user's capacity requirements and can be used in transportation applications.
The CoolVeg team is partnering with Cold Hubs in Kaduna, Nigeria and Artisans in Architecture in Gujarat, India to deploy the new chamber designs with produce farmers, transporters, and retailers.
