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This is to certify that Mr. Maneesh Bhardwaj, bearing Registration no 10805611, has
completed his capstone project titled, “SOLAR AIR COOLING” under my guidance and
supervision. To the best of my knowledge, the present work is the result of his original
investigation and study. No part of the report has ever been submitted for any other degree at any
University.
Date :
This report does not to the best of my knowledge, contain part of my work which has been
submitted for the award of my degree either of this university or any other university without
proper citation.
The architecture of success stands on a strong foundation made up of strenuous hard work,
determination, presence of mind and above all, timely advice from the learned and experienced
people. This word of acknowledgement is to express our deep sense of gratitude to all those
luminaries and unseen hands without whose support the completion of this dissertation would
not have been materialized.
This pleasure would not have been ours without the firm support extended to us by our guide
Mr. Piyush Jain, his smile, his appreciation and continuous motivation not only made working
under him but also delectable.
We express our deep sense of gratitude to the Head of Mechanical Engineering Department, Mr.
Gurpreet Singh Phull who gave us inspiration to pursue this project and providing all facilities
needed
Finally we thank our director Mr. Ashok Mittal, for his encouragement and providing all
facilities needed in our project.
Solar air conditioning has great potential. Sunlight is most plentiful in the summer when cooling
loads are highest.
Unfortunately, currently available technologies have not been able to economically use this huge
resource. For example, photovoltaic (PV) cells are expensive and require a large portion of the
roof to provide sufficient electrical power to drive an air conditioner. The cost for these panels
can be ten times that of a conventional air conditioner.
The new solar air-conditioning system takes a much different approach. It is a thermally driven
system that differs from earlier thermal systems in that it is designed to work with low-
temperature solar collectors and includes low-cost energy storage. Energy is stored in the form of
a concentrated salt (desiccant, calcium chloride) solution that can be used to provide
dehumidification. A cooler with a special heat exchanger design combines the dehumidification
from the desiccant with cooling from evaporation of water to provide air conditioning.
The preferred salt is calcium chloride. It is inexpensive and is commonly used as road salt. The
solar collector can be a shallow pool in a black plastic liner, which allows the sun to evaporate
water from the salt solution. The concentrated salt solution is then stored in a tank until it is
needed for cooling. If sunlight is not sufficient to concentrate the desiccant, off-peak electricity
or natural gas can be used as a back-up heat source.
The overall objective of the project is to demonstrate a thermally driven solar air conditioner that
has the potential of being economically viable compared to conventional electrically driven
systems. The immediate objectives were to obtain component test data and modeling results that
can be used to support the overall objective.
Literature Review…………………………………………………………………10
2.7 Desiccants…………………………………………………………….16
Methodology……………………………………………………………………..19
3.1 Principle………………………………………………………………..19
Fabrication………………...………………………………………………………22
Testing…………………………………………………………………………….26
Project Costing……………………………………………………………………28
7.1 Advantage………………………………………….….………………..29
7.2 Limitation………………………………………………………………31
Applications……………………………………………………………………….34
Conclusion………………………………………………………...………………35
References………………………………………………………………………...36
The use of solar energy for cooling can be either to provide refrigeration for food preservation or
to provide comfort cooling. There is less experience with solar cooling than solar heating.
Several solar heated buildings have been designed, built, operated for extended periods but only
a few short –time experiments have been reported on solar cooling. However, research work is
expected to close the gap between the two within few years.
Solar air conditioning systems have used two basic approaches in an attempt to capture the sun’s
energy for cooling—thermal and photovoltaic. The photovoltaic systems use photovoltaic panels
to convert solar radiation directly into DC electricity. Photovoltaic systems have two major
advantageous attributes. First, they can use conventional electrically driven air-conditioning
equipment, which is widely available and inexpensive. Second, they can use the utility grid for
backup power during dark or cloudy periods.
Unfortunately other attributes: the high cost of manufacturing, the low conversion efficiencies,
and the need for a continual stream of photons to produce power, create three major
disadvantages. First electricity from solar cells is very expensive because of the high cost of the
solar panels. Second the space needed for powering the air conditioning units is large. And third
the panels provide no energy storage, which creates a need for use of grid-based electricity at
night and on cloudy days. In fact, the peak output from the solar panels occurs around solar
noon, while peak air-conditioning loads occurs several hours later, resulting in a significant
mismatch between supply of needed power and demand. This mismatch greatly reduces the
value of the system in reducing peak power demand to the utility. Recently deregulated markets
are demonstrating that these demands are much more expensive to meet than had been
previously apparent.
