Reducing Cooling Water Consumption in a Solar Absorption Chiller for Mali Climates

Abstract

Air conditioning systems based on solar energy can be considered today as an alternative to air conditioning systems with electrical mechanical compressions to reduce building energy consumption from fossil energy sources and achieve climate change goals. This paper proposes a new concept for the efficient use of an absorption cooling system with a wet cooling tower and a type of dual-acting combined collector for DSH and NRC in accordance with the climatic conditions of Bamako. The operation of a type of dual-acting combined collector and cooling tower was studied throughout the year. The solar energy generated by the dual-acting combined collector on the first day of operation heats the water in the storage tank 1 to 80 °C after 6 to 7 hours of operation, and on subsequent days this time is reduced by 3 to 4 hours depending on the weather conditions. Thus, a dual-acting combined collector allows the system to provide cooling for an average of 8 hours per day throughout the year. The water in the cold-water tank, cooled by night radiation into space, ensures operation without turning on the cooling tower for an average of 73 minutes per day. The wet cooling tower efficiency is about 0.86, and the annual water savings in cooling tower losses due to the night operation of the dual-acting combined collector is estimated at about 35 m3.