IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i19p8625-d1492497.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy and Exergy Performance Analysis of Solar-Assisted Thermo-Mechanical Vapor Compression Cooling System

Author

Listed:
  • Hussein A. Al Khiro

    (Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK)

  • Rabah Boukhanouf

    (Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK)

Abstract

Air conditioning is vital for indoor comfort but traditionally relies on vapor compression systems, which raise electricity demand and carbon emissions. This study presents a novel thermo-mechanical vapor compression system that integrates an ejector with a conventional vapor compression cycle, incorporating a thermally driven second-stage compressor powered by solar energy. The goal is to reduce electricity consumption and enhance sustainability by leveraging renewable energy. A MATLAB ® model was developed to analyze the energy and exergy performance using R1234yf refrigerant under steady-state conditions. This study compares four solar collectors—evacuated flat plate (EFPC), evacuated tube (ETC), basic flat plate (FPC), and compound parabolic (CPC) collectors—to identify the optimal configuration based on the collector area and costs. The results show a 31% reduction in mechanical compressor energy use and up to a 44% improvement in the coefficient of performance (COP) compared to conventional systems, with a condenser temperature of 65 °C, a thermal compression ratio of 0.8, and a heat source temperature of 150 °C. The evacuated flat plate collectors performed best, requiring 2 m 2 /kW of cooling capacity with a maximum exergy efficiency of 15% at 170 °C, while compound parabolic collectors offered the lowest initial costs. Overall, the proposed system shows significant potential for reducing energy costs and carbon emissions, particularly in hot climates.

Suggested Citation

  • Hussein A. Al Khiro & Rabah Boukhanouf, 2024. "Energy and Exergy Performance Analysis of Solar-Assisted Thermo-Mechanical Vapor Compression Cooling System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-23, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:19:p:8625-:d:1492497
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/19/8625/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/19/8625/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giovanni Angrisani & Carlo Roselli & Maurizio Sasso & Francesco Tariello, 2014. "Assessment of Energy, Environmental and Economic Performance of a Solar Desiccant Cooling System with Different Collector Types," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-24, October.
    2. Palomba, Valeria & Wittstadt, Ursula & Bonanno, Antonino & Tanne, Mirko & Harborth, Niels & Vasta, Salvatore, 2019. "Components and design guidelines for solar cooling systems: The experience of ZEOSOL," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 678-692.
    3. Alessio Mastrucci & Bas Ruijven & Edward Byers & Miguel Poblete-Cazenave & Shonali Pachauri, 2021. "Global scenarios of residential heating and cooling energy demand and CO2 emissions," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 168(3), pages 1-26, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Figaj, Rafał & Żołądek, Maciej, 2021. "Experimental and numerical analysis of hybrid solar heating and cooling system for a residential user," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 955-967.
    2. Lo Basso, Gianluigi & de Santoli, Livio & Paiolo, Romano & Losi, Claudio, 2021. "The potential role of trans-critical CO2 heat pumps within a solar cooling system for building services: The hybridised system energy analysis by a dynamic simulation model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 472-490.
    3. Tryfon C. Roumpedakis & Salvatore Vasta & Alessio Sapienza & George Kallis & Sotirios Karellas & Ursula Wittstadt & Mirko Tanne & Niels Harborth & Uwe Sonnenfeld, 2020. "Performance Results of a Solar Adsorption Cooling and Heating Unit," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-18, April.
    4. Roumpedakis, Tryfon C. & Kallis, George & Magiri-Skouloudi, Despina & Grimekis, Dimitrios & Karellas, Sotirios, 2020. "Life cycle analysis of ZEOSOL solar cooling and heating system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 82-98.
    5. Francesco Calise & Massimo Dentice D'Accadia & Antonio Piacentino & Maria Vicidomini, 2015. "Thermoeconomic Optimization of a Renewable Polygeneration System Serving a Small Isolated Community," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-30, January.
    6. Lillo-Bravo, I. & Bobadilla, M.A. & Moreno-Tejera, S. & Silva-Pérez, M., 2020. "A novel storage system for cooling stand-alone photovoltaic installations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 23-37.
    7. Gado, Mohamed G. & Ookawara, Shinichi & Nada, Sameh & El-Sharkawy, Ibrahim I., 2021. "Hybrid sorption-vapor compression cooling systems: A comprehensive overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    8. Palomba, Valeria & Dino, Giuseppe E. & Frazzica, Andrea, 2020. "Coupling sorption and compression chillers in hybrid cascade layout for efficient exploitation of renewables: Sizing, design and optimization," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 11-28.
    9. Yunlong Ma & Suvash C. Saha & Wendy Miller & Lisa Guan, 2017. "Parametric Analysis of Design Parameter Effects on the Performance of a Solar Desiccant Evaporative Cooling System in Brisbane, Australia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-22, June.
    10. Francesco Pietro Colelli & Johannes Emmerling & Giacomo Marangoni & Malcolm N. Mistry & Enrica Cian, 2022. "Increased energy use for adaptation significantly impacts mitigation pathways," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Lanbo Lai & Xiaolin Wang & Gholamreza Kefayati & Eric Hu, 2021. "Evaporative Cooling Integrated with Solid Desiccant Systems: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-23, September.
    12. Laibao Liu & Gang He & Mengxi Wu & Gang Liu & Haoran Zhang & Ying Chen & Jiashu Shen & Shuangcheng Li, 2023. "Climate change impacts on planned supply–demand match in global wind and solar energy systems," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 8(8), pages 870-880, August.
    13. Kai-Shing Yang & Jian-Sin Wang & Shih-Kuo Wu & Chih-Yung Tseng & Jin-Cherng Shyu, 2017. "Performance Evaluation of a Desiccant Dehumidifier with a Heat Recovery Unit," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-12, December.
    14. Nassipkul Dyussembekova & Nazym Temirgaliyeva & Dias Umyshev & Madina Shavdinova & Reiner Schuett & Damesh Bektalieva, 2022. "Assessment of Energy Efficiency Measures’ Impact on Energy Performance in the Educational Building of Kazakh-German University in Almaty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-25, August.
    15. Xu, Chong, 2023. "Towards balanced low-carbon development: Driver and complex network of urban-rural energy-carbon performance gap in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    16. Ferrara, Maria & Della Santa, Francesco & Bilardo, Matteo & De Gregorio, Alessandro & Mastropietro, Antonio & Fugacci, Ulderico & Vaccarino, Francesco & Fabrizio, Enrico, 2021. "Design optimization of renewable energy systems for NZEBs based on deep residual learning," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 590-605.
    17. Giovanni Angrisani & Carlo Roselli & Maurizio Sasso & Francesco Tariello & Giuseppe Peter Vanoli, 2016. "Performance Assessment of a Solar-Assisted Desiccant-Based Air Handling Unit Considering Different Scenarios," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-24, September.
    18. Puppala, Harish & Arora, Manoj Kumar & Garlapati, Nagababu & Bheemaraju, Amarnath, 2023. "GIS-MCDM based framework to evaluate site suitability and CO2 mitigation potential of earth-air-heat exchanger: A case study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    19. Rafał Figaj & Maciej Żołądek, 2021. "Operation and Performance Assessment of a Hybrid Solar Heating and Cooling System for Different Configurations and Climatic Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-23, February.
    20. Daioglou, Vassilis & Mikropoulos, Efstratios & Gernaat, David & van Vuuren, Detlef P., 2022. "Efficiency improvement and technology choice for energy and emission reductions of the residential sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:19:p:8625-:d:1492497. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.