Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 19611971 www.elsevier.

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Recent advances in building air conditioning systems

Clito F.A. Afonso
*
Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto R. Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n 4200-465 Porto, Portugal Received 10 March 2005; accepted 6 January 2006 Available online 9 March 2006

Abstract Conventional cooling systems are responsible for large amounts of CO2 release to the environment as well as for the use of harmful refrigerants regarding the greenhouse eect and the ozone depletion potential. So research has been carried out in order to nd out new cooling systems that are free of those problems. This work is a review of cooling systems discussing both classical and more advanced technology emerging from recent research, with a respect to their general operating principles and their applications. Special attention is paid to solar cooling. However focus will not be given to individual systems components as they change very often in design in order to get even better eciencies. In this paper a classication of cooling systems is presented according to the nal energy used to operate them. 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords: Air conditioning cycles; Review; Solar cooling; Electrical systems; Thermal systems; Hybrid systems

1. Introduction Conventional systems for cooling and heating of buildings consume large amounts of energy produced by the burning of fossil fuels. This results in vast quantities of greenhouse gases being emitted to the atmosphere and has serious consequences in terms of global warming, environmental damage, e.g., acid rain and detrimental eects on human health such as asthma. At Earth Summits in Rio de Janeiro, Kyoto and recently Johannesburg, pressure has gradually been brought to bear on national governments to act in an attempt to control greenhouse gas emissions, and the Kyoto Summit secured a commitment from EU countries to achieve an 8% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the 1990 level by 20082012. So development of new environmentally-friendly technologies will be vital to achieve these targets. On the other hand, chlorouorocarbons (CFCs) have been used as working uids in conventional air conditioning systems for over 60 years. However, these refrigerants

Tel.: +351 2250 81746. E-mail address: clito@fe.up.pt

are known to deplete the ozone layer and contribute to global warming [1,2]. Environment concern about CFCs, HCFCs and some of their replacements [3], has prompted research to identify new technologies to provide an alternative to conventional vapor compression systems. For refrigeration and building air conditioning there are several available refrigeration systems. These systems can be classied in three main categories according to the nal energy used to operate them: electrical systems, thermal systems and hybrid systems [4], as is shown in Fig. 1. While in the rst category the input energy for operation of the system is electricity (high grade energy), in the second one the driving force can be any kind of thermal energy (low grade energy). The third one is composed of several energy forms that are used together in order to provide increased system eciency as well as greater balance in energy supply. Recently the second group (thermal systems) has been receiving increasing interest from both the commercial market and research. This is mainly due to the fact that thermal systems represents smaller ozone depletion potential and smaller contribution to greenhouse eects than electrically operated refrigeration plants, using synthetic refrigerants used in the systems operated electrically

1359-4311/$ - see front matter 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2006.01.016

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Refrigeration Systems
Electrically operated
Vapour Air CO2 Thermoelectric Absorption Adsorption V. with thermal engines Desiccants Ejector

Thermally operated Heat / electricity

Solar / Biomass Solar / Biomass / Diesel

Hybrid

Solar / Gas Chemical / Thermal

Metal Hybrid

Fig. 1. Classication of active refrigeration systems according to the nal energy used to operate them.

(leakage rates vary from 5% to 25% of the total charge). Also as they are thermal operated instead of electrically operated, the CO2 emissions are lower. As an example, for the same quantity of nal energy, burning natural gas in a boiler releases 0.21 kg CO2/kW h to the environment while electricity releases 0.68 kg CO2/kW h. Electricity production in a traditional power plant powered by fossil fuels involves several stages of power conversion, rst chemical energy to thermal then mechanical and nally electricity. There are losses associated to each conversion process as well as to the grid connection and electricity transport which all contribute to the higher emissions of CO2 to the atmosphere [5]. The International Institute of Refrigeration has estimated that approximately 15% of all electricity produced worldwide is used for refrigeration and airconditioning processes of various kinds [6]. Due to this difference in CO2 emissions, to regional shortage of electricity that forces the price of electricity to high levels, there are economic incentives in several countries to the replacement of electricity, as nal energy, with thermal energy, which makes more appealing the thermal operated refrigeration systems. The third kind of systems is a symbiosis of several form of energy supply to the refrigeration systems. There are also some miscellany refrigeration systems that are still under development. This work presents a review of the classical systems for cooling as well as the new ones that emerged from recent research, discussing their general operating principles as well as their applications. Focus will not be given to individual components of the systems as they change very often in design in order to achieve even better optimal eciency. 2. Electrical systems The electrical systems can be subdivided according to the working uid used for its operation e.g., vapor, air and CO2 (see Fig. 1). While the rst one is based on the vapor compression cycle, the second one is based on the

