Study of the performance of a solar adsorption cooling system

This article presents a transient model of a solar adsorption cooling system. A computer program has been developed to simulate the operation of a two bed silica gel- water adsorption cooling system as well as flat plate collectors and the hot water storage tank. This program is then utilized to simulate the performance of a sample solar adsorption cooling system used for cooling a set of rooms that comprises an area of 52 m2 located in Ahwaz city in Iran. The system has been simulated with typical weather data of solar radiation and ambient temperatures of Ahwaz. The results include the temperature profiles of hot, cooling and chilled water in addition to Temperature profiles of adsorption/desorption beds, evaporator and condenser. Also the effects of the cycle time, switching time and hot water temperature on COP and refrigeration capacity are studied. Furthermore, the effects of solar collectors’ surface area and the storage tank volume on total cost of the system are investigated in order to determine their optimum values able to maximize the overall thermo-economic performance of the system under analysis.