Investigation into design and optimisation of solar adsorption cooling/air conditioning under the Iraq climate

Abstract

Solar adsorption cooling system can be defined as a system produces a cooling effect by using Sun’s thermal energy. In present study, a solar adsorption cooling system was modelled and simulated using TRNSYS and MATLAB programmes. Parametric investigations have been done on the system by varying several of the crucial design parameters, and their effects on the performance of the system were introduced. The system was analysed on the energy, exergy and economy basis, and it was further optimised by employing a multi-objective genetic algorithm technique with two objective functions. The first objective was maximising the exergy efficiency, and the second objective was minimising the total cost rate over life. The Pareto front optimal solutions that achieved from the multi-objective optimisation were presented. Moreover, Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method was applied to find the final optimal solution. The optimal design was simulated and analysed for individual components of the system. Finally, a comparison has been made with an existing solar cooling system; the comparison showed that the proposed solar adsorption system driven by evacuated tube collector, integrated with hot and cold storage tanks, has a smaller size and better performance, which in turn means less costs. The payback period method is also used in the present study. The techno-economical results showed that due to the high cost of the system and the low cost of electricity in Iraq, financial payback is not feasible, and thus would require further efforts in driving down the costs and government incentives.