Thermally driven systems are another approach; they use heat from the sun to drive an air
conditioner. Typical approaches from the past used a high-temperature flat-plate collector to
supply heat to an absorption system. Systems with concentrating collectors and steam turbines
have also been proposed. Natural gas or other fuel is used for backup heat.
While thermal systems have the advantage of eliminating the need for expensive photovoltaic
panels, the existing systems have attributes that produce major disadvantages. As used in the
past, thermal systems are based on single-effect absorption chillers or other cooling systems that
are designed to use natural gas, steam or other high-temperature heat source. They require a very
high collector temperature to drive the cooling system. The high collector temperature and
relatively poor efficiency, greatly increases collector size and cost. In addition, there is no
economically viable way of storing solar energy with this approach. The result of these problems
is that thermal systems have been very expensive and have relied primarily on natural gas or
other fuel for their thermal energy. For this reason they have seen very little use.
2.1 AIR CONDITIONING: - The air conditioning is that branch of engineering science
which deals the study of conditioning of air i.e. supplying and maintaining desirable internal
atmospheric condition for human comfort, irrespective of external condition and the system
which effectively controls these conditions to produce the desired effects on the occupants of the
space is known as air conditioning system.
2.2 SOLAR COOLING SYSTEM:-Solar air cooling system works on two basic
principle:-
2.2.2 Absorption system:- Absorption system uses heat energy, instead of mechanical
energy as in the vapour compression system in order to change the conditions of the refrigerant
required for the operation of refrigeration cycle.
In the vapour absorption system, the compressor is replaced by an absorber, a pump, a generator
and a pressure reducing valve these component perform the same function as that of compressor
in vapour compression system. In this system, the vapour refrigerant from the evaporator is
drawn into an absorber where it is absorbed by the weak solution of the refrigerant forming a
strong solution. This strong solution is pumped to the generator where it is heated by some
external source. During the heating process, the vapour refrigerant is driven off by the solution
2.3 Solar air conditioning: - It refers to any air conditioning (cooling) system that uses
solar power. It can be achieved by following four types: -
2.3.1 Solar A/C using desiccants: - Air can be passed over common, solid desiccants (like
silica gel or zeolite) to draw moisture from the air and make it more comfortable. (See
Desiccant Cooling and Dehumidification) The desiccant is then regenerated by using
solar thermal energy to dry it out, in a cost-effective, low-energy-consumption,
continuously repeating cycle. Active solar cooling wherein solar thermal collectors
provide input energy for a desiccant cooling system: A packed column air-liquid
contactor has been studied in application to air dehumidification and regeneration in
solar air conditioning with liquid desiccants. A theoretical model has been developed
to predict the performance of the device under various operating conditions.
2.3.2 Passive solar cooling: - In this type of cooling solar thermal energy is not used
directly to create a cold environment or drive any direct cooling processes. Instead,
passive solar building design aims at slowing the rate of heat transfer into a building
in the summer, and improving the removal of unwanted heat. It involves a good
understanding of the mechanisms of heat transfer: heat conduction, convective heat
transfer, and thermal radiation, the latter primarily from the sun.
2.3.3 Solar thermal cooling:- There are multiple alternatives to compressor-based chillers
that can reduce energy consumption, with less noise and vibration. Solar thermal
energy can be used to efficiently cool in the summer, and also heat domestic hot
The more cycles, the more efficient they are. Efficient absorption chillers require
water of at least 190°F (88 °C). Common, inexpensive flat-plate solar thermal
collectors only produce about 160 °F (71 °C) water, but several successful
commercial projects in the US, Asia and Europe have shown that flat plate solar
collectors specially developed for temperatures over 200 °F (featuring double glazing,
increased backside insulation, etc.) can be effective and cost efficient.
2.3.3 Photovoltaic solar cooling: - Photovoltaic (PV) cells are expensive and require a
large portion of the roof to provide sufficient electrical power to drive an air
conditioner. The cost for these panels can be ten times that of a conventional air
conditioner. Of course the electrical grid can be used to supplement the energy from
the PV panels, but this approach means that the generation and transmission capacity
must be available to handle the maximum cooling load, which negates much of the
benefits from solar air conditioning.
