Experimental investigation and theoretical analysis of the solar adsorption cooling system in a green building

A solar adsorption cooling system was constructed in the green building of Shanghai Institute of Building Science. The system consisted of evacuated tube solar collector arrays of area 150 m2, two adsorption chillers with nominal cooling capacity of 8.5 kW for each and a hot water storage tank of 2.5 m3 in volume. A mathematical model of the system was established. According to experimental results under typical weather condition of Shanghai, the average cooling capacity of the system was 15.3 kW during continuous operation for 8 h. The theoretical analysis of the system was verified and found to agree well with the experimental results. The performance analysis showed that solar radiant intensity had a more distinct influence on the performance of solar adsorption cooling system as compared with ambient temperature. It was observed that the cooling capacity increased with the increase of solar collector area, whereas, solar collecting efficiency varied quite contrary. With the increase of water tank volume, cooling capacity decreased, while, the solar collecting efficiency increased. The system performances can be enhanced by increasing the height-to-diameter ratio of water tank. Additionally, it was observed that solar collecting efficiency decreased with the increase of the initial temperature of water in the tank; however, cooling capacity varied on the contrary. Also can be seen is that optimum nondimensional mass flow rate is 0.7 when the specific mass flow rate exceeds 0.012 kg/m2 s.