Experimental Evaluation of a Mobile Charging Station Prototype for Energy Supply Applied to Rural and Isolated Areas in Emergency Situations

A prototype of a mobile electric charging station was developed to simulate the energy supply to a rural medical post. A 20 m 2 medical post module was built, divided into two rooms (medical staff room and patient room) and a heater, a freezer, a refrigerator, lights and a personal computer were added inside. The mobile electric charging station was made up of an array of 2.88 kW flexible photovoltaic panels, a 48 V and 19.2 kW·h LiFePO 4 battery bank, a charger inverter with a total capacity of 5 kW and a 4 kW electric generator. All of this equipment was placed in an all-terrain pickup truck. Temperature sensors and electrical sensors were installed to evaluate the performance of the prototype in charging and discharging scenarios. Results were obtained according to the operation over 10 months in the city of Arequipa, Peru. The results indicate an indefinite autonomy on clear days, the autonomy varying between 7 and 10 days for a climate with medium cloudiness, and with very cloudy conditions (i.e., with rain), the autonomy is 2 to 3 days. In circumstances of low solar irradiance, the generator had to supply the energy, thereby improving energy autonomy.