PI: Mr. Pratisthit Lal Shrestha, Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kathmandu University
Mr. Pratisthit Lal Shrestha is Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Department of Mechanical Engineering Kathmandu University (KU). He has obtained his Masters from National Institute of Technology (NIT) Trichy and Bachelors from Kathmandu University. Currently, he has been leading the Design lab under Design and Manufacturing Subdivision in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Design lab is one of its kind technology incubation centers. He has been working in the field of Product Design, Cold storage, Biomechanics, Prosthetics and Assistive devices in Design lab.
Pilot Project Summary/ Overview
Nepal is an agricultural country where the majority of the population depend upon agriculture for livelihood. In Nepal, small scale farmers lack affordable and effective post-harvest vegetable storage because of which they have to suffer huge amounts of waste and lower money value of the product. This project aims in piloting vegetable storing cold storage targeted to the rural farmers and identified collection centers which will also improve the income of the rural farmers, provide better market availability for the products and above all it will contribute to improve the overall food supply chain.
The proposed cold store will be an energy independent cooling solution to store the vegetables and other agricultural products. The system will be based on a novel vapor absorption cooling system where major energy input will be in the form of heat. The system will have an innovative combination of solar energy and cooling system. Heat from the Sun will be used to create a cooling effect in the walking chamber. As an input to the system, solar water heaters will be used to supply heat to the system and solar photovoltaic panels will be used to supply necessary amounts of electricity (which is generally much lower) to the cooler.
This system is an environmentally friendly sustainable energy technology to provide thermal cooling in rural communities and to assist vegetables cultivation by minimizing post-harvest losses.
Research Team
- Er. Bhuwan Paudel
- Er. Jhalak Raj Adhikari
- Er. Raman Silwal
Conference
Thermodynamic Analysis of R134a-DMAc Based Solar Powered Vapor Absorption Refrigeration System for Rural Cold Storage, 5 th graduate conference on environment and sustainable development, 2019, Kathmandu University, Nepal.
Possibility of Space Cooling in Passenger Car based on Vapor Absorption Refrigeration System with Exhaust Gas as Heat Source, First National Conference on Automotive Engineering, 2019, Kathmandu University, Nepal.
Journal
Paper Title : Thermodynamic Analysis of R134a-DMAc Based Solar Powered Vapor Absorption Refrigeration System for Rural Cold Storage
Journal /Publisher : Renewable Energy / Elsevier
Status : Under Review
