Solar-Powered Refrigeration for Reliable Off-Grid Storage and Distribution of Fresh Produce

Project Summary To enable new markets for farmers and food distributors in the agriculture sector to maintain reliable temperature-controlled cold supply chains for storage distribution and marketing of fresh foods Radiant Innovation LLC (Radiant) is proposing to develop and validate modes of operation for rapidly deployable grid-independent refrigerated containers that operate on solar power and battery energy storage.This Phase I effort will refine our models of solar-powered refrigerated containers and implement model-predictive control strategies that incorporate dynamic weather forecasting to ensure off-grid operation even through periods of reduced daytime solar insolation. A 20-foot conventional insulated shipping container that Radiant has procured and outfitted with solar panels refrigeration battery storage and control system will be used to assess how thermal energy storage may extend resiliency for off-grid operation over a wide-range of climates.Radiant will explore the maintenance of food quality in the off-grid unit by testing crops for ethylene and CO production and microbial growth. 2 Phase I will produce a validated dynamic model monitored by cloud computing to enable sophisticated control strategies for WIFI-connected solar-powered units.The model will provide a virtual testbed for exploring the cost/storage capacity tradeoffs for deployment locations specific to first-mile aggregation and last-mile distribution of local food supply chains. Market studies with constituents in reduced produce access areas will provide inputs into operational and customer-driven requirements of the refrigerated containers. Our team believes development of rapidly deployable off-grid solar-powered refrigerated containers will reduce food losses maintain food quality document safe storage and handling and ultimately provide affordable food storage in areas that would otherwise be unattainable.