Feasibility Study on a Solar Powered Absorption Cooling System in Bangladesh

Abstract

Now-a-days absorption chillers have become popular in commercial complexes for air conditioning in Bangladesh. Grid electricity or
generator is commonly used for heating of the absorbent in the chiller. In this research work a feasibility study has been carried out on solar
thermal energy based absorption chiller in Bangladesh. For measured solar radiation data (at Lat 23.730, Long 90.400 and Period 2003-
2005) and black-crome selective coating based flat plate solar water heating systems, the modeling and simulation of the absorption solar
cooling system has been carried out with VBA, C++ program and an economic evaluation is predicted using RETScreen simulator. At
Dhaka for a typical 1 ton AC, 3.5kW rated power a flat plate solar water heating system (SWHS) having 30 m2 collector areas with fixed tilt
angle of 23.730, azimuth angle of 00 is sufficient to deliver required energy to the chiller. It has been found that average Coefficient of
Performance (COP) of the solar power based absorption chiller is 0.58. Moreover, the system mitigates 13.485 tCO2/year. Though for a low
efficient flat plate collector based SWHS the overall system’s maximum efficiency becomes 27%, it has a payback period of 12.6 years
(lifetime of 20 years with low maintenance) in comparison with the grid electricity, which predicts that the solar thermal powered air
cooling system is feasible for Bangladesh.