Advances in solar absorption cooling systems: An overview

The need for refrigeration and air conditioning plays a crucial role in energy consumption. It is one of the important aspects which plays a crucial role in the food, human comfort, and energy problems of any country. Rapid consumption of energy and fossil fuels depletion results in the onset of energy crises thus, the research on absorption refrigeration systems has been widely promoted because the input energy supply for the systems can be a low-grade heat available from solar, geothermal, and/or waste heat from Industries. Solar refrigeration and air conditioning is an attractive and promising applications of solar energy because the cooling demand and the availability of solar energy are in phase and solar cooling can be made cost-effective. The present work includes the solar energy option and the potential for cooling with various range of parameters such as availability of solar radiation, environmental effects, types of collectors, types of solar cooling systems in general, and closed/open/continuous/ multistage/hybrid and advanced absorption refrigeration cycles in particular. A literature survey has been carried out for possible improvements in the performance of solar absorption cooling systems and different solar collection and storage options. The most suitable solar cooling option viz. absorption refrigeration with the solar operation, historical developments, and commercial products. Advanced absorption cycles and novel cooling systems have also been presented and discussed.