inverse of the JouleBrayton cycle and the third one on the trans-critical cycle. Besides these systems, there is the thermoelectric refrigeration system that, unlike the other ones, accomplishes its objective, the cooling, in a more direct manner. The major part of refrigeration systems operated electrically are based on the vapor compression refrigeration cycle [7,8], which is composed of four basic components: evaporator, compressor, condenser and expansion valve, as shown in Fig. 2. Applying the rst law of thermodynamics to the whole cycle, and to each of its components [9], neglecting changes _ is the refrigerant in kinetic and potential energy, and if m mass ow rate in the system, it is possible to calculate the dierent energy uxes in the cycle by the following set of equations: _ evap Q _ cond W _ 0, rst law of thermodynamics: Q _ evap. m _ h1 h4 , evaporatorrefrigeration eect: Q _ m _ h2 h1 , compressorcompression power: W _ cond m _ h3 h2 , condensercondensation heat: Q expansion valve: h4 = h3.

Fig. 2. Basic vapor compression cycle.

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The coecient of performance (COP) is then given by COP _ evap. h1 h4 Q _ h2 h1 W

_ evap heat power extracted where hienthalpy (kJ/kg), Q _ from the evaporator (kW), Qcond heat power released in _ compressor mechanical power the condenser (kW), W (kW). COP values are always positive and usually greater than one, due to the fact that the refrigeration eect is greater than the compression power. Typical values of COP for the vapor compression system are in the range of 23. Even if the evaporation temperature is held constant all over the year, the COP is not constant due to changes in air or water temperature feeding the condenser, which causes changes in the condensing temperature and also in the enthalpies aecting the COP equation. Better performances can be achieved with some modications. There are several possible modications that can be implemented, depending on the specic application. A very common one is the use of multistage compression, i.e., the use of more than one compressor, with intercooling of the refrigerant between each pair of compressors [10]. Intercooling is carried out with the refrigerant at lower temperature withdrawn from other parts of the system which reduces the system total work input. There are three levels of pressure, a low in the evaporator, the intermediate between the two compressors and the high at the condenser. The multistage systems usually have higher COP values when compared with the conventional compression systems. This is due to the fact that there is a decrease in compression work and an increase in the refrigerant eect. There are several ways to implement this technique, e.g., to couple the system with several evaporators, each one with a typical operating temperature. Other modications can be carried out in the whole system. For instance, a simple radiation shield placed in the rear side of domestic refrigerator-freezers, to avoid the heat transfer by radiation on this surface from the condenser and compressor. It can decrease the inside air temperature of the refrigerator up to 2 C. Table 1 shows the maximum and minimum inside air temperature in the refrigerator in three dierent inside levels with and without radiation shields [11]. This technique can also be applied on standard air conditioning units.
Table 1 Minimum and maximum inside air temperature at dierent heights in the refrigerator (C) for dierent locations of the radiation shield (rs) Height (cm) 83.5 58 53 35 Taver. r Without rs 4.5/6.6 3.8/7.0 2.9/7.4 3.1/6.5 3.6/6.9 0.6/0.35 Rear wall with rs 4.3/6.9 2.6/6.9 1.8/6.3 2.3/5.7 2.8/6.5 0.93/0.49 Recess with rs 4.1/5.9 3.7/6.3 2.5/6.1 2.2/5.3 3.1/5.9 0.79/0.37 Real wall + recess with rs 3.9/6.3 2.5/5.2 1.1/5.1 1.8/5.6 2.3/5.5 1.0/0.47

