Design and Thermo-Economic Comparisons of an Absorption Air Conditioning System Based on Parabolic Trough and Evacuated Tube Solar Collectors

Adil Al-Falahi, Falah Alobaid and Bernd Epple
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Adil Al-Falahi: Institut Energiesysteme und Energietechnik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Otto-Berndt-Straße 2, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany
Falah Alobaid: Institut Energiesysteme und Energietechnik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Otto-Berndt-Straße 2, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany
Bernd Epple: Institut Energiesysteme und Energietechnik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Otto-Berndt-Straße 2, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-27

Abstract: Solar absorption cycles for air conditioning systems have recently attracted much attention. They have some important advantages that aid in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In this work, design and thermo-economic analyses are presented in order to compare between two different collector types (parabolic trough and evacuated tube) by water–lithium bromide absorption systems, and to select the best operating conditions. Generally, the system consists of three major parts. The first part is the solar field for thermal power conversion. The second part is the intermediate cycle, which contains a flashing tank and pumping system. The third part is the water lithium bromide absorption chiller. A case study for a sports arena with 700–800 kW total cooling load is also presented. Results reveal that a parabolic trough collector combined with H 2 O–LiBr (PTC/H 2 O–LiBr) gives lower design aspects and minimum rates of hourly costs (USD 5.2/h), while ETC/H 2 O–LiBr configuration give USD 5.6/h. The H 2 O–LiBr thermo-economic product cost is USD 0.14/GJ. The cycle coefficient of performance COP was in the range of 0.5 to 0.9.

Keywords: solar collectors; evacuated tube collector; parabolic trough collector; absorption cycles; air conditioning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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