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Review
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abstract
Article history:
A state-of-the-art review is presented of the different technologies that are available to de-
liver refrigeration from solar energy. The review covers solar electric, solar thermal and
some new emerging technologies. The solar thermal systems include thermo-mechanical,
8 June 2007
absorption, adsorption and desiccant solutions. A comparison is made between the differ-
ent solutions both from the point of view of energy efficiency and economic feasibility. So-
lar electric and thermo-mechanical systems appear to be more expensive than thermal
sorption systems. Absorption and adsorption are comparable in terms of performance
Keywords:
but adsorption chillers are more expensive and bulkier than absorption chillers. The total
Refrigeration
Solar energy
Survey
Technology
Solar collector
Compression system
Sorption system
1.
Introduction solar refrigeration in
a warming globe
Since the beginning of the last century, average global temperature has risen by about 0.6 K according to UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It is also warned
that the temperature may further increase by 1.44.5 K until
Nomenclature
A
COP
Ip
PV
Q
TH
TL
TM
W
area (m2)
coefficient of performance
solar radiation perpendicular to collector surface
(kW/m2)
photovoltaic panel
heat transfer rate (kW)
temperature of high-temperature heat source (K)
temperature of heat sink (K)
temperature of low-temperature heat source (K)
work (kW)
Greek symbols
h
efficiency
Superscript
id
ideal
Subscripts
a
absorber
c
condenser
cool
cooling
e
evaporator
el
electrical
g
generator
heat
driving heat
pow
mechanical power
s, sol
solar radiation, solar collector
W
W
Ip As Qs
(1)
Qe
W
(2)
Radiation
Qs (=IpAs)
Solar panel
+
Power
W
V+
2.
A solar electric refrigeration system consists mainly of photovoltaic panels and an electrical refrigeration device. Solar cells
are basically semiconductors whose efficiency and cost vary
n-type
silicon
-
p-type
silicon
Solar panel
+
Qc
Qs (= IpAs)
compressor
condenser
DC motor
W
evaporator
Qe
Combination of the two efficiencies in Eq. (1) and Eq. (2) gives
the solar-to-cooling or the overall efficiency of a solar electric
cooling system:
hsol-cool hsol-pow hpow-cool
Qe
Qs
(3)
3.
Solar thermal systems use solar heat rather than solar electricity to produce refrigeration effect.
Flat-plate solar collectors are the most common type,
which consists of a metallic absorber and an insulated casing
topped with glass plate(s). Evacuated collectors have less heat
loss and perform better at high temperatures. Evacuated collectors are typically made in a glass tube design, i.e. a metallic
absorber inserted in an evacuated glass tube, to withstand the
pressure difference between the vacuum and the atmosphere.
Fig. 3 shows schematic diagrams of these two collectors.
(a)
(b)
hot water
hot water
cold water
cold water
glass cover
fluid channel
absorber plate
absorber
glass tube
insulation
fluid channel
Fig. 3 Schematic diagrams of non-concentrating solar collectors. (a) Flat-plate type and (b) evacuated tube type.
3.1.
Qe
Qs
Qg
Qg
I p A s Qs
hheat-pow
W
Qg
Qs (= IpAs)
Solar collector TH
Qg
Engine
Qa
(4)
Ambient TM
Qc
CON
(5)
(6)
Thermo-mechanical refrigeration
In a solar thermo-mechanical refrigeration system, a heat engine converts solar heat to mechanical work, which in turn
drives a mechanical compressor of a vapour compression refrigeration machine. A schematic diagram of such a cooling
system is shown in Fig. 4. In the figure, a solar collector receives solar radiation Qs [the surface area As (m2) multiplied
by the solar radiation perpendicular to the surface Ip (kW/
m2), see Eq. (4)] from the sun and supplies Qg to a heat engine
at the temperature TH. The ratio of supply heat Qg to the radiation Qs is defined as the thermal efficiency of a solar thermal
collector, hsol-heat.
hsol-heat
EVA
Compressor
Qe
Cooling load TL
Fig. 4 Solar thermo-mechanical refrigeration system.
TH TM
TH
(7)
and the efficiency of a Carnot refrigeration cycle working between TM and TL is given by
hid
pow-cool
TL
TM TL
(8)
The product of the two Carnot efficiencies in Eqs. (7) and (8)
gives the efficiency of an ideal heat-driven refrigeration machine working between the three temperatures as
TL TH TM
id
id
h
h
(9)
hid
heat-cool
heat-pow pow-cool
TH TM TL
which limits the maximum efficiency achievable with any real
heat-driven refrigeration machine working between the same
temperatures. In a solar thermo-mechanical system, the efficiency of a heat engine is of particular interest. Because the
heat source temperature TH varies in different projects, the
performance of a real engine is often compared to that of
a Carnot cycle working at the same temperatures. The ratio
of real efficiency to Carnot efficiency is called second law efficiency. This is a measure of how closely a real machine
operates to an ideal machine.