Dry air may serve as a refrigerant in a mechanical compression system. In these systems the refrigeration is accomplished by means of a non-condensing gas. The cycle is based on the reverse of the Joule-Brayton cycle which have four basic components: two heat exchangers, one compressor and one turbine [9]. One of the heat exchangers absorbs heat from the place to be cooled down, while the other one rejects heat to the environment. For conventional refrigeration requirements, the air cycle systems have too low coecient of performance to compete with the vapor compression systems. These systems are of great interest in applications where the weight of the refrigerant unit must be kept at a minimum, for example, in aircraft cabin cooling. The trans-critical cycle uses CO2 as working uid and operates over the critical point of the refrigerant. Due to the thermodynamic properties of CO2, the vapor compression cycle and the components of the system should dier from the ones with low pressure refrigerants. In fact, for moderate ambient air temperatures, the pressure at which the refrigerant rejects heat must be supercritical, with variable uid temperature. Fig. 3 shows a typical trans-critical cycle. As pressure and temperature are independent properties on the supercritical region, the system must have a high side pressure adjustment. The COP is pressure dependent and has a maximum value for a given high side pressure [12]. The high pressure (>100 bar), combined with the low molar mass of CO2, reduces the volumetric ow and the dimensions of the system components (compressor, valves, piping). The thermoelectric refrigeration system uses directly electrical energy to achieve a refrigeration eect without any intermediate conversion process [13,14], such as the conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy to drive the compressor. The electrical energy, rather than the refrigerant serves as a carrier. It thereby avoids the cost of having a compressor, condenser and evaporator (see Fig. 4). Therefore, the system is compact, quiet, and needs little maintenance. Like the conventional thermocouple, the thermoelectric refrigeration is based upon the Peltier eect (1834) in which two dissimilar materials, A and B, are used. There are two junctions between these materials, one located in the refrigerated space and the other in the surroundings. When an electrical potential dierence is

heat rejection crit expansion compression

evaporation

h
Fig. 3. Trans-critical cycle.

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Fig. 4. Thermoelectric refrigeration system [28].

applied on these materials, the temperature of the junction located in the refrigerated space decreasesthe refrigeration eectwhereas the temperature of the other junction increases [1518]. The Peltier eect is one of the three thermoelectric eects, the other being known as the Seeback eect and Thompson eect. Whereas the last two eects act on a single conductor, the Peltier eect is a typical junction phenomenon [19]. The three eects are connected to each other by a simple relationship [20]. Thermoelectric cooling oers many advantages when compared to other methods. These includes the easy of interchanging the cooling and heating functions, no wear and noise from moving parts, no problem in containment of refrigeration, easy of miniaturization for very small capacities systems, easy of controlling capacity varying applied voltage and ability to operate under zero gravity. The main applications of thermoelectric systems have been in portable refrigerators, water coolers, cooling of scientic apparatus used in space exploration, and in aircraft. 3. Thermal systems There are several kinds of heat driven refrigeration systems that can be generally classied as shown in Fig. 1. In the next subsections, the principles of each one is shortly described. 3.1. Vapor compression systems driven by thermal engines These systems are based on the traditional vapor compression cycle described in Section 2, but in this case the electricity supply to the compressor comes from a thermal engine, namely the Stirling engine, instead of coming from the main electrical grid [21,22]. For ecient operation the heat source should work between 650 C and 800 C. There are a few of those engines running with parabolic solar concentrators, but these systems are expensive and complex, as they must track the sun. If the electrical energy supply to the vapor compression system comes from a Rankine cycle, it is called Duplex Rankine system [23]. 3.2. Absorption systems Absorption cooling, as a method, is as old as the vapor compression. However it has only started to gain signi-

cant importance recently. On one hand, because of the undesirable eects of synthetic refrigerants on the environment and on the other hand, because of the increasing energy prices [24]. An absorption unit diers from the vapor compression system in the way how the compression of refrigerant is carried out, while having in common the other three components: the evaporator, the condenser and the expansion valve. Fig. 5 shows the dierent parts of the cycle, the thermal compressor. In the absorption cooling the compression is done using a secondary uid that has the capacity of absorbing the main refrigerant owing in the other three components. In the absorber outlet, heat is rejected to the environment in order to carry out the absorption process. The result is a homogeneous liquid solution that is pumped to the generator. The objective is to separate the two uids using external heat [25]. The work of compression in the absorption system is much lower than in the vapor compression system due to the fact that a liquid solution is pumped instead of vapor. However a large quantity of heat at higher temperatures (typically over 100 C) must be supplied in the generator. These two eects together, decrease the COP value of the absorption system, when compared to vapor compression cooling, to values below one, typically around 0.7. COP can be increased using waste heat (found in many industrial processes) or solar energy in the generator. Because of the need to supply heat to carry out the compression process, this part of the system is also called a thermal compressor in opposition to the vapor compression system where a mechanical compressor is applied. The absorption cooling is nowadays very common in house and camping refrigerators as well as in air conditioning equipment. Absorption systems can be classied according to Working uid. The most popular uids in the absorption system are H2OLiBr (water as refrigerant and lithium bromide as secondary uid) and NH3H2O (ammonia as refrigerant and water as secondary uid). The rst pair of uids are suitable for positive temperatures in the evaporator (water freezes below 0 C at ambient pressure) while the second one can also be used for neg-