Till now, we have discussed four types of cooling methods. But due to inherent advantages of
solar cooling by desiccants over other methods we are adopting this method. Those advantages
are as follows: -
Low cost.
Low collector temperature.
Low collector size.
Most of the test data is from one collector that is filled with calcium chloride solution. A second
collector is filled with water for one day. A balance provided a measurement of mass of the
collector at various times throughout the day. Calcium chloride concentration is determined by
measured liquid density at the end of the first day and is calculated based on the mass of the
liquid at the other points. Air flow over the collector is by natural convection; wind speeds are
generally less than 10 mph. At the beginning of the third day of measurements, a measured
quantity of distilled water is added to the calcium chloride solution to prevent crystallization.
2.6 Heat-exchanger: - Several different designs were evaluated for a low-cost liquid-to-
liquid heat exchanger. The exchanger uses separate plastic bags for each fluid. The bags are
SOLAR AIR COOLING 15 |
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constructed of polyethylene or other plastic. Spacers were used inside bags to create a thin
channel, typically about .010 to .050 inches.
Several tests were made using variations of this design. The basic idea is to keep the liquid layers
thin so that thermal resistance is small even with low-velocity laminar flow. Sealing the heat
exchanger and maintaining the proper distribution of liquid through the heat exchanger was
difficult. Air gaps between the bags can also introduce significant thermal resistance.
Figure shows an alternate configuration of heat exchanger. This design is formed with flexible
plastic sheets that are welded together to form two, counter-flow channels. The heat exchanger is
open to the atmosphere at the top so that the only pressure is the static head of the liquids that fill
the heat exchanger. Heat exchanger testing was conducted using a simple, once-through test
apparatus. Warm city water was supplied to one side of the heat exchanger, and cool water was
supplied to the other side. The flow rate was determined by measuring the time for water to fill a
container and then weighing the mass of water collected using a balance. Temperature
measurements used thermister probes with a digital readout.
2.7 Desiccants: - Desiccants are materials with a high tendency to adsorb water. If a dry
desiccant is exposed to the air, it will dehumidify the air, while the desiccant becomes warm.
Eventually the desiccant will become saturated with water, but it can be "regenerated" by
heating. The most common desiccants are silica gel, calcium chloride (CaCl2), activated carbon,
zeolites, lithium chloride (LiCl) and lithium bromide (LiBr).
Calcium chloride is a cheap, non-toxic, widely available material that has certain properties that
make it a good candidate for this application.
Table.1
The above table shows that the calcium chloride solutions will not freeze, and this is important.
Next, here is some excerpts from Lange's Table 10-25, which shows the humidity level above
various concentrations of calcium chloride solutions. Data is for 25 0C.
Table.2
Humidity %CaCl2
100% 44.36
95% 39.62
90% 35.64
80% 31.73
At very high concentrations, you end up with basically a pure Calcium Chloride Hex hydrate
tank. Calcium Chloride Hex hydrate melts at almost room temperature, 29.9 0C. So, in effect, it
could act as its own phase change storage material.
METHODOLOGY
uses the calcium chloride to dehumidify the air. Water is evapouratively cooled with exhaust air.
Approximate air dry-bulb/wet-bulb temperatures in degrees F are included in the figure for
illustration purposes. This schematic shows the configuration of cooler evaluated in this project;
other configurations are possible and are discussed in the copy of the patent in the appendix.
The operation of cooler requires further explanation. The driving force behind this cooler is a
temperature difference between a water surface and a desiccant surface in contact with an air
stream. The temperature of a water surface is close to the wet-bulb temperature of the air, while
the temperature of a desiccant surface corresponds to a higher temperature. For a concentrated
solution of calcium chloride, the temperature difference between the wet-bulb and the desiccant
equilibrium temperature is approximately 15 to 20 °F. The cooler provides a way of using a
relatively weak desiccant to efficiently provide cooling.
