Solar Cooling Design Guideline PDF

Requirements on the design
and configuration of small and medium sized

solar airconditioning applications
Guidelines
Guidelines Requirements on the design and configuration of small and medium sized solar airconditioning applications
2
Requirements on the design and configuration of small and medium sized solar airconditioning applications Guidelines
Guidelines
This publication has been produced in the framework of the

SOLAIR project which is supported by the Intelligent Energy
Europe programme of the European Commission.
SOLAIR aims mainly at capacity building, promotion and
influencing the process of decision making for the
implementation of small and mediumsized solar air
conditioning (SAC) systems in order to increase the
confidence on the technology and to encourage its
implementation.
April 15, 2009
www.solairproject.eu
3
This report was prepared as deliverable D10 in the SOLAIR project on base of material and
information provided by all partners in the project.
Edited by Edo Wiemken, Fraunhofer ISE. Chapter one Building cooling and airconditioning
was prepared by Sao Medved, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Chapter seven Planning tools
was prepared by Maria Joo Carvalho, INETI, Portugal.
SOLAIR is coordinated by
target GmbH, Germany
Partners in the SOLAIR consortium:

AEE Institute for Sustainable Technologies, Austria
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Germany
Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Technologia e Innovao INETI, Portugal
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
AIGUASOL, Spain
TECSOL, France
Federation of European Heating and Airconditioning Associations RHEVA, The Netherlands
Centre for Renewable Energy Sources CRES, Greece
Ente Vasco de la Energia EVE, Spain
Provincia di Lecce, Italy
Ambiente Italia, Italy
SOLAIR is supported by
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion
of the European Communities. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the
information contained therein
4
Table of content
Introduction.................................................................................................................................7
1 Building cooling and airconditioning..............................................................................9

1.1 Indoor thermal comfort ....................................................................................................9
1.2 Cooling demand of buildings ..........................................................................................13
1.3 Energy conservation principles .......................................................................................18
1.4 Fundamentals of solar cooling ........................................................................................22
1.5 Impact of climate changes on thermal indoor comfort
and energy demand for cooling ......................................................................................23
2 Technologies applicable for solar thermally driven cooling ...........................................1

2.1 Chilled water systems .....................................................................................................29
2.2 Open cycle processes ......................................................................................................37
2.3 Solar thermal collectors ..................................................................................................40
3 General requirements on solar airconditioning and cooling systems.........................46

3.1 Primary energy saving.....................................................................................................46
3.2 Requirements on basic system layout ............................................................................50
3.3 Heat rejection system .....................................................................................................52
3.4 Solar collector system .....................................................................................................54
4 Selection of the appropriate technology.......................................................................60

4.1 All air systems .................................................................................................................62
4.2 Full air system + chilled water distribution.....................................................................66
4.3 Supply air system + chilled water distribution................................................................68
4.4 All water system..............................................................................................................69
5 Small systems: schemes for typical applications ..........................................................71
6 Recommendations on monitoring and quality assurance ............................................77
7 Planning tools .................................................................................................................84

7.1 Design approaches ..........................................................................................................84
7.2 Rules of Thumb ...............................................................................................................85
7.3 Simple predesign tools...................................................................................................87
7.3.1 SHCSoftwaretool (NEGST Project) .................................................................................87
7.3.2 SACE Solar cooling evaluation light tool .........................................................................89
7.3.3 SolAC Solar Assisted Air Conditioning Software...........................................................90
7.3.4 ODIRSOL Solar Assisted cooling Software....................................................................92
7.3.5 Expected new predesign tools.......................................................................................93
7.4 Detailed simulation tools ................................................................................................94
7.4.1 System orientated...........................................................................................................94
7.4.2 Building orientated .........................................................................................................95
7.4.3 Further simulation tool description ................................................................................96
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6
Introduction
The demand for building cooling and airconditioning is still rapidly increasing. To give an
impression: the sales rate in 2008 for small size electrically driven room air conditioners (< 5 kW
chilling capacity) was approx. 82 million units worldwide, of which 8.6 million were sold in Europe.
It is not surprising that in some areas the peak load in the public electricity grid is evoked during
hot summer seasons already by electrically driven airconditioning. In Germany, a country with
definitely not the highest demand for cooling and airconditioning, the overall electricity demand
for building airconditioning in 2006 was estimated to approx. 5% of the total electricity
consumption (14% for the total of airconditioning and refrigeration); in other South European
countries this share might be far higher.
Building airconditioning is today based mainly on electrically driven mechanic vapour
compression technologies. Although for new developed, predominantly large capacity scale
developments it is reported about high efficiencies in the compression cycle, for the standard of
airconditioning in existing buildings it can be assumed that on an average less than 3 kWh cold
are produced with the electricity input of 1 kWhel. Subsequently this implies that approximately
1 kWh primary energy is used for the provision of 1 kWh useful cold.
At the same time of peak cooling demand, high amounts of solar radiation are available at many
sites and could be used for thermally driven processes, e.g., cooling and airconditioning. The
processes are in general well known and not new. Thermally driven cooling was applied within the
last decades in nichemarkets preferably in the large capacity range, using waste heat or heat
from combined heat and power production. However, the combination of this technology with
solar heat is new and some more complexity arises with this combination. Solar cooling and air
conditioning is demonstrated in a few hundred installations so far.
Solar thermally assisted cooling and airconditioning can contribute to an environmentally friendly
building supply system for the following reasons:
considerable savings in primary energy consumption and reduction of CO2 emissions are
possible
load relieving of the public electricity grid in terms of both, peak power and energy, thus
contributing to grid stabilisation
combined use of solar heat for heating, cooling and domestic hot water preparation, thus an
allseason high utilisation of the solar thermal system
no use of working materials with high global warming potential
less noise emissions and less vibrations than vapour compression technologies.
Thus, support for the market development of this technology is useful; these guidelines, edited in
the frame of the SOLAIR1 project, is one of the supporting activities.
1
SOLAIR Increasing the market implementation of solar airconditioning systems for small and medium applications in
residential and commercial buildings (SOLAIR). Supported in the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme of the European
Commission. EIE/06/034/S12.446612. Duration: until 12/2009.www.solairproject.eu
7
Interaction in the design and layout of a solar thermally driven cooling and airconditioning system, to be considered in
the planning phase.
The proper design of a solar cooling and airconditioning system and the choice of the
components interact to a high degree with the site conditions (climatic conditions) and with the
demand for cooling (load conditions). The intention of this guideline is to support the
understanding of the interactions and to provide in parallel a picture on the state of the art of
solar cooling and airconditioning.
As one of the most costeffective measures in the planning of an airconditioning system is the
reduction of cooling loads already in the building planning and design phase, chapter one deals
with general aspects on building cooling and airconditioning and prepares the reader for the
subsequent chapters, focusing on the technical aspects of solar thermally driven technologies.
However, some aspects of solar cooling and airconditioning may have found not the adequate
attendance in these guidelines, such as e.g. more details on system control or on detailed site
oriented installation information. The reason for this lack is the still ongoing process in the
development and preparation of such information.
The thematic structure of the content underlines the target group of technical orientated
planners in the building services and utilities management area, but the guidelines are hopefully
useful to anyone, interested on this subject.
Finally, a more comprehensive description of solar cooling and airconditioning can be found in
the handbook for planners Solar Assisted AirConditioning in Buildings 2, elaborated in the Task
25 on Solar Cooling within the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (SHC) of the International
Energy Agency (IEA). In the current Task 38 Solar AirConditioning and Refrigeration, a new
edition of this handbook will be launched and available in 2010. In the context with the existing
handbook, these guidelines may be seen in both ways: as a straightforward introduction into solar
cooling and airconditioning on the one hand, and as a market and practically oriented
complement to the handbook on the other hand.
2
HansMartin Henning (Editor): Solar Assisted AirConditioning of Buildings A Handbook for Planners. Second revised
edition 2007. ISBN 9783211730959, Springer Wien New York.
8
1 Building cooling and airconditioning
The main goal of every building planner is to assure the most pleasant and healthy living
environment to people that live in the building. However the challenge here is to attain the
optimal indoor comfort with minimal energy consumption and minimal environmental impact.
From the engineering point of view the quality of indoor environment is defined by four groups of
requirements: thermal comfort, indoor air quality, lighting comfort and noise protection.
Concerning energy consumption the most important issue is fulfilling of thermal comfort
requirements.
Thermal confort Indoor air quality

IAQ
Lighting confort Noise protection
IEQ
Figure 1.1 Indoor environment quality could be assured by fulfilling of four groups of requirements
1.1 Indoor thermal comfort
Human is a warmblooded being with constant internal temperature (37 0.8C), which is
independent of surrounding temperature and muscle activity. The body produces heat in internal
organs with combustion (oxidation) of nutritive substances. This process is called metabolism or
basal metabolism. Metabolism is regulated by our body regarding to momentarily activity. Similar
as with heat machines, the human body has to give off the excess heat to the environment by
means of different heat transfer mechanisms. If such heat transfer from our body to surroundings
does not cause any unpleasant sensation the requirements of thermal comfort are fulfilled.
9
Figure 1.2 Human body emits sensible and latent heat into environment using different heat transfer processes. If this
process does not cause unpleasant sensation the thermal comfort is provided.
The body emits the heat in the form of sensible and latent heat. Sensible heat is emitted with convection and radiation
of the body to the surrounding air and surfaces, conduction of heat on the places where we stand and with exhaling the
warm air. Latent heat is given off to surroundings with diffusion of vapour trough the skin, evaporation of water on the
skin surface and humidifying the exhaled air.
heat flux (W)
air temperature (oC)
Figure 1.3 Heat transfer mechanisms and heat flux emitted by human body to surroundings depends on air temperature
and humidity at low temperatures radiation and convection are the most important mechanisms, meanwhile at air
temperatures above 30C latent heat transfer is dominant, emitted amounts of water vapour as function of air
temperature are presented as well.
1.1.1 Parameters of indoor thermal comfort

The importance of individual heat transfer mechanisms is varying with regard to the state of
indoor environment which is evaluated with several parameters: air temperature, mean radiant
temperature of surrounding surfaces, air velocity and air humidity. Because the amount of heat
that the body gives off depends on the difficulty of the work and on the clothes we are wearing,
the activity level, which is given in met (metabolism) and clothing which is given in clo (cloth)
are two very important additional parameters that affect thermal comfort. 1 Met corresponds
with 58 W released by 1 m2 of human surface area or approximately 100 W in total. During heavy
work metabolic rate can reach up to 10 Met and this corresponds to emitted heat flux of 270 W.
10
Clo is proportional to thermal resistant of cloths. Characteristic values are 0 clo for a nude body, 1
clo for a business suit and 3 clo for winter clothes.
Indoor air temperature Ti is the most evident indicator of proper thermal comfort. In principle,
the temperature should be higher on lower activity level and lighter clothing. For building cooling
it is important that our body is capable to adapt to the seasonal conditions. Thus the appropriate
indoor temperatures are between 20 and 22oC in the winter and 26 to 27oC in the summer time
when ambient temperature is above 30C.
Mean radiant temperature Tr is mean temperature of the surfaces that surround the living space.
It has a strong influence on radiative heat transfer between human body and surroundings. The
difference between the indoor air temperature Ti and mean radiant temperature Tr should not be
greater than 2K. During the summer, the indoor surfaces or internal window blinds exposed to the
solar radiation can warm up to 50 and more C, which can be disturbing. Bright coloured or
reflective external window blinds are a good solution for decreasing the mean radiant
temperature.
The air velocity in the room affects the convective heat losses and evaporation of water, which
we are excreting trough the skin and sweat glands. During the heating season our body feel as
unpleasant velocities above 0.15 m/s, meanwhile in the summer time we have no comfort
problems with higher velocities up to 0.6 or even 0.8 m/s. For example, we can increase the air
flow around our bodies with a ceiling fan and it results as feeling the environment around us
being cooler.
Air humidity affects the latent heat transfer from the bodies to the surrounding air. Therefore in
case of higher temperatures the humidity level has to be lower. Air humidity in the buildings is
varying because of air conditioning and different sources of water vapour in living spaces (human,
plants, cooking, etc.). The air humidity can be given as moisture content of air x, which is defined
with the ratio of water vapour mass (in g or kg) added to the mass of one kilogram of dry air
(typical values are between 5 to 20 g/kg) or as relative humidity which is defined as ration
between actual water vapour pressure and water vapour pressure in saturated air at the same
temperature. Values are quoted in percents in range between 0% in dry air and 100% in air
saturated with water vapour. At the air temperature Ti between 20 26C air humidity should
be 70 to 35%, or the moisture content x should not exceed 11.5 g/kg. In practice the air humidity
could be reduced by cooling the air beyond its dew point with cooling devices in the rooms or
with central air conditioning units. In both cases dehumidification increase the electricity
consumption, unless thermally driven cooling engines are used instead of compressor driven
cooling systems.
1.1.2 Integrated indicators of thermal comfort

