An overview of developments in adsorption refrigeration systems towards a sustainable way of cooling

Solar energy is one among the freely available clean forms of renewable energy. Many technologies have been developed in India for extracting energy from assorted renewable energies, but the maximum extraction of thermal energy from solar energy is the most promising challenge. This paper focuses on the performance and efficiency of solar parabolic trough collector. It also reviews the pertinent applications of solar energy such as air heating system, desalination, refrigeration, industrial heating purposes and power plants. This paper will be useful for researchers concentrating on solar energy using parabolic trough collector.

A review of solar parabolic trough collector

This paper presents a review of the available technologies to provide cooling from solar energy for both thermal and photovoltaic ways. Several multi-criteria performance indicators figuring in the literature are presented followed by a pros and cons analysis of the different solar thermal cooling processes. A market study is also carried out to evidence the potential of these solar cooling technologies. Finally, an overview of various solar cooling installations in Europe, Egypt and China is presented.

Solar driven cooling systems: An updated review

Modeling and optimization of a hybrid system for the energy supply of a “Green” building

The increasing energy demand for air-conditioning in most industrialized countries, as well as refrigeration requirements in the food processing field and the conservation of pharmaceutical products, is leading to a growing interest in solar cooling systems. So far, the more commonly systems used are single-effect water/lithium bromide absorption chillers powered by flat-plate or evacuated tube collectors operating with COP of about 0.5–0.8 and driving temperatures of 75–95  °C. In general terms, performance of thermally driven cooling systems increases to about 1.1–1.4 using double-effect cycles fed by higher temperature sources (140–180 °C). If solar energy is to be used, concentrating technologies must be considered. Although some experiences on the integration of parabolic trough collectors (PTC) and Fresnel lenses in cooling installations can be found in the literature, the quantity is far to be comparable to that of low temperature collectors. Some manufacturers have undertaken the development of modular, small, lightweight and low cost parabolic collectors, compatible for installation on the roofs of the buildings aiming to overcome some of the current technology drawbacks as costs and modularity. After a comprehensive literature review, this work summarises the existing experiences and realizations on applications of PTC in solar cooling systems as well as present a survey of the new collectors with potential application in feeding double effect absorption chillers. In addition to this, it is evaluated its use as an occasional alternative to other solar thermal collectors in air conditioning applications by dynamical simulation. Results for the case studies developed in this work show that PTC present similar levelized costs of energy for cooling than flat plate collector (FPC) and lower than evacuated tube collectors (ETC) and compound parabolic collectors (CPC).

A. El Fadar

Papers

Latest developments on TES and CSP technologies – Energy and environmental issues, applications and research trends

Modelling and performance study of a continuous adsorption refrigeration system driven by parabolic trough solar collector

Study of a new solar adsorption refrigerator powered by a parabolic trough collector

Study of an adsorption refrigeration system powered by parabolic trough collector and coupled with a heat pipe

Performance, economic and environmental assessment of solar cooling systems under various climates