SolarChill

Keith R

"Believe it!"
Jan 1, 2002
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The Solarchill was primarily designed to keep vaccines cold in areas where there is no connection to the electrical grid or power provision is erratic (as in the DR). It is not intended so much for household use, although I'm sure at some point an offshoot of the tech for that purpose will become avaialble. I wrote about this a couple of months ago.

Regards,
Keith

refrW.jpg
 

leromero

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May 30, 2004
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From the specs I was able to view it seems like it takes 10 days to "cure" or get to maximum cooling capacity. Some vaccines however cannot be frozen and for these situations the SolarChill actually has a filament heater that avoids getting the temps down to 0C. If the SolarChill is that efficient at a current prototype price point of between US$1500 and US$2000, I wonder what the mass produced price point could be.

I can't see this getting greenlighted for mass production soon enough.
 

Dolores1

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May 3, 2000
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Solar refrigeration is already for sale in the DR. The solar companies have catalogues and offer these. I recently saw a horizontal refrigerator by Electrolux at an exhibit by ProEnergia.
 

Keith R

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Jan 1, 2002
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Solar refrigeration is already for sale in the DR. The solar companies have catalogues and offer these. I recently saw a horizontal refrigerator by Electroluz at an exhibit by ProEnergia.

Yes, but I am willing to bet that the Electrolux relies on lead-acid storage batteries. Solarchill doesn't.
 

Mirador

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Apr 15, 2004
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Maybe this new technology should be evaluated with another use in mind, considering that vaccines are a rather specialized product that is mostly marketed through public health institutions. I wonder how does the SolarChill refrigerator perform as a beer cooler, under DR market conditions.
 

leromero

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May 30, 2004
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i don't think thats what he said. Just that it would be a good way to teest the product if beer can be kept cold in some of the barrios. The "health institutions" would be thee primary market because of the vaccines, but just think about the possibilities for beer. Cold beer anywhere without having to rely on Ede-xxx.
 

Mirador

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Apr 15, 2004
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Some one tell me I'm reading this wrong. :surprised


leroy, it's a very straightforward question, but obviously Mr clumsy (remember he has two left feet ;-) knows very little about solar cells. Mine has a 20 year guarantee, and since it has no moving parts, I guess it will eventually succumb to normal weathering or an accident, like a lightning strike. Ive heard some people buy 'used' or 'broken' solar cell panels, since not all cells in the array will be damaged....
 

2LeftFeet

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Dec 1, 2006
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No you are not reading this wrong -- I have a solar watch and I have had it for 5 years. I am having a problem with it holding it's charge-- believe it or not. So I a ASS U Ming that eventually do to wear and tear the cells wear down and they need to be replaced. :)

PS --- It's MS clumsy!!!!
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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The solarchill probably works for what it was intended because the unit would not be openned very often, thus keeping it cold inside. Make a refrigerator out of it and it will be no good, people would constantly be openning it, stand there thinking of what they want to take out and letting all the cold air go out the bottom of the openning.

It hards to get folks to understand that "cold" flows down and each time you open the unit most of the cold air falls out. Thus the principle of the open cold food units in the supermarkets in the states, the top is open, the cold will not fall out, thus food stays cold even tho there is no door to the cold food units.

The more packed a refrigerator is maintained, the more it stays cold when the door is openned. As the cold in the food will not instantly leave it.

I keep plastic bottles filled with water in the freezer, it the same as blocks of ice that they used in the old days with "Ice Boxes", thus keeping the food cold even when the electric is off.
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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-- I have a solar watch and I have had it for 5 years. I am having a problem with it holding it's charge-- believe it or not. So I a ASS U Ming that eventually do to wear and tear the cells wear down and they need to be replaced. :)

PS --- It's MS clumsy!!!!

The solar cell is probably working, it's the internal rechargable battery that is most likely going bad in the watch, which the solar cell(s) are trying to keep charged. Could be some kind of capacitor circuit instead of batteries that keeps the charge instead, either way, they are going bad.

Keep posting 2LeftFeet, eventually you will get a good answer, I think mine is one of them.