Energy Conversion & Management 42 (2001) 313327

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Simulation of a solar absorption air conditioning system

Z.F. Li, K. Sumathy*
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong Received 28 September 1999; accepted 19 April 2000

Abstract This paper presents the simulation of a solar-powered absorption air conditioning system with the absorption pair of lithium bromide and water. An attempt is made to increase the COP of the system by partitioning a single storage tank into two parts. In the morning when sunshine is low, the upper part is activated, and in the afternoon, the whole (upper and lower) tank is connected to the collector. The analysis indicates that it is preferable to utilize a partitioned water tank rather than the normal stratied water tank because the cooling eect can be realized much earlier compared to the normal stratied water storage tank. Also, the overall cooling eciency (cooling load to total solar energy ratio) was found to be higher for the partitioned storage air conditioning system. 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Solar energy; Air conditioning; Lithium bromide; Partitioned storage

1. Introduction In Hong Kong, the daily average insolation of solar energy is approximately 15 MJ/m2. Since Hong Kong has a latitude of 22.38N, the heating season is short and the demand for heating is not as high as that for comfort cooling or refrigeration. Therefore, there is always considerable interest in utilizing solar-power for absorption air conditioning systems in Hong Kong. Wide-ranging studies of dierent aspects of absorption system, such as performance simulations [13] and experimental test results [46], have been reported. Of the various
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +852-2859-2632; fax: +852-2858-5415. E-mail address: ksumathy@hkucc.hku.hk (K. Sumathy). 0196-8904/01/$ - see front matter 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 1 9 6 - 8 9 0 4 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 5 7 - 1

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Nomenclature AC CP FR m mC e S Ta Tg TCI TCO TS, i UA DTon DToff collector area specic heat at constant pressure collector heat removal factor ow rate of uid eective heat capacity of collector solar intensity ambient temperature generator temperature of chiller collector inlet temperature collector outlet temperature temperature in storage tank node i loss coecientarea product dierential temperature enabling operation of collector circulation dierential temperature disabling operation of collector circulation

continuous absorption solar air conditioning systems, LiBrH2O and H2ONH3 are the major working pairs employed in these systems. It is reported [79] that LiBrH2O has a higher COP than that of the other working uids. Though it has a limited range of operation due to the onset of crystallization occurring at the point of the recuperator discharge into the absorber which would stop solution ow through the device its low cost and excellent performance make it the favorable candidate for use in solar cooling cycles. For these reasons, the lithium bromidewater system is considered to be better suited for most solar-absorption air conditioning applications, and it will be the only combination examined here. In 1981, Kreider and Kreith [10] introduced a LiBrH2O solar absorption air conditioning system with two hot-water storage tanks. The advantages of this system are that the heat collected by a given collector array may be increased by a factor of 1.3 to 1.5. At the same time, the COP on a seasonal basis may rise 15%. Butz et al. [11] carried out a computer simulation on the LiBrH2O solar-powered air conditioning system which indicated the dependence of output on collector area and the manner in which the annual system eciency decreases as collector area increases. Tsilingiris [12] has also developed a theoreticalmicrocomputer model suitable for performance predictions and investigation of the operational behavior of a simple solar LiBrH2O cooling system for small residential applications. The derived results allow optimization of design and preliminary economic assessment of the system for operation under local (Greek) weather conditions. It was concluded that even at the present costs of fossil fuels, electrical energy and mechanical components, solar air conditioning is an economically marginal application when not combined with solar heating. Muneer and Uppal [13] developed a detailed numerical simulation model for a commercially available solar absorption chiller. The results showed that an optimum ratio of storage volume to collector area exists. Also, a high solar fraction can be obtained with relatively small areas of collectors, even when the collectors are of the inexpensive type. The interesting feature was that the

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system operated at design load conditions with generator temperatures as low as 808C owing to the fact that very low cooling water temperatures are available in the dry conditions of the Sahara. The purpose of the present paper is to report the advantage of the partitioned storage system when introduced in such absorption systems. Hence, a detailed numerical simulation model is developed for such modied absorption cooling system, and the results show that with a partitioned storage tank, the cooling eect can be realized much earlier than with traditional single storage tank absorption systems. 2. System description Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of a solar absorption air conditioning system. To begin with, the solar energy is gained through the collector and is accumulated in the storage tank. Then, the hot-water in the storage tank is supplied to the generator to boil o water vapor from a solution of lithium bromide and water. The water vapor is cooled in the condenser and then passed to the evaporator, where it again gets evaporated at low pressure, thereby providing cooling to the space to be cooled. Meanwhile, the strong solution leaving the generator for the absorber passes through a heat exchanger in order to preheat the weak solution entering the generator. In the absorber, the strong solution absorbs the water vapor

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the solar-powered air conditioning system.

