Performance Analysis of Solar Powered Adsorption Cooling System

The use of solar energy for environmental control is receiving much more attention as a result of the projected world energy shortage. Cooling is particularly attractive as a solar energy application because of the near coincidence of peak cooling loads with available solar power.This paper describes the performance analysis of intermittent solar adsorption cooling system with composite adsorbent and water as a refrigerant. The composite adsorbent used in the system is 25 % activated carbon and 75 % silica gel. The system consists of adsorption container integrated with solar flat plate collector with absorber area of 0.9 m2 and contains a porous adsorbent medium. The other components of the system are condenser, evaporator, cooling cabinet and valves. The system works on the thermodynamic adsorption cycle.The cooling load of 10 liters of water at a temperature of 35 degree Celsius was introduced in the cooling cabinet before the start of cycle. At the beginning of each test the adsorbent was heated with the help of solar energy. The chilled water with temperature reduction of 77 % is produced. The solar coefficient of performance of 0.088 and the cooling coefficient of performance is 0.83 is obtained for 10 liters of water load.