Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 1-4 July, 2007.
Solar assisted adsorption cooling is one current research area where scientists study the development of new and safe cooling technologies; so that the conventional vapour
compression refrigeration; with its many disadvantages; might
be discarded. It has been investigated during the last decade,
with some success. One problem facing researchers is to do
detail comparisons for the two systems on the cost
effectiveness, so that the best option is identified.
This study presents an experimental analysis of a solar
assisted adsorption fridge, and compares its cost effectiveness
with the conventional vapour compression system, so that a
cost effective fridge can be found for South African
conditions.
The machine is operated by a solar powered flat plate, with
collectors containing the adsorbent. The adsorbent – adsorbate
pair chosen for this study is water and silica gel. The cooling
machine was designed, developed and tested. Preliminary
results show that chilled water at temperatures of 6 0C and
12 0C is produced. The cost effective comparisons shows that
a solar adsorption cooling machine represent an energy saving
machine with a good economic competitiveness.