Heat supply Refrigerant for condenser Generator Liquid solution (refrig. +absorbent) pump

Refrigerant From evaporator

Absorber Heat rejection

Fig. 5. Compression in the absorption system.

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ative temperatures. However the NH3H2O systems are not very common, due to their low eciency (average cooling COP = 0.6), high heat transfer areas and initial cost. Research is being carried out in order do develop dierent pairs. Number of eects, that describes the number of cycles that are connected in cascade. A single eect machine is related to a single cycle, while a double eect unit uses the heat released in the high pressure cycle to the low pressure generator. Thus, the energy supply to the system is used twice and the COP of the cycle is average doubled (typically 1.4 against the 0.7 of the single eect for the pair H2OLiBr). The single eect system can use hot water at about 80 C while the double eect system needs water or vapor over 120 C that must be produced in a boiler. However, recently developed double eect water chillers with the pair NH3H2O [26] have achieved a COP of about 1. Results reported for a heat pump [27], indicate that values as high as 1.9 can be reached. In spite of a fast increase in use, absorption cooling is still more expensive and huge than the classic vapor compression systems. A number of modications on the basic absorption cycle have been recently published [28]. One of them, called PlatenMunters system (after its Swedish inventors), the liquid pump is replaced by a third uid, typically hydrogen. The advantage of this solution is that it does not have any moving parts. Another one is the steam ejector recompression absorption refrigeration system. It is similar to a single eect lithium bromide absorption cycle, with the dierence that there is a steam ejector for enhancing the concentration process [29]. A novel method, the electrochemical absorption refrigeration system was published in 2000, and consists of four main components [30]: An electrochemical cell is the heat absorber, equivalent to an evaporator in conventional vapor compression refrigeration. A fuel cell rejects heat in a manner similar to a condenser in vapor compression refrigeration. Heat exchanger between gas streams and water ow stream. Current pump for elevating the fuel cells voltage output to a level sucient for driving the electrochemical cell. There are other systems still under development [31]. 3.3. Adsorption cooling Adsorption systems are similar to the absorption ones but they use a refrigerant/adsorbent solid pair instead of a refrigerant/absorbent liquid pair. There are several available pairs however the ammonia/activated carbon and water/zeolite are the most frequent ones. Recent developments in solar absorption and adsorption cooling systems

showed that they can be implemented with a comparatively high eciency and low manufacture and operation costs [32]. 3.4. Desiccants systems Desiccant cooling is based on an open cycle where the cooling is done directly in the air by changing its humidity, instead of being cooled trough evaporators as in the other systems. A desiccant is a synthetic or natural hygroscopic material that is able to absorb or release the humidity of the surrounding air. The humidity absorption is followed by an increase of the air temperature because of the latent heat released by the condensing water. In an opposite way, the humidity absorbed by the desiccant can be released to the air by heating the desiccant to a suciently high temperature. This results in a decrease of the surrounding air temperature, because of the water evaporation [33]. In a typical desiccant cooler the air to be insuated in the space is dehumidied as it passes through the desiccant. The latent heat is transformed in sensible heat as the air is becoming drier and warmer. The exhaust air from the space goes then trough an evaporative cooler becoming more humid and colder. These two air streams ow into a heat exchanger where the supply air is cooled to a temperature lower then the space air temperature. Energy supply is required to heat the exhaust air after the heat exchanger and for the regeneration of the desiccant. The most important advantage by using desiccant cooling is that both air temperature and humidity can be simultaneously controlled (World Health Organization recommends a maximum humidity of 7 g/kg for healthy indoor air). Eciency and COP can be improved by using solar or waste energy for the desiccant regeneration. Indirect beneces are associated with low humidity levels, including reduced corrosion and microbial growth. 3.4.1. Solid desiccant systems Commercial solid desiccant systems are available with typical COP values about 1 [34]. Several solid desiccant materials can be found, such as silica gel, carbon, etc. Fig. 6 shows a typical solid desiccant system as well the psychometric chart of the air evolution. Typical values of the proprieties of the thermodynamic air states shown in Fig. 6 are represented in Table 2. In some cases, the cooler (evaporator) mounted after the thermal wheel, is replaced by an evaporative cooler in order to avoid the use of refrigerants. In this case there is an increase in humidity and a decrease in temperature after state 3. 3.4.2. Liquid desiccant systems The working principles of both desiccant systems is similar, however there are some dierences in the equipment design. For example, in a cooler using liquid desiccant, the desiccant wheel is replaced by a spray chamber. This is an important advantage, since desiccant wheels are

