INTRODUCTION
Solar absorption cooling systems have been appealing to
the air conditioning market for many years as a promising
solution for the ever-increasing energy and environmental
issues. Driven by solar energy which is ample in the season of
high cooling demand and working with environment friendly
refrigerants, it may be really an ideal solution. However, in
spite of the continuous efforts for commercialisation over
decades, its market share is still discouragingly small.
The advanatge of solar cooling system lies on primary
energy savings from the use of free solar energy. Considering
high initial costs compared to other conventional systems,
payback period should be minimized.
In the past, however, many systems failed to provide
reasonable savings from solar driven operation. Since they
required heating medium at high temperature, solar collectors
couldnt operate efficiently for substantial period of time
resulting longer payback period.
From this reason, many systems now use high-efficiency
collectors like vacuum tube collector. They can operate
efficiently in wide working temperature range and so
guarantee sunbstantial savings in cooling season. But that
does not necessarily mean shorter payback period, because the
collector price is high enough to counteract suubstantial
portion of the savings.
Most of solar absorption cooling systems have been based
on water-cooled H2O/LiBr chillers. Generally, water-cooled
systems can operate with lower temperature heat than aircooled one and consequently yield higher efficiency. Some
drawbacks, however, are associated with their cooling towers.
Initial and operation costs for water-cooled system may be
quite burdensome for the small- and medium-sized systems.
Hygienic concerns, scarecity of water, unfavourable climate
conditions also can be decisive factors in selection of a
system.
SYSTEM OPTIONS
Absorption cycles and working pairs
Following five absorption cycles were considered.
- HE (Half Effect) Cycle: Also called two-stage or double-lift
cycle. It can provide refrigeration or air conditioning with a
relatively low-temperature heat source. The cooling COP of
this cycle is roughly half of the single effect and so often
called half effect.
- SE (Single Effect) Cycle: The most basic form of cycle with
moderate generator temperature. It has one major
recuperator, SHX (Solution Heat Exchanger). RHX
(Refrigerant Heat Exchanger) is also generally used in highpressure systems.
- AHX (Absorber Heat eXchange): Cycle This is a variation
of the single effect cycle. With smaller circulation ratio, it is
possible to recuperate absorption heat with solution at the
upper part of the absorber. High temperature solution from
generator outlet can be used also to heat the solution inside
the generator (GHX, Generator Heat Exchanger).
- GAX (Generator Absorber heat eXchange): Cycle This is a
further variation of the AHX cycle. With even smaller
circulation ratio, it is possible to have temperature overlap
between generator and absorber so that absorption heat from
absorber can be used to generate refrigerant vapour in the
generator.
- Multi-Pressure Regenerative Cycle: Basic idea of the cycles
in this category is to make generation and absorption
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SYSTEM MODELLING
Design and simulation programs were based on the
following basic assumptions.
- Liquid-vapour mixtures are in equilibrium states.
- Pure refrigerant in condenser and evaporator.
- External heat source and sink have infinitely large thermal
capacities.
Since pure refrigerant and infinite thermal capacity of heat
source and sink are assumed in condenser and evaporator,
CATs(Closest Approach Temperatures) in these components
are simply arithmetic difference between external and internal
temperatures. When CATs of the two components are given,
the high and low system pressures can be determined readily
from equilibrium correlation.
Collector I
Vacuum
tube
Dimension
LxWxH
2.39x0.73x0.12
(2)
(Teva ) = P
(3)
(4)
sat
Q& con = m& ref hlat = (UA) con (Tcon
Tamb )
sat
Q& eva = m& ref qeva ,in hlat = (UA )eva (Tchil Teva
)
Collector II
Flat
0.723/2.65/0.0110
1.27x2.45x0.11
Collector III
Flat
0.682/4.30/0.0077
1.94x1.03x0.08
* sol= 0-a1T*m-a2T*m2, T*m=(tm-ta)/I, Gross efficiency with wind
(5)
(6)
0.8
Collector I
Collector II
Collector III
Collector Efficiency
Plow = P
sat
(1)
sat
Solar collectors
Type
qeva ,in =
0.6
(7)
hlat ,eva
0.4
0.2
sat
sat
sat
Tv ,rhx ,out = Teva
+ rhx (Tcon
Teva
)
0
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
sat
Tl ,rhx ,out = Tcon
0.2
Cpv
sat
(Tv ,rhx ,out Teva
)
Cpl
(8)
(9)
sat
sat
sat
Tabs ,in = Tgen
, out shx (Tgen , out Tabs , out )
sat
Tgen ,in = Tabs
, out +
1 Cpweak
sat
(Tgen
, out Tabs ,in )
Cpstrng
(10)
(11)
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d.s.kim@wbmt.tudelft.nl
1 X weak
X strng X weak
sat
&
f1 (Taca
,in ) = mref [( 1) hl , ahx ,in + ahx hv , rhx , out
(20)
( 1 + ) h
] Q& = 0.
