Solar Cooling Position Paper - Executive Summary
Task 38 Solar Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
December 2013 - PDF 0.08MB - Posted: 2014-01-07
By: IEA SHC Task 38: Solar Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration, Hans-Martin Henning

This document summarises the Position Paper on Solar Cooling developed by IEA SHC project "Solar Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration (Task38)".

Solar Cooling
Technology Position Paper
October 2011 - PDF 0.67MB - Posted: 2011-10-18
By: IEA SHC Task 38: Solar Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration, Hans-Martin Henning

After ten years of numerous research, development and demonstration activities in the field of Solar air-conditioning, in particular within the IEA Solar Heating & Cooling Programme but also in many other national and European R&D projects, the market penetration of SAC remains small. Therefore, it is important to take a look at the achievements and the recent position of solar cooling technology. It is also important to understand the future perspective of this technology and formulate the needs related to both R&D and market stimulation in order to exploit the potentials. This is also important in order to understand the potential of solar heating and cooling technologies (SHC) to contribute to the achievement of politically set targets in the reduction of energy consumption. This paper describes the recent position of solar cooling technology and develops an outlook about the potential and needed actions.

Overview in World Wide Installed Solar Cooling Systems
October 2007 - PDF 0.17MB - Posted: 2009-07-17
By: Sparber, W., Napolitano, A. and Melograno, P.
2nd International Conference Solar Air Conditioning, Tarragona - Spain, October 2007

Checklist Method for the Selection and the Success in the Integration of a Solar Cooling System in Buildings - Posted: 2011-07-11
The use of renewable energy in buildings is a very important challenge in order to decrease their primary energy consumption. In South of Europe, most of buildings, especially tertiary ones, need active cooling in summer and this often represents an important way to save fossil energy. Solar cooling technologies already exists and have shown their effectiveness at the demonstration stage. But some particular precautions must be taken at different levels to have the best conditions. This method is aimed at presenting a methodology based on a check list. The decomposition of the problem in different and following steps permits to see whether the project is realisable or not at the design phase. If this is the case, the method shows afterwards the requirements on some parameters of the projects : materials, planner, building owner, installer, exploitation staff and monitoring of the installation. Thanks to this check list method, an integration of a solar cooling system can be done in suitable conditions. For instance, the method can make appear decisive parameters which would be very unfavourable for a successful project. This check list is based on the feed back of European solar cooling experiences in the framework of the IEA Task 38.

Task 38 Industry Newsletter - First Edition 2009 (English)
2009 - PDF 1.88MB - Posted: 2009-07-06
For translations in Danish, French, German and Spanish go to: www.iea-shc-task38.org/index2.html.

A3a-B3b: Monitoring Procedure for Solar Cooling Systems
A joint technical report of subtask A and B (D-A3a / D-B3b)
October 2011 - PDF 1.17MB - Posted: 2012-04-13
By: Assunta Napolitano, Wolfram Sparber, Alexander Thür, Pietro Finocchiaro, Bettina Nocke
Monitoring of installed solar assisted cooling systems represents a fundamental tool in order not only to optimize the monitored system itself, but as well to draw conclusions for a suited selection of design and control for future installations. This is especially true for a technology in an early stage of market penetration, as it is the case for Solar Heating and Cooling (SHC) systems. In fact to the date, only around 300 SHC are documented worldwide.

A3b: Monitoring Results
A technical report of subtask A (Pre-engineered systems for residential and small commercial applications)
September 2011 - PDF 16.64MB - Posted: 2012-04-13
By: Dagmar Jaehnig and Alexander Thuer
This report summarizes the monitoring activities on small-scale solar heating and cooling systems carried out within subtask A of IEA-SHC Task 38. All systems were monitored according to the monitoring procedure developed with Task 38. However, the level of detail varies from system to system. The monthly monitoring data has been filled into the Monitoring Excel Tool of Task 38.

A5: Installation, Operation and Maintenance Guidelines for Pre-Engineered Systems
A technical report of subtask A
June 2011 - PDF 0.37MB - Posted: 2012-03-27
Editor: Anita Preisler
The idea of this working group was to set up guidelines for installation, operation and maintenance based on experience of already existing pre-engineered small scale solar heating and cooling plants. Therefore, an end-user survey was invented by setting up a questionnaire including the relevant information for this purpose (see chapter 2.1). From the results of the interviews (see 2.2) it became clear that most of the analyzed solar heating and cooling plants can´t be categorized in “pre-engineered” systems. As a result it was decided in the working group that the information gained from the end-user survey should be used for a list of recommendations (see chapter 2.3) to bring the idea of pre-engineered systems forward.

