Affordable Solar Cooling and Filtration Technology
Pan-African University, Algeria
A solar powered refrigerator intended to preserve food longer and reduce food-borne illnesses.
2020 Longevity Design Challenge Virtual Finals
Thanks for the presentation! Given the solar panel, does the SoCool need to be outside? What were the reasons that 3/10 of inhabitants in the launch site were not ready to use SoCool? Finally, does the clay or filter need to be replaced after a certain period of time?
Thank you, Dr Garvey for the questions: Given the solar panel, does the SoCool need to be outside? No, the SoCool refrigeration and filtration system will be indoor, it’s only the solar (thermal) panel and the absorber that are placed outside to absorb the energy directly from sunrays, with tubes connecting the cold gas from the absorber to the indoor system. (the video in the presentation and the pictures in the link below explain it further) https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bBi6ez8NwugC-mWvBe4lw-hXkPS1l6BW?usp=sharing What were the reasons that 3/10 of inhabitants in the launch site were not ready to use SoCool? 1. Some of these minority… Read more »
Very interesting presentation! Thinking more about the 30% who could not afford So Cool….could it be possible to build a bigger SoCool that a community or group of families could share or are the dimensions fixed? Thanks!
Thank you Ms. Alexander for the question: Actually, it’s only a portion of the 30% that said they cannot afford SoCool given the current estimated selling price, the other portion are just reluctant because they are technology-averse. SoCool is designed as an appliance to conserve food, household medications, other agricultural perishables and provide safe drinking water for individual households. It is also modeled to be adopted by medical centers and clinics in remote areas who struggle to preserve medications due to the lack of electricity, and small-scale farmers for perishable agricultural products who operate a store house for these products.… Read more »
Thank you!
To further elucidate the response above, the core technology is very scalable to be able to include individual households, medical centers, and even a community. We are choosing a starting point (household size) where consumers are expressing a need at an affordable price and this happens to be the majority of the people. Once we get going, it will be entirely feasible to build something at a shared/community level – the issue wont be the technology, it will be thinking through the business model
Congratulation and nice presentation. What skills are necessary to install the system? What is the specific chemical reaction w the Silica? It is impressive that the cost is a fraction of that of a Western refrigerator, but is the $35USD affordable? Who will fund this?
Thank you Dr. Goldstein for the Questions. What skills are necessary to install the system? The system is designed to be plug and play with a standard installation procedure. The socool appliance comes already assembled only lacking connecting tubes to the thermal solar panel. For quality purposes, the system will initially be installed by trained technicians. However, following the developed installation guide, any technician can install the system in minutes since its plug and play. Kindly refer to the picture in the following link to see an overview of the installation: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bBi6ez8NwugC-mWvBe4lw-hXkPS1l6BW?usp=sharing What is the specific chemical reaction w the… Read more »
Thank you for your entry, very nice video. I have a few questions:
1. how are you envisioning the production/manufacturing of your SoCool appliance?
2. what do you envision the maintenance to be like once installed?
3. how plentiful is the non-potable water in your test region?
Thank you Ms. Nakagawa for the questions; 1. How are you envisioning the production/manufacturing of your SoCool appliance? Since most of the materials required for the socool is widely available in African countries, we plan to build a local factory in each targeted countries starting from Niger. The factory will employ local technicians and workers after providing specialised training to them. For starting off in launch site Niamey Niger, we shall have a factory for manufacturing with trained technicians supervised by team members (engineers), doing parts production and assembling. Our workforce will keep growing as the business and market expand… Read more »
Hello folks! How long do the 4 filters last? How was the $70 price determined…just 2x the materials cost…what about transport/logistics costs?
Thank you Ms. Jonak for the question:
The filters can last up to a year if used appropriately.
However, we recommend that a filter should be replaced every 150 days (5 months) at a cost of 2USD in order to ensure good performances of the SoCool and to avoid clogging of the upper layers.
The 70USD takes into account the entire costs, ranging from cost of materials and labour (35USD), logistics, transport and delivery (15USD) and a net benefit of 20USD.
Hello team, Congrats on all your progress, I enjoyed seeing a solution that has potential to solve multiple pressing problems. No energy bill for a cornerstone appliance for an investment of $70 seems to be a promising design. I’m very interested in seeing how you can continue to subsidize these cost with other grants, sponsor, and partnerships. My question is, what happens if the amount of energy harnessed by the roof solar panel does not meet the needs of the appliance? On the opposite end, what if it is able to produce a surplus from the appliances needs will there… Read more »
[…] SoCOOL Affordable Solar Cooling and Filtration Technology (Pan-African University, Algeria) – A solar powered refrigerator intended to preserve food longer and reduce food-borne illnesses. […]
Dear Sir, We, the SoCool team from the Pan African University in Algeria are very grateful for your statement and your expected ranking. Although, we did not make it up to the three first positions, it is encouraging that you find our Solar cooling and Filtration technology among the best projects. This strengthens our willingness to still go ahead to work on it in order to contribute in making positive impacts in Africa and the world in general. We would be glad if you have any remark or suggestions so that we can improve on our project. Thank you very… Read more »