Technical-Economic Analysis of Steam Double Effect Absorption Chiller-Heaters Equipped with Solar Heat Pipe System

2013 ◽  
Vol 465-466 ◽  
pp. 327-334
Author(s):  
Morteza Khalaji Assadi ◽  
Hamidreza Akhavan Armaki ◽  
Mahmoud Zendeh Del
Keyword(s):  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Heat Pipe ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Double Effect ◽  
Coefficient Of Performance ◽  
Absorption Chiller ◽  
Solar Heat ◽  
Pipe System ◽  
Break Even Point ◽  
Solar Cooling System

The aim of this research is to indicate a steam double effect chiller-heater equipped with solar heat pipe in a certain space with the area of 975 m2 located in Tehran, which is currently equipped with a direct-fired single effect absorption chiller-heater. Thereafter , the most obvious differences of the two chiller-heater systems are compared: the solar cooling system increases coefficient of performance as high as 0.54, decreases CO2 dissemination by 829 tons in each year, and reduces energy consumption by 1552.42 MWh/Yr. Economic analysis of the two systems using break-even-point showed that the use of solar system is attractive in applications that have excess thermal energy, and the conversion of this energy to higher value energy markets is to be more profitable than absorption gas-fired system from 13th year on. Keywords: Technical-economic analysis, energy optimization, solar chiller, absorption chiller-heater, solar heat pipe.

Performance of the Merced Demonstration XCPC Collector and Double Effect Chiller

2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bennett Widyolar ◽  
Roland Winston ◽  
Lun Jiang ◽  
Heather Poiry
Keyword(s):  
Cooling System ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Double Effect ◽  
Solar Thermal ◽  
Coefficient Of Performance ◽  
Thermal Coefficient ◽  
Absorption Chiller ◽  
Collector System ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Solar Thermal Cooling

A solar thermal cooling system using novel nontracking external compound parabolic concentrators (XCPC) has been built at the University of California, Merced and operated for two cooling seasons. Its performance in providing power for space cooling has been analyzed. This solar cooling system is comprised of 53.3 m2 of XCPC trough collectors which are used to power a 23 kW double effect (LiBr) absorption chiller. This is the first system that combines both XCPC and absorption chilling technologies. Performance of the system was measured in both sunny and cloudy conditions, with both clean and dirty collectors. It took, on average, about 2 h for the collector system to reach operating temperatures between 160 and 180 °C. When operated in this temperature range, the XCPC collector array collected solar energy with an average daily efficiency of 36.7% and reached instantaneous efficiencies up to 40%. The thermal coefficient of performance (COP) of the system (including thermal losses and COP of absorption chiller) averaged at 0.99 and the daily solar COP of the entire system averaged at 0.363. It was found that these collectors are well suited at providing thermal power to drive absorption cooling systems and that both the coinciding of available thermal power with cooling demand and the simplicity of the XCPC collectors compared to other solar thermal collectors makes them a highly attractive candidate for cooling projects. Consequently, the XCPC technology is currently being commercialized in the U.S. and India. The XCPC's numerous potential applications include solar heating, cooling, desalination, oil extraction, electricity generation, and food processing.

scholarly journals A solar air-cooled high efficiency absorption system in dry hot climates: Reduction of water consumption and environmental impact

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 2151-2162
Author(s):  
Jose Marcos ◽  
Raquel Lizarte ◽  
Fernando Varela ◽  
Maria Palacios-Lorenzo ◽  
Ana Blanco-Marigorta
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Double Effect ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Absorption System ◽  
Solar Cooling ◽  
Single Effect ◽  
Solar Cooling System

A solar cooling system with an optimized air-cooled double-effect water/LiBr absorption machine is proposed as a sustainable alternative to meet cooling demands in dry hot climates. This system allows eliminating the cooling towers in those regions of the planet where water is scarce. This work analyses the environmental benefits of this air-cooled system, as well as its environmental foot-prints, compared to a solar water-cooled single effect. In this regard, a methodology has been applied to calculate the annual saving in water consumption produced in a case study: a hospital located in Almer?a, in South of Spain. Further-more, the reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions is also quantified since this machine can be driven by solar energy and with higher efficiency than those of single effect.