A1: Market Available Components for Systems for Solar Heating and Cooling with a Cooling Capacity < 20 kW
A Technical Report of Subtask A
November 2009 - PDF 3.52MB - Posted: 2010-09-07
Editor: Dagmar Jaehnig
Systems for solar heating and cooling with a cooling capacity below 20 kW should be as much pre-engineered as possible. That means that the entire system layout and the size of all components is pre-defined by the manufacturer or seller of the system. To install such a system there is no detailed planning process necessary. It can be bought “off the shelf” designed for a given heating and cooling load and can be installed by an HVAC installer. Unfortunately, only few companies offer this kind of pre-engineered system up to now.

A2: Collection of Selected Systems Schemes “Generic Systems”
A technical report of subtask A
November 2009 - PDF 0.59MB - Posted: 2010-09-07
By: Michael Becker, Martin Helm and Christian Schweigler
For wide-spread application of solar cooling, compact systems shall be installed by professionals from the heating and plumbing sector without requiring a detailed planning procedure on a case-by-case basis. Thus along with the required equipment – i.e. thermally driven chiller, solar thermal system, and heat rejection device - well-proven system configurations have to be available for selecting an appropriate system concept with regard to the given specific requirements.

B5: Commissioning
A technical report of subtask B5
April 2010 - PDF 0.23MB - Posted: 2012-03-19
Editor: Uwe Franzke
The Commissioning Process (Cx Process) makes sure that new or reconstructed buildings will be of the same specifications as have been agreed upon in the Contract Documents during the planning stage and in the Owner’s Project Requirements. Ideally, the criteria to be met are established and documented in the pre-planning stage in the form of the Basis of Design. They are then verified during the planning, construction, operating and utilization stages by way of extensive plausibility checks, test scenarios and performance documentation. According to that, the Cx Process is described as an “umbrella” process that bundles all issues centrally in one place during the planning stage and offers a platform for all parties involved.

B1: State of the Art on Existing Solar Heating and Cooling Systems
A Technical Report of Subtask B
November 2009 - PDF 0.38MB - Posted: 2010-09-07
By: W. Sparber, A. Napolitano, G. Eckert and A. Preisler
Within the subtask B of the “Task 38 - Solar Air Conditioning and Refrigeration”, an overview has been carried out on thermally driven chillers and solar thermal technologies used in realized systems. The aim of this overview is to collect information on existing solar heating and cooling systems in order to derive a first identification of proven design solutions in terms of selection of technologies and dimensioning in relationship with location, final use and size of the building. The analysis of existing design solutions can help planners in the first steps of the decision making by addressing them towards the identification of optimal design solutions for solar heating and cooling applications.

C2C: Benchmarks for Comparison of System Simulation Tools – Solid Desiccant Simulation Comparison
A technical report of subtask C
July 2011 - Posted: 2012-03-27
By: Paul Bourdoukan
In the last decade solar cooling technologies e.g. absorption, adsorption and desiccant evaporative cooling were subject to an increasing interest. In a solar desiccant cooling cycle, solar energy is used to regenerate a desiccant that dehumidifies moist air. The resulting dry air is cooled in a sensible heat regenerator and in an evaporative cooler and then is supplied to the building. By associating different elementary changes to moist air (dehumidification, sensible cooling and evaporative cooling); this technique uses water as a refrigerant and solar energy as a driving potential while electricity is only used in the auxiliaries, so the technique is environmentally-friendly.

C5: Heat Rejection
Technical Report of Subtask C, Work Package 5
December 2010 - PDF 1.21MB - Posted: 2012-04-13
By: Harald Moser, Erich Podesser, Daniel Mugnier, Peter Schnider, Tomas Núñez and Annett Kühn
Editor: Lars Reinholdt
The choice of heat rejection solution is often critical to the electrical power consumption of the thermally driven chiller. The possible lowering of the electrical consumption compared to traditional cooling solutions is in many cases the driving force towards utilizing the solar energy for cooling. Therefore the total electrical consumption is crucial. Investigation of realized systems shows that up to 50-60 % of the total electrical consumption is used in the heat rejection system, depending on the type and design of the system.