Joint influence of the thermal comfort parameters could be evaluated with the predicted main
vote PMV indicator. PMV is an agreed relative assessment scale of thermal comfort in indoor
environment. The values of PMV are in the range between 3 (cold), 2 (moderately cold), 1
(pleasantly cold), 0 (neutral), +1 (pleasantly warm), +2 (warm) and +3 (hot environment). The
value PMV equal to 0 therefore means neutral environment, positive values mean warmer
environment, negative values mean colder environment. The PMV value is established by a
mathematical expression or based on measurements of thermal comfort parameters and
considering the activity and clothing of the occupancies. The predicted mean vote can be related
to percentage of dissatisfied people (PPD), which tells us the percent of dissatisfied people in
observed room.
11
Figure 1.4 Instrument for determination of predicted mean vote of indoor environment (PMV); sensor for temperature,
velocity and humidity measurements, knobs for Met and Clo input.
Figure 1.5 Instrument Correlation between PMV and PPD values. According to the graph at PMV +2 80% of people will
be dissatisfied with their thermal environment. Source: [EN ISO 7730, 2005]
The demands concerning the indoor thermal environment are defined in many international and
national standards and regulations. Thus EN 15251 standard defines three levels of comfort
expectations: class A (high expectations), class B(normal expectations) and class C (moderate
expectations). For class A the PMV must be 0.2 (corresponds with PPD < 6%), for class B 0.5
(PPD < 10%) and for class C 0.7 (PPD < 15%). EN ISO 7730 defines thermal comfort as acceptable
if 80% or more inhabitants feel comfortable in such indoor environment.
As cooling of buildings is closely related to indoor air temperatures and humidity some other
comfort indicators could be used as well. Humid operative temperature is the temperature of the
environment with 100% relative humidity in which a human body emits the same total amount of
heat as in real environment. The heat stress index is the ratio of the total evaporative heat losses
of human body required for thermal comfort and maximum evaporative heat losses possible in
the same environment multiplied by factor 100. The decimal value of heat stress index is called
skin wettedness.
12
1.2 Cooling demand of buildings

1.2.1 Conventional or mechanical cooling
Most of the buildings today are cooled with mechanical cooling or air conditioning systems. In
both cases a cooling machine is needed. Usually, this is a heat pump which pumps the heat out of
the cooler building to the warmer surrounding of the building. In cases of smaller systems
(compact cooling units) the air is directly cooled in the evaporator of the cooling unit placed in the
room. When dealing with larger buildings central air or water cooling systems are commonly
used. In case of air cooling systems the air in the airconditioning device is cooled with chilled
water before delivered into the building. In water cooling systems water with temperature
between 5 to 7C is pumped through chilled water pipe distribution systems to the end heat
exchangers (e.g. fancoils) installed in each indoor space.
Figure 1.6 Fancoil units with coil heat exchanger and fans are end heat exchangers in central water cooling systems.
During operation the cooling machine consumes electricity. Because it is working as a heat pump,
the amount of heat transferred out of the building is significantly larger than the amount of used
electric energy. The ratio between the heat extract out of the building Qc and the electric energy
demand W is named coefficient of performance (COPel). Modern cooling units have COPel
between 3 and 5 depending on the cooling power and the type of compressor. In spite of high
COPel, these cooling devices still use electricity which is in many countries produced with high
emissions of greenhouse gasses. An increased consumption of electricity is characteristic for all
modern societies. In Europe the consumption of electricity has increased by a factor 12 within
the last 50 years. Today the yearly increase of electricity consumption is twice as high as the
increase of fossil fuel consumption. Building cooling systems also have a high factor of
simultaneity, which consequently leads to electricity network overload. In Slovenia for example
the peak electricity demand has changed from 19 PM in the winter time to 15 PM in the summer
time in last three years indicating increased electricity demand for cooling of the buildings.
13
Figure 1.7 Air handling unit of central air conditioning system; air is cooled with chilled water provided by cooling
engine.
Building heat
Qc
W
Compressor
Qod
Environment
COPel
electricity coefficient of
performance
Q kWh
c h
COPel =
W kWh
e
Figure 1.8 Cooling machines operates as a heat pump, therefore heat transferred from buildings to the environment is
larger than consumption of electricity. The ratio is called coefficient of performance or COPel. Modern cooling units have
COPel between 3 and 5.
14
1.2.2 Cooling loads and energy demand for cooling of the buildings
Cooling loads and energy demand can be calculated using different approaches. In engineering
practice VDI 2078 and ASHRAE calculation procedures are often used. Regardless to the method
the first step in buildings cooling analyses is the determination of heat gains. Heat gains are
divided into sensible and latent heat gains. Sensible heat gains are originated by:
solar radiation and heat transfer through windows
unsteady heat transfer through opaque building envelopment
internal heat gains (human, lighting, appliances,..)
heat transfer by air exchange between surrounding and building because of infiltration and
ventilation
Heat gains through windows and transparent walls can be characterized by several optical
parameters:
transmittivity of solar radiation t
total energy transmittivity g
shading factor of shading devices Sf
Transmissivity of solar radiation is the ratio between transmitted and incoming solar radiation.
Since part of solar radiation is absorbed in glazing, radiation and convection heat flux from the
inner glass layer into the interior represent additional heat gains. The sum of heat gains can be
expressed by gvalue as the ratio between sum of solar radiation and heat flux gains and incoming
solar radiation on window surface. The gvalue is the most adequate window characteristic for
cooling load determination. Cooling loads through transparent building envelopment could be
significantly reduced by selection of effective shading devices.
Gi Gi + qk + qs
= g=
G G
G'
Sf =
G
Figure 1.9 Transmissivity of glazing is the ratio between transmitted (Gi) and incoming solar radiation (G) (left); total
energy transmissivity g of glazing is the ratio between sum of transmitted solar radiation and heat flux transferred from
inner glass surface by radiation and convection (Gi + qk+qs) and incoming solar radiation G. (middle); shading factor Sf
of shadings is the ratio between transmitted solar radiation G and incoming solar radiation G (right)
15
Heat gains through opaque building envelopment depends on absorbed solar radiation (wall
orientation and wall surface colour), thermal conductivity of wall materials and heat accumulation
of the wall. Heat gains can be calculated by hourtohour analyses of steady heat transfer
replacing air temperature differences with reference temperature difference as it is proposed in
VDI 2078. Since contemporary building envelope elements have low a heat transfer coefficient,
heat gains through opaque elements are in most cases small.
Internal heat gains are often major reason for overheating. The human body itself emits a heat
flux between 100 W and 250 W in condition of heavy activity. Large number of appliances
characterized for commercial buildings contribute to large internal heat gains as well. Good
daylighting design and use of high efficient compact and LED lamps can significantly reduce the
internal cooling loads.
Contemporary buildings are sufficiently tight to prevent significant infiltration of ambient air into
the building. Nevertheless they must be ventilated to ensure good indoor air quality. Mechanical
ventilation must be regulated according to demand to ensure lower cooling load with supply air.
Latent heat gains are in general generated in buildings because of different water vapour sources,
nevertheless in humid regions supply external air must be dehumidified before supplied to the
buildings. For example, a human body emits up to 50 g of water vapour per hour, plants up to 20
g per day.
Cooling load indicates heat flux (removed rate of energy) needed for fulfilling requirements of
thermal comfort especially regarding to indoor air temperature and humidity. Time dependant
heat gains and cooling loads differ by amplitude and time shift because of heat accumulation in
building constructions. Cooling loads are calculated for a climate dependant hot summer design
day and the daily maximum value is taken as design cooling load of the building. More advanced
methods are based on hourbyhour analyses using a computer tool, among others TRNSYS is very
well known. In such tools, a Test Reference Year as meteorological data source is used for specific
locations. The software Meteonorm (CD published by James & James, UK) includes TRY for more
than 5000 location world wide. Such tools are most useful for the calculation of energy demand
for cooling which taks into account hourbyhour cooling load, COPel of cooling machine and
overall cooling system efficiency.
Detailed descriptions of planning tools are presented in Chapter 7.
Important note:
The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) requests that the energy demand for
cooling must be included into buildings energy performance indicators. As a consequence, in
some national regulations the rated power of cooling machines is limited. In Slovenia, for
example the permitted power of the cooling machine is 24 W per m3 of building volume.
16
1.2.3. Study cases

As an example of computer simulation approaches, annual specific cooling loads and energy
(electricity) demand for four business buildings are presented below. All buildings are built at
locations with continental climate.
Cooling Cooling Useful End energy

load load energy demand
(W/m3) (W/m2) demand (electricity)
(heat) (kWh/m2)
(kWh/m2)
Office
building 1
7.7 21 8 3.4
Office
building 2
31 84 51 18.7
Office
building 3
14 38 29 10.6
Shopping
centre
21.6 76 58 19.2
Tabel 1.1 Specific cooling loads and energy demand of four business buildings
Remark: useful energy is related to quantity of heat extracted from indoor air, end energy
demand is related to electricity demand of mechanical cooling.
17
1.3 Energy conservation principles
The energy demand for cooling of buildings can be reduced by implementation of five principles
presented on Figure 1.10: solar radiation controlling, reduction of heat gains thought opaque
building envelope, intensive night ventilation, reduction of internal gains and implementation of
free cooling techniques.
Figure 1.10 Principles of energy conservation for buildings cooling. Source [McQuiston et al., 2005]
Shading devices must be external, high reflective for solar radiation and mounted in such a way
that enables convective cooling as well as daylighting of the interior. Figure 1.11 shows the
temperature profile in an office without shadings and mechanical cooling and in the neighbouring
office with external shadings; shading devices are installed in such a way that convective cooling is
enabled on both sides of shadings and they are movable to improve shading factor Sf all day long
and enable optimal daylighting in offices.
48
Without
Brez shadings
senil in haljenja
(C)
Zunanja lamelna senila, nehlajen prostor

With shadings
nadstropju (oC)
43
temperature
38
v tretjem
Temperatura prostoraRoom
33
28
23
18
3984 4152 4320 4488 4656 4824 4992 5160
Hour starting Dan

1st vofletu
January
Figure 1.11 Only external, high reflective and movable shading devices controls successfully solar radiation heat gains;
temperature in an office without shadings and cooling (gray line), and temperatures in office equipped with external
shadings as presented on photo (orange line).
18
Shading devices could be multi purpose. For example PV modules can be used as external shading
device. Following example shows such a case. PV modules are mounted on the part of glass roof
of atrium in office building. The result is the reduction of the peak cooling load from 150 kW to 75
kW, meanwhile the heating load remains practically unchanged. In this particular case PV
shadings have little influence on daylighting as well.
[kW]
200
heating load
150
cooling load
100
50
-50
-100
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. Maj Jun. Jul. Aug. Sept. Okt. Nov. Dec.
[kW]
200
heating load
150
cooling load
100
50
-50
-100
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. Maj Jun. Jul. Aug. Sept. Okt. Nov. Dec.
Figure 1.12 PV modules as external shading devices on the glass roof of an atrium in office buildings reduce peak cooling
load by 50% meanwhile heating demand and daylighting remain practically unchanged (left heating and cooling loads
without PV modules, right after PV modules were installed)
Heat gains through the opaque envelope could be reduced with light surface colours and quality
thermal insulation in combination with a high building construction thermal mass. As a
consequence, a significant decrease of temperature amplitude swing at the inner side of the
construction and a time lag of several hours can be attained. Modern architecture often requires
dark surface colours of walls and roofs. Selective paints can be used in this case to reduce both,
surface temperature and resulting cooling loads. Such colours have equal reflectivity of light as
ordinary colours, but enlarged near IR reflectivity. This causes a reduction of dark surface
temperature during solar noon by 20C. Even more effective are green roofs and walls.
Evapotranspiration by grass and plants reduce cooling loads for 5 to 10 times regarding to dark
roofs.
19
Figure 1.13 Additional selective white paint layer (left) pained below green coating (right) reduces peak wall surface
temperature up to 15 K
Night ventilation can significantly reduce cooling loads but only in case if intensive night
ventilation with at least 4 to 5 exchanges of building volume per hour is provided. On the other
hand ventilation systems can be supplemented by free cooling techniques like evaporative
cooling. Evaporative cooling is most effective in hot and dry areas. It can significantly contribute
to cooling power reduction and therefore to the peak electricity demand for mechanical cooling.
COPel of such systems are 50 or more.
34
supply air temeprature (C)
T ambient
32
30 T after
evaporative
28 cooling
26
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
0 300 600 900 1200 1500 1800 2100
number of hours per year (h)
Figure 1.14 Evaporative cooling is most effective at high ambient temperature at solar noon; duration of ambient air
and supply air temperatures after evaporative cooling (left); evaporative cooling can significantly contribute to cooling
power reduction and peak electricity demand additional for mechanical cooling. Source: [Vidrih, Medved, 2006]
20
night day
31
Ta (LHTES inlet temperature)
29 To (measured)
To (numerical model)
27
Temperature (C)
25
23
21
19
17
15
0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96
Time (h)
Figure 1.15 Latent heat storage integrated into ventilation system are cooled down during the night and provide lower
supply air temperatures during the next summer day; such system can be combined with other free cooling systems to
provide all day free cooling operation. Source: [Arkar, Medved, 2007]
Ground heat exchangers can be coupled to mechanical ventilation systems for precooling of
ventilation air during the daytime in summer days. They are used in smaller buildings, and they
have to be planned very carefully, to ensure a high COPel. Mechanical ventilation system can be
upgraded with a cold storage as well. Especially effective are the latent storages which are cooled
during the night, and at day time they are used to cool the supply air. These systems are more
expensive, and are still in a phase of development.
Despite the fact that free cooling techniques are effective and can reduce energy demand for
cooling greatly they alone cannot guarantee that indoor comfort will be fulfilled all the time. In
such cases other energy efficient cooling technology must be implemented the solar cooling.
21
1.4 Fundamentals of solar cooling

