Performance Evaluation of a Solar Air Conditioning System

Abstract

The present study deals with the energy analysis of a new design of the triple generation system of cooling, heating and solar power to supply energy for a hospital complex. The proposed system includes concentrator collectors of the linear Fresnel reflector type with a thermal photovoltaic absorber, which uses solar energy to generate electrical and thermal energy, respectively, for sale to the grid and providing part of the energy for cooling and heating cycles. The proposed cooling system in this structure is a single-effect lithium bromide-water absorption chiller. The gas-burner support heating structure is intended to meet a part of the energy needs of the cooling and heating system non-satisfied by the solar cycle. The system analysis under the thermal load of a hospital complex has been performed annually. The results show that 30% of the system's annual energy is supplied by the solar cycle. In addition, the proposed structure also generates 77.7 MWH of electrical energy. The studied system provides all its energy needs from solar energy on the hottest day from 9:00 to 15:00. The proposed collector has a better performance than the thermal photovoltaic collector without concentrator and the thermal concentrator collector.