International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882

Volume 4, Issue 10, October 2015

1004

AN OVERVIEW OF SOLAR ASSIST AIR CONDITION SYSTEM IN

OFFICE AT SUMMER DAYS
Samiksha Rathore1, Prakash Kumar Sen2, Gopal Sahu3
1
Student, Mechanical Engineering, Kirodimal Institute of Technology, Raigarh (C.G.)
2,3
Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering, Kirodimal Institute of Technology, Raigarh (C.G.)

ABSTRACT
In summer days are beautiful, yet in the office a hot day
can be altogether stressful. Because productivity can
suffer under such conditions, so more and more
buildings are being fitted with Air-Conditioning
system. Most of the small offices building uses
conventional cooling technologies in which high
electricity peak load is necessary for driven the
compressor system of air conditioning. Because of
consumption high energy and demand of high
electricity of peak load. Solar assist air conditioning
system is used to solve these problems in which
summer sun heat up the offices is also delivering the
energy to cool the office by the use of thermal solar
energy. The solar air condition is powered by solar
energy collector in the evacuated tube solar thermal
panels .The thermal energy collected is then delivered
to the solar powers chiller using a propylene Glycol
heat transfer solution and simple but carefully designed
pumping system.
Key-Words: High electricity peak load, summer days,
solar assist air condition system, offices building,
absorption chiller.

Insides the units are other small pumps that circulate

the refrigerant. There is no compressor to consume
power [4].
The solar air condition is powered by solar energy
collector in the evacuated tube solar thermal panels
.The thermal energy collected is then delivered to the
solar powers chiller using a propylene Glycol heat
transfer solution and simple but carefully designed
pumping system. [3]

Fig. 1 Schematic Diagram of the absorption

refrigeration cycle.(Source: YAZAKI)

1. INTRODUCTION
In summer region the cooled the office by the use of air
conditioning system air condition is the most common
mechanism used for the purpose of cooling and for the
comfort of employee of the offices .But high amount of
electricity is required to driven this mechanism.
In many of the offices conventional cooling techanics
are used. But now a days our world become a smart
world .Amount of the power is required to drive the
compressor of the air condition system.
So the power for driving the compressor system solar
energy is used .In this system power is generated by
converting solar energy into electrical energy.
The solar assisted air condition system uses the heat
from the solar radiation to drive a thermally driven
chiller such as absorption chiller .Due to this less
amount of electricity is used as compare to
conventional cooling system. [1]
Solar absorption are very low in operating and
maintenance cost and consume little or no electricity
are low amp fan motors , control board and small
pumps that moves the thermal transfer fluid from the
collector to the chiller and then back up to the
collectors.

2. MAIN COMPONENTS IN THE SOLAR

ASSISTED AIR CONDITIONING
The main components in the solar Assist air
conditioning system can be divided into Five main
components namely: 1. Solar collector
2. Hot water & chilled water storage
3. Chiller (cold production)
4. Cooling towers
5. Fan coils. [1].

FIG-2 Component of Solar Assist Air Conditions [1]

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 4, Issue 10, October 2015

1005

3. WORKING AND PRINCIPLE OF SOLAR

ASSIST AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM
The basic principle behind thermal driving cooling is
thermochemical process of absorption: A liquid or
gaseous substance is either attached to a solid, porous
material or is taken in by a liquid or solid material. .The
sorbent is provided with heat and is dehumidified. After
drying , or desorption, the process can be repeated in
the opposite direction. When providing water vapor or
steam, it is stored in the porous storage medium
(adsorption) and simultaneously heat is released.
Processes are differentiated between closed refrigerant
circulation systems and open system according to the
way in which the process is carried out: that is whether
or not the refrigerant comes into contact with the
atmosphere. The latter is used for dehumidification and
evaporative cooling .Both the processes can further
classified according to either liquid or solid sorbent. [5]
The solar air condition is powered by solar energy
collector in the evacuated tube solar thermal panels
.The thermal energy collected is then delivered to the
solar powers chiller using a propylene Glycol heat
transfer solution and simple but carefully designed
pumping system .[3]

fig - 3 Working of solar air conditioning system . [6]

4. EVACUATED TUBE SOLAR

COLLECTOR
The solar collector is one of the main components in a
solar assisted air conditioning system that convert solar
energy to the thermal energy that drives the chiller or
cold production component [1]

FIG- 4. YAZAKI Model WFC-SC10, 10RT or 35kW

hot water driven absorption chiller.(Source: YAZAKI )
FIG.5. EVACUATED TUBE SOLAR COLLECTOR [8]
The main advantage for evacuated tubes is its low heat
loss at high temperatures relative to ambient
temperature. However in actual cold, snowy conditions,
this poses a problem. Where ambient temperature is
very low, snow and frost play a important role in
collector performance. Snow melts and can slide easily
down the smooth, warm surface of the glass on a flat
plate collector but gets stuck in the gaps between the
cold tubes of an evacuated tube collector. The German
Centre of Excellence for Solar Engineering at
Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences performed an
independent study of a typical European home with
both evacuated tube and flat plate collectors mounted
on the roof. The following pictures taken of the home in
January show dramatic photos of how snow and frost
can collect on evacuated tube yet slides off and settles
at the bottom of flat plate collectors. [7]