1.4.1 Principles of desiccantevaporative solar cooling
Air is a mixture of different gasses and water vapour. The change of air state can be a
consequence of sensible heat transfer during the heating or cooling and the transfer of latent
heat because of humidification or dehumidification. For that reason the state of the air should be
expressed by the internal energy called enthalpy (h) instead of the air temperature. We can
demonstrate the changes of air states in an Tx diagram. During the humidification of air,
dispersed drops of water in the air, transforms into molecules of water vapour with assistance of
internal energy of air. Consequently the air cools down. This kind of natural cooling is very
efficient, although it has an side effect of increasing the airs moisture content and its relative
humidity, which can exceed the appropriate levels, defined by thermal comfort.
90
T (C)
80
=0,1
70
60 =0,2
=0,3
50 2
40
30 1
=1
20
10
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
x (g/kg)
Figure 1.16 The process of evaporative cooling goes on at constant enthalpy. Air temperature drops, but at the same
time moisture content of air (x) and relative humidity () increase.
90
T (C)
80
=0,1
70
60 =0,2
9
=0,3
50
40 10
30
=1
20
10
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
x (g/kg)
Figure 1.17 The process of sorption drying (10 > 9) also goes on at constant enthalpy. Air temperature increases as
moisture content (x) and relative humidity () decrease.
22
In conventional cooling systems air is dehumidified by cooling below the dew point, resulting in
condensation of water vapour. The second option for drying the air is using special materials
which have the ability of sorption removal of water vapour molecules out of the air. These
materials are for example silica gel or lithium chloride. The first one is a solid, the second one is a
liquid; however, lithium chloride is also applied in impregnated structures, thus appearing as solid
form sorption unit. A side effect of this process is an increase in the air temperature and
humidification of the material, which absorbs the water vapour from the air. When heating the
sorption material above the temperature of 60 to 70C the water vapour is released from it and
the process can be repeated. In solar driven desiccantevaporative solar cooling systems, this
regeneration heat is provided by a solar thermal collector system.
In market available applications, the processes are combined with a heat recovery unit to the
desiccantevaporative solar cooling cycle, described in detail in Chapter 2.
1.4.2 Principle of sorption solar cooling

Conventional cooling system use a compressor to compress refrigerant vapour. Sorption cooling
processes run in a similar way. However instead of mechanical compressor which uses electricity,
only fluid pumps are applied to pump binary mixture of two substances the refrigerant and a
substance that absorbs the refrigerant and is called absorbent, in case of an absorption process is
applied. In practice a mixture of water (refrigerant) and lithium bromide (absorbent) on the one
hand, or ammonia (refrigerant) and water (absorbent) on the other hand is used. Circulation
pump electricity consumption is negligible compared to a compressor in a conventional cooling
system. Additional energy needed for the operation of sorption cooling systems must be provided
in form of heat, which can be produced by high efficient solar thermal system.
Alternatively, an adsorption process may be applied, based on the physical process of adsorption
of the refrigerant at a solid state sorption material, such as silica gel or types of zeolithes.
Since the result ab or adsorption processes is coolant water with temperature of 7 to 10C all
kinds of cooling system can be used. Details of sorption solar cooling can be found in Chapter 2.
1.5 Impact of climate changes on thermal indoor comfort

and energy demand for cooling
Predicted climate changes due to anthropogenic emissions will cause an increase in mean
atmosphere temperatures and atmospheric IR radiation. For that reason the climate changes will
have a strong influence on thermal comfort in the buildings in the summer period and therefore
on the energy demand for cooling as well. Based on simulations of a lowenergy dwelling and an
office building without cooling shown on Figure 1.18 and considering a corrected test reference
years (TRY) one can find out that the number of overheated hours will strongly increase. In case of
mechanical cooling and if the most severe scenario (D, Ta + 3C, +6 W/m2) is taken into account
the energy demand for cooling will increase by 10 times (depending on the location and
application). It can be expected, that the cooling demand will increase for 3 to 5 kWh/m2 of
buildings living space. The conditions will be similar as in the year 2003. As temperatures will be
also higher in the night time, the free cooling systems will be less efficient.
23
Figure 1.18 Low energy and commercial building used in climate change impact simulations.
Number of hours [h/a]
2200 2600
Number of hours [h/a]

2000 2400
2200
1800
2000
1600
1800
1400 1600
1200 1400
1000 1200
800 1000
800
600
600
400
400
200 200
0 0
TRY A B C D Year 2003 TRY A B C D Year 2003
CTRY CTRY
Figure 1.19 Increased overheating hours (Ti > 26C) in uncooled one family (left) and office (right) building; Scenario A
(+1C), Scenario B (+1C, +3 W/m2), Scenario C (+3C), Scenario D (+3C, +6 W/m2) Source: [Vidrih, Medved, 2006]
Cooling demand [kWh/m a]
6,0
Cooling demand [kWh/m a]
24
2
5,5
22
5,0
20
4,5
18
4,0
16
3,5 14
3,0 12
2,5 10
2,0 8
1,5 6
1,0 4
0,5 2
0,0 0
TRY A B C D Year 2003 TRY A B C D Year 2003
CTRY CTRY
Figure 1.20 Increased specific cooling demand in cooled one family (left) and office (right) building in kWh per m2 of floor
area per year
Taking all these facts into account, we can expect that more and more buildings will be cooled
in the future, especially every new built building. This gives solar cooling a great possibility to
enforce itself in the market.
24
References
[EN ISO 7730, 2005]

Ergonomics of the thermal environment Analytical determination and interpretation of thermal comfort using
calculation of the PMV and PPD indices and local thermal criteria.
[EN 15251, 2007]

Indoor environmental input parameters for design and assessment of energy performance of buildings addressing
indoor air quality, thermal environment, lighting and acoustics.
[McQuiston et al., 2005]

F. McQuiston, J. Parker, J. Spitler: Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning, Analysis and Design; Jonn Wiley&Sons,
Inc, 2005
[Vidrih, Medved, 2006]

B. Vidrih, S. Medved: The Connection Between the Climate Change Model and a Buildings Thermal Response Model: A
Case of Slovenia, Journal of Mechanical Engineering, vol. 52, no. 9/06, Ljubljana, 2006
[Arkar, Medved, 2007]

C. Arkar, S. Medved; Free cooling of a building using PCM heat storage integrated into the ventilation system, Solar
Energy, vol. 81, no 9, Elsevier Press, 2007
25
2 Technologies applicable for solar thermally driven cooling
The focus in SOLAIR is on solar cooling and airconditioning systems in the small and medium size
capacity range. The classification into small and medium aligns with available chiller products; small
small applications are in this sense systems with a nominal chilling capacity below 20 kW, and application
medium size systems may range up to approx. 100 kW.
Systems in the small capacity range are usually consist of thermally driven chilled water systems,
. whereas medium sized systems may be open cycle desiccant evaporative (DEC) cooling systems as
well. While in the first type of system technology the distribution medium is chilled water in a
closed loop to remove the loads from the building, in the latter one supply air is directly handled
in humidity and temperature respectively in an open process. Figure 2.1 visualises the two general
types of applications. Of course, applications using both types of technology at the same time are
possible. In chilled water systems, the central cold water distribution grid may serve decentralised
cooling units such as fan coils (mostly with dehumidification), chilled ceilings, walls or floors; but
the chilled water may be used for supply air cooling in a central air handling unit as well. The re
quired chilled water temperature depends on this type of usage and is important for the system
design and configuration, but the enduse devices are not in the focus of SOLAIR and thus are not
presented more in detail.
~18C
Chilled ceiling
Heat
> 60C
Supply air
16C - 18C
Thermally (< 12C)
Fan coil
driven
Chiller Cooled /
6C - 9C
Chilled water Conditioned
temperature area
Heat
> 50C
Return air
Supply air
Desiccant evaporative Conditioned

cooling (DEC) area
Figure 2.1 General types of thermally driven cooling and airconditioning technologies. In the figure above, chilled water
is produced in a closed loop for different decentral applications or for supply air cooling. In the figure below, supply air is
directly cooled and dehumidified in an open cycle process. Source: Fraunhofer ISE. The technologies are outlined more in
detail below. Heat is required in both technologies, to allow a coninuous system operation. In the applications surveyed
in SOLAIR, the heat is at least to a significant part produced by a solar thermal collector system.
26


Figure 2.2 illustrates that any thermally driven cooling process operates at three different tem
perature levels: with driving heat Qheat supplied to the process at a temperature level of TH , heat
is removed from the cold side thereby producing the useful cold Qcold at temperature TC. Both
amounts of heat are to be rejected (Qreject) at a medium temperature level TM. The driving heat
Qheat may be provided by an appropriate designed solar thermal collector system, either alone or
in combination with auxiliary heat sources.
While in open cycle processes the heat rejection is with the air flow in the system integrated into
the process, closed chilled water processes require for an external heat rejection system, e.g., a
cooling tower. The type of the heat rejection system is currently turning more into the field of
vision, as this component usually is responsible for a considerable fraction of the remaining
energy consumption of solar cooling systems.
A basic number to quantify the thermal process quality in thermally driven chilled water systems
is the coefficient of performance COP, defined as
Qcold
COP = ,
Qheat
thus indicating the amount of required heat per unit produced cold (more accurately: per unit
removed heat). The COP and the chilling capacity depends strongly on the temperature levels of
TH, TC and TM. In open cycle desiccant cooling systems, the performance is more difficult to assess,
since it depends more strongly on the system operation. It is useful, to define here the
performance for the desiccant operation mode only, since in this operation mode heat is required
(section 2.2). The performance is then calculated from the enthalpy difference between ambient
and supply air, related to the required heat input. Experiences from DEC plants have shown that
performance values comparatively to singleeffect chillers may be achieved.
Focussing on chilled water systems, a maximum process performance COPideal for each
temperature level can be derived from thermodynamic laws:
TC TH TM
COPideal = .
TH TM TC
This dependency is discussed more in detail in e.g. [Henning, 2006]. As shown in figure 2.3, the
ideal performance of a reversible process is far above the performance, obtained in market
available thermally driven chillers. The COP in realised products ranges from 0.5 to 0.8 in single
effect chillers (absorption or adsorption), and may range to 1.4 in doubleeffect chillers.
Q heat
TH
TM
Qreject
TC
Q cold
Figure 2.2 Basic scheme of a thermally driven cooling process.
27
1.80
ideal
1.60
1.40 double-effect
absorption
1.20
1.00
COP
single-effect
0.80 absorption
0.60 adsorption
0.40
chilled water temperature: 9C
0.20 cooling water temperature: 28C
0.00
45 60 75 90 105 120 135 150
Hot water inlet [C[
Figure 2.3 Exemplary curves of the coefficient of performance COP for different sorption chiller technologies and the
limit curve for an ideal process. The curves are shown as function of the driving temperature and for a constant chilled
and cooling water temperature level. Source: [Henning, Wiemken, 2006]
The difference between real and ideal performance of the thermally driven chillers can be
expressed with a process quality number PQ:
PQ = COPreal / COPideal .
Typical vaules of PQ , extracted from market available products, are 0.3. The process quality
number allows to assess the advantages of an improved process quality with respect to the
required driving temperature. This is shown in figure 2.4. The figure presents the driving
temperature as a function of the temperature lift T, which is defined as the difference between
heat rejection temperature TM and chilled water temperature TC: T = (TM TC). As an example,
the temperature lift is low in case of high chilled water temperature and wet heat rejection (low
cooling water temperatures) and high in case of low required chilled water temperatures and dry
cooling. Driving temperatures for two different COP values are included. For each COPcurve, the
driving temperature depends furthermore on the process quality; therefore, two different quality
numbers are assumed. The operation areas of different collector technologies are indicated as
well. As an example, a singleeffect chiller with COP of 0.7, working at T = 35 K, may be driven
still with vacuum tube collectors, if the process requires driving temperatures of approx. 100 C
(process quality number of 0.4). In case of a lower process quality, the required driving
temperature is higher and tracked concentrating collectors are necessary.