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leaving the evaporator. Cooling water from the cooling tower removes the heat of mixing and condensation. Since the temperature of the absorber has a higher inuence on the eciency of the system than the condensing temperature, the heat rejection (cooling water) uid is allowed to ow through the absorber rst and then the condenser. An auxiliary energy source is provided so that hot-water is supplied to the generator when solar energy is not sucient to heat the water to the required temperature level needed by the generator. The hot-water storage tank is partitioned to serve as two separate tanks. In the morning, the collector system is connected to the upper part of the tank, whereas in the afternoon, the whole tank would be used to provide heat energy to the chiller. The main characteristics of the above system are: 1. Auxiliary heating: The manner in which auxiliary heat is supplied aects the overall performance and cost of the system. Auxiliary heat may be used to boost the temperature of the hot-water from the storage tank (series connected) if the temperature of the solar derived heat does not meet the heating or cooling requirements. The auxiliary heat may also be used to meet the full load whenever the storage temperature is too low to be useful (parallel connected). In the above system, the auxiliary heater is in parallel connection between the chiller and the hot-water storage tank because the chiller has the best performance at high temperatures (about 888C). The series connection is not preferred since the temperature of the returned water from the chiller to the storage tank may be higher than the storage tank temperature itself, which raises the storage temperature and results in lower system eciency. 2. Partitioned hot-water storage tank: In the solar-powered absorption air conditioning system, it is essential to have a hot-water storage tank. It serves as a buer reservoir to have nearly constant heat input. Water tanks may operate with signicant degrees of stratication, that is, with the top of the tank hotter than the bottom. Hence, in the present study, four modes of stratied water tank (Fig. 2) have been chosen for system simulation to identify the advantages of the partitioned system. * Mode I (stratied mode): Number of stratied segments = 3. Circulation takes place in the normal condition (in the whole tank). * Mode II (stratied mode): Number of stratied segments = 4. Circulation takes place in the normal way. * Mode III (partitioned mode): Number of stratied segments = 3. Segment number 1 is

Fig. 2. Modes of storage tank pictorial.

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treated as a uniform water tank when solar insolation is low. At the same time, collector circulation and load circulation will take place in segment number 1. When solar insolation is high, circulation takes place in the whole tank as in the normal condition. Mode IV (partitioned mode): Number of stratied segments = 4. Segment number 1 is treated as a uniform water tank when solar insolation is low. On the other hand, when solar insolation is high, circulation takes place in the normal way.

3. Simulation of the system The simulation has been performed based on three main components of the system, namely, the solar collector, chiller (with cooling tower), and hot-water storage tank. 3.1. Collector circulation The solar collector was modeled in the manner proposed by Hottel and Whillier [14], Bliss [15], and Klein et al. [16]. The basic equation is: 1 QU FR AC S UL TCI Ta An on-o control scheme is used to control the operation of the collector circulation pump. That is, with an on-o control a decision is made to turn the circulation pump on or o depending on the useful output available from the collector. The turn-on of the collector circulating pump is determined by the temperature dierence between the collector plate temperature TP and the temperature at the bottom of the hot-water storage tank. When the collector circulating pump is o in the early morning or when solar insolation is low, no uid would be circulating and the absorbed solar energy would heat the collector without reducing the useful energy gain. The following equation evaluates the collector plate temperature TP at the end of each time period by knowing S, UL , Ta and the collector plate temperature TP, initial at the beginning of the time period:   S UL TP Ta AC UL t exp 2 mC e S UL TP, initial Repeated application of the above equation for each time period before the collector actually operates serves to estimate the collector temperature as a function of time. Also, the turn-o criterion must satisfy the following inequality or the system would become unstable: DToff AC FR UL DTon mCP 3