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Humyfier 10 9 + 8 7 6 Space Cooler 1 Desiccant wheel 2 3 Thermal Wheel 4 5

10

6 4 5 3 2

Temperature
Fig. 6. Solid desiccant system. Table 2 Typical thermodynamic properties of the air in a solid desiccant system State 1 2 3 4 5 T (C) 28 44.4 22.9 15 16.5 w (g/kg) 11 6.1 6.1 6.1 6.1 State 6 7 8 9 10 T (C) 23 15.81 32.27 70 46 w (g/kg) 6.8 9.76 9.76 9.76 16

Humidity

generally large in size in order to enhance heat and mass transfer, but makes them relatively expensive. A new liquid desiccant system where attention is paid only to the dierences regarding the conventional ones is shown in Fig. 7 [35]. In this new system, the classical ventilators have been replaced by rotors with bers which act as evaporator or absorber, Fig. 8, enabling an improved heat and mass transfer by signicantly increasing the contact surface area [36,37]. As liquid is injected in the center of the ventilators owing over the bers, there is also an eective removal of air particles promoting, in this way, air cleaning. The thermal wheel was also replaced by a more eective heat exchanger composed of heat pipes. The absorbent used was lithium bromide. Potassium formateHCOOKas absorbent is also under investigation since it has a negative crystallization temperature, it is less corrosive and not as expansive as the others. COP increases with inside temperature (Ti), however decreases with outside temperature (Tamb) as shown in

Fig. 8. Fiber rotor.

Building 1 R I 3 Evaporator Water Evapora tor 3 S R A 2 T 1 Heat pipes S

2 Absorber A Heat exchanger Vapor Generator Heater Desiccant solution

Fig. 7. New liquid desiccant system.

Water

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1.3 1.2 1.1

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Ti=26C

COP

1.0 0.9

Ti=24C
0.8 0.7 0.6 26

27

27

28

28

29

29

30

30

Tamb
Fig. 9. COP as a function of outside air temperature for two dierent indoor air temperatures.

Fig. 11. Schematic diagram of the ejector system.

Fig. 9. These results were obtained for a relative humidity of 50% and a heat pipe eciency of 70% [38]. 3.5. Ejector A very attractive feature of the ejector systems is that they can provide heating and cooling simultaneously using a single heat source, such as renewables (biomass, solar, geothermal energy) or waste heat (exhaust gases for air conditioning a vehicle). For air conditioning applications, the most convenient heat source is the solar energy [39,40]: it enables summer cooling and winter heating. It is particularly interesting for commercial buildings, where it is not necessary to use air conditioning in the evenings, or in remote places where there is no electricity or where hot euents are not available. In this system, the ejector replaces the compressor of the vapor compression system. The ejector has a venturi, a suction section, a converging section and a straight and diverting section, Fig. 10. Schematic representation of an ejector cycle is shown in Fig. 11. QG represents the primary heat source, which

would be, as mentioned before, a renewable (e.g., solar collector) or a kombi system with a conventional boiler. This system has no moving parts, which makes them very reliable. There are ejector systems operating for more than 20 years without any kind of problems. A new prototype for combined heat and power has been developed that consists of two circuits, a primary circuit using n-pentane as working uid and a secondary circuit with water (boiler and heat exchangers). Using n-pentane as a working uid has advantages thermodynamic properties at relatively low temperatures therefore solar energy can be applied as the heat supply. It is also a green refrigerant in contrast to CFCs. Schematic representation of this prototype is shown in Fig. 12 [41], with 50% of solar energy and 50% heat input from a natural gas boiler. Global COP was 0.23. The estimated was 0.019/kW h that is roughly half the price of a conventional system [42]. Other ejector systems have been applied in several buildings with dierent kind of refrigerants and good results [4345]. 3.6. Metal hybrid system This is a state of the art refrigeration system developed by a group of Japanese companies in the 90, capable for

Turbine 5

1 Boiler Heater 1 0

2 9

Ejector
2a 2b

6 Condenser

Evaporator 7 8

Fig. 10. View of an ejector.