Te

Tc
28
400
COP / PQ
350
required driving temp. TH [C]
1,1 / 0,4
300 1,1 / 0,3
0,7 / 0,4
250 0,7 / 0,3
200
150
1-axis tracked
100 concentrating collector
Vacuum-tube
50 collector
Flat-plate collector
0
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
useful temperature lift T = TM TC [K]
Application examples:
Chilled Fan-coils; Fan-coils; High temperature lift:
ceilings wet cooling dry cooling ice storage, dry cooling
Figure 2.4 Heat source temperature required for different COP/PQ combinations, plotted as a function of the
temperature lift. Typical operation ranges of solar collector technologies are included as well as different system
application examples (grey marked areas). Source: [Hennng, 2006].
2.1 Chilled water systems
Absorption chillers
The dominating technology of thermally driven chillers is based on absorption. The basic physical
process consists of at least two chemical components, one of them serving as refrigerant and the
other as the sorbent. The main components of an absorption chiller are shown in figure 2.5. The
process is well documented, e.g., in [ASHRAE, 1988]; thus, details will be not presented here.
The majority of absorption chillers use water as refrigerant and liquid lithiumbromide as sorbent.
Typical chilling capacities are in the range of several hundred kW. Mainly, they are supplied with
waste heat, district heat or heat from cogeneration. The required heat source temperature is
usually above 85C and typical COP values are between 0.6 and 0.8. Until a few years ago, the
4.5 kw smallest machine available was a Japanese product with a chilling capacity of 35 kW.
Recently, the situation has improved due to a number of chiller products in the small and medium
capacity range, which have entered the market. In general, they are designed to be operated with
85 C low driving temperatures and thus applicable for stationary solar thermal collectors. The lowest
chiller capacity available is now 4.5 kW. Some examples of small and medium size absorption
chillers are given in figure 2.6. In addition to the traditional working fluids H2O/LiBr, also H2O/LiCl
and NH3/H2O are applied. The application of the latter working fluid with Ammonia as refrigerant
ist relatively new for building cooling, as this technology was dominantly used for industrial

refrigeration purposes below 0C in large capacities. An advantage of this chiller type is especially

given in applications, where a high temperature lift (TM TC) is necessary. This is for example the
case in areas with water shortage, when dry cooling at high ambient temperatures has to be
applied.

29
hot water
(driving heat) cooling water
GENERATOR CONDENSER
ABSORBER EVAPORATOR
cooling water chilled water
Figure 2.5 Scheme of a thermally driven singleeffect absorption chiller. Compared to a conventional electrically driven
compression chiller, the mechanical compression unit is replaced by a thermal compression unit with absorber and
generator. The cooling effect is based on the evaporation of the refrigerant (e.g., water) in the evaporator at low
pressure. Due to the properties of the phase change, high amounts of energy can be transferred. The vaporised
weak refrigerant is absorbed in the absorber, thereby diluting the refrigerant/sorbent solution. Cooling is necessary, to run the
solution absorption process efficient. The solution is continuousely pumped into the generator, where the regeneration of the
solution is achieved by applying driving heat (e.g., hot water). The refrigerant leaving the generator by this process
condenses through the application of cooling water in the condenser and circulates by means of an expansion valve
again into the evaporator.
Figure 2.6a Examples of small absorption chillers using water as refrigerant and LithiumBromide as sorption fluid. Left:
aircooled chiller with a capacity of 4.5 kW of the Spanish manufacturer Rotartica. Middle: 10 kW Chiller with high part
load efficiency and overall high COP of the German manufacturer Sonnenklima, shown without housing. Right: Chiller
with 15 kW capacity, manufactured by the German company EAW; this machine is also available in capacities of 30 kW,
54 kW, 80 kW and above. Sources: Rotartica, Sonnenklima, EAW.
30
Figure 2.6b Further examples of absorption chillers. Left: Absorption chiller with the working fluid H2O/LiBr and a
capacity of 35 kW from Yazaki, Japan. This chiller is often found in solar cooling systems, since it was for several years
the smallest in Europe available absorption chiller, applicable with solar heat. Currently, a smaller version with 17.5 kW
chiller capacity from this manufacturer has entered the European market. Source: Gasklima. Right: This chiller uses
water as refrigerant and LithiumChloride as sorption material. The crystallisation phase of the sorption material is also
used, effecting in an internal energy storage. The capacity is approx. 10 kW; the machine is developed by ClimateWell,
Sweden, and can operate as heat pump as well. Source: ClimateWell.
Figure 2.6c Examples of absorption chillers with the working fluid ammoniawater. In principle, these types of chillers
are foreseen to provide chilled water at temperatures < 0C for commercial and industrial cooling, but may be applied
for higher chilled water temperature levels under appropriate operating conditions as well. Left: Absorption chiller with
12 kW rated chilling capacity, developed by Pink, Austria; shown without housing. Right: Absorption chiller from Ago,
Germany. This chiller is available with 50 kW capacity and with higher capacities. Sources: Pink/SolarNext.
Figure 2.7 displays current available hot water driven aborption chillers, sorted by chilling
capactiy. The presentation makes no claim to be exhaustive.
Doubleeffect machines with two generators require for higher driving temperatures > 140C, but
show higher COP values of > 1.0. The smallest available chiller of this type shows a capacity of
approx. 170 kW. With respect to the high driving temperatures, this technology demands in
combination with solar thermal heat for concentrating collector systems. This is an option for
climates with high fractions of direct irradiation.

double-effect
140
31
York, Carrier, Trane ..

Broad
Ago*
Thermax
EAW
Yazaki
water/LiBr
Robur* ammonia/water*
Pink* water/LiCl
Sonnenklima
* typical for applications
ClimateWell with Tcold 0C
Rotartica
0 20 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
Chilling capacity range [kW]
Figure 2.7 Typical capacity range of hot water driven absorption chillers. The listed products are market available, either
by small series production or fabrication on demand. No claim to be complete.
Adsorption chillers
Beside processes using a liquid sorbent, also machines using solid sorption materials are available.
This material adsorbs the refrigerant, while it releases the refrigerant under heat input. A quasi
continuous operation requires for at least two compartments with sorption material. Figure 2.8
shows the components of an adsorption chilller. Market available systems use water as
refrigerant and silica gel as sorbent, but R&D on systems using zeolithes as sorption material is
ongoing.
To date, only few manufacturers from Japan, China and from Germany produce adsorption
chillers; a German company is with a small unit of 5.5 kW capacity on the market since 2007 and
has increased the rated capacity in improved versions to 7.5 kW and 15 kW (models of 2008).
Typical COP values of adsorption chillers are 0.50.6. Advantageouos are the low driving :
temperatures, beginning from 60C, the absence of a solution pump and a comparatively
noiseless operation. Figure 2.9 shows examples of adsorption chillers, whereas figure 2.10
displays current available adorption chillers, sorted by chilling capactiy. The presentation makes
no claim to be exhaustive.
An overview on closed cycle water chillers is also presented in [Mugnier et al., 2008].

32
CONDENSER
cooling water
2 1
cooling water hot water
(driving heat)
chilled water
EVAPORATO R
Figure 2.8 Scheme of an adsorption chiller. They consist basically of two sorbent compartments 1 and 2, and the
evaporator and condenser. While the sorbent in the first compartment is desorbing (removal of adsorbed water) using
hot water from the external heat source, e.g. the solar collector, the sorbent in the second compartment adsorbs the
refrigerant vapour entering from the evaporator; this compartment has to be cooled in order to increase the process
efficiency. The refrigerant, condensed in the cooled condenser and transferred into the evaporator, is vaporised under
low pressure in the evaporator. Here, the useful cooling is produced. Periodically, the sorbent compartment are switched
over in their functions from adsorption to desorption. This is usually done through a switch control of external located
valves.
Figure 2.9Examples of adsorption chillers. Left: Chiller with 70 kW capactiy of the Japanese manufacturer Nishiyodo,
installed for laboratory cooling at the University Hospital in Freiburg, Germany. Adsorpition chillers of similar medium
capacity are available from the Japanese manufacturer Mayekawa as well. Middle: Smallsize adsorption chilllers with
7.5 kW and 15 kW chilling capacity from SorTech company, Germany. Source: SorTech. Right: Smallsize adsorption
chiller in the capacity range 7 to 10 kW of the manufacturer Invensor, Germany. Source: Invensor.
33
Nishyodo (JP)
Mayekawa (JP) water/silicagel

water/zeolite
SorTech (DE)
{ SJTU (CN) } { } no detailed information
on market status
Invensor (DE)
0 20 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

Chilling capacity range [kW]
Figure 2.10 Typical capacity range of adsorption chiller brands. The listed products are market available, either by small
series production or fabrication on demand. No claim to be complete.
Heat rejection
Figure 2.2 in section 2 indicates that the amount of heat extracted from the building (useful cold)
plus the driving heat of the transformation process has both to be charged to the environment at
(medium) ambient temperature level. This operation is done by means of a heat rejection system.
Figure 2.11 illustrates as an example the difference in the demand of heat rejection between a
conventional compression chiller system and an ab or adsorption chiller system. It is evident that
heat rejection in thermally driven systems plays a central role in the system development.
Compression Sorption
QM = Qc + QH
QM = Qc + W
1,33 kW 2,4 kW
QH
W
Compression Sorption
0,33 kWe
1,4 kWt
1 kWc 1 kWc
Qc = 3 x W Qc = 0,7 x QH
Figure 2.11 Example on the demand for heat rejection in a conventional electrically driven compression chiller system
(left) and in a (singleeffect) thermally driven chiller system (right). In the comparison, the chilling capacity is 1 kW in
both systems. Typical efficiency numbers have been used. Source: Tecsol.
34
In principle, different possibilities and heat rejection technologies may be applicable:

1. wet cooling, either of open type or of closed type, using the evaporative cooling effect
2. dry cooling without evaporation
3. hybrid cooling, allowing for both options: wet and dry cooling
4. geothermal heat rejection by use of ground tubes
5. heat rejection by use of ground water, sea water, river or spring water
6. application of low temperature level cooling water by thus rejecting the medium temperature
level heat
If applicable in any case, the options 5. and 6. should be preferred, as these applications are
connected with the lowest electricity consumption of the different heat rejection possibilities.
Unfortunately, application fields of low temperature level heat (~ 30C) is rarely identified, and
sea water cooling is for financial reasons limited to applications direct at costal sites and for large
applications. Additionally, the permittance to increase the sea water temperature level by this
means is difficult to obtain.
Heat rejection using ground tubes is a comparatively new approach and may be of interest,
especially when the ground tubes are used for heat pump operation as well during winter, thus
contributing to an annual balanced charging and dischcharging of the ground. However, the
investment cost for ground tubes are currently still high. An example of such an application in
combination with a small adsorption chiller (with heat pump operation) is shown in the SOLAIR
Best practice examples [SOLAIR: Best Practice Catalogue, 2008].
The most applied heat rejection technology in combination with thermally driven chillers today is
still wet cooling by means of open cooling towers. Figure 2.12 illustrates the principle of such a
heat rejection system: the cooling water is sprayed on top of the cooling tower towards the filling
material, which increases the effective exchange area between air and cooling water. The main
cooling effect is obtained through evaporation of a small percentage of the cooling water
(typically < 5%); this loss has to be compensated by fresh water supply. The cooled water then
returns to the cooling circuit of the chiller. A fan removes the saturated air in order to keep the

process running. The process is very efficient in appropriate climates and in principle, the

limitation temperature of the returned cooling water is not far from the wetbulb temperature of
the air (3C to 5C above the wetbulb temperature). A commercial product is shown in
figure 5.13.

