Development of an Energy-Conversion Fish Cooling Unit for Small-Scale Fishing Vessels
Abstract
Small-scale fishing vessels frequently operate without reliable onboard cooling, exposing the catch to rapid quality deterioration before landing. This study developed UNIBOX, a compact fish-cooling unit that converts fishing-vessel engine rotation into electrical energy for refrigeration and auxiliary monitoring. The development adopted an industry-university co-design process comprising needs mapping, mechanical and thermal design, material selection, fabrication, subsystem integration, functional verification, and field implementation. The prototype has a 100 L cooling capacity, overall dimensions of 97 cm × 62 cm × 80 cm, a mass of 55 kg, and a specified operating temperature range of -7 °C to 10 °C. Mechanical power is transferred through a 1:2 sprocket-chain system to a 460 W generator, buffered by a 12 V 75 Ah LiFePO4 battery, while the maximum cooling-system consumption is approximately 200 W. Nominal calculations indicate a 260 W generation margin, a generation-to-load ratio of 2.30, a gross battery energy of 900 Wh, and an ideal backup duration of 4.5 h at maximum load before conversion and battery-use losses. Three units were fabricated and implemented on traditional fishing boats. The main contribution is the integration of compact refrigeration, engine-coupled electricity generation, battery buffering, sonar display, and local monitoring in a field-deployable platform for small-scale fishers. Future work must quantify cooling-down time, coefficient of performance, temperature uniformity, vibration durability, and fish-quality retention under controlled operating cycles.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.31284/j.jasmet.2026.v7i1.9303
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