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Design of a Building-Scale Space Solar Cooling System Using TRNSYS

Author

Listed:
  • David Redpath

    (School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University of Belfast, University Road, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK
    College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK)

  • Anshul Paneri

    (College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK)

  • Harjit Singh

    (College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK)

  • Ahmed Ghitas

    (Photovoltaic Unit, Solar Energy Physics Laboratory, National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, Helwan 11421, Egypt)

  • Mohamed Sabry

    (Photovoltaic Unit, Solar Energy Physics Laboratory, National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, Helwan 11421, Egypt
    Physics Department, College of Applied Science, Umm Al Qura University, Mecca 21955, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

Research into solar absorption chillers despite their environmental benefits has been limited to date to mainly larger systems whilst ignoring smaller building-scale units, which can significantly benefit from the use of optimally designed, low concentrating, non-imaging optical reflectors. A solar absorption chiller system designed to provide year-round space cooling for a typical primary health care facility in Cairo, Egypt, was designed to match local ambient, solar, and occupancy conditions, its performance simulated and then optimized to minimize auxiliary power consumption using the TRNSYS18 software, TRNOPT. Different configurations of collector types, array areas, storage sizes and collector slopes were used to determine the optimum specifications for the system components. Non-concentrating Evacuated Tube Collectors (ETCs) were compared with the same Evacuated Tube Collectors but integrated with external Compound Parabolic Concentrators (CPCs) with a geometric concentration ratio of 1.5X for supplying thermal energy to the single-effect absorption chiller investigated. This paper describes a user-friendly methodology developed for the design of solar heat-powered absorption chillers for small buildings using TRNSYS18 employing the Hookes–Jeeves algorithm within the TRNOPT function. Clear steps to avoid convergence problems when using TRNSYS are articulated to make repeatability for different systems and locations more straightforward. Collector array areas were varied from 30 m 2 to 160 m 2 and the size of the water-based thermal storage from 1 m 3 to 3 m 3 to determine the configuration that can supply the maximum solar fraction of the building’s cooling requirements for the lowest lifetime cost. The optimum solar fraction for ETCs and CPCs was found to be 0.66 and 0.94, respectively. If the current air conditioning demand is met through adoption of the CPC-based solar absorption systems this can potentially save the emission of 3,966,247 tCO 2 per annum.

Suggested Citation

  • David Redpath & Anshul Paneri & Harjit Singh & Ahmed Ghitas & Mohamed Sabry, 2022. "Design of a Building-Scale Space Solar Cooling System Using TRNSYS," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:18:p:11549-:d:915320
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bhusal, Yogesh & Hassanzadeh, Ali & Jiang, Lun & Winston, Roland, 2020. "Technical and economic analysis of a novel low-cost concentrated medium-temperature solar collector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 968-985.
    2. Parupudi, Ranga Vihari & Singh, Harjit & Kolokotroni, Maria, 2020. "Low Concentrating Photovoltaics (LCPV) for buildings and their performance analyses," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    3. Widyolar, Bennett & Jiang, Lun & Ferry, Jonathan & Winston, Roland, 2018. "Non-tracking East-West XCPC solar thermal collector for 200 celsius applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 521-533.
    4. Xu, Z.Y. & Wang, R.Z., 2017. "Simulation of solar cooling system based on variable effect LiBr-water absorption chiller," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 907-914.
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    Cited by:

    1. Evangelos Bellos & Dimitrios N. Korres & Christos Tzivanidis, 2023. "Investigation of a Compound Parabolic Collector with a Flat Glazing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, February.

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