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3.2. Chiller It is well known that the operating capacity of a chiller is a function of the entering hotwater and cooling water temperatures. A chiller model WFC400S, manufactured by Yazaki, was introduced, with a rated capacity of 4.7 kW. Figs. 3 and 4 show the refrigeration performance curve and COP for the chiller at a cooling water inlet temperature of 29.58C. The chiller has a generator inlet temperature range of 751008C and a cooling water inlet temperature range of 24318C. Similar performance curves for cooling water inlet temperatures of 248C and 318C are also available, while the chiller gets its rated capacity of 4.7 kW under the following conditions: Generator inlet temperature = 888C Cooling water inlet temperature = 29.58C Chilled water outlet temperature = 98C Assuming the chilled water outlet temperature as 98C, the COP and cooling eect (Y ) of the chiller for a cooling water inlet temperature of 248C can be modulated as follows:

Fig. 3. Refrigeration performance of the chiller for cooling water inlet temperature of 29.58C.

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2 COP 0X29 0X02Tg 1 10 4 T g 2 Y 4X492 0X09665Tg 3X23 10 4 T g

319

4 5

Similarly, for a cooling water inlet temperature of 29.58C,

2 COP 0X04 0X0135Tg 7 10 5 T g

6 7

9X477 0X167Tg 4X7

For a cooling water inlet temperature of 318C,

2 COP 0X043 0X0132Tg 6 10 5 T g

8 9

9X16 0X158Tg 4X7

Fig. 4. Refrigeration COP of the chiller for cooling water inlet temperature of 29.58C.

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For condensing water inlet temperatures of 24318C, both COP and Y were found by interpolation. 3.3. Cooling tower The cooling tower (Model CT-W1.3YB), with a heat rejection capacity of 12.4 kW, is of the direct type with a fan located at the top of the unit to provide forced draft. The performance of the cooling tower is shown in Fig. 5. Numerically, the cooling capacity Qcool of the cooling tower is modeled as a function of the cooling water inlet temperature Tcoolin and the ambient wet bulb temperature TW: Qcool fTcoolin ,TW 10 The wet-bulb temperature TW is required to determine the cooling water temperature entering the absorption chiller. The wet-bulb temperature is determined by the dry-bulb temperature TDB, the atmospheric pressure Pa and the relative humidity F by using the following equation [17]:

Fig. 5. Performance of cooling tower.

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PgW FPgD TDB TWB Pa PgW KW TWB

11

where, PgW = saturation water vapor pressure corresponding to the wet-bulb temperature; PgD = saturation water vapor pressure corresponding to the dry-bulb temperature, KW = 1537.88C. The saturation water vapor pressure Pg, corresponding to the temperature T, is dened as       Pg 1 1 T 5X031 ln 6789 ln 12 293X15 T 293X15 2337 Since simulation of both chiller and cooling tower require the cooling water temperature, a mathematical correlation is necessary to relate the chiller with the cooling tower. According to the rst law of thermodynamics, heat input into the chiller (the heat energy supplied to the chiller Q and the cooling eect Y ) is equal to the heat output of the chiller (the cooling capacity Qcool, of the cooling tower): Qcool Qin Y YaCOP Y Y1 1aCOP 3.4. Water tank In this study, the hot-water storage tank is considered as a stratied water tank. A stratied (or multinoded) water tank can be modeled by dividing the tank into N nodes (sections), with energy balances written for each section of the tank. The energy equation takes into account the energy gain from the collector QU, energy lost to surroundings and energy removed by the load LS. The result is a set of N dierential equations that can be solved for the temperatures of the N nodes as a function of time. For temperature stratied water tank, a collector control function F C can be dened to i identify which node receives water from the collector [18,19]. The liquid returning from the load can be controlled in a similar manner with a load return control function F L : i V ` 1, if i 1 and TCO b TS, i 14 F C 1, if TS, i1 rTCO b TS, i i X 0 otherwise V ` 1, if i N and TLr ` TS, N F L 1, if Ts, i rTLr b TS, i1 i X 0 otherwise 13

15

where N is the number of nodes, and node i 1 denotes that the segment lies at the top of the tank. The net ow between nodes can be either towards the top or the bottom of the tank, depending on the magnitudes of the collector ow mC and load ow rates mL, and the values of the two control functions at any particular instant. To determine the net ow at node i, mm, i is given as

