Solar-Powered Refrigeration Design and Engineering

Solar-Powered Refrigeration System Design and Engineering

Johnston Engineering recently completed a solar-powered refrigeration system for our customer SolarXWorks. We provided complete system design, build and test. This system provides “cool” air conditioning or “cold” refrigerator conditions directly powered by sunlight.

Most solar cooling systems lose around 20% of the solar energy they collect when converting it to AC voltage. However, this particular system operates on 100% DC voltage, making it highly efficient.

The xCOLD from SolarXWorks is an incredibly versatile product that and can be used for a variety of applications, including food transport and storage, commercial cooling, disaster recovery shelters, and command and control shelters.

Our Contribution:

Johnston Engineering provided the complete system design, build, and testing services.

Mechanical Design
Vapor Compression System Design
Mechanical Engineering
Structural Analysis
Project Management
Material Sourcing
Material Ordering
Product Assembly
Product Testing

We oversaw program management, mechanical engineering (including hardware and refrigeration system design, as well as structural analysis), and contracted electrical and software engineering services. Our team designed, sourced and purchased all necessary hardware components, built the system and conducted thorough testing and software tuning.

The system features an evaporator and condenser, two fans, two compressors, a large battery, a charge controller, and many other key components. To control the system, we utilized a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) with a user-friendly touch-screen panel interface. Our design team utilized 3D CAD software, specifically SOLIDWORKS, to create and test the parts, while we performed structural analysis {to...} using ANSYS. Finally, the system's exterior is covered in durable, powder-coated aluminum sheet metal that is secured to a sturdy steel frame.