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"Development of Auxiliary Automobile Air Conditioning System by Solar

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Conference Paper · July 2017

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 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 04 Issue: 07 | July -2017 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

“Development of Auxiliary Automobile Air Conditioning System by

Solar Energy”

Y.Lethwala1, P.Garg2

12UG Student, Automobile Engineering, BMCET, Surat, India

---------------------------------------------------------------------***---------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract - Air conditioner is the primary accessory of a design and construct the system with enough electrical
passenger car which is used to maintain the vehicle cabin energy supplied to it. With considering of these several
temperature and humidity at comfortable levels for a factors, it will help to improve the stability and efficiency of
passenger. But this system consumes a lot of power and the system for greener solutions to the world’s energy needs.
negatively affects the fuel efficiency of a car. Depleting natural E. Janotkova, M. Pavelek [2] presented new trends in the
oil resources, increasing oil prices and environment pollution area of automobile air conditioning, which is fast becoming
increases the awareness about the Need to use renewable standard equipment. Their Attention is focused on the
sources. In past years, lot of efforts have been made towards refrigerant and ventilation circuit of the air conditioning
the application of solar energy to electric and hybrid cars, but equipment, and on the control system.
a limited work is done on particularly air conditioning case. In
the present work, feasibility study of air conditioner has been 1.1 Modified Circuit of Auxiliary Solar Operated
discussed using solar energy. With the implementation of solar Automobile Air Conditioner
conditioner in automobile the fuel efficiency will be increased
and the tail pipe emissions are reduced. Also by disattaching
compressor from engine and making it run through the solar
energy, the load on engine decreases.

Key Words: Automobile, Solar, Air-Conditioner, Car,

Motor, Compressor,

1. INTRODUCTION

As the use of fossil fuels is maximum, at peak in today’s

world, there is a chance of diminishing fossil fuels in next
generation. So to save the fossil fuels to some extent for
future generation and to save our environment from
pollution created by fossil fuels like petrol and diesel. we
came up with an idea of “Automobile Solar Air conditioner”.
Use of petrol and diesel cars are getting maximum day by Fig -1: Circuit of Solar Operated Automobile AC System
day. We will design an Automobile air conditioner system
which will work on solar energy. We will use solar panels A solar panel may be installed of the roof of the car. The
which will charge automatically from sunlight and will generated electricity from solar panel is stored in the
power the battery. The components like compressor, DC battery. This stored battery power is used to run the
motor, fan motor are connected in circuit through which our compressor of auto air conditioner with the help of electric
automobile air conditioner will work on solar energy. The motor. The compressor is not connected to the engine. Solar
main concept of this project is to reduce the use of fossil controller is attached between solar panels and battery for
fuels and to decrease the engine load and increase the safety of battery.
average by disconnecting compressor from engine. Yogesh
Sunil Wanborikar, Abhay Sinha [4] studied that the renewable 1.2 Implementation In Maruti Suzuki WagonR
energy is vital for today’s world as in near future the non
renewable sources that we are using are going to get The present project is an air-conditioning system designed to
exhausted. The solar vehicle is a Step in saving these non be installed in vehicle. The air-conditioning system derives
renewable sources of energy. I. Daut, M. Adzrie, M. Irwanto, power from solar cell and the electric power is used to drive
P. Ibrahim, M. Fitra[3] investigated the design and the electric motor with compressor to produce the cooling.
construction of a direct current (DC) air conditioning system The solar cell is also installed with maximum power point
integrated with photovoltaic (PV) system which consists of tracking (MPPT) for the battery charger. The system provides
PV panels, solar charger, inverter and batteries. how to a new method of solar driven system together with the

© 2017, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 5.181 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 737
 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 04 Issue: 07 | July -2017 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

existing power system in a vehicle. Invention provides a 1.4 Electric Battery

method to work with the existing system based on
retrofitting and without deteriorating the overall
performance and affecting other components.

Fig -3: Lead Acid Battery

The lead-acid battery has been a successful article of

commerce for over a century. Its production and use
continue to grow because of new applications for battery
power in energy storage, emergency power, and electric and
hybrid vehicles (including off-road vehicles) and because of
the increased number of vehicles for which it provides the
energy for engine starting, vehicle lighting, and engine
ignition (SLI).
Fig -2: Implementation in Car
1.5 Electric DC Motor
1.3 Solar Panel:

Fig -4: 24V DC Motor

A motor is an electrical machine which converts electrical

Fig -3: Solar Panel Implementation in Car energy into mechanical energy. The principle of working of
a DC motor is that ‘whenever a current carrying conductor
Solar cells, also called photovoltaic (PV) cells by scientists, place in a magnetic field, it experiences a mechanical force.
convert sunlight directly into electricity. PV gets its name
from the process of converting light (photons) to electricity 1.5 Compressor
(voltage), which is called the PV effect. The PV effect was
discovered in 1954, when scientists at Bell Telephone In the air-conditioner system compressors are use for the
discovered that silicon (an element found in sand) created an compression of refrigerant to operate the AC system. In
electric charge when exposed to sunlight [1]. Soon solar cells automobile use mostly swash plate type compressor.
were being used to power space satellites and smaller items
like calculators and watches.

