Prototype Development and Fabrication of a Solar Powered Smart Dual Chamber Thermal Preservation System

Author

Shaik Shamsuddin, Allu Harika, Battina Durga Prasad, Dr. S. C Rao

Abstract

 Conventional portable coolers rely on ice packs or grid electricity, and portable warmers are bulky and rarely use renewable energy. This paper presents the development and fabrication of a portable, solar-powered dual-chamber thermal preservation system that provides a cooling chamber and a heating chamber from a single thermoelectric (Peltier) module. A 10 W solar panel charges a 12 V, 7 Ah lead-acid battery through a charge controller. An ESP32 microcontroller reads two DS18B20 temperature sensors, shows the readings and setpoints on an OLED display, and switches the module through a MOSFET driver according to user-selected setpoints. In a 3-hour test at a room temperature of 32 °C, the cooling chamber fell to 27 °C and the heating chamber rose to 37 °C (average 1.67 °C/h in each chamber), while the battery voltage fell from 12.8 V to 12.1 V. The cooling setpoint of 20 °C was not reached, and the limitations of the prototype are discussed together with improvements required.

Keywords

Solar energy, thermoelectric cooling, Peltier effect, dual-chamber system, thermal preservation, ESP32, portable thermal storage.

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References

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