Simulation of solar lithium bromide–water absorption cooling system with parabolic trough collector

Abstract Ahwaz is one of the sweltering cities in Iran where an enormous amount of energy is being consumed to cool residential places in a year. The aim of this research is to simulate a solar single effect lithium bromide–water absorption cooling system in Ahwaz. The solar energy is absorbed by a horizontal N–S parabolic trough collector and stored in an insulated thermal storage tank. The system has been designed to supply the cooling load of a typical house where the cooling load peak is about 17.5 kW (5 tons of refrigeration), which occurs in July. A thermodynamic model has been used to simulate the absorption cycle. The working fluid is water, which is pumped directly to the collector. The results showed that the collector mass flow rate has a negligible effect on the minimum required collector area, but it has a significant effect on the optimum capacity of the storage tank. The minimum required collector area was about 57.6 m 2 , which could supply the cooling loads for the sunshine hours of the design day for July. The operation of the system has also been considered after sunset by saving solar energy.

[1]  W. Beckman,et al.  Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes , 1985 .

[2]  H. Kambezidis,et al.  DIFFUSE SOLAR IRRADIATION MODEL EVALUATION IN THE NORTH MEDITERRANEAN BELT AREA , 2001 .

[3]  T. Stuetzle,et al.  Automatic control of a 30 MWe SEGS VI parabolic trough plant , 2004 .

[4]  N. Robinson.  Solar radiation , 2020, Advanced Remote Sensing.

[5]  R. Forristall,et al.  Heat Transfer Analysis and Modeling of a Parabolic Trough Solar Receiver Implemented in Engineering Equation Solver , 2003 .

[6]  P. T. Tsilingiris.  Theoretical modelling of a solar air conditioning system for domestic applications , 1993 .

[7]  K. Sumathy,et al.  Simulation of a solar absorption air conditioning system , 2001 .

[8]  Soteris A. Kalogirou,et al.  Simulation and optimization of a LiBr solar absorption cooling system with evacuated tube collectors , 2005 .

[9]  N. E. Wijeysundera,et al.  An irreversible-thermodynamic model for solar-powered absorption cooling systems , 2000 .

[10]  F. Geoola,et al.  Design and optimisation of an absorption refrigeration system operated by solar energy , 1979 .

[11]  R. J. Romero,et al.  Comparison of the theoretical performance of a solar air conditioning system operating with water/lithium bromide and an aqueous ternary hydroxide , 2000 .

[12]  Georgios A. Florides,et al.  Design and construction of a LiBr–water absorption machine , 2003 .

[13]  Nesreen Ghaddar,et al.  Modeling and simulation of solar absorption system performance in Beirut , 1997 .

[14]  M. Behnia,et al.  Modelling of Parabolic Trough Direct Steam Generation Solar Collectors , 1998, Renewable Energy.

[15]  William A. Beckman,et al.  Performance study of one-dimensional models for stratified thermal storage tanks , 1993 .

[16]  Soteris A. Kalogirou,et al.  Solar thermal collectors and applications , 2004 .

[17]  C. F. Ratto,et al.  A new model for obtaining horizontal instantaneous global and diffuse radiation from the daily values , 1988 .

[18]  D. A. Kouremenos,et al.  Hour-by-hour simulation of solar H2OLiBr absorption heat transformers in Athens , 1990 .

[19]  Georgios A. Florides,et al.  Modelling and simulation of an absorption solar cooling system for Cyprus , 2002 .