Experimental Work on Salt-Based Cooling Systems

Abstract

The energy consumption for space cooling is progressively increasing. Integrating renewable energy into space cooling systems is critical for reducing CO2 emissions from the building sector. The salt-based cooling system is an appealing alternative as it can be charged by solar energy. This system is based on the characteristic of endothermic salts, which generate a considerable cooling effect when dissolved in water. A screening test was performed in this work to evaluate the cooling performance of several endothermic salts. Furthermore, a laboratory-scale system was developed to demonstrate the endothermic salt-based thermal storage and cooling generation system. Temperature decreases up to 12.3 °C were observed in the system containing Potassium Chloride salt. The temperature drop was maintained after the system underwent a charging/discharging cycle; however, the cooling period was shortened. The system demonstrated an inherent low efficiency due to the large volume of water required in the discharging phase, demanding a considerable amount of energy to evaporate the water in the charging phase. As a result, the application of this system will be restricted to the usage of low-grade energy during the charging phase.