Simulation and Experimental Analysis of a Solar Driven Absorption Chiller With Partially Wetted Evaporator

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Albers ◽  
Giovanni Nurzia ◽  
Felix Ziegler
Keyword(s):  
Cooling System ◽  
Cooling Water ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Absorption Chiller ◽  
Efficient Operation ◽  
Part Load ◽  
Solar Cooling ◽  
Wetted Area ◽  
Solar Cooling System ◽  
Load Conditions

The efficient operation of a solar cooling system strongly depends on the chiller behaviour under part-load conditions since driving energy and cooling load are never constant. For this reason the performance of a single stage, hot water driven 30 kW H2O/LiBr-absorption chiller employed in a solar cooling system with a field of 350 m2 evacuated tube collectors has been analysed under part-load conditions with both simulations and experiments. A simulation model has been developed for the whole absorption chiller (Type Yazaki WFC-10), where all internal mass and energy balances are solved. The connection to the external heat reservoirs of hot, chilled and cooling water is done by lumped and distributed UA-values for the main heat exchangers. In addition to an analytical evaporator model — which is described in detail — experimental correlations for UA-values have been used for condenser, generator and solution heat exchanger. For the absorber a basic model based on Nusselt theory has been employed. The evaporator model was developed taking into account the distribution of refrigerant on the tube bundle as well as the change in operation from a partially dry to an overflowing evaporator. A linear model is derived to calculate the wetted area. The influence of these effects on cooling capacity and COP is calculated for three different combinations of hot and cooling water temperature. The comparison to experimental data shows a good agreement in the various operational modes of the evaporator. The model is able to predict the transition from partially dry to an overflowing evaporator quite well. The present deviations in the domain with high refrigerant overflow can be attributed to the simple absorber model and the linear wetted area model. Nevertheless the results of this investigation can be used to improve control strategies for new and existing solar cooling systems.

Comparative Performance of Two Prototypes of a Passive Solar Heat Pipe System

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian S. Robinson ◽  
M. Keith Sharp
Keyword(s):  
Heat Pipe ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Reverse Direction ◽  
Storage Tanks ◽  
New Model ◽  
Solar Heat ◽  
Pipe System ◽  
Evaporator Section ◽  
Passive Solar ◽  
New System

Thermal performance of an improved passive solar heat pipe system was directly compared to that of a previous prototype. Simulated and experimental results for the first prototype established baseline performance. Subsequently, potential improvements were simulated, and a second prototype was built and tested along side the first. The system uses heat pipes for high rates of heat transfer into the building, and limited losses in the reverse direction. The evaporator section of each heat pipe is attached to a glass-covered absorber on the outside of a south wall, and the slightly elevated condenser section is either immersed in water in a thermal storage tank or exposed to air in the room. Two-phase flow occurs in the heat pipe only when the evaporator is warmer than the condenser, creating a thermal diode effect. Computer simulations showed that system performance could be improved by using thicker insulation between the absorber and the storage tanks, and by switching from a copper to a rubber adiabatic section, which both reduced heat losses to ambient from the storage tanks. Early morning heating was improved by exposing one of five condensers directly to room air, which also improved overall system efficiency. A copper solar absorber soldered to the copper evaporator section improved heat conduction compared to the previous aluminum absorber bonded to the copper evaporator. Together these modifications improved simulated annual solar fraction by 20.8%. The new prototype incorporating these changes was tested along side the previous prototype in a two-room passive solar test facility during January through February of 2013. Temperatures were monitored with thermocouples at multiple locations throughout the systems, in each room and outdoors. Insolation was measured by four pyranometers attached to the building. Results showed that the design modifications implemented for the new model increased thermal gains to storage and to the room, and decreased thermal losses to ambient. The load-to-collector ratio for the experiments was 2.7 times lower than for the simulations, which decreased the potential for experimental improvements compared to the simulated improvements. However, average daily peak efficiency for the new system was 85.0%, compared to 80.7% for the previous system. Furthermore, the average storage temperature over the entire testing period for the new model was 13.4% higher than that of the previous model, while the average room temperature over the same period was 24.6% greater for the new system.

