ENERGY EFFICIENT OFF-GRID NOVEL PVT MODULE FOR A RURAL HEALTH CLINIC

This paper identifies the technical and economic choice of electrifying a rural health clinic in Karumandurai village [lat.11.850 N, long.78.640 E] in Kalrayan hills, Tamil Nadu, India through optimal off-grid energy utilization. A photovoltaic thermal (PVT) module has been developed based on the solar data analyzed for the location using PVSyst software. The main focus is to design an energy efficient PVT system which can produce the required energy for storage of life saving vaccines, blood centrifuge and water bath for sterilization. A cooling mechanism is used to extract the panel heat to increase the efficiency of the panel. Isobutane (R600a) is used as a refrigerant inside the heat pipe. A flat plate collector attached to the solar panel absorbs the panel heat and is transferred to the storage tank through heat pipes for water preheating. This pre-heated water is used for water bath and thus reduces the electrical energy requirement for water heating. A low powered blood centrifuge which is suitable for health clinics is designed and the power consumption is reduced by 50%. This proposed module is cost effective and provides higher efficiency than the standard PV modules.