Experimental diagnosis of the influence of operational variables on the performance of a solar absorption cooling system

This paper presents the analysis of the performance of a solar cooling facility along one summer season using a commercial single-effect water-lithium bromide absorption chiller aiming at domestic applications. The facility works only with solar energy using flat plate collectors and it is located at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. The statistical analysis performed with the gathered data shows the influence of five daily operational variables on the system performance. These variables are solar energy received along the day (H) and the average values, along the operating period of the solar cooling facility (from sunrise to the end of the cold-water production), of the ambient temperature ((T) over bar), the wind velocity magnitude (V), the wind direction (theta) and the relative humidity (RH). First order correlation functions are given. The analysis of the data allows concluding that the most influential variables on the daily cooling energy produced and the daily averaged solar COP are H, V and theta. The period length of cold-water production is determined mainly by H and T. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.