For solar power generation, Rankine and Stirling power engines have been frequently considered.
Solar Rankine systems were actively investigated in the
1970s and 1980s. Prigmore and Barber (1975) designed a water-cooled organic Rankine cycle based on R-113 to produce
turbine shaft work with 11.5% efficiency (58% second law efficiency) from 101.7 C water from solar collectors. When 50%
solar collector efficiency is assumed, the solar-to-power efficiency would have been 5.8%.
With higher heat source temperature, higher engine efficiency can be achieved. In early 1980s, a trough ORC (Organic
Rankine Cycle) solar power plant has been reported. The system used a trough type concentrating collector and a toluene
Rankine power cycle. A peak heat-to-power efficiency of 24%
(57% second law efficiency) was attained with a heat transfer
fluid temperature of 268 C (Larson, 1983). Higher power generation efficiency was reported from a large-scale solar power
generation system. The Solar One demonstration plant was
equipped with a 35%-efficient (58% second law efficiency) Rankine power generation system driven by 516 C superheated
steam from the tower-mounted receiver on which solar radiation was focused by thousands of sun-tracking mirrors on
the ground (Stein and Geyer, 2001).
If a 24%-efficient Rankine cycle working at 268 C heat is
connected to a state-of-the-art trough collector of today, e.g.
EuroTrough from Geyer et al. (2002) has an efficiency of 67%
at this temperature, the system would yield about the same
efficiency as a high-performance solar electric panel (ca.
16%) in the market.
Stirling engines have also been actively studied for power
generation from the sun. Stirling engines can operate at
a very high temperature at which a Rankine engine cannot. Although Stirling cycle efficiency approaches that of a Carnot
engine in theory, the efficiencies of Stirling engines are in
the range of 5588% of second law efficiency (Reader and
3.2.
Sorption refrigeration
Sorption refrigeration uses physical or chemical attraction between a pair of substances to produce refrigeration effect. A
sorption system has a unique capability of transforming thermal energy directly into cooling power. Among the pair of substances, the substance with lower boiling temperature is
called sorbate and the other is called sorbent. The sorbate
plays the role of refrigerant.
Fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a closed sorption system. The component where sorption takes place is denoted as
absorber and the one where desorption takes place is denoted
as generator. The generator receives heat Qg from the solar
collector to regenerate the sorbent that has absorbed the refrigerant in the absorber. The refrigerant vapour generated
in this process condenses in the condenser rejecting the condensation heat Qc to ambient. The regenerated sorbent from
the generator is sent back to the absorber, where the sorbent
absorbs the refrigerant vapour from the evaporator rejecting
the sorption heat Qa to ambient. In the evaporator, the liquefied refrigerant from the condenser evaporates removing the
heat Qe from the cooling load.
In an adsorption system, each of the adsorbent beds alternates generator and absorber function due to the difficulty of
transporting solid sorbent from one to another.
In sorption refrigeration machines, a single heat-to-cooling
efficiency is often defined by
hheat-cool
Qe
Qg Wel
(10)
Qs (= IpAs)
Solar collector TH
Qg
Generator
Absorber
Qa
Ambient TM
Qc
CON
EVA
Qe
3.2.2.
Adsorption
Cooling load TL
Fig. 5 Solar sorption refrigeration system.
efficiency in Eq. (9) to measure how the system efficiency deviates from ideal efficiency.
Absorption refers to a sorption process where a liquid or
solid sorbent absorbs refrigerant molecules into its inside
and changes physically and/or chemically in the process. Adsorption, on the other hand, involves a solid sorbent that attracts refrigerant molecules onto its surface by physical or
chemical force and does not change its form in the process.
Desiccation refers to a sorption process where a sorbent, i.e.
a desiccant, absorbs moisture from humid air. This process
is employed in open sorption cycles, which are classified
into either liquid or solid desiccant cycles depending on the
phase of the desiccant used.
3.2.1.
Absorption
Qe [kW]
Application
As [m2]
hheat-cool []d
36a
1577b
316a
49.9a
0.11
0.31
0.260.36
0.34
0.37
Space cooling/heating
Space cooling
Space cooling
Space cooling
Space cooling
Prototype chiller
4
210
90
35
10
Prototype chiller
16
0.40
Diffusionabsorption prototype
140
180c
0.50.6
0.10.25
<2.5
Refrigeration/heat pump
Wine cooling
Space cooling
10
15
100a
0.27
Flat-plate collectors.