C1: State of the Art - Survey on New Solar Cooling Developments
A Technical Report of Subtask C
October 2010 - PDF 2.03MB - Posted: 2012-03-19
Editor: Robert Ghirlando
This report is the result of the work undertaken by one of the working groups set up as part of Task 38 of the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme of the International Energy Agency. The remit of Task 38 was to study Solar Air-conditioning and Refrigeration. The work was split into four sub-tasks and these were further sub-divided into smaller sub-tasks. One such sub-task CI, forming part of the sub-task C on Modelling and Fundamental Analysis, was set up to carry out a survey on new solar cooling developments, a State-of-the-Art report. This report documents the results of that work.

C3: Exergy Analysis of Solar Cooling Systems
A Technical Report of Subtask C3
June 2010 - PDF 1.78MB - Posted: 2012-03-19
Editor: LUIGI MARLETTA
Within the Task 38, the Subtask C was devoted to the Thermodynamic Analysis of solar cooling systems. Out of the many contributions offered by the participants, those ones collected in this Report are the most representative of the research activity carried out by the whole Group in the field of the exergy analysis and its applications to solar cooling. By going through the paper, the Reader can recognize that for detecting the drawbacks of thermodynamic nature of energy engineering systems, the exergy approach is a more useful and powerful tool than energy analysis. Indeed, while the energy approach is based solely on the First Law, exergy analysis is founded on the combination of both the First and Second Law of Thermodynamics, thus offering a wider and more rational basis for investigation.

C5: Hygienic Aspect of Small Wet Cooling Towers
A technical report of subtask C
December 2009 - PDF 1.2MB - Posted: 2012-04-13
By: Harald Moser and Erich Podesser
This chapter shall give a very short description of thermally driven heat pumps especially with respect to the heat rejection sub-system and temperature level. Furthermore different technologies for rejecting the heat to the air are briefly discussed and compared to each other for different climatic conditions.

Description of Simulation Tools Used in Solar Cooling
A Technical Report of Subtask C
November 2009 - PDF 2.55MB - Posted: 2010-09-07
By: Paul Bourdoukan
Numerical simulation offers the possibility to study virtually physical systems and to test rapidly the proposed solutions. Simulation is then the most adapted method to understand the behaviour of a system in order to optimize it. The enhancement and the development of a technology are essentially based on the capacity to simulate accurately its behaviour in order to optimize it. This reality applies to solar cooling technologies.

C2B: Benchmarks for Comparison of System Simulation Tools – Absorption Chiller Simulation Comparison
A Technical Report of Subtask C
November 2009 - PDF 0.27MB - Posted: 2010-09-07
By: Constanze Bongs
System simulation for planning support. Objective: to identify an appropriate system size with respect to fulfill target values in primary energy savings, solar thermal system exploitation, economics, etc.

C2A: Description of Simulation Tools Used in Solar Cooling
New Developments in Simulation Tools and Models and Their Validation
November 2009 - PDF 2.55MB - Posted: 2011-06-09
By: Paul Bourdoukan
Numerical simulation offers the possibility to study virtually physical systems and to test rapidly the proposed solutions. Simulation is then the most adapted method to understand the behaviour of a system in order to optimize it. The enhancement and the development of a technology are essentially based on the capacity to simulate accurately its behaviour in order to optimize it. This reality applies to solar cooling technologies. In this report simulation tools used in the solar cooling domains are described. Then the recent development in the components and system models and validation are presented. In part 1 of the report the simulation tools applicable in the domain of solar cooling are presented and the main advantages of each tool are highlighted.

D3: Life Cycle Assessment of Solar Cooling Systems
A technical report of subtask D
December 2010 - PDF 1.64MB - Posted: 2012-04-13
By: Marco Beccali, Maurizio Cellura, Fulvio Ardente, Sonia Longo, Bettina Nocke, Pietro Finocchiaro, Annelore Kleijer, Catherine Hildbrand, Jacques Bony, Stèphane Citherlet
Editor: Marco Beccali
Renewable energy (RE) systems can certainly allow reducing the use of fossil fuels and the related environmental impacts for building air-conditioning. It is more and more clear that good design of the system and appropriateness of the technology are a key issues on the way to maximise the benefits. Therefore, for systems dealing with solar thermal systems, it has been experienced that wrong choices among RE technologies to meet specific applications could also lead to negative effects in terms of Primary Energy (PE) saving.