SOLAR COOLING SYSTEM FOR COMFORT AIR-CONDITIONING WITH ABSORPTION REFRIGERATION

This paper discusses solar energy use for comfort air conditioning with water - lithium bromide absorption refrigeration under Romania's specific climate conditions and presents a correlation between the intensity of the solar radiation and the cooling effect at the consumer, represented by air-conditioned offices. More specifically, this study aims to assess the ratio between the energy provided by the sun and the energy demand for air-conditioning, over 3 summer months of 2010 in Bucharest. Intensity of the solar radiation has been measured along with flow-rates and temperatures of the working fluids in the absorption machine and the comfort air-conditioning consumer. Based on the recorded data the cooling capacity and the consumer COP were calculated. The experimental set up includes besides the absorption chiller of 17.6 kW cooling capacity under standard conditions (heat medium inlet temperature of 88 degrees C, cooling water inlet temperature of approximately 31 degrees C), flat-plate type solar collectors, of 80m(2) total surface, an warm water storage tank of 4m(3) capacity, a plate heat exchanger of 40kW heating capacity and the air-conditioning consumer, represented by either a fan-coil or an air handling unit. Based on the results of this experimental study a prediction can be made with respect to the energy covered up by the sun from the total energy demand for air-conditioning over the extra Romanian standard warm season, that is over the month of May and September, all the more so the current trend shows an extension of the warm season. The prediction is to be experimentally validated over the next stages of the present research.