Fig. 12. Representation of the combined ejector/Rankine cycle.

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cold storage below 30 C. The method is based on the hydrogen absorption and desorption capability of metal hybrid alloys in exothermic and endothermic reaction, respectively. This phenomenon can be implemented in a refrigeration cycle using a combination of two alloys, one working at high and another at low temperatures. Some of the advantages of this technique are that it is CFC free, safe, no moving elements except for pumps circulating water and brine and low noise [46]. 3.7. Solar cooling Heat and electrical driven refrigeration systems already mentioned are suitable to operate with solar energy, which can be converted either to heat (solar collectors) and either to electricity (photovoltaic panels) [4750]. An important advantage of operating a cooler using solar power lies within the intrinsic connection between solar radiation and cooling demand. Heating loads, and therefore cooling demands are generally higher when solar intensity is high, thus more energy is available for running the cooling system. The appropriate refrigeration cycle depends on the cooling demand, available form of energy input and temperature level of the refrigerated objects and environment. From an energy saving point of view, a solar cooling system can save electrical energy in the range of 2540% when compared to an equivalent cooling capacity of a conventional water cooled refrigeration system [5153]. Solar driven absorption refrigeration was the rst solar refrigeration system using solar thermal panels as heat source for the generator. The COP of this system was higher than the COP of other thermal operating systems, typically around 0.60.8 and up to 1.35 for the two stages process [5457]. Solar driven adsorption refrigeration is not as widely used as the absorption systems. However, it can be integrated with a low temperature solar collector, e.g., at plate solar collectors. Ejector refrigeration can use also solar energy to operate the generator, as already mentioned before. It can work with a low temperature energy supply, thus a solar collector can be used [58]. The vapor compression system can be also driven by electricity from photovoltaic cells. However this system is quite expensive due to the high installation cost and low eciency of the photovoltaic panels. It is eective in areas far from the electricity grid, where the cooling capacity is low [59].The duplex Rankine cycle can also use thermal collectors to supply thermal energy to the boiler. The solar energy is also suitable to use on thermoelectric systems, through solar photovoltaic panels. 4. Hybrid systems An interesting solution, shown in Fig. 13, combines in a single cycle the vapor compression and an absorption system [60,61], operated on electricity and heat, with the following advantages:
4

H. SOURCE 2 1 3 HEAT EXCHANGER GENERATOR

5
EVAPORATOR

ABSORBER H.SINK

H.SINK

Fig. 13. Hybrid system.

Increase in COP values when compared with the absorption system. Use of refrigerants of the absorption cycles. Possibility of compression of the vapor owing out of the generator and the use of its latent heat of condensation to reduce the necessary amount of thermal energy for the operation of the generator. As mentioned, the dierence between this system and conventional absorption cooling lies on the generator. The necessary thermal energy for comes from the condensation of the refrigerant (process 23 in Fig. 13) previously released in the generator and compressed to a pressure such that the saturation temperature is higher than of the generator (process 12). COP values of this systems lies between 2 and 3.5 [62]. In order to intensify the heat transfer in the system, a centrifugal eld was created [63], by placing all heat and mass transfer equipmentevaporator, absorber, generator and condenserin a rotating ensemble, Fig. 14. The same kind of centrifugal eld was used on a gas red absorption system, called ROTEX [64]. A solar/bio-

Fig. 14. Hybrid system with a rotate ensembleevaporator view.