Evacuated tube collectors (no. of tubes).
Trough collectors (aperture area).
Where not given, a collector efficiency of 0.50 has been assumed.
3.2.2.2. Chemical adsorption. Chemical adsorption is characterized by the strong chemical bond between the adsorbate
and the adsorbent. Therefore it is more difficult to reverse
and thus requires more energy to remove the adsorbed molecules than in physical adsorption.
The most commonly used chemical adsorbent in solar
cooling applications has been calcium chloride (CaCl2). Calcium chloride adsorbs ammonia to produce CaCl2$8NH3 and
water to produce CaCl2$6H2O as a product (Wang et al.,
2004). It has also been used together with other physical adsorbents including some silicates (Tokarev et al., 2002; Restuccia et al., 2004). Tokarev et al. (2002) developed a composite
material by impregnating calcium chloride in MCM-41 (a silicate) matrix. A COP of 0.7 was achievable with condenser
and generation temperatures at 40 C and 110 C, respectively.
Restuccia et al. (2004) developed a chiller based on a similar
composite and reported COP of 0.6 at the condenser temperature of 35 C and the generation temperature between 85 and
95 C.
Metal hydride refrigeration uses hydrogen as a refrigerant.
The interest in metal hydride refrigeration systems is increasing for their integration into hydrogen-fuelled systems.
In a basic two-bed refrigeration system, one bed is filled
with a high-temperature hydride and the other is filled with
a low-temperature hydride. In recharge mode, the hightemperature bed is heated to release hydrogen while the
low-temperature bed is cooled to absorb the hydrogen.
When the high-temperature bed is cooled in cooling mode,
hydrogen is released from the low-temperature bed creating
10
3.2.3.
Desiccant cooling
Aftercooler
Exhaust
2
5
D
A
B
Solar
collector
Cooling coil
Heating coil
4
Ambient air
F
Regenerator
Recuperative
heat exchanger
Ambient or
return air
Dehumidifier
Conditioned
space
11
Solar
collector
Evaporative cooler
Exhaust
E
Return air
Heating coil
Intake
Dehumidification
wheel
Heat exchange
wheel
Aftercooler
Supply air
5.
4.
Other technologies
Although several solar refrigeration technologies are considered mature, until today, the total cooling capacity of the solar
air conditioning systems in Europe is only 6 MW (Nick-Leptin,
2005). Although each technology has its own positive and negative aspects, high initial cost is a common problem.
Although differing in technical maturity and commercial
status, the various solar refrigeration technologies discussed
in the previous sections are compared in terms of performance and initial cost in Fig. 8. The three last columns indicate the specific cost of photovoltaic solar panels, the
specific cost of thermal solar collectors plus specific engine
costs and the specific chiller cost, respectively. Since the existing chillers based on these technologies differ widely in cooling capacity ranging from a few tens to several mega Watt, the
efficiencies and the unit cost values assumed in Fig. 8 are
those of the smallest machines available from the different refrigeration technologies. It is also noted that solar collector efficiencies listed in this article are only indicative and will
depend on ambient air temperature and solar radiation.
Solar electric systems are assumed to be equipped with
10%-efficient solar photovoltaic panels with a unit price at
V5/Wp (Solar Rechner). These solar panels convert a solar radiation of 1000 W/m2 into 100 W of electricity and the various
electric chillers transform this electric energy into cooling
power according to their specified COPs. As shown in the figure, only magnetic chiller is comparable to vapour compression chiller in terms of solar panel cost. No other electric
cooling technology is currently competitive with compression
refrigeration technology in terms of total cost.
In order to generate the same amount of electricity,
a thermo-mechanical system needs a high-temperature solar
thermal collector and a heat engine. In Fig. 8, the efficiency of
12
PV
Vapor compression
0.1
Photovoltaic panel
Thermoelectric
100W
Stirling
0.2
1000W
100W
Thermoacoustic
Heat engine
(55 Carnot)
Rankine
Magnetic
500W 150C
500W
E.T.+reflector
Evacuated Tube
200C
Flat
Double-effect
Single-effect
0.5
1.7
2.0
3.0
300W
1,700
2,000+300
50W
10,000
12,000+300
170W
2,900
3,500+300
200W
2,500
3,000+300
300W
1,700
2,000+300
200
Thermal collector
1.2
0.8
600W
900
300
400W
600
400
350W
700
500
350W
700
150W
1,700
Adsorption
0.5
0.5
0.5
Absorption
Stirling
1000W
3.0
Cost1(/kWcool)
Collector+engine2 Chiller
500W
90C
Single-stage
DEC
Thermal collector
Ejector
0.7
0.7
0.3
6.
Conclusions
references
13
14
15
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