Effects of Introducing Solar Heat to Absorption Cooling System

－Feasibility Study of Solar Thermal Energy Utilization to Plant Factory－

Abstract

This paper presents the feasibility of solar thermal energy utilization to plant factory. Performance and operationcharacteristics of the solar driven absorption chiller heater of 352 kilowatt refrigeration capacity were investigated byusing long term demonstration test data of June 2009 to October 2013. Effects of solar insolation to the absorption chillerheater performance were examined by changes of air conditioning load ratio and solar position. As a result, it wasdemonstrated that the COP in case of parallel operation by solar energy and town gas becomes 20 to 50 percent higher thanthat case of another operation modes. Also, Seasonal performance of the system is calculated based on the appearancefrequency (weight) of the outdoor temperature. The air-conditioning load ratio was sorted out for every outdoortemperature based on the data measured during 5 seasons from 2009 to 2013 to obtain the averaged COP value. COP takesthe maximum value at the air-conditioning load ratio of 30% and decreased at both higher and lower ratios than that.