Report of

Solar Cooling

Name: Prawesh Kumar Thakur

Enrollment no: 0225180807
Branch: Diploma ME
Semester: 6th
 Solar Cooling
Abstract
Solar cooling refers to any cooling system that uses solar power. This
can be done through passive solar, solar thermal energy conversion and
photovoltaic conversion (sun to electricity). The U.S. Energy
Independence and Security Act of 2007 created 2008 through 2012
funding for a new solar air conditioning research and development
program, which should develop and demonstrate multiple new
technology innovations and mass production economies of scale. Solar
air conditioning will play an increasing role in zero energy and energy-
plus buildings design.
Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by
humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies.
Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as
wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of
the available renewable energy on earth. Only a minuscule fraction of
the available solar energy is used.
Solar powered electrical generation relies on heat engines and
photovoltaic. Solar energy's uses are limited only by human ingenuity. A
partial list of solar applications includes space heating and cooling
through solar architecture, potable water via distillation and disinfection,
day lighting, solar hot water, solar cooking, and high temperature
process heat for industrial purposes. To harvest the solar energy, the
most common way is to use solar panels.
Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or
active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute
solar energy. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic
panels and solar thermal collectors to harness the energy. Passive solar
techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials
with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing
spaces that naturally circulate air.

Introduction
The core idea is to use the solar energy directly to produce chilled water.
The high temperature required by absorption chillers is provided by
solar troughs. The system doesn’t require “strategic” materials (like in
PV systems) and has peak production in the moment of peak demand.

Why Solar Cooling?

Dramatic increase of air conditioning since the early 80ies
• Cost of energy.
• Issues related to environmental pollution.
-Due to energy production.
-Due to the use of CFC’s and HCFC’s.
• Matches demand with source availability.
• Crucial for improving life standards in developing countries.

Thermal Solar Cooling

Techniques
Absorption cooling techniques:
Energy is transferred through phase-change processes.

Adsorption cooling techniques

Energy is transferred through phase-change processes.

Desiccant Cooling
Energy is transferred through latent heat processes.
“The cooling capacity is based on the physical properties of the cooling
fluid that will change phases. At different temperatures, depending on its
pressure.”
Absorption Cooling
Heat Driven Systems
Absorption Refrigerator-
The absorption refrigerator is a refrigerator that uses a heat source (e.g.,
solar, kerosene-fueled flame) to provide the energy needed to drive the
cooling system. Absorption refrigerators are a popular alternative to
regular compressor refrigerators where electricity is unreliable, costly, or
unavailable, where noise from the compressor is problematic, or where
surplus heat is available (e.g., from turbine exhausts or industrial
processes). Absorption refrigerators powered by heat from the
combustion of liquefied petroleum gas are often used for food storage in
recreational vehicles.

Both absorption and compressor refrigerators use a refrigerant with a

very low (less than 0 °F/−18 °C) boiling point. In both types, when this
refrigerant evaporates or boils, it takes some heat away with it, providing
the cooling effect. The main difference between the two types is the way
the refrigerant is changed from a gas back into a liquid so that the cycle
can repeat. A compressor refrigerator uses an electrically-powered
compressor to increase the pressure on the gas, and then condenses the
hot high pressure gas back to a liquid by heat exchange with a coolant
(usually air). Once the high pressure gas has cooled, it passes through a
pressure release valve which drops the refrigerant temperature to below
freezing. An absorption refrigerator changes the gas back into a liquid
using a different method that needs only heat, and has no moving parts.
The other difference between the two types is the refrigerant used.
Compressor refrigerators typically use an HCFC, while absorption
refrigerators typically use ammonia

Adsorption Refrigeration
Adsorption refrigeration and heat pump cycles rely on the adsorption of
a refrigerant gas into an adsorbent at low pressure and subsequent
desorption by heating. The adsorbent acts as a "chemical compressor"
driven by heat and is, from this point of view, the "pump" of the system.
It consists of a solar collector, a condenser or heat-exchanger and an
evaporator that is placed in a refrigerator box. The inside of the collector
is lined with an adsorption bed packed with activated carbon adsorbed
with methanol. The refrigerator box is insulated filled with water. The
activated carbon can adsorb a large amount of methanol vapours in
ambient temperature and desorb it at a higher temperature (around 100
degrees Celsius). During the daytime, the sunshine irradiates the
collector, so the collector is heated up and the methanol is desorbed from
the activated carbon. In desorption, the liquid methanol adsorbed in the
charcoal heats up and vaporizes. The methanol vapour condenses and is
stored in the evaporator.
Helium gas can also be 'pumped' by thermally cycling activated carbon
'sorption pumps' between 4 kelvins and higher temperatures. An
example of this is to provide the cooling power for the Oxford
Instruments AST series dilution refrigerators. 3He vapour is pumped
from the surface of the dilute phase of a mixture of liquid 4He and its
isotope 3He. The 3He is adsorbed onto the surfaces of the carbon at low
temperature (typically <4K), the regeneration of the pump between 20
and 40 K returns the 3He to the concentrated phase of the liquid mixture.
Cooling occurs at the interface between the two liquid phases as 3He
'evaporates' across the phase boundary. If more than one pump is present
in the system a continuous flow of gas and hence constant cooling power
can be obtained, by having one sorption pump regenerating while the
other is pumping. Systems such as this allow temperatures as low as 10
mK (0.01 kelvin) to be obtained with very few moving parts.

