design - solar absorption cooling

[jayson30]

Can someone please give me guidelines on how to design a solar based absoprtion cooling system

the first and foremost step towards this process is the calculation of the cooling loads, which I have already found out

but what are the next steps?

Thanks

 

[GMcD]

Next Steps:

1. Get your local sunshine hours data to see how many sunshine hours you can expect during the cooling season that the chiller will need to operate.

2. Select some solar water heating panels - vacuum tube for cold climates, flat panels are fine for warmer climates, and get the manufacturer to run you optimum angle calculations and yearly solar water heating energy and water temperature profiles based on local BIN data.

3. Use a combination of solar water heating panels with as much thermal storage tank volume you can get - you can get some pretty good peak temperatures > 200F during most sunshine hours and the more you can store, the more you can make use of that old solar fraction.

4. Even with a lot of thermal storage, there may be spring and fall days where the absorption chiller/cooling appliance can't use all the hot water generated by the solar panels - in that case use a dry cooler as a heat dump if you use a closed loop solar hydronic circuit, or consider a drain-back system that will protect the system from overheat situations.