Abstract
Energy is a vital need of all humans. Space air conditioning using conventional vapour compression systems usually leads to high electricity consumption. There is also the need to safe guard the environment from the harmful emissions of refrigerants used by these systems. In this study an absorption air conditioning system of 3 kW capacity, operating on the lithium bromide/ water pair was constructed and experimented on a test room. The test scale facility is a hybrid absorption cooling system whose thermal energy requirement was provided by solar energy and an auxiliary Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) burner. Experimental tests were conducted in Zaria in the months of April and June, with each experimental day lasting 9 hours. The peak cooling energy demand of the test room was 1.3 kWh. Results from the experiments conducted showed the absorption air conditioning system was able to attain a peak cooling output of 1.5 kW. Maximum Coefficient of Performance (COP) of 0.437 and 0.439 were recorded in the experimental days of April and June respectively. The system achieved space cooling temperatures within 24oC to 27oC. Solar fractions of 0.61 was recorded in April and 0.27 was recorded in June. Keywords : solar energy, absorption, liquefied petroleum gas, air conditioning system, experimental evaluation, cooling.
Highlights
Growing populations and advancing technological developments has led to increase in the demand for energy, especially in developing nations
These units operate with synthetic refrigerants such as hydro – chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs); which when released into the atmosphere constitute high Ozone Depleting Potential (ODP) (Sarbu and Sebarchievici, 2015)
Increase in primary energy prices have led to renewed research attention to thermally driven absorption air conditioning systems which use environmentally friendly refrigerants
Summary
Growing populations and advancing technological developments has led to increase in the demand for energy, especially in developing nations. Powered mechanical compression chillers are generally employed in the air conditioning of buildings These units operate with synthetic refrigerants such as hydro – chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs); which when released into the atmosphere constitute high Ozone Depleting Potential (ODP) (Sarbu and Sebarchievici, 2015). These mechanical compression chillers consume high electric power which increases cost of operation. Increase in primary energy prices have led to renewed research attention to thermally driven absorption air conditioning systems which use environmentally friendly refrigerants. It is expected that primary energy savings as well as environmental protection can be achieved by the use of absorption chillers powered by renewable or waste heat
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