Desiccant system
A desiccant is a hygroscopic substance that induces or sustains a state of
dryness (desiccation) in its local vicinity in a moderately well-sealed
container.
Commonly encountered pre-packaged desiccants are solids, and work
through absorption or adsorption of water, or a combination of the two.
Desiccants for specialized purposes may be in forms other than solid,
and may work through other principles, such as chemical bonding of
water molecules.
Pre-packaged desiccant is most commonly used to remove excessive
humidity that would normally degrade or even destroy products sensitive
to moisture. Drierite, Silica gel, calcium sulfate, calcium chloride,
montmorillonite clay, and molecular sieves are commonly used as
desiccants.
Rice is a common "low-tech" alternative frequently used, for example, in
salt-shakers to maintain granularity of table-salt for effective pouring or
shaking. Rice, however, is not a good general purpose desiccant since,
unless immersed in an organism-hostile environment like pure salt, over
time may be eaten by creatures that might in turn contaminate the
product that is being preserved. Salt itself is another effective desiccant,
used for millennia in preparation of dried food and also to mummify
corpses.
Solar Cooling Path and Local
Conditions

Refrigerants
A vapor-compression chiller uses a refrigerant internally as its working
fluid. Many refrigerants options are available; when selecting a chiller,
the application cooling temperature requirements and refrigerant's
cooling characteristics need to be matched. Important parameters to
consider are the operating temperatures and pressures.
There are several environmental factors that concern refrigerants, and
also affect the future availability for chiller applications. This is a key
consideration in intermittent applications where a large chiller may last
for 25 years or more. Ozone depletion potential (ODP) and global
warming potential (GWP) of the refrigerant need to be considered. ODP
and GWP data for some of the more common vapor-compression
refrigerants:
"Freon" is a trade name for a family of haloalkane refrigerants
manufactured by DuPont and other companies. These refrigerants were
commonly used due to their superior stability and safety properties: they
were not flammable nor obviously toxic as were the fluids they replaced,
such as sulfur dioxide. Unfortunately, these chlorine-bearing refrigerants
reach the upper atmosphere when they escape. In the stratosphere, CFCs
break up due to UV-radiation, releasing their chlorine atoms. These
chlorine atoms act as catalysts in the breakdown of ozone, which does
severe damage to the ozone layer that shields the Earth's surface from
the Sun's strong UV radiation. The chlorine will remain active as a
catalyst until and unless it binds with another particle, forming a stable
molecule. CFC refrigerants in common but receding usage include R-11
and R-12. Newer refrigerants that have reduced ozone depletion effect
include HCFCs (R-22, used in most homes today) and HFCs (R-134a,
used in most cars) have replaced most CFC use. HCFCs in turn are
being phased out under the Montreal Protocol and replaced by
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), such as R-410A, which lack chlorine.
However, CFCs, HCFCs, and HFCs all have large global warming
potential.
Newer refrigerants are currently the subject of research, such as
supercritical carbon dioxide, known as R-744. These have similar
efficiencies compared to existing CFC and HFC based compounds, and
have many orders of magnitude lower global warming potential.

CONCLUSIONS
The thermodynamics of the vapor compression cycle can be analyzed on
a temperature versus entropy diagram. At point 1 in the diagram, the
circulating refrigerant enters the compressor as a saturated vapor. From
point 1 to point 2, the vapor is isentropically compressed (i.e.,
compressed at constant entropy) and exits the compressor as a
superheated vapor.
From point 2 to point 3, the superheated vapor travels through part of the
condenser which removes the superheat by cooling the vapor. Between
point 3 and point 4, the vapor travels through the remainder of the
condenser and is condensed into a saturated liquid. The condensation
process occurs at essentially constant pressure.
Between points 4 and 5, the saturated liquid refrigerant passes through
the expansion valve and undergoes an abrupt decrease of pressure. That
process results in the adiabatic flash evaporation and auto-refrigeration
of a portion of the liquid (typically, less than half of the liquid flashes).
The adiabatic flash evaporation process is isenthalpic.

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