The cooler uses three counter flow heat exchangers to move thermal energy from incoming
outside air to the exhaust air. Starting at the top of the figure, the first heat exchanger is a direct-
SOLAR AIR COOLING 20 |
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contact device that evaporates water into the exhaust air stream. The temperature of water
leaving this heat exchanger approaches the wet-bulb temperature of the exhaust stream leaving
the conditioned space.
The second heat exchanger is a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger that uses the cooled water to cool
a calcium chloride solution. The third heat exchanger is a direct-contact device that cools and
dehumidifies the incoming outside air using the cooled calcium chloride solution.
The cooler is able to work because the equilibrium temperature of the desiccant with the
incoming air is higher than the wet-bulb temperature of the exhaust air stream. This temperature
difference allows the cooler to lower the enthalpy of the incoming air below that of the exhaust
air leaving the occupied space. An optional direct evaporative cooler can provide a low supply-
air temperature for applications where the cooling load is primarily sensible.
A solar collector uses thermal energy from the sun to drive out water absorbed by the desiccant.
The collector temperatures are relatively low because the equilibrium relative humidity of the
desiccant is relatively high.
Note that if the ambient temperature is above the equilibrium temperature for the desiccant it is
possible to evaporate water into the air without any solar input.
The concentrated desiccant solution also serves as a storage medium to provide cooling at night
or during cloudy periods, when sufficient sunlight is not available. The preferred desiccant
material is calcium chloride because of its low cost and low toxicity. (It is commonly used for
road salt and as a food additive. These features mean that calcium chloride can serve as a safe,
compact, inexpensive storage medium.
On the other hand, the desiccant properties of calcium chloride impose some limitations. At 25
°C (77 °F) calcium chloride solution crystallizes at a concentration above about 50%. This
concentration corresponds to a relative humidity of about 30%; operation of the system requires
An important feature for making the system work is to develop very low-cost, high-performance
heat exchangers. In order to make calcium chloride work effectively, the heat exchangers must
handle large transfer large amounts of thermal energy at a small temperature difference.
As will be discussed in more detail later, the design approach used in this project was make use
of low-cost materials, such as plastic, as much as possible in the design of the heat exchangers.
Plastics have the advantage of being resistant to the corrosive effects of salt solutions and water.
The disadvantage is that plastic has a much lower thermal conductivity and lower strength
compared to metals. The design approach was to use large areas of primary surface with very
small pressure differences.
At very high concentrations, you end up with basically a pure Calcium Chloride Hex hydrate
tank. Calcium Chloride Hex hydrate melts at almost room temperature, 29.9 0C. So, in effect, it
could act as its own phase change storage material.
FABRICATION
In the project, mainly two types of heat exchanger are used. The fabrication of both type are
shown below.
In this heat exchanger heat transfer takes place between CaCl2 brine solution and cold water. The
heat flows from high temp. brine solution to cold water, resulting brine solution becomes cooler
and it is ready for further circulation.
In this type of heat exchanger, copper coils are used in which CaCl 2 solution flows. Because of
high coefficient of thermal conductivity of copper, effectiveness of heat exchanger would
improve. These copper tubes are in shape of helix and are fitted in closed hollow cylindrical
drum. This cylindrical drum is filled with the cold water; hence heat transfer takes place in the
drum.
In this arrangement plastic tubes are fitted at the top of cubical box through which CaCl2 solution
flows and made to fall in form of droplets at the bottom of box due to holes provided in the
plastic tubes. Now, the air present inside the box becomes cooler and dehumidified due to
moisture absorbing property of CaCl2. This cooled and dehumidified air is sucked by the fan to
the space to be cooled. The size of heat exchanger is (1*1*1) feet.
To increase the effectiveness of flat plat solar collector, whole body is being painted black color
and covered by the glass plate from the top. The heat energy coming from sun is trapped inside
the solar collector and the rays are not able to get back due to glass plate covered at the top.
Hence the temperature of inside the collector is sufficient to evaporate the moisture. The size of
solar collector is (3*1*1) feet.
In this project two pumps are used, one of which is used to circulate CaCl2 brine solution from
the storage tank. And other is used to circulate water from water storage tank to liquid- liquid
heat exchanger. The pump used in the project has 5.6 ft. discharge head.
Fan is used to supply dehumidified and cooled air from liquid-air heat exchanger to the space to
be cooled.
