EFFECT OF COLD STORAGE USING SOLAR ENERGY ON QUAILTY OF POMEGRANATE FRUITS

This study aims to evaluate a cold storage system using solar energy of pomegranate fruits (cv. Wonderful) for storage period 50 days under storing temperatures of (5 ◦C) and relative humidity of 90 -95 %. The storage process was done using two refrigeration systems one of them is a refrigerator driven by solar energy, the other one driven using electrical energy. The component of refrigerator driven by solar energy consists, two parallel photovoltaic cells (PV), two batteries, an inverter, and cables, In addition to refrigerator unit. Testing the PV system showed that, nine hours discharge time for one battery is available during connected to the cold storage. So it is necessary to use two batteries connected in series to be suitable for refrigerator driven power and Egyptian conditions, and can therefore run the cooling system throughout the day without interruption. The percentage of weight loss, hardness, and total soluble solid (TSS) for pomegranate fruits using refrigerator driven using photovoltaic cell were 8.46 %, 11.18 kgf, and 15.80% respectively; Meanwhile cold storage driven by electrical energy, these parameters were 8.79 %, 10.41 kgf, and 15.71% respectively. Operating cost using solar energy achieved the lowest cost compare with using electrical energy, therefore, can rely on the use of solar energy instead of electrical energy to operate the refrigeration unit. From the above results, pomegranate fruit inside PV driven refrigerator has a good quality compared with pomegranate fruit inside electrically driven refrigerator.