OPTIMUM MATCHING OF HEAT SOURCE TEMPERATURE TO A SOLAR ADSORPTION AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM FOR MAXIMUM SOLAR COOLING COEFFICIENT OF PERFORMANCE

For solar thermal utilization, one of the main objectives is to improve system performance for reducing collector areas. In this article, the optimum heat source temperature for maximizing solar cooling coefficient of performance (COP) of a novel solar adsorption air-conditioning system (SAACS) is investigated theoretically. A mathematical model for the energy balance of the SAACS is developed. The optimum heat source temperature for the SAACS with two types of solar collector is determined by numerical simulation. The simulation results reveal that the solar cooling COP of the SAACS with evacuated tube collector can exceed 0.25 with optimum heat source temperature. Moreover, the SAACS can run with high efficiency in a wide heat source temperature range when the solar radiation is more than 700 W/m2.