The application of solar integrated absorption cooling system to improve the air quality and reduce the energy consumption of the air conditioning systems in buildings – A full year model simulation

Abstract

Due to the depletion of fossil fuels and increasing the atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions, employing equipment with low energy consumption levels, while benefiting the renewable energy sources have been wide spread these days. In this research, the application of a solar assisted absorption chiller/cooling system in a high cooling load required region of Iran was investigated. A building located in southeast region of the country as a high cooling load required region was considered for this purpose. The performance of the building existing cooling system was studied in terms of the provided indoor air conditions and energy consumption was using TRNSYS software. Then, the feasibility of replacing the existing cooling system with a solar assisted absorption chiller was explored. Three recommended standard solar panels, namely Evacuated Tube, Glazed Painted, and Unglazed solar collectors were examined to recommend the most desired configuration. The study was conducted based on two operating hours of 24 h. and 8 h. (office working hours) scenarios. The results showed that within the regular office working hours, the solar assisted absorption chiller system equipped with the Evacuated Tube, Glazed Painted, and Unglazed solar collectors improves the indoor temperature up to 3.08 °C, 1.68 °C, and 1.46 °C, respectively. It was also found that the reduction in power consumption by application of the solar assisted absorption chiller could be up to 84 %, 64 %, and 48 %, respectively compared to the currently used cooling system in the building. The performance comparison between the three examined solar thermal panels revealed that the solar absorption chiller equipped with the Evacuated Tube solar collector has the capability to provide the most desired indoor air conditions and power consumption level.