Track: Product Development

Abstract

Carabao milk is notoriously known for having short shelf life if not refrigerated immediately after collection. The farmers at the vicinity of the Philippine Carabao Center address this problem by using ice and water to keep the freshly harvested milk refrigerated. This project was devised to find another way to travel the freshly harvested milk. To be able to refrigerate the container, thermoelectric coolers were used. These devices are compact and small in size but are capable of cooling reaching temperatures of up to below freezing temperatures. It develops temperature difference as electricity passes through it, one side is cold, and the other is hot. The heat given off on the hot side needs to be rejected to be able to further decrease the temperature on the cold side. In this study, the researchers fabricated a container that used as cooling container for the carabao milk. The main material used in the container was stainless-steel 304, and for the thermoelectric cooler, the researchers used a thermoelectric cooler that was available in the market with a power rating of 12V and 6A. For the heatsink and fan assembly, a thermal paste was use to integrate the thermoelectric cooler to the assembly to increase the heat transfer between the cold side and the container as well as the hot side and the heatsink. The cooling system was powered by two lead acid battery and the battery was charged using solar panel. The study was successful in preserving the quality of the carabao milk based on physico-chemical analysist done by PCC, however, it did not reach the desired temperature which was 4? dues to several factors namely; fabrication of the flat side and the battery power rating, insufficient number of thermoelectric module used and heat loss in the system.