VATIS UPDATE Article

Researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) have developed a solar energy system that can not only be used to cool living areas but refrigerate food as well. The team of researchers at UNAM’s Renewable Energies Institute (IER) is led by Dr. Wilfrido Rivera Gómez Franco, who said the system can raise water temperature from 20-110 °C, or reduce it to below 0. Currently, the project’s set-up includes a 60-square-meter solar array, which produces enough energy to cool or heat an 80-square-meter room. The developers are currently focusing on evaluating the system’s performance under several temperature conditions and refining their control over it.

The next stage would be to install it in the real-world environment of one of the institution’s laboratories. The developers are also looking for an ideal place in northern Mexico or a coastal city to install their cooling system. In those areas, the bimonthly cost of air conditioning units can run from 5,000 to 10,000 pesos (US $290 to $580). Those figures could be drastically reduced by using solar energy instead, as the only conventionally-generated electricity needed is to power a small pump that cycles hot water through the system.

The developers explained that although there are similar products on the international market, they cannot achieve temperatures of less than -5 °C, limiting their use to air conditioning. The system developed at UNAM can easily produce temperatures of -7 °C, expanding its application to food refrigeration. Rivera also said that their system is 50% cheaper than foreign ones, before taking into consideration import taxes that can increase the end price four-fold. A patent registration has been filed by the team of developers.