Design and performance of a solar-powered air-conditioning system in a green building

Abstract

A solar-powered adsorption air-conditioning system was designed and installed in the green building of Shanghai Research Institute of Building Science. The system contained 150m2 solar collectors and two adsorption chillers with nominal refrigeration capacity of 8.5kW. Based on performance characteristics of the adsorption chiller, the operation mode of the solar-powered air-conditioning system was optimized by maintaining a phase shift of 540s between the two adsorption chillers. Thereafter, the whole system realized stable operation by the balance of heat consumption and refrigeration output. From June to August of 2005, the solar-powered air-conditioning system continuously ran between 9:00 and 17:00. The operation performance of the system under representative working condition showed that the average refrigeration output of the solar-powered air-conditioning system was 15.3kW during an 8h operation and the maximum value exceeded 20kW. Solar fraction for the system in summer was 71.7%, which corresponded to the designed cooling load (15kW). Compared with the ambient temperature, it was deduced that solar radiant intensity had a more distinct influence on the performance of solar-powered air-conditioning system.