Fan
Drip-catcher
Cooling water
distribution
Filling material
Air inlet
Sump
Figure 2.12 Typical scheme of an open wet cooling tower. Source: GWA.
35
Figure 2.13 Example of a large wet cooling tower installation.

In dry climates, the fan speed of a wet cooling tower can be often decreased in order not to fall
below the minimum cooling water temperature of the chiller (e.g., 25C often defined for
absorption chillers), whereas in a very humid climate also the wetbulb temperature often is high.
Figure 2.14 displays as an example for more extreme climates monthly averages of the wetbulb
temperature at Dubai. During summer, the monthly values are approx. 25C, indicating that

during daytime the obtained return cooling water temperature often may exceed 30C. Also the
ambient temperature levels are very high and during day, up to 40C ambient temperature is
detected, which indicates the limit of dry cooling (limitation temperature: a few C above ambient
temperature).
In the application with adsorption chiller technology, closed wet cooling towers have to be
applied instead of open wet cooling towers. The reason is the connection of the heat rejection
circuit with the driving circuit for some seconds during the heat recovery phase, which is activated
between the functional interchange of adsorption and desorption partitions of the chiller. The
hydraulic pressure conditions do not usually allow for an open cooling water loop. In the closed
cooling towers, the tower is equipped with a cooling water heat exchanger, which is sprayed by
an external water loop for indirect evaporative cooling. A disadvantage of this technique are
lower efficiencies and higher costs.
In some countries, regulations exist on the application of wet cooling towers with respect to
hygienic aspects. In order to avoid unfavourable growth of bacteria, a water treatment of the
cooling water may be necessary. For this reason and for reasons of improving the optical
acceptance of heat rejection systems especially in small scale applications, dry cooling is still of
interest, although the cooling temperature level as well as the electricity consumption is in
general higher (higher power consumption of the fans due to pure sensible cooling). Dry heat

rejection in solar thermally driven cooling systems has been applied in a number of
demonstration systems for testing this opportunity. Furthermore, a supplier of small capacity
adsorption chillers offers a dry cooler with spray function in case of high ambient temperatures,
adapted to the chiller.

36
Ta [C] Twb [C] RH [%] G_Gh [kWh/m2]
70 250
Ambient air and wet bulb Temperature [C],
60
Global horizontal radiation sum

200
50
rel. humidity [%]
150
40
30
100
20
50
10
0 0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Figure 2.14 Monthly climate data for Dubai site. During summer, very high wetbulb temperautes may be expected
during daytime, thus limiting the efficiency of wet cooling towers. At the same time, also the ambient temperature as
indicator for dry cooling limits is very high as well.
2.2 Open cycle processes
While thermally driven chillers produce chilled water, which can be supplied to any type of air
conditioning equipment, open cooling cycles produce directly conditioned air. Any type of
thermally driven open cooling cycle is based on a combination of evaporative cooling with air
dehumidification by a desiccant, i.e., a hygroscopic material. Again, either liquid or solid materials
can be employed for this purpose. The standard cycle which is mostly applied today uses rotating
desiccant wheels, equipped either with silica gel or lithiumchloride as sorption material. All
required components, such as desiccant wheels, heat recovery units, humidifiers, fans and water
air heat exchangers are standard components and have been used in airconditioning and air
drying applications for buildings or factories since many years. However, the appropriate
combination of the components to form a desiccant evaporative cooling system (DEC), which is
the most common solar driven open cycle system, requires some special experience and
attention.
The standard cycle using a desiccant wheel is shown in figure 2.15. The application of this cycle is

limited to temperate climates, since the possible dehumidification is not high enough to enable

evaporative cooling of the supply air at conditions with far higher values of the humidity of

ambient air. For climates like those in the Mediterranean countries therefore other configurations
of desiccant processes have to be used.

Systems employing liquid sorption materials which have several advantages like higher air
dehumidifiation at the same driving temperature and the possibility of high energy storage by
means of concentrated hygrocopic solutions are note yet market available but they are close to
market introduction; several demonstration projects are carried out in order to test the applica
bility of this technology for solar assisted air conditioning. A possible general scheme of a liquid
desiccant cooling system is shown in figure 2.16.

37
backup
heater
return air
7
12 11 10 9 8 cooling
humidifier
loads
1 2 3 4 5
6
supply air
dehumidifier heat recovery

wheel wheel
Figure 2.15 Scheme of a solar thermally driven solid Desiccant Evaporative Cooling system (DEC), using rotating sorption
and heat recovery wheels (source: Fraunhofer ISE). Below: sketch of the DEC unit (source: Munters). The successive
processes in the air stream are as follows:
12 sorptive dehumidification of supply air; the process is almost adiabatic and the air is
heated by the adsorption heat released in the matrix of the sorption wheel
23 precooling of the supply air in counterflow to the return air from the building
34 evaporative cooling of the supply air to the desired supply air humidity by means of a
humidifier
45 the heating coil is used only in the heating season for preheating of air
56 small temperature increase, caused by the fan
67 supply air temperature and humidity are increased by means of internal loads
78 return air from the building is cooled using evaporative cooling close to the saturation
line
89 the return air is preheated in counterflow to the supply air by means of a high
efficient airtoair heat exchanger, e.g. a heat recovery wheel
910 regeneration heat is provided for instance by means of a solar thermal collector
system
1011 the water bound in the pores of the desiccant material of the dehumidifer wheel is
desorbed by means of the hot air
1112 exhaust air is removed to the environment by means of the return air fan.
38
Regenerator QH driving heat

LiCl/water
regeneration air
concentrated
solution storage
solution
Absorber
QM rejected heat
supply air diluted solution
Figure 2.16 General scheme of a liquid desiccant cooling system (top). The supply air is dehumidified in a special
configured spray zone of the absorber, where a concentrated salt solution is diluted by the humidity of the supply air.
The process efficiency is increased through heat rejection of the sorption heat, eg., by means of indirect evaporative
cooling of the return air and heat recovery. A subsequent evaporative cooling of the supply air may be applied, if
necessary (heat recovery and evaporative cooling is not shown in the figure). In a regenerator, heat e.g. from a solar
collector is applied, to concentrate the solution again. The concentrated and diluted solution may be stored in high
energy storages, thus allowing a decoupling in time between cooling and regeneration to a certain extent. Bottom: a
liquid desiccant cooling demonstration system is installed at the Solar Info Center in Freibug, Germany, for air
conditioning of 310 m office area. The air volume flow rate is 1500 m/h. The system was developed and installed by
the German company Menerga. The ventilation system is at the left side of the figure, the solution storages are located
right hand side in the foreground. The storage in the background is part of the solar thermal driving heat source,
consisting of 17 m flatplate collectors. Sources: Fraunhofer ISE.

In general, desiccant evaporative cooling is an interesting option if centralized ventilation systems
are used. At sites with high latent and sensible cooling loads, the airconditioning process can be
splitted into dehumidification by means of a thermally driven open cycle desiccant process, and
an additional chilled water system to maintain the sensible loads by means of e.g. chilled ceilings
with high chilled water temperatures, in order to increase the efficiency of the chilled water
production.
More details on open cycle processes are given in [Henning, 2004/2008] and in [Beccali, 2008].
39
2.3 Solar thermal collectors
A broad variety of solar thermal collectors is available and many of them are applicable in solar
cooling and airconditioning systems. However, the appropriate type of the collector depends on
the selected cooling technology and on the site conditions, i.e., on the radiation availability.
General types of stationary collectors are shown in figure 2.17, and construction principles of
improved flatplate collectors and evacuated tube collectors are given in figure 2.17ac.
The use of costeffictive solar air collectors in flat plate construction is limited to desiccant cooling
systems, since this technology requires the lowest driving temperatures (starting from approx.
50C) and allows under special conditions the operation without thermal storage. To operate
thermally driven chillers with solar heat, at least flat plate collectors of high quality (selective
coating, improved insulation, high stagnation safety) are to be applied. Typical efficiency curves
for collectors are displayed in figure 2.18 (steadystate efficiency for two different radiation
conditions; no dynamic behaviour is reflected in this figure). For two different sites in Spain,
Barcelona and Huelva, the annual gross energy yields for typical stationary collectors as well as for
concentrating parabolic trough collectors are compared in figure 2.19, to visualise the high
dependency of the collector types on the site conditions.
Figure 2.20 presents two examples of stationary collector installations, used for solar cooling and
airconditioning.
glas cover
solar air collector

insulation collector frame
absorber with
air channels
glass cover
flat plate collector

insulation collector frame
absorber with
fluid channels
glass cover
CPC collector
insulation
reflector collector frame
absorber with
fluid channel
evacuated tube collector
evacuated
evacuated tube
glass tube
optionally: reflector Absorber with fluid channel

(forward/return)
Figure 2.17 Examples of stationary collectors, applicable for solar cooling.

Source: SOLAIR didactic material base / Fraunhofer ISE.
40
Glass
1st layer of air
Convection barrier (teflon foil)
2nd layer of air
Absorber
Insulation 120 mm
Figure 2.17a Example of a flatplate collector with minimised heat losses through improved insulation thickness and an
additional convection barrier (teflon foil). Source: S.O.L.I.D.
Other flatplate collectors have been improved through antireflective coatings or using doubleglass cover for more
supression of heat losses. Those improved flatplate collectors are more appropriate in solar cooling systems than
standard flatplate collectors.
Figure 2.17b Examples of evacuated tube collectors with direct fluid flow through the collector. The figure on the left
reflects the traditional construction principle, whereas the right hand figure shows todays often favourized type, as in
this solution tightness problems of the evacuated volume have been mainly solved. Source: Fraunhofer ISE
Collecting pipe
Heat exchanger
(condenser)
Insulation
Glass pipe
Heat pipe
Figure 2.17c Example of an evacuated tube collector with heatpipe principle. Advantage: the pipe is already freezing
protected and stagnation safe, but not the collecting pipe system. Disadvantage: highest cost of vacuum tube collectors.
Source: www.solarserver.de
41
Figure 2.18 Typical efficiency curves of stationary collectors, calculated from parameters related to the aperture area of
the collectors. The curves are drawn for ambient temperature of 25C and 800 W/m radiation level (top) as well as for
400 W/m (bottom). The figure includes very roughly the application range of the most interesting cooling technologies.
As the graph represents only steadystate operation conditions and only exemplary sets of efficiency curves, is not
sufficient to decide for a specific type of collector in a system to be planned.
Although the efficiency curves of stationary collectors may be theoretically drawn also for higher temperatures, they
have been cut in the figure at temperatures > 20C, since there is only little experience with these collectors at higher
200 temperatures (and thus pressure levels). For the higher temperature range, the efficiency range of a 1axis tracked
concentrating collector is included as an example. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
FKST Flatplate collecotr, standard product
FKAR Flatplate collector, 1cover glass, antireflective coated
FKHT Flatplate collector, 1cover glass, convection barrier foil, improved insulation
VRKCPC Evacuated tube collector, direct mass flow, Sydney type with external CPCreflector
42
1000 1000
H uelva FPC
900 Barcelona FPC 900 EFPC
CPC
EFPC
CPC ETC
800 ETC 800
C PC
ETC/CPC
C PC
ETC/CPC
energy yield [kW h/m ]
energy yield [kW h/m ]

700 700 PTC
PTC
600 600
500 500
400 400
300 300
200 200
100 100
0 0
60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
tem perature [C ] tem perature [C ]
Figure 2.19 Typical gross energy collector yields as a function of the collector output temperature, calculated for the
sites Barcelona and Huelva, Spain.
FPC: standard flatplate collector, CPC: flatplate collector with concentrating parabolic compound mirrors (low
concentration ratio), ETC: evacuated tube collector, ETC/CPC: evacuated tube collector with concenetrating parabolic
compound mirrors, PTC: parabolic trough collector.
Source: SOLAIR didactic material base /Aiguasol.
Figure 2.20 Examples on solar collectors. Left: Flatplate CPC collector, installed at the National Energy Research Centre
INETI in Lisbon, Portugal. The collector is the driving heat source for a DEC system, located in one of the office buildings
of INETI. Source: INETI.
Right: Evacuated tube collector at the wine storage building in Banyuls, France. This collector provides heat for the solar
autonomous operation of an absorption chiller with 52 kW chilling capacity. Source: Tecsol.
It is important, to have a common understanding on the referenca area, when efficiency curves or
costs per m collector or other area related issues are discussed. In general, there are three
different area definitions as shown in figure 2.21: the gross area, the aperture area (indicating the
projected light catching area of the collector), and the absorber area. Especially in evacuated tube
collectors, these area values within one collector type may deviate by more than 25%. The
absorber area has to be defined precisely, when e.g. pipeshaped absorbers are applied (absorber
area may increase the gross area).
43
Bruttoflche
Gross area
Aperturflche
Aperture area
Absorberflche
Absorber area
a a Aperture area: n x a
Aperture area
CPC-mirror
Figure 2.21 Definitions of collector areas (of course, to be multiplied by the length).
Figure 2.22 Examples of 1axis tracked concentrating solar sthermal collectors.

