Design and performance study of a double-acting collector-assisted absorption cooling system in a hot region

Abstract

The solar cooling system results in a variety of technologies. It is an alternative and economical technology to conventional cooling systems and is environmentally friendly. In this work, a design of a H₂O-LiBr absorption chiller driven by a double-acting collector was proposed and studied under thermo-economic, energetic, and exergetic aspects according to Bamako climatic conditions. Higher performance was reached when the generator was operated at 85 °C, a condensing temperature of 40 °C with 8 °C as the evaporation temperature of the working fluid. The annual cooling production of the system was 52.272 MWh and the annual solar energy received on the area of the double-acting collector was 138.778 MWh. The annual energy and exergy efficiencies of the system were 0.39 and 0.025, respectively. The investment cost of the system was 36.9 k€ and the cooling cost was 0.08 €/kWh. Additionally, the simple payback period is approximately 10.4 years.