© 2017, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 5.181 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 738
 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 04 Issue: 07 | July -2017 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

 There is a solar controller between panel and

battery.
 Connect battery1 and battery2 in series.
 The positive terminal of DC motor is joined to the
positive of battery2.
 The negative terminal of DC motor is joined to the
negative of battery1.
 On the AC switch on dashboard.
 Motor will supply power to compressor to run.
 Give a direct connection of compressor magnetic
clutch to positive terminal of battery2.
 The clutch will be engaged and the AC starts
working.
Fig -5: Swash Plate Type Compressor
3. Result
2. Specifications of Circuit Components
Polycrystalline silicon panels are selected for this application,
2.1 Solar-Panel Specification: because this type of solar panel shows good cost to power
ratio as compare to mono-crystalline and amorphous silicon
Type = polycrystalline silicon panel panels.
Power = 100 Watt
Voltage = 24 V
A 20 ampere current rating solar charge controller is
placed between panel and battery for the safety issues
of battery.

2.2 Battery Specification:

Battery Type= Lead Acid Battery

Ampere= 35 amp × 2
Voltage= 24 volt

2.3 Compressor Specification:

Type of Compressor= Swash Plate Type

Piston=5 Pistons
Displacement=117 cc
Compressor oil= Denso 8
Type of pulley= Polygroove Fig -6: Ampere of Solar Panel
Pressure Range= 1.3MPa (inlet) to 2.7MPa (outlet)
Generally polycrystalline panel give an efficiency of 15%, but
2.4 Car’s Roof And Hood Available Area Is Measured For in this kind of automobile application, angle between solar
The Installation Of Solar Panel: radiation and solar panel cannot be maintained ideally. And if
a mechanism is made for variable sun tracking, then one
Available roof area= 148*85=12580cm2 should have to compromise with the aerodynamic shape of
Available Hood area = 68×120 = 8160 cm2 the vehicle.
Total area = 20740cm2
That may cause little improvement and major harm to the
3. Experimental Setup vehicle performance. So panel should be placed as the vehicle
aerodynamic shape.
 Place solar panel on the roof of car.
 Connect positive terminal of solar panel to positive Due to lack of possibility of ideal angle formation between
terminal of battery1. sun rays and solar panels, panels may work with less
 Connect negative terminal of solar panel to negative effectiveness, so a lower photovoltaic efficiency of 13% is
terminal of battery1. taken for this system design calculations.

© 2017, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 5.181 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 739
 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 04 Issue: 07 | July -2017 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

 Average sunshine received in India = 5.4 kWh/m² Relation with the cooling load of air conditioner. In other
 Power generated when panel receive whole day months of the year this solar power may be used for heating
sunshine: = 5.4 kWh/m² ×1.2580m² ×0.13 application or other accessories.
= 0.883kWh
3.1 Cost Comparative Analysis
Measured output of solar panel:
Solar operated auto air conditioner system is eco friendly as
 Voltage=24V compare to the present engine driven AC system. Generally
 Current=10Amps combustion of one litre of petrol emits 240 gm of carbon
 Power=100Watts mono oxide, 2.5 kg of carbon Di oxide, 1 gm of hydro
 carbons, and 0.1 gm of nitrogen oxide. But for successful
Generated power is stored battery, having following implementation of this system, it should be cost effective
specifications: also. So a cost comparison is made between the present
system and solar operated system. Break even analysis
 Battery type = lead acid (BEP) is made for this cost analysis.
 Capacity = 3.0 kWh (50 % depth of discharge)
 Voltage = 24V i) The vehicle is run maximum 2 hours daily.
 A 20 ampere current rating solar charge controller is ii) Car takes complete day sunshine that may be during
placed between panel and battery for the safety running or parking time.
issues of battery. iii) Car gives 20km/litre mileage without air conditioner
work and 16km/litre with air conditioner work.
Power Generated And Load Run Time: iv) Fuel price is 70 Rs/litre
v) A car runs nearly one lakh km in 10 years of life.
Polycrystalline panel is able to generate 0.883kWh energy in
alto car, if it takes whole day sunshine and car air conditioner Fixed cost:
needs 0.738 kW power at peak load. Hence, it can be.
Calculated that, using polycrystalline panel, it can generate  Cost of panel: There is installation capacity of 100
power which is sufficient to run car air conditioner for nearly Watt solar panel space on Maruti Suzuki WagonR
1 hour. car, and the cost of large polycrystalline panels is
generally taken as 40 Rs/watt,
 Hence Panel cost = 100×40= 4000 Rs
 Cost of Lead acid battery = 5000 Rs

There are requirement of some other equipments like solar

charge controller, AC motor, inverter etc.
So balance of system (BOS) cost is taken as 5000 Rs.
Total initial cost i.e. fixed cost = 14000 Rs

Variable cost:

In this system the only variable cost is battery replacement

cost. As already mentioned, lead acid batteries are having a
life of 1200 cycles. Generally a car uses 250 days of a year.