Left: Fresnel collector for hot water preparation in the medium temperature range up to 200C. The mirrors are tracked
to focus the direct radiation towards the absorber, located above the mirror area. Advantage: low sensitivity to high
wind speeds. Source: PSE, Germany.
Right: Parabolic trough collector, developed by Button Energy, Austria. The collector is designed for steam production
and is part of research project with a solar thermally driven steam jet ecector chiller at AEEINTEC, Austria.
Concentrating collectors are also in the focus of interest for solar cooling. In principle, they
can be applied for
providing driving heat (steam of hot water) at temperatures above 150C for 2effect
apsorption chillers. With the higher COPthermal > 1.0, to be expected in this application, less
driving heat capactiy has to be installed and consequently, the heat rejection system can be
designed smaller. However, doubleeffect chillers are currently not market available in the
small capacity range;
providing driving heat for chillers in applications, where it is necessary to overcome a high
temperature lift from chilled water temperature to heat rejection temperature (e.g., low
44
chilled water temperature demand, combined with dry cooling). A typical configuration is
thus a concentrating collector combined with an ammonia/water absorption chiller;
new concepts for solar cooling, such as the use of a steam jet ejection chiller (research
status).
The use of tracked concentrating collectors is generally more appropriate at sites with a high
direct radiation fraction on the global radiation sum. However, a more detailed analysis is
necessary in order to determine the yields of such a system. Figure 2.22 shows two examples on
concentrating collectors.
For collectors operating in the medium temperature range, results from market surveys are
available at [Task 33/IV, 2008].
References
[Henning, 2006]
HansMartin Henning: Solar cooling and airconditioning thermodynamic analysis and overview about technical
solutions. Proceedings of the EuroSun 2006, held in Glasgow, UK, 2730 June, 2006.
[Henning, Wiemken, 2007]

HansMartin Henning, Edo Wiemken: Solar Cooling. Proceedings of the ISES Solar World Congress, Bejing, China, 2007.
[ASHRAE, 1988]
ASHRAE handbook (1988) Absorption Cooling, Heating and Refrigeration Equipment; Equipment Volume, Chapter 13.
[Henning, 2004/2008]
HansMartin Henning (Ed.): SolarAssisted AirConditioning in Buildings A Handbook for Planners. Springer
nd
Wien/NewYork. 2 revised edition 2008; ISBN 3211730958.
[Mugnier et al., 2008]

D. Mugnier, M. Hamdadi, A. Le Denn: Water Chillers Closed Systems for Chilled Water Production (Small and Large
Capacities). Proceedings of the International Seminar Solar AirConditioning Experiences and Applications, held in
th
Munich, Germany, June 11 , 2008.
[Beccali, 2008]
Marco Beccali: Open Cycles Solid and Liquidbased Desiccant Systems. Proceedings of the International Seminar Solar
AirConditioning Experiences and Applications, held in Munich, Germany, June 11th, 2008.
[SOLAIR: Review technical solutions, 2008].

Task 2.1: Review of available technical solutions and successful running systems. Cross Country Analysis. Public
accessible report in SOLAIR. www.solairproject.eu
[SOLAIR: Best practice Catalogue, 2008]

Task 2.2: Best Practice Catalogue. Public accessible report in SOLAIR. www.solairproject.eu
[MEDISCO, 2006]
Mediterranean food and agro industry applications of solar cooling technologies. Contract 032559 (EUINCO). Co
ordination: Politcnico di Milano, Italy. Duration: 01.10.2006 30.09.2009. www.medisco.org
[Zahler, 2008]
Chr. Zahler, A. Hberle, F. Luginsland, M. Berger, S. Scherer: High Teperature System with Fresnel Collector. Proceedings
th
of the International Seminar Solar AirConditioning Experiences and Applications, held in Munich, Germany, June 11 ,
2008.
[Task 33/IV, 2008]

Werner Weiss, Matthias Rommel (Editors): Process Heat Collectors State of the Art within Task 33/IV. Brochure
compiled in IEA SHCTask 33 and SolarPACESTask IV: Solar Heat for Industrial Processes. Published by AEE INTEC,
Gleisdorf, Austria, 2008. www.ieashc.org/task33
45
3 General requirements
on solar airconditioning and cooling systems
3.1 Primary energy saving
Any type of airconditioning and cooling is connected to the use of primary energy sources, to
provide electricity or heat in order to operate the enduser equipment. Today, the primary energy
sources used in most of the countries are predominantly composed of fossil fuels and thus their
use is linked with greenhouse gas emmissions. Consequently, the basic requirement on a solar air
conditioning and cooling system is the saving of primary energy and reduction of greenhouse
effect supporting emmissions3.
This precondition effects the configuration and design of solar airconditioning and cooling
systems; this will be discussed in the following example. We consider a solar thermally assisted
cooling system with a fossilfueled gas boiler as backup heat source and compare the primary
energy input with a conventional electrically driven vapour compression chiller system. The
general system scheme is shown in Figure 3.1. The backup heater is foreseen in order to cover the
heat demand of the chiller in periods of low solar heat availability but still present cooling
demand. Boundary conditions in this comparison are
space heating is not considered
in the reference system, energy input for dry heat rejection is included in the Coefficient of
Performance of the vapour compression chiller COPVCC
in the solar assisted system, the thermally driven chiller is characterised by the thermal
Coefficient of Performance COPTDC. Energy effort for heat rejection is considered separately
specific primary energy demand per kWh useful cold are calculated on base of estimated
average consumption data and conversion numbers, defined below.
Figure 3.1 Reference system and solar assisted cooling system, considered in the primary energy demand estimation of
this section. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
3
In very few countries, the primary energy sources used for electricity generation and heat supply may be already based
to a high fraction on renewable energy sources. In this case, solar cooling systems do not mainly contribute to fossil fuel
savings. Then, the systems may be more evaluated on base of efficiency and economic or other criteria, e.g., whether a
local system using renewable energy sources is more efficient or more economic in comparison to the central energy
supply systems. Since these are very rare situations, such cases will be not considered here.
46
The governing equations, to estimate the primary energy demand are thus given in Figure 3.2:
Figure 3.2 Equations to calculate the primary energy demand for the soalr cooling system and reference system as
shown in figure 3.1. Based on average specific consumption data. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
with
PEC,sol = primary energy demand of the solar cooling system [kWhPE]
PEC,ref = primary energy demand of the reference system [kWhPE]
PErel = difference in primary energy saving, related to PEC,ref [ ; %]
COPTDC = produced cold per unit heat input [kWhcold/kWhdriving_heat]
COPVCC = produced cold per unit electricity input [kWhcold/kWhelectricity]
Qcold = useful amount of cold produced [kWh]
SFC = solar fraction of driving heat to thermally driven chiller []
boiler = efficiency of fossil fueled boiler []
PE,fossil fuel = primary energy efficiency of fossil fuel []
PE,grid = primary energy efficiency of electricity grid []
fel,solar = specific electricity demand of solar system (pumps) [kWhelectricity/kWhsolar heat]
fel,TDC = specific electricity demand of thermally driven chiller [kWhelectricity/kWhcold]
fel,HR = specific electricity demand for heat rejection [kWhelectricity/kWhrejected heat]
The general dependency between the primary energy demand and the solar fraction is displayed
in Figure 3.3. The primary energy demand is shown per unit kWh produced cold. The demand for
the reference system depends on COPVCC only, thus results in horizontal lines. The primary energy
solar demand for the solar assisted system decreases with increasing solar fraction, but varies with the
fraction thermal COPTDC. Exceeding a certain solar fraction, the primary energy demand of the solar
assisted system falls below the primary energy demand of the reference system, and the solar
thermal driven solution saves primary energy. Consequently, the system has to be designed in an
appropriate way to guarantee the average solar fraction in the cooling period.

average solar fraction
47
specific primary energy per unit of cold

2
1.5 thermal system,

low COP
no primary
energy
conventional system
1 saving
0.5 thermal system,

high COP
saves primary
energy
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
solar fraction cooling
Figure 3.3 General dependency of specific primary energy demand of a solar thermally driven coolings system and a
conventional reference system. The solar assisted system uses a fossil fueled gas boiler as a heat backup. Source:
Aiguasol.
For a specific set of parameters, the relative primary energy saving is shown in percent of the
primary energy demand of the reference system in Figure 3.4 as an example. The parameters
used here are outlined in the legend of the figure. It has to be kept in mind that in the calculations
the auxiliary heat is provided by a fossil fuel driven boiler.
The savings are calculated for two different COPVCC values of the reference system: 3.5 (top figure)
and 2.5 (bottom figure), whereas the latter corresponds more to the experience in realised
building airconditioning applications. The figure reveals that in general very high solar fractions
are required in combination with 1effect thermally driven chilling technology, to achieve primary
energy savings. With a reference chilling system with COPVCC = 3.5, and a solar assisted system
with an average COPTDC = 0.5, relative primary energy savings of > 20% may be achieved with less
than 10% heat input from the boiler only.
The situation improves in combination with 2effect chilling technology, but despite the fact that
this technology is not applicable in all climates with solar heat, the solar fractions required are still
high. For example, considering a reference system with COPVCC = 3.5, a solar fraction of at least
70% has to be obtained with a 2effect chiller (average heat ration assumed as COPTDC = 1.0) in
order to achieve relative primary energy savings of above 20%.
48
80%
2-effect
60%
rel. primary energy saving delta_PE
40%
20%
1-effect COP_TDC = 1.0
COP_TDC = 0.7
0%
COPVCC = 3.5 COP_TDC = 0.5
Reihe4
-20%
-40%
-60%
-80%
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Solar Fraction of thermally driven chiller driving heat SFC
80%
2-effect
60%
rel. primary energy saving delta_PE
40%
1-effect
20%
COP_TDC = 1.0
COP_TDC = 0.7
0%
COPVCC = 2.5 COP_TDC = 0.5
Reihe4
-20%
-40%
-60%
-80%
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Solar Fraction of thermally driven chiller driving heat SFC
Figure 3.4 Relative primary energy savings of a solar assisted cooling system (see figure 3.1) as a function of the solar
fraction. Top: in comparison to a reference system with an average COPVCC = 3.5; bottom: in comparison to a reference
system with an average COPVCC = 2.5. The values of COPTDC between 0.5 and 0.7 indicates roughly the operation range of
1effect absorption and adsorption chiller system, whereas values above approx. 1.0 correspond to 2effect absorption
technology. Source: Fraunhofer ISE. Parameters applied in the calculation:
COPTDC = 0.5 1.0 [kWhcold/kWhdriving_heat]

COPVCC = 3.5 (top); 2.5 (bottom) [kWhcold/kWhelectricity]
boiler = 0.9 []
PE,fossil fuel = 0.95 []
PE,grid = 0.38 []
fel,solar = 0.02 [kWhelectricity/kWhsolar heat]
fel,TDC = 0.01 [kWhelectricity/kWhcold]
fel,HR = 0.03 [kWhelectricity/kWhrejected heat]
49
3.2 Requirements on basic system layout
From the considerations outlined in the previous section, the following conclusions may be drawn
for the layout and design of solar cooling systems in order to comply with the primary energy
saving targets:
the use of a fossil fuel based heat backup source in thermally driven cooling applications is
critical and has to be avoided completely or may be applied in exceptional cases only
(extreme room air states). Only in systems using 2effect chiller technology, a certain amount
of heat provided by fossil fuel is acceptable, depending from the quality of the considered
reference system
if the room air states have to comply with set values of temperature and humidity, thus a
backup system is necessary, a vapour compression chiller as a backup is the preferred
solution. In this case, any energy unit of cold produced by the solar thermally driven part
lowers the primary energy consumption of the total system (fuel saver operation of the solar
system)
alternatively, the backup heat source is operated with fuels from renewable sources or with
waste heat and thus does not contribute to greenhouse gas emmissions
if the heat input from fossil fuel sources to the thermally driven chilling equipment cannot be
avoided for different reasons, the design of the solar cooling system should be supported by
simulation caclulations to identify the appropriate component sizes, system configuration and
ontrol strategies in order to obtain the primary energy saving target.