Solar Load Ratio Parameters for a Passive Solar Heat Pipe System

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Logan S. Poteat ◽  
M. Keith Sharp
Keyword(s):  
Heat Pipe ◽  
Load Ratio ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Prediction Algorithm ◽  
Solar Heat ◽  
Pipe System ◽  
Thermal Network ◽  
Pipe Systems ◽  
Passive Solar

The Solar Load Ratio (SLR) method is a performance prediction algorithm for passive solar space heating systems developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Based on curve fits of detailed thermal simulations of buildings, the algorithm provides fast estimation of monthly solar savings fraction for direct gain, indirect gain (water wall and concrete wall) and sunspace systems of a range of designs. Parameters are not available for passive solar heat pipe systems, which are of the isolated gain type. While modern computers have increased the speed with which detailed simulations can be performed, the quick estimates generated by the SLR method are still useful for early building design comparisons and for educational purposes. With this in mind, the objective of this project was to develop SLR predictions for heat pipe systems, which use heat pipes for one-way transport of heat into the building. A previous thermal network was used to simulate the heat pipe system with Typical Meteorological Year (TMY3) weather data for 13 locations across the US, representing ranges of winter temperature and available sunshine. A range of (nonsolar) load-to-collector ratio LCR = 1–15 W/m2K was tested for each location. The thermal network, along with TMY3 data, provided monthly-average-daily absorbed solar radiation and building load to calculate SLR. Losses from the solar aperture in a heat pipe system are very low compared to conventional passive solar systems, thus the load-to-collector ratio of the solar aperture was neglected in these preliminary calculations. Likewise, nighttime insulation is unnecessary for a heat pipe system, and was not considered. An optimization routine was used to determine an exponential fit (the heart of the SLR method) to simulated monthly solar savings fraction (SSF) across all locations and LCR values. Accuracy of SSF predicted by SLR compared to the thermal network results was evaluated. The largest errors (up to 50%) occurred for months with small heating loads (< 80 K days), which inflated SSF. Limiting the optimization to the heating season (October to March), reduced the error in SSF to an average of 4.24% and a standard deviation of 5.87%. These results expand the applications of the SLR method to heat pipe systems, and allow building designers to use this method to estimate the thermal benefits of heat pipe systems along with conventional direct gain, indirect gain and sunspace systems.

scholarly journals Reducing unwanted thermal gains during the cooling season for a solar heat pipe system

Solar Energy ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 16-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian S. Robinson ◽  
M. Keith Sharp
Keyword(s):  
Heat Pipe ◽  
Solar Heat ◽  
Pipe System

Numerical Analysis of Heat and Mass Transfer in an Annular Porous Adsorber for Solar Cooling System

2010 ◽  
Vol 297-301 ◽  
pp. 802-807
Author(s):  
Nadia Allouache ◽  
Rachid Bennacer ◽  
Salahs Chikh ◽  
A. Al Mers
Keyword(s):  
Mass Transfer ◽  
Heat And Mass Transfer ◽  
System Performance ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Coefficient Of Performance ◽  
Cooling Systems ◽  
Solar Cooling ◽  
Adsorbed Quantity ◽  
Solar Cooling System

The present study deals with a solid adsorption refrigerator analysis using activated carbon/methanol pair. It is a contribution to technology development of solar cooling systems. The main objective consists to analyse the heat and mass transfer in an annular porous adsorber that is the most important component of the system. The porous medium is contained in the annular space and the adsorber is heated by solar energy. A general model equation is used for modelling the transient heat and mass transfer. Effects of the key parameters on the adsorbed quantity, the coefficient of performance, and thus on the system performance are analysed and discussed.

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