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mm, i

V N b b b L b mL FJ b b b b J2 b b b b N1 ` FC mC J b b J1 b b b b i1 N b b b b mC F C mL FL b J J b X
J1 JJ1

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if i 1 if i N if i 2, F F F ,N 1 16

Assuming an energy exchange function Qinter between nodes, V b mm, 1 TS, 1 TS, 2 b b if i 1 `m m, N TS,N1 TS, N if i N Qinter if i 2, F F F ,N 1 and mm, i r0 b mm, i TS,i1 TS,i b b X mm, i TS, i TS,i1 if i 2, F F F ,n 1 and mm, i ` 0

17

With these control functions, an energy balance on node I I 1 to N ) can be expressed as   dTS, i UA 18 mi Ta TS, i F C mC TCO TS, i F L mL TL, r TS, i Qinter i i CP i dt

3.5. Criterion in operating the storage tank, Ftank As stated before, in modes III and IV, the storage tank is considered to be partitioned such that the upper part of the tank is connected to the collector in the morning. Since 758C is generally the minimum operating temperature of the chiller, when the upper part of the tank reaches above 758C, the following criterion is checked in order to connect the lower part of the storage tank and allow it to be treated as a whole tank (lower + upper part): Qd r0 19

where Qd is the dierence of the useful solar energy gain QU and the cooling load LS. It is to be noted that in the afternoon, if the temperature of the lower part of the tank is greater than 758C, the operation will be in the whole tank even if Qd ` 0X Eq. (20) shows the criterion function Ftank k, where the parameter k is the kth time step in one day operation. V b 1, if Qd r0, Ftank k 1 1 and TS, 1 r758C b b b 1, if Qd ` 0, Ftank k 1 1 and TS, 2 r758C ` 20 Ftank k 0, if Qd r0, Ftank k 1 1 and TS, 1 ` 758C b b 0, if Qd ` 0, Ftank k 1 0 and TS, 2 ` 758C b b X 1, if Qd r0, Ftank k 1 0 and TS, 1 r788C

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4. Results and discussion A solar-powered air conditioning system has been installed at the University of Hong Kong. The system employs a high performance at plate collector area of 28 m2 and a hot-water storage tank of 2.75 m3 in volume. An algorithm was made to study the performance of the above system. The weather data was recorded regularly by a personal computer based data acquisition system custom designed and built by the HKU Electronic Service Unit (ESU). The analysis was performed with time-step intervals of 1 min. A FORTRAN computer program was written for the steps outlined in the simulation procedure described above. The only meterological data required for the program are the daily global insolation, ambient temperature and relative humidity for the cooling season. Fig. 6 shows the typical meteorological data employed for the system simulation. In the simulation, to begin with, the collector absorber temperature is assumed to be equal to the ambient temperature, and the initial temperature distribution in the hot-water tank is assumed to vary from 708C (at the top of the tank) to 608C (at the bottom of the tank). It is justied to assume such high initial temperature in the storage tank, since at the end of each day of operation, the storage water temperature is at about 74758C (experimental data). With the above mentioned parameters, comprehensive simulations of the entire cooling system were performed in four

Fig. 6. Hourly variation of meteorological data on August 15, 1999.

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dissected parts, namely, (a) collector, (b) chiller, (c) cooling tower and (d) hot-water storage tank. It has been predicted that in the morning, the starting time of collector circulation in a wholly stratied water tank is ahead of that in the partitioned water tank. This is because in the stratied mode, the inlet to the collector is connected to the bottom of the storage tank where the temperature is less than the temperature at the upper part of the storage tank, while in the partitioned mode, the inlet to the collector is connected to the upper part of the storage tank. It is interesting to note that although the collector circulation can be started earlier in the stratied mode, the actual cooling eect is realized much earlier in the partitioned mode than in the stratied one. Fig. 7 shows the temperature distribution in the hot-water storage tank during one day operation. Partitioned mode IV and stratied mode II are chosen for comparison, and the results hold good for other modes. Earlier in the morning, the temperature in the tank might have decreased by 1 or 2 degrees from that of the previous day of operation. Obviously, this is due to the heat loss from the tank over the night period and also there being no heat gain from the collector. As the day progresses, the water in the storage tank gets heated through the collectors, and as seen in Fig. 7, the temperature of the water reaches 758C for a partitioned mode tank, by 10:04 a.m. For a stratied mode, the required generating temperature is reached only at about 11:40 a.m. This delays the chiller operation for more than an hour. Therefore, by using the partitioned mode, the cooling eect can be realized much earlier in comparison to the stratied mode. Beyond 12:05 p.m., the temperature in the partitioned mode falls slightly below in the

Fig. 7. Temperature distribution in the hot-water storage tank.