1-
2-
3-

50
Solar thermal Other heat source(s)

system
cold Heat
backup
Vapour compression Thermally driven chiller(s)

chiller(s)
Chilled water
Cooling Heating

system renewables, waste heat
Heat
Other heat
source(s)
Thermally driven chiller(s)
Chilled water
chilled water systems
Cooling Heating
Figure 3.5 Recommendations on the basic layout of solar cooling systems. Top: the thermally driven chiller is driven by
solar heat alone. In case such an autonmous solar cooling operation does not comply with the airconditioning
requirements (setvalues of room air states may be not achieved at all times), a vapour compression chillers is used as a
cold backup. Bottom: the thermally driven chiller is the only source for cold production. Heat is provided either by the
solar system or by other heat sources, operated with renewable fuels or by waste heat. Fossil fuel driven heat sources, if
existing, are used for space heating and/or domestic hot water preparation only. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
The Figures 3.5 and 3.6 summarises the preferred general system layout schemes. Figure 3.5
shows the schemes for thermally driven chilled water systems, whereas Figure 3.6 suggests the
scheme for open cycle desiccant cooling systems. However, the analysis for this type of systems is
more complex and is not covered by the equations given in section 3.1. The reference system in
this case is a vapour compression chiller for dehumidification and cooling the supply air. In many
conventional airconditioning systems, a subsequent air heating after dehumidification through
supply air cooling below the dew point is necessary. This operation is not required in a desiccant
cooling system. Thus, more detailed analysis is necessary to identify the primary energy impact of
fossil fueled backup heat sources. Nevertheless, as a rule of thumb, waste heat or renewable
heat sources are recommended for desiccant cooling systems as well as shown in Figure 3.6.
51

system Summer air-conditioning:
renewables, waste heat;
Supply air heating winter:
no conditions
Heat
Vapour compression Desiccant cooling system

chiller(s)
Chilled water
Additional cooling Conditioned air
Figure 3.6 Recommendations on the use of heat sources in open cycle desiccant cooling systems. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.

3.3 Heat rejection system
Even if the heat supply for solar thermally driven chilled water system is gained totally from a
collector or other nonfossil heat sources, auxiliary energy demand is required e.g. for pumps,
cooling tower fans and system control. From experiences in solar cooling systems it is known that
the electricity demand for cooling water pumps and cooling tower fans is dominating and usually
far above the electricity demand for collector pumps, driving heat pumps and control. As an
example, Figure 3.7 shows the distribution of annual auxiliary electricity demand for a solar
adsorption cooling system. 68% of the electricity demand is used for heat rejection in this
example.

Pump heating
circle 2
1%
Pump solar circle
5%

Pump heating Ventilator
cooling tower

circle 1
4% 30%
Pump chilling
circle, primary
22%
Pump
cooling tower
38%
Figure 3.7 Example on the share of annual electricity demand in a solar thermally driven cooling system (171 m vacuum
tube collectors, 70 kW adsorption chiller, closed wet cooling tower. Application: University Hospital Freiburg; Monitoring
data of 2003). Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
52
PErel

sigle-effect

double-effect

Figure 3.8 Example on the influence of the electricity demand for heat rejection on the relative primary energy savings.
Source: Fraunhofer ISE.

Figure 3.8 reveals the influence on the specific electricity demand by varying fel,HR for heat
rejection. The calculation was executed using the equations given in section 3.1 with a fixed
parameter set (compare to figure 3.4; COPVCC=3.5, solar fraction approx. 0.9). It is evident that the
heat rejection curcuit has to be hydraulically designed with care in order to minimize the power
demand. Otherwise, the aimed target of primary energy saving will be not achieved. Figure 3.8
shows as an example the effect on the power consumption of fans for different motor techniques
applied. The lowest power consumption is here achieved with electronically controlled, brushless
DCmotors (ECtechnology)
Power consumption [W]
Air volume flow rate [m/h]
Figure 3.9 Example on power consumption of different motor techniques in fans. Source: EBMPabst.
Possibilities to decrease the power demand for heat rejection are, beside a carefully designed
hydraulic system part, the control of the cooling tower fans and the use of the medium
temperature level heat. Some of the chiller manufacturers and system distributors are already
reacting to this problem with the development of appropriate cooling tower control strategies,
e.g., presented in [Clau et al., 2007], [Khn et al., 2008]. An improvement in the market situation
is furthermore that first system providers starts with the composition of kits, consisting of
53
matched chiller and heat rejection components and peripheric hydraulic components. An example
is shown in figure 3.10.
Figure 3.10 Example of solar cooling kits from system providers, mainly consisting of the thermally driven chiller, a
matched heat rejection unit and some hydraulic components. Source: SolarNext AG.

Another option is the application of ground tubes for heat rejection. With this technology, the
electricity demand is decreased effectively, since no energy for fan power operation is required. A
realised system using this technology is described in [Nez et al., 2008].
A novel approach, currently being tested in the frame of a pilot project, is the integration of a
latent heat storage into the heat rejection loop. The latent heat storage decreases the power
demand for heat rejection during daytime; during night, the storage is recovered at low ambient
temperatures efficiently. The concept is outlined in [Keil et al., 2007].

3.4 Solar collector system
General remarks on different types of collectors and on their applicability in thermally driven solar
cooling and airconditioning plants were presented in section 2. Many experience in the
configuration and hydraulic design of small and large solar thermal plants is available and
spreaded widely to the solar thermal companies. Information on this subject and on planning and
design of solar thermal systems may be found for example in [Schenke et al., 2007], [Weiss (Ed.),
2004], [VDI 6002, 2004], [DGS, 2008], [Peuser et al., 2002].
However, in most of the published information on solar thermal system configuration and design,
the special operation conditions for solar cooling systems are not considered. In case the solar
thermal collector is the dominating heat source for the operation of a thermally driven chiller, the
heat flux of the collector has to be approximately matched to the required heat flux of the chiller.
To give an example, a thumb rule will be used here to estimate an appropriate specific size of the
collector for a solar cooling system:

54
1
A spec =
G coll coll,design COPdesign
Example Gcoll = 0.80 kW/m2
coll,design = 0.5 ==> Aspec = 3.3 m2 per kW cooling power
COPdesign = 0.75
Source: SOLAIR didactic material base
with
Aspec = specific collector are per installed kW thermally driven chilling capacity
[m/kWcold]
Gcoll = irradiation at collector surface [kW/m]
coll,design = collector efficiency at design condition (driving temperature) []
COPdesign = thermal COP of chiller at design conditions []
It has to be kept in mind that this is a very rough estimation, not considering any real system
component data, site conditions and partload operation. Nevertheless, the estimated specific
collector size is within the range of Aspec = 3 to 4 m/kW, found in many realised solar cooling
systems with the collector as main heat source. Furthermore, we consider typical hot water
volume flow rates in thermally driven chillers. An example is shown in the data sheet of the
Suninverse absorption chiller in Figure 3.9. The nominal volume flow rate in the driving circuit is
1.2 m/h, and with an assumed chilling capacity of 10 kW and a COP of 0.75, the hot water returns
from the chiller with a temperature difference of 9 K to the input temperature level. This
corresponds well to an average temperature difference in the driving circuit of approx. 10 K or
even smaller in many systems.
55
Figure 3.9 Example on typical volume flow rates: Specifications of the Suninverse absorption chiller. Source: Sonnen
klima.
The volume flow rate, related to the estimated specific collector area in the example above,
results in specific volume flow rates per unit collector area of approx. 40 liter/m. From the typical
values of this example, it may be concluded:
in solar cooling systems, the volume flow in the collector is usually in the medium and high
flow level in order to match the required heat flux in the driving circuit of the chiller. Lowflow

systems are not appropriate;
a buffer storage disconnects the mass flows between collector and absorption chiller and is
usefull to bridge short periods of low collector heat production without stopping the chilling

process, but due to the high flow rates in the chiller, the collectors are more shortterm

storages. The correct matching between the mass flows is therefore still necessary;

the temperature difference between supply and return flow to the chiller is usually low
(between 5 and 10 K). This fact, combined with the relative high volume flow rate indicates
( that the stratification effect in the storage is low. In fact, the buffer storage is acting more as a

)
56
mixing bottle, exchanging energy from the solar collector to the chiller, rather than a stratified
tank. Consequently, the average temperature difference between collector fluid input and
output is in general small. This should be considered in the hydraulic design of the collector.
Figure 3.10 provides an overview of typical mass flow rates as a function of the chilling capacity
and temperature difference between input/output in all three hydraulic circuits of a thermally
driven chiller. For the design of the collector system, the volume flow rates in the driving circuit of
the chiller are of interest.
30
Volume flow rate [m/h]
25
20
dT=3K
15 dT=5K
dT=7K
10
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Chilling capacity [kW]
30
25
20
dT=5K
15 dT=10K
dT=15K
10
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Driving heat power [kW]
50
40
30 dT=5K
dT=7K
20 dT=9K
10
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Heat rejection capacity [kW]
Figure 3.10 General overview on volume flow rates in the chilled water, driving heat and heat rejection circuit. Shown as
a function of the respective thermal capacities, whereas the dots represents corresponding data sets at a COP of 0.7.
Three different temperature differences dT in each circuit are considered. Calculated for pure water in the loops. Source:
Fraunhofer ISE.
57
A critical issue in the use of high efficient collectors ist the stagnation safety. In case of nonuse of
the solar thermal energy at high radiation levels (e.g., nonoperation of the cooling system,
storage at maximum temperature, pump malfunction), steam generation and its propagation into
the hydraulic system is possible and must be considered in the planning of the collector. All
components concerned in the system thus have to be planned stagnation temperature safe.
Furthermore, a dissociation of the collector fluid into its components (e.g., water, glycol) is
possible as well, when nonfreezing fluids have been applied. This again requires for a careful
selection of an appropriate collector. Experimental and theoretical results on this subject are
summarised in [Rommel et al., 2007], [Hausner, Fink, 2002].
Measures to encounter stagnation problems are for example
emergency heat dissipation system. It has to be ensured that such a system is operable at
blackouts of the public grid as well;
drainback system. In this case, the collector fluid is completely removed from the collector,
whenever the circulation pump stops. A special design of the collector system is required. This
technology permits to avoid stagnation and freezing risks. Safetey components such as
expansion vessels, airvent and safety valves are skipped from the solar loop while a special
design of the collector system is required (intermediary small storage tank and draining layout
of the pipes). In this case, the collector fluid (water or water glycol) is completely removed
from the collector, whenever the circulation pump stops. A recent solar heating and cooling
system of 7.5 kWcold (adsorption chiller from Sortech) plus 25 m double glass flat plate
collectors in Perpignan in 2008 has shown that a drainback strategy did not modify the
collector efficiency and the electric consumption of the primary loop pump for heating and
cooling purposes;
pure water as collector fluid. This concept does not avoid danger of stagnation, but the
consequences are better to manageable, since only water vapour is exhausting. Pure water
systems require at central European locations with danger of freezing special effort in piping
insulation and collector circuit control and is applicable with vacuum tube collectors only. The
collector circuit is closed. If the syestem pressure of the collector system is not conflicting
with the pressure conditions in the remaining hydraulic heating system, a heat exchanger is
not required in the solar loop, thus reducing installation cost and increasing thereby slightly
the efficiency of the collector system.

In any case, the additional electricity consumption for these measures has to be assessed. It
should be finally noted that a well designed solar thermal system has the capability to produce on
an average > 50 kWh heat per kWh electricity, consumed by the circuit pumps.

