Comparative study of solar assisted cooling technologies for two different climates

This study describes the influence of climate conditions and different solar assisted absorption technologies on the energy performance of air-conditioning systems. The correlation between dynamic cooling load profile and the performance of various solar assisted absorption system configurations was analyzed for two different climates: a hotsummer Mediterranean climate (Seville, Spain) and a tropical savannah climate (Guayaquil, Ecuador). A generic two-story office building was selected as a case study. The building fabrics are set to comply with the best practices of the two countries and the building counts with a useful area of 1152 m² for the solar system installation. The hourly cooling demand for the building was calculated by using a simplified calculation method based on degree-days with variable base temperature. Three different solar assisted absorption configurations were simulated in TRNSYS software environment based on three types of solar collectors: evacuated tube collectors, parabolic trough collectors and linear Fresnel collectors (microconcentrator type). The first configuration which involves evacuated tube collectors was coupled to a single-effect H₂O-LiBr absorption chiller, while the other two configurations include double-effect H₂O-LiBr absorption chiller. Models of two different absorption chillers were developed based on the characteristic equation method (ΔΔt). The comparison between the configurations was based on the primary energy analysis and CO₂ emission.