5. LAYOUT OF SOLAR COOLING

A typical solar cooling system consists of a common
solar thermal system made up of solar collectors, a
storage tank, a control unit, pipes and pumps and a
thermally driven cooling machine, Most collectors used
in solar cooling systems are high efficiency collectors
available in the market today (often double-glazed flat
plate collectors or vacuum tube collectors). A typical
layout of a solar cooling plant . The available solar
energy, in the form of solar radiation flux, is utilized by
a solar panel, in order to produce a high temperature
fluid (generally water) that is accumulated in a storage
tank. The chiller, the real heart of the process, uses the
hot fluid of the storage tank to produce a cold fluid; the
cold fluid can then be used in a normal cooling plant
similar to an electric refrigerator. On a typical day, the

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 4, Issue 10, October 2015

thermal storage tank acts as a buffer and enables the

optimization of the asynchronous heat absorption
during the hours of solar radiation and the cooling that
may be needed during a different time period making
this component indispensable. Another commonly used
layout that is very common for installations on which
the plant has to be utilize during both winter (for
heating) and summer (for cooling), is the one shown in
figure 2.3. In this layout two tanks are necessary: one

1006

for the storage of hot water produced by the solar

thermal panels and a second for the storage of cold
liquid produced by the absorption machine (chiller).
One conventional backup heat source (e.g. a natural gas
boiler) is also present. The backup heat source makes
the operating hours of the solar cooling plant
independent from the availability of solar radiation. [5]

7. CONCLUTION

FIG.6-LAYOUT OF SOLAR COOLING [2]

6. BARRIERS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Now a days solar cooling technologies ar neither as
well known, nor as widespread as they should be. They
have not yet enjoyed a significant level of penetration
into the air conditioning market in Southern Europe.
One of the main objectives of the SOLCO project is to
identify then non-technical barriers preventing further
penetration of solar cooling technologies. This section
identifies these barriers and proposes ways to overcome
them.
(i) Awareness and know-how
Lack of awareness in potential users
about the
possibilities and benefits of using solar driven cooling
plants;
Most of the technical actors are not familiar with SC
technologies, suggest
Them as a solution to potential users;
Most engineers are not completely educated ion this
technology;
(ii) Demonstration
A rather limited number of demonstration plants; by
the end of 2007 there were approximately 300 Solar
Cooling systems in operation
(iii) Cost
Relevant market actors claim that the high investment
cost limits widespread application;
Todays sorption technologies are, still, more
expensive in comparison to conventional chillers; this is
more evident in the case of small scale absorption
chillers (residential, small trade centers).Significant
effort is required to develop the existing technology in
order to reduce the cost of system:
The use of sorption chillers requires in most cases the
existence of wet cooling towers, which are covered by
specific legislation to avoid the legionnaire disease. The
maintenance of such installations is more expensive and
most of the potential users prefer to avoid them. [5]

Now a days, Solar Cooling is both possible and reliable.

Exploitation of solar thermal energy for cooling is an
efficient,intelligent and environmentally friendly way to
use renewable energy sources
to meet our air
conditioning needs. [5]. To date, there are not many
installation solar assisted air conditioning system
around the world. This is to show that solar assisted air
conditioning system is still at its infant stage. There are
still no standardized design guidelines that exist and
still lack operational experiences. It is also important to
note that solar assisted air conditioning system requires
greater effort during the design phase than a
conventional system of the same application [9].
Therefore, field data from monitoring of the solar
assisted air conditioning system installation is very
important in order to have a better overview of the
performance in real operational time of this technology.
With the worldwide sale of 69 million units sold of air
conditioning units (up to 20kW) and with the growth
rate of more than 4%, small office application using
solar assisted air conditioning system has great future
potential [10].
Although solar assisted
air conditioning system has a high capital investment
but with a payback period of 8 years, it has made this
technology a viable investment for both the client and
the developer of a small office building development.
Finally, in order to promote and expedite on the
diffusion of this potential technology, there must be a
concerted efforts from both the government and the
private sector to bring more awareness of this green
technology to the public [1]

REFRENCES
[1] An Overview of Solar Assisted Air-Conditioning
System Application in Small Office Buildings in
Malaysia, Proceedings of the 4th IASME / WSEAS
International Conference on ENERGY & LIM CHIN
Research Institute, ENVIRONMENT (EE'09).
[2] Tp green power, a technology products group
company.
[3]
AET
(ADVANCED
ERGONOMIC
TECHNOLOGIES LTD.), Flexible Space Under Floor
AC, 2874101.
[4] Solar Panels Plus, 1-866-5765277.
[5] Dr. Panos Corayannakis ISLENET; Asst. Prof.
Theocharias Tsoutsos & Zacharias Gkouskos, solar
cooling overview & recommendations.

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 4, Issue 10, October 2015

[6] ASME (THE AMERICAN SOCIETY ENERGY

ENGG.), M.Alkhair ,M.Y.Sulaiman, K.Sopian, C, H.
Lim, E. Sallesh , S. Mat And B.B Saha.
[7] Heliodyne Solar hot water.
[8] Source: Thermomax, UK.
[9] Henning, H.M., Solar Assisted Air Conditioning of
Buildings An Overview, Heat Transfer in
Components and Systems for Sustainable Energy
Technologies, France, 5-7 April 2005.
[10] Annett K, Solar AC Technologies and Potentials,
Intersolar North America, July 16, 2008.HAW*,
KAMARUZZAMAN SOPIAN, YUSOF SULAIMAN,
Solar Energy
[11] Source: YAZAKI

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