Recent Advances in Solar Thermal Assisted Air Conditioning Systems

Abstract

Solar assisted thermal air conditioning refers to any air conditioning or cooling system that uses solar thermal energy. The most common solar assisted air conditioning systems are absorption, adsorption and desiccant cooling system. The disadvantages of solar thermal air conditioning system compared to the conventional vapor compression cycle are many additional components and large solar collector area. The main advantage of solar thermal air conditioning system is that it uses less electricity and uses thermal energy. Three advanced solar cooling systems are (a) a solar adsorption system (b) solar absorption system with flash tank and ejector for performance enhancement and (c) solid desiccant cooling systems. The way forward for solar thermal cooling technology is the development of more compact design that will enable the usage of less collector area with the same performance making it more cost competitive.