The different components are arranged as per the working principle of the project. These
connections are as follows: -
The solar collector, which also works as desiccant storage tank, is connected to the
inlet pipe of the pump and the outlet of pump is connected with the inlet of liquid-liquid
heat exchanger with the help of connectors.
The outlet pipe of liquid-liquid heat exchanger is connected with the inlet of liquid-
air heat exchanger, inside which the desiccant falls in the form of droplet and hence
collected at the base of heat exchanger.
The collected desiccant at the base again supplied to the solar collector by using the
phenomenon of gravity with the help of pipes.
The water storage tank supplies the water inside the liquid-liquid heat exchanger. The
water from heat exchanger again transferred to the storage tank by using pump.
The exhaust fan is provided on the face of the liquid-air heat exchanger, which suck the
dehumidified air from heat exchanger and supply it to the region to be cooled.
TESTING
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Testing compromise to find out the relative humidity as well as temperature of air which is being
stored in thermion box-
Step 1:-First we find out the wet bulb temperature as well as dry bulb temperature of surrounding
air with the help of sling thermometer.
Step 2: Then after we measured both the temperatures of air which is collected in thermion box.
Step 3:-Now we plot the conditions of atmospheric air and collected air on psychometric chart.
Step 4:-After plotting both the condition on psychometric chart, we find out the change in
specific humidity of air.
The project consists of so many different components that are enlisted below with their
respective cost. The cost of the components is given as per the market analysis and availability of
that component in market.
Quantity Units Retail Cost per Unit (Rs.) Total Cost (Rs.)
Heat Exchangers
1.Liquid-Liquid HX 1 400.00 400.00
Overhead 120.00
Any a lot more feasible, long-term solution lies in harnessing solar energy to cool our
own atmosphere through any solar air conditioning solar panel array. Whenever you
think about the idea, the days when you need air-cooling most are generally those
days when the solar reaches its best.
The solar air conditioning can work precisely. Solar air conditioning makes use of
the solar panel that soaks up and traps heat from the sun within the form of thermal
power simply by warming normal water.
This power can be delivered to the solar air conditioner along with heats up the solution
causing it to steam. Since it cools it creates a cooling effect that's taken into an additional
water loop
.
Solar air conditioning provides a great package involving benefits. Installation
expenses can be reduced through tax credits, deductions and also refunds.
Solar air conditioning does not use any Freon or other hazardous chemicals.
Solar energy may be the best way to obtain replenishes able power.
7.2 Limitation: -
In cloudy conditions solar collector cannot work properly as sun rays are not uniform.
CaCl2 is mainly for dehumidifying the humid air but in dry conditions it cannot
dehumidify the air as no moisture is present.
Precaution is to be taken while handling of CaCl2 as it harms to skin and while making
solution it generates loads of heat.
Effort at all levels is being made to identify new slots / areas where desiccant cooling
system provides immediate applicability i.e. stand alone as well as provides economical
and efficient alternative, by way of lowering TR (Reduce impact of CFCs).
Energy shortage is something which we live with day in and day out. This energy
shortage is expected to increase as more and more population shifts to air conditioned
buildings.
This presents the air conditioning industry with several challenges. Among these are demands for
increased energy efficiency and improved indoor air quality, growing concern for improved
comfort and environmental control, increased ventilation requirements, phase-out of
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and rising peak demand charges.
As a result, the use of desiccant cooling and dehumidification systems for building
comfort conditioning has increased steadily during the past several years in the West.
Recent advances in adsorptive materials, in conjunction with dehumidifier design
innovations, are making the technology increasingly attractive.
As per the proposed plan of the project we have successfully constructed the solar air
conditioner which works on the desiccant (CaCl2) property of dehumidifying the humid air and
of producing cooling effect with the help of solar radiation.
It is cost effective as the whole cost of the project comes around Rs 3247.00 only which
is very less and cheap as compared to other traditional electric air conditioner and it is
less bulky too.
Books
1. By R.S. Khurmi “Refrigeration And Air Conditioning” (2010) Page 87, 165, 210
S.Chand .& Pub.
Websites:
1. http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/bluebook/atlas/
http://www.nrel.gov/desiccantcool/
http://www.eren.doe.gov/consumerinfo/refbriefs/ba3.html
http://www.fh-luebeck.de/an/pt/solar/publish/euros-00.pdf