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Fig. 8. Instantaneous solar cooling COP vs. time.

stratied mode, but the COP is not aected appreciably. The fall in temperature is due to the utilization of energy at an early part of the day to aect cooling. In the absorption system, the coecient of performance is a measure of the system's eciency. Fig. 8 shows the instantaneous solar cooling COP for the given system. In the morning, since the total cooling eect is produced by auxiliary heat, the cooling COP aected by solar energy is zero, as shown in the gure. The partitioned mode provides solar cooling at about 10:25 a.m., while the stratied mode could aect cooling only at 12:25 p.m. Therefore, for eective utilization of solar gain in terms of cooling eect, the partitioned storage tank is strongly recommended. The performance of the entire system and the eect of each mode and number of segments are presented in Table 1. The collector eciency and the cooling eciency of the chiller are only slightly improved by increasing the number of segments. Irrespective of the number of segments, on an average, the stratied mode results in higher collector eciency, since the
Table 1 Performance of the solar-powered air conditioning system Mode Stratied mode I II Partitioned mode III IV Segments Solar gain (MJ) 258.49 259.61 255.04 256.73 Cooling eect (MJ) 43.58 43.96 50.65 52.18 Energy demand (MJ) 82.92 83.80 97.45 100.50 Collector eciency (%) 45.76 45.96 45.15 45.45 Cooling eciency (%) 7.72 7.78 8.97 9.24

3 4 3 4

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Fig. 9. Eect of volume ratio on cooling eciency.

collector inlet temperature in the morning hours is 608C (Fig. 7). Though the instantaneous collector eciency is higher for the partitioned mode in the late morning hours (beyond 12:00 p.m.), it is very much lower in the early hours, since the water inlet to the collector is from the upper part (about 758C), which results in very low collector eciency. Therefore, the overall collector eciency turns out to be slightly lower than in the stratied mode. However, for the partitioned mode, the overall cooling eect and in turn the cooling eciency is considerably higher compared to the stratied mode. This is mainly due to the fact that the system produces a cooling eect much earlier in the day. Though the generating temperature in the partitioned mode drops by 1 to 2 degrees (Fig. 7) more than in the stratied mode, the COP is not signicantly aected. Having seen that the partitioned hot-water storage tank results in better performance for solar operated air conditioning systems, Fig. 9 shows the performance of the volume ratio of the upper part to the whole tank on the overall cooling eciency. It indicates that with the decrease in volume of the upper part, the cooling eciency increases, such as in the modes of III and IV. The extreme cases lie at the volume ratio of 1 and 0. It has been traditional that wholly stratied tanks, such as modes I and II (volume ratio = 1), are used to operate a solarpowered air conditioning system. Grassie and Sheridan [20] have worked on a solar air conditioning system with no hot-water storage tank (here, the volume ratio is considered to be zero) wherein the hot-water from the collector is directly fed to the chiller. Though the cooling eciency is higher than the stratied one, it is not favorable, owing to the unsuitability of the system for continuous operation and failure of providing cooling during late afternoon. Hence, a stratied storage tank with partitioned mode is highly recommended for a solar air conditioning system, and it is preferable to restrict the upper part of the tank to 1/4 of its entire volume.

5. Conclusion Solar-powered air conditioning has a good advantage when compared to other applications

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the greater the sunshine, the more the cooling eect that could be achieved by the solar refrigerating system, and the cooling demand could be large at the same time. In order to achieve a continuous operation and to increase the reliability of the system, a hot-water storage tank is very essential. Optimal arrangement/mode of the water storage tank results in improved system performance and higher cooling eect. Dierent models of the water storage tank have been presented and analyzed in this paper to give a detailed comparison of collector eciency and cooling eciency. The system simulation shows that the partitioned hot-water storage tank results in earlier cooling eect, and hence, the overall system COP is higher, compared to a normal stratied storage system. References
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