A thermal cooling system i.e Vapor absorption machine or absorption chiller is quite an old and proven technology. unlike conventional refrigeration system, an absorption cycle operates on low-grade energy (heat) to produce the cooling effect.
with the recent development in solar thermal collector design, it has become possible to harness and deliver enough heat energy through a solar collector to power an absorption chiller. A typical hot water fired liquid absorption chiller require hot water at the temperatures of 80 to 90 deg Celsius, which can be easily achieved through an evacuated tube or a parabolic trough collector.
A typical solar assisted thermal cooling system design may be divided into three stages
1. chiller sizing or Heat load assessment
2. selection of appropriate absorption machine to meet heat load [ keeping a note on the input hot water requirement]
3. Selection of solar thermal technology and sizing the collector. (based on hot water temperature and flow rate requirements of absorption machine)
Although small size thermal cooling systems are not available in the market yet, if a cost-effective packaged consumer product can be developed, it would become a great option for composite and hot & dry climates where both cooling and hot water are required in different seasons.
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