(12)
ahx
R=
sat
Tahx ,in = Tsfgsat,out ghx (Tsfgsat,out Tghx
,in )
sat
Q& = ( 1) Cp (T
T )
(14)
ghx
Q& abs = m& ref [( 1) hl ,abs ,in + hv ,rhx ,out hl , abs ,out ] (17)
= (UA)abs LMTDabs
(23)
sat
sat
sat
sat
(24)
Tahx
,in = Tweak , gax ,in gax (Tweak , gax ,in Tstrng , gax ,in )
sat
aca , out
(22)
(16)
sol I
ahx ,in
(15)
Q& gen
sfg ,out
( A) sol =
weak
(21)
ahx
Q& rec = m& ref [(1 + R) hv ,rec ,in hv ,rec ,out R hl ,rec ,out ] (13)
= (UA)rec LMTDrec
l , ahx , out
sat
&
f 3 (Tghx
,in ) = mref [( gax ) hl , gax , out
(26)
(27)
(19)
(Q& abs )i = {m& l ,abs ,in hl ,in (m& l , abs ,in + m& v , gen,out ) hl ,abs ,out (28)
+ m& v , gen,out [qin hv ,in + (1 qin ) hl ,in ]}i
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d.s.kim@wbmt.tudelft.nl
cool =
eva
dt
(35)
I ASC dt
SYSTEM DESIGN
To compare all systems under the same conditions,
following design conditions were chosen.
- CATabs=CATcon=8K, CATeva= 8.7K, CATgen= 5K
- Effectiveness 0.9 for all internal heat exchangers
- Cooling air temperature Tamb= 35oC, Chilled water
temperature Tchil= 12.7oC
1.2
SE
HE
AHX
GAX
1R
COPchiller
Q&
(29)
0.8
0.6
0.4
(30)
0.2
60
80
100
120
140
160
(31)
COPchiller =
Q& eva
Q&
(32)
gen
Q&
Q&
(33)
Q&
(34)
sol
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d.s.kim@wbmt.tudelft.nl
30
20
20
10
10
Collector II
40
30
20
20
10
10
0
SE
HE
AHX
GAX
1R
Collector III
30
20
40
10
0
100
120
140
30
20
10
20
0
80
NH3/H2O
NH3/NaSCN
NH3/LiNO3
30
10
60
40
40
30
40
40
Collector I
30
40
0
80
100
120
140
160
160
COMPARISON OF PERFORMANCE
SE
HE
1R
250
100
Solar irradiance
Ambient temperature
200
0.8
80
0.6
60
0.4
40
0.2
20
100
Tamb (oC)
150
I (kW/m2)
300
50
60
80
100
120
140
160
0
5
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
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d.s.kim@wbmt.tudelft.nl
25
25
Collector I
20
20
15
15
10
10
25
25
Collector II
20
20
15
15
10
SE
HE
1R
5
20
Collector III
10
NOMENCLATURE
P
T
X
Y
A
Cp
I
20
15
15
10
10
0
4
4.8
5.6
6.4
Q&
R
h
m&
Pressure, bar
Temperature, oC
Ammonia concentration in liquid
Ammonia concentration in vapour
Area, m2
Specific heat, kJ/kg oC
Solar irradiance, W/m2
Heat transfer rate, kW/m2
Reflux ratio
Enthalpy, kJ/kg
Mass flow rate, kg/s
Vapour quality
20
18
Greek letters
Effectiveness
Circulation ratio
Instantaneous efficiency
16
14
12
Subscripts
l
Liquid
v
Vapour
strng
Strong solution
weak
Weak solution
ref
Refrigerant
sol
Solar collector; solar radiation
cool
Cooling
NH3/H2O
NH3/NaSCN
NH3/LiNO3
10
8
4
4.8
5.6
6.4
REFERENCES
CONCLUSIONS
From this study, following conclusions have been made.
Absorption cycles working at generator temperatures
higher than that of single effect are unsuitable for solar
absorption cooling system.
Compared to single effect system of the same cooling
capacity, half effect system requires about 40% more
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