Dynamic and Economic Investigation of a Solar Thermal-Driven Two-Bed Adsorption Chiller under Perth Climatic Conditions

Ali Alahmer, Xiaolin Wang and K. C. Amanul Alam
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Ali Alahmer: Department of Alternative Energy Technology, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Al-Zaytoonah University, P.O. Box 130, Amman 11733, Jordan
Xiaolin Wang: School of Engineering, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 65, Hobart 7001, Australia
K. C. Amanul Alam: School of Engineering, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 65, Hobart 7001, Australia

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: Performance assessment of a two-bed silica gel-water adsorption refrigeration system driven by solar thermal energy is carried out under a climatic condition typical of Perth, Australia. A Fourier series is used to simulate solar radiation based on the actual data obtained from Meteonorm software, version 7.0 for Perth, Australia. Two economic methodologies, Payback Period and Life-Cycle Saving are used to evaluate the system economics and optimize the need for solar collector areas. The analysis showed that the order of Fourier series did not have a significant impact on the simulation radiation data and a three-order Fourier series was good enough to approximate the actual solar radiation. For a typical summer day, the average cooling capacity of the chiller at peak hour (13:00) is around 11 kW while the cyclic chiller system coefficient of performance (COP) and solar system COP are around 0.5 and 0.3, respectively. The economic analysis showed that the payback period for the solar adsorption system studied was about 11 years and the optimal solar collector area was around 38 m 2 if a compound parabolic collector (CPC) panel was used. The study indicated that the utilization of the solar-driven adsorption cooling is economically and technically viable for weather conditions like those in Perth, Australia.

Keywords: adsorption chiller; silica gel; solar cooling; sconomic analysis (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 (9)

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