Then battery replacement is required after 2 years or after

Chart -1: 1 Monthly Powers Generated and Load Run 30,000 km of run. Generally battery has a 40% resale value.
Time Hence battery maintenance cost is Rs 2000 on 30,000 km
use.
Solar energy varies from day to day. So the graph shows the
monthly variations of solar power generation by using Variable cost per unit km run:
polycrystalline solar panel on the roof of the car. Air Rs 2000/30000=0.0677 Rs /km
conditioner running hours are also shown up to which it can Total cost: Fixed cost + Variable cost × km run.
be run at full load. In India, like country air conditioner is
used six to seven months of a year. The biggest advantage of
this system is that availability of solar energy has a direct

© 2017, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 5.181 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 740
 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 04 Issue: 07 | July -2017 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

Fuel saved value by solar air conditioner: saving and any over running of car from this point gives
him profit.
As we have already assumed that, car gives the mileage of
20km/litre when car run without air conditioner operation 4. CONCLUSIONS
and 16 km/litre with air conditioner operation.
Feasibility of the solar driven auto air conditioner is checked
[5]
under different working conditions and following
conclusions are determined through the appropriate
Here x, is the distance travelled by the car with Air calculations and practical consideration with reasonable
conditioner, assumptions:
[5]
 There is direct relation between solar energy and AC
We can plot a graph using all the data that is calculated requirement i.e. more the sunshine more will be the
above, requirement of cooling(say in summer) and less the
sunshine less will be the requirement of cooling (say in
winter or monsoon). This relation gives the major
strength to this project feasibility.

 Air conditioner compressor can be run with the help of

230 V, AC motor of power 738 watt.

 Sufficient solar power to run the motor can be generated

by installing a solar panel on the roof of the car. This
solar energy can run the motor nearly 1 hour a day at
peak load.

 Polycrystalline solar panel and lead acid battery are

advised for such a system work. Because this
combination makes a good compromise between cost
and work performance.

Chart -2: Cost Analyses through Breakeven Point  This solar operated Air conditioner system is both eco
friendly and cost effective. It reduces the dependency of
In the above graph point ‘p’ is the breakeven point, which Air conditioner on car engine i.e. air conditioner can be
shows the point at which there is no profit and no loss. run without engine working like on red light etc.

Calculation of BEP:  Extra solar energy can also be used for power the other
car accessories like music system, light, 12 V car
X co-ordinate shows the car total km run and y co-ordinate batteries etc.
shows the cost
Fixed cost (F): y = 14000 REFERENCES
Variable cost or maintenance cost (V): y= 0.0677 x
Total cost (T): y= 14000 + 0.0677 x [1] Dr. R.E. Critoph, Mr. K. Thompson (1999) “Solar Energy
For Cooling And Refrigeration”, Engineering
Value of fuel saved by this solar operated system after x Department, University of warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL,
km: UK.
[5]

or y = 0.875 x [2] E. Janotkova, M. Pavelek(1994) “New Trends in the Field

of Automobile Air Conditioning”, Department of
At breakeven point: Thermomechanics and Environmental Engineering Brno
[14000 + 0.0677 x] = 0.875 x University of Technology, 61669 Brno, Czech Republic.

x= 17342 km [3] I. Daut, M. Adzrie, M. Irwanto, P. Ibrahim, M.

Fitra(2013) “Solar Powered Air Conditioning System”,
At this point, if car runs 17342 km, owner of car can get
his spent cost of solar system back in the form of fuel

© 2017, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 5.181 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 741
 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 04 Issue: 07 | July -2017 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

[4] TerraGreen13 International Conference.

[5] Yogesh Sunil Wamborikar, Abhay Sinha (2010) “Solar

Powered Vehicle”, Proceedings of the World Congress
on Engineering and Computer Science 2010 Vol II
WCECS 2010, San Francisco, USA.

[6] Salman Tamseel, Shah Alam (2016) “ Analysis of Solar-

Powered D.C Air Conditioning System”, International
Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume
6, ISSN 2250-3153.

© 2017, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 5.181 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 742

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