Integration of the solar thermal energy in the construction: Analysis of the solar-assisted air-conditioning system installed in CIESOL building

In the last few years the solar-powered air-conditioning systems have been in intensive development and more often are considered as the viable application for the thermal solar systems in the regions of southern Europe. This is mainly due to the increasing higher electrical consumption in many countries (especially in Spain) which is moving from the winter to summer months due to expanding usage of cooling systems in this period of the year.In this paper we will analyze the behaviour of the solar-assisted air-conditioning system installed in the CIESOL building. This system consists mainly of flat-plate solar collectors and the simple effect LiBr–H₂O absorption chiller. Different operation modes were analyzed. Coefficient of performance (COP) at various generator, absorber, condenser and evaporator temperatures is investigated and experimental results show that in practice it is easy to obtain values of about 0.6. The main goal of this paper is to describe the characteristics of the developing building and the solar-assisted air-conditioning system. Another useful purpose is to find the optimum conditions and operation parameters for the solar system through analyzing various systems' operation strategies.