C.F.A. Afonso / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 19611971 Table 3 Typical values of COP of several refrigeration systems Refrigeration cycle Vapor compression Standard PV cells Duplex Rankine COP 23 35 0.30.5 $1 Standard PV cells Single eect Double eect Thermal collectors Standard Thermal collectors Standard Thermal collectors Standard Thermal collectors Combined heat and power Heat/electricity Solar/biomass Solar/biomass/diesel 0.51 0.5 0.6 1.2 0.61.3 0.20.7 0.30.8 $1 0.51.5 0.7 0.30.8 0.250.45 23.5 $0.5 1.2

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tage of steam-jet-water-vapor systems is that they have only few moving parts and therefore require little maintenance. Flash coolers use cheap, non-toxic refrigerant (water vapor) and have minimum power requirements. 6. Conclusions In this overview, the main trends on air conditioning systems were presented. They are related with the research of new refrigerants environment friendly, with the development of new thermodynamic cycles namely the desiccants and hybrid and by the development of rotating devices to enhance the heat and mass transfer. Some of these innovations are still in research, however they are expected to substitute the conventional systems in short term. The implementation of new technologies will enable to reduce the energy cost associated to operating air conditioning, the negative environment impact as well as the initial cost at installation. Attention was also given to refrigeration systems that can use solar energy turning them mote sustainable. An increase in eciency, with lower costs, will allow for the diusion of air conditioning systems in countries were they are not widely spread. The previsible decrease in dimension and costs of new systems will have benets in the increase of competitiveness of the air conditioning industry. Acknowledgements The author is grateful to Doctor Szabolcs Varga for his valuable suggestions as well as to review the paper. References
[1] IEA, Energy technologies for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, in: Proc. Seminar Paris. [2] P.D. Fairchild, W. Fulkerson, Energy Technology R&D and Greenhouse Eect, Saito, 1989, pp. 231241. ` glement (CE) n 2037/2000 du Parlement europe en et du Conseil [3] Re ` des substances qui appauvrisent la couche de du 29 Juin 2000 relatif a ozone. [4] A. Afonso, Refrigeration systems; classication, research and develop rico de Climatizacio n y ment, 2 IBERAVACR, Encontro Ibe n de las Escuelas de Ingenieria de Portugal y Espan Refrigeracio a, laga, Espanha, 2005. Ma [5] J.T. Smith, A comparison of the CO2 emission rates of gas-red and electrically driven chiller/heater machines under dynamic loading, in: CIBSE National Conference, Eastbourne, England, 1995, pp. 151159. [6] L. Lucas, IIR news, International Journal of Refrigeration 21 (2) (1988), pp. 88. [7] W.B. Gosney, Principles of Refrigeration, Cambridge University Press, 1982. [8] I. Dinc er, Refrigeration Systems and Applications, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2003. [9] Y. C engel, M. Boles, Thermodynamics, McGraw-Hill Editions, 1994. [10] W. Stoeker, J. Jones, Refrigeration & Air Conditioning, McGrawHill International Editions, 1982. [11] C. Afonso, J. Matos, The eect of radiation shields in the air condenser and compressor of refrigerators on their thermal behavior, International Journal of Refrigeration, in press.

Reverse JouleBrayton Thermoelectric Absorption

Adsorption Desiccants Ejector

Hybrid

mass hybrid cooling systems was developed [65] that was based on an absorption cycle. Measured COPs are around 0.5. With the same energy sources, an other adsorption system was developed that uses ammonia/carbon pair as working uid [66]. Solar/biomass/diesel energy was used on an absorption refrigeration system (with cold storage) that uses water lithium bromide as working uid [67]. COP values up to 1.2 were obtained. A solar/gas driven ejector refrigeration cycle using methanol as working uid was also proposed xico [44]. Another hybrid co-generation for a hospital in Me system was recently proposed [68], combining a fuel cell with an ejector. Electricity is produced in a fuel cell generator by reacting hydrogen with oxygen resulting steam that drives the ejector [69,70]. Table 3 shows the typical values of COP of several refrigeration systems so far analyzed. 5. Miscellany systems The thermoacoustic refrigeration systems is considered to be a new technology, attaining cooling without the need for refrigerants. A loudspeaker creates sound in a hollow tube which is lled with an ordinary gas. The process itself utilizes standing acoustic waves in an enclosed cavity to generate the mechanical compression and expansion of a working uid needed for the cooling cycle. The technique has the potential for high eciency operation without the need for cooling liquids or mechanical moving parts [7173]. Flash cooling is also important commercially for obtaining chilled water and for dry ice production. The ash chamber is maintained under an extremely low pressure by a compressor, usually a stem jet compressor. The advan-

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