References
[Clau et al., 2007]

V. Clau, A. Khn, F. Ziegler: A new control strategy for solar driven absorption chillers. Proceedings of the 2nd
International Conference Solar AirConditioning, Tarragona, Spain, 2007
[Khn et al., 2008]

A. Khn, J.L. Corrales, F. Ziegler: Comparison of control strategies of solar absorption chillers. Proceedings of the
EuroSun2008, Lisbon, Portugal, 2008
[Nez et al, 2008]

T. Nez, B. Nienborg, Y. Tiedtke: Heating and cooling with a small scale solar driven adsorption chiller combined with a
borehole system. Proceedings of the EuroSun2008, Lisbon, Portugal, 2008
58
[Keil et al., 2007]

C. Keil et al.: Design and operation of a solar heating and cooling system with absorption chilller and latent heat storage.
Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference Solar AirConditioning, Tarragona, Spain, 2007
[Schenke et al., 2007]

A. Schenke, H. Drck, R. Croy, H.P. Wirth: Analyse und Evauluierung groer Kombianlagen zur Trinkwassererwrmung
und Heizungsuntersttzung. Abschlussbericht zum BMUVerbundprojekt: Systemuntersuchung groer solarthermischer
Kombianlagen. FKZ 0329268B. November 2007
[Weiss (Ed.), 2004]

W. Weiss (Editor): Solar heating systems for houses A design handbook for solar combisystems. Pukblished within the
IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme, Task 26 (Solar Combisystems). ISBN 1902916468, 2004
[VDI 6002, 2004]

VDIGuideline 6002: Solar heating for domestic water General principles, system technology and use in residential
building; September 2004
[DGS, 2008]
Leitfaden solarthermische Anlagen (Planning & installing solar thermal systems). Published by Deutsche Gesellschaft fr
ht
Sonnenenergie e.V. 8 edition, 2008. www.dgsberlin.de
[Peuser et al., 2002]

F. Peuser et al.: Solar thermal systems successful planning and construction. Solarpraxis Berlin, ISBN 978393459524
8, 2002
[Rommel et al., 2007]

M. Rommel et al.: Entwicklung von Techniken zur Beherrschung des Stillstandsbetriebs. Schussbericht zum Teilprojekt
StagSim im Verbundprojekt Systemuntersuchungen groer solarthermischer Kombianlagen. 2007.
www.solarkombianlagenxl.info
[Hausner, Fink, 2002]

R. Hausner, Chr. Fink: Stagnation behaviour of solar thermal systems. A Report of IEASHC Task 26, Solar
Combisystems. November 2002.
www.ieashc.org/publications/task26/index.html
59
4 Selection of the appropriate technology
In section 2 different technologies of solar thermally driven cooling and airconditioning

technologies were presented in brief. The selection of the appropriate technology is the first step
in the planning process and for those planners and decision makers in the building sector, who are
not familiar with solar cooling applications, a support in this phase is helpful. For this reason, a
decision scheme was created first within the Task 25 SolarAssited AirConditioning of Buildings
[IEASHC Task 25] and a respective guideline document is available at the web page of Task 25
[Henning, 2004].
The general approach for the decision of the technology is outlined in simple decision schemes in
the following, starting with an overview on the complete decision scheme in figure 4.1 and
discussing the different decision possibilities in the subsequent descriptions.
A basic assumption in the schemes is that both, temperature and humidity of the conditioned
areas are to be controlled. A precondition is the calculation of the cooling loads based on at least
the design case and of the required hygienic air change rate. Depending on the cooling load as
well as according to the desire of the users or owners, either an all air system, an all water system
or combined air/water systems are possible to remove heat and humidity out of the building. The
subsequent basic technical decision is then, whether or not the hygienic air change is sufficient to
cover also cooling loads (sensible plus latent). This is typically the case in areas with a requirement
for high ventilation rates, such es e.g. seminar and lecture rooms. However, a supply/return air
system makes only sense in a well designed tight building, since otherwise the leakages through
the building shell are too high. In cases of supply/return air systems, thermally driven desiccant
cooling systems as well as thermally driven chiller technologies are applicable; in all other cases,
only thermally driven chillers can be used in order to apply solar thermal energy as driving energy
source.
Items of the design, which are not considered in this decision scheme, are
necessity and choice of a backup system for the cold production or possibilities to allow a
solar autonomous operation of the solar airconditioning system;
flexibility in comfort conditions, e.g., to allow certain deviations from the desired air states;
economical issues;
availability of water for humidification of supply air or for cooling towers;
installations covering heating demand in winter;
comfort habits for room installations: fan coils may show lowest investment cost, but have to
be connected to a drainage system in order to allow dehumidification; chilled ceilings and
gravity cooling systems require for high investment cost, but provide high comfort.
60
BUILDING DISTRIBUTION TECHNOLOGY

MEDIUM
START
START
Cooling
Coolingload
loadcalculation
calculation(building
(building
parameters,
parameters,e.g.,
e.g.,materials,
materials,
geometry, All
Allwater
watersystem
system
geometry,orientation;
orientation; internal
internal
loads, (chilled
(chilledwater)
water)
loads,meterological
meterological conditions)
conditions)

cooling
coolingload,
load, required
required
hygienic
hygienic air
air change
change
Climate
Climate Climate
Climate
temperate temperate
and extreme and extreme
Installation
Installationof
of centralized
centralizedair
air Thermally driven Conv. AHU,
handling
handlingunit
unitfeasible
feasible and
and chiller, chilled water thermally driven chiller,
desired?
desired?
no network chilled water network
6C - 9C 6C - 9C
yes
Supply
Supplyair
air system
system
++ chilled
chilledwater
water system
system
Building
Buildingconstruction
constructionappropriate
appropriate
for
for supply
supply// return
returnair
airsystem
system
(building
(buildingtight
tightenough)?
enough)?
no
Climate
Climate Climate
Climate
yes
temperate extreme temperate extreme
DEC system, standard Conv. AHU,

DEC system, Conv. AHU,
configuration, thermally driven
standard thermally driven
Full chilled water network chiller,
Hygienic Fullair
airsystem
system configuration chiller
Hygienic air
air change
changeable
able to
to (supply 12C - 15C chilled water network
(supplyand andexhaust
exhaust air)
air) 6C - 9C
cover
cover cooling
coolingload?
load? no ++ chilled 6C - 9C
chilledwater
water system
system
yes
DEC system, special
DEC system, special
configuration
configuration,
chilled water network
12C - 15C
All
All air
air system:
system:
Full
Fullair
air system
system
(supply
(supplyand
andexhaust
exhaust air)
air)
Figure 4.1 Basic decision scheme to identify a technology path for solar thermally assisted airconditioning. The lowest
required chilled water temperature level, indicated in the branch Technology, is determined by the question whether air
dehumidification is realised with conventional technique (i.e., cooling the air below the dew point), or whether air
dehumidification is achieved in a desiccant process. In the latter case, the temperature of chilled water if needed at al
may be higher since it has to cover only sensible loads. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
A general system scheme of a system which contains both, open desiccant cycle and closed chilled
water chiller, is shown in figure 4.2. Solar thermal heat is provided to both applications. The
scheme includes different backup system options as well: on the heat side by other heat sources
(e.g., gas burner, connection to a district heating network or cogeneration plant, etc.) and on the
chilled water side a backup compression chiller. A realised system with solar thermal assisance
usually consists of a subsystem of this figure according to the solutions, following the different
paths in the decision scheme. These subsystems are outlined in the following.
61
Figure 4.2 General scheme of a complete system including desiccant technique and thermally driven water chiller. To
provide cooling in the conditioned areas, several solutions are possible: a fancoil system which may be used in summer
and winter, a radiative cooling system such as chilled ceilings, or a ventilation system providing fresh cooled and
dehumidified air. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
4.1 All air systems
It is considered that the installation of a centralised supply/return air system is feasible and the
required air change rate is sufficient to cover all sensible and latent coolings loads. In this case, an
all air system is possible; no other cooling equipment is required. A precondition is a tight and
very well designed building with measures to reduce the cooling demand, such as use of energy
saving equipment, efficient shading, minimising artificial lighting through dayligthing concepts,
night ventilation (e.g., in combination with phase change materials), etc. Another example is a
seminar room with a high occupation rate; in such room the required fresh air amount may be
high enough to purge the sensible loads completely.
The installation site is considered in a moderate, continental climate with temperate outdoor
humidity and temperature conditions. Thus, a standard cycle of a desiccant evaporative cooling
(DEC) system is applicable. The respective decision path and a scheme of the standard DEC
application is shown in figure 4.3. The solar thermal collector system provides heat for the
regeneration of the dehumidification unit as well as for supply air heating support in winter.
Additionally, not shown in the figure, room heating with radiative heating systems may be
supported in winter as well.
A backup heat may be necessary for room heating in winter and to provide additionally
regeneration heat to the dehumidification unit, in case the collector power is low but de
humidification is still necessary.
62

MEDIUM
START
START
Cooling
Coolingload
loadcalculation
(building
parameters,
parameters, e.g.,
e.g.,materials,
materials,
geometry, orientation; internal
geometry, orientation; internal collector
loads,
loads,meterological
conditions) storage backup

cooling
cooling load,
load, required
required
hygienic
hygienicair
airchange
change
Installation
Installationof
ofcentralized
centralized air
air
handling
handlingunit
unitfeasible
feasibleand
and
desired?
desired? regeneration
heat
yes humidifier
exhaust return air
air
cooling
loads
Building
appropriate
for ambient supply air
for supply
supply// return
return air
airsystem
system
(building
(building tight
tightenough)?
enough)?
air
dehumidifier heat recovery heating
yes
wheel wheel
Hygienic
Hygienicair
airchange
changeable
able to
to
cover
covercooling
cooling load?
load?
yes
Climate
Climate
temperate
All
All air
airsystem:
system: DEC system,
Full
Full air
air system
system standard
(supply
(supplyand
and exhaust
exhaustair)
air) configuration
Figure 4.3 Decision path of a standard DEC system configuration for temperate climates and the corresponding general
system scheme. The system configuration shown reflects the standard scheme of a solid DEC system with rotating
sorption wheel, but a liquid desiccant cooling system may be considered as well. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
In principle, two different system operation strategies are possible:

solar autonomous airconditioning mode during summer. In this case, only solar thermal
produced heat is used for regeneration of the sorption unit. This operation mode is
applicable, when the cooling loads are mainly caused through external solar gains and the
load pattern thus are quite well in coincidence with the solar radiation. However, a perfect
coincidence will be never achieved. Consequently, the probability of deviations between the
actual room air states and the desired air states has to be accepted. Storages may overcome
gaps in solar thermal power availability to a certain extent. The storage can be implemented
either as a hot water storage as shown in figure 4.3, or, in case a liquid desiccant cooling
system is implemented, as chemical storages for concentrated and diluted solution;
solarassisted air conditioning. This operation mode is required, when the building load
corresponds not well to the solar thermal power availability pattern, or in case the the room
air states have to comply with the set values. In this case, a backup system (e.g., gas heater,
connection to district heating network, etc.) provides heat to guarantee a continuous
operation even at low solar radiation periods. The use of the backup system may be
minimised through storages, either a hot water storage or chemical storages as mentioned
above in liquid DEC systems.
For this technology, glazed flatplate collectors of good quality may in general provide the
required driving temperatures in the range of 55C to 70C. In applications without necessity of a
hot water storage (e.g., liquid DEC with internal solution storages, or with a high coincidence of
63
load pattern or usage with daily radiation availability), solar air collectors may be applied as well.
An example for such a system operation is given in [Hindenburg et al., 2005]
A conventional air handling unit with supply/return air system and with supply air heating and
cooling/dehumidification is another option for temperate climates as well as in more extreme
climates with high ambient air humidity and high ambient temperatures. In this configuration,
solar thermal heat is used to operate a thermally driven chiller, which is connected to the
water/air heat exchanger in the supply air channel. This technology solution is shown in figure 4.4.
In this example, the air handling unit is equipped with with an evaporative cooler in the return air,
which in combination with the heat recovery unit allows precooling of the fresh air.

MEDIUM
START
START
Cooling
Coolingload
loadcalculation
calculation (building
(building heat
parameters,
parameters, e.g.,
e.g., materials,
materials, rejection
geometry,
geometry, orientation;
internal collector
loads,
loads, meterological
conditions) storage backup

cooling
cooling load,
load, required
required
hygienic
hygienicair
airchange
change
chiller
Installation
Installationof
ofcentralized
centralized air
air
handling
handlingunit
unitfeasible
feasibleand
and
desired?
desired?
yes
return air
cooling
loads
Building
appropriate
for
for supply
supply// return
return air
airsystem
system supply air
(building tight enough)?
yes cooling heating
Hygienic
Hygienicair
airchange
change able
able to
to
cover
cover cooling
cooling load?
load?
yes
Climate
Climate
temperate extreme
All
All air
air system:
system: Conv. AHU,
Full
Fullair
airsystem
system thermally driven chiller
(supply
(supplyand
and exhaust
exhaustair)
air) 6C - 9C
Figure 4.4 In both, temperate and extreme climates, a conventional airhandling unit in combination with a thermally
driven chiller can be applied. Solar thermal heat is used to operate the chiller, which either can be an absorption chiller
or an adsorption chiller. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
In conventional air handling units, heating of the supply air is often required simultaneousely after
dehumidification with low chilled water temperatures in the chilled water/air heat exchanger in
order to prevent too low supply air temperatures (e.g., below 18C). In principle, water from the
heat rejection circuit may be used for this purpose with the advantage that on the one hand no
additional heat is used for this reheating, and reducing the energy demand for heat rejection on
the other hand. This possibility is indicated in the figure with the light grey lines between heat
rejection circuit and supply air heating circuit.
Depending on the chiller technology, the type of collector will be selected. In an absorption chiller
system, either high quality flatplate collectors or evacuated tube collectors may be applied,
whereas in combination with an adsorption chiller high quality flat plate collectors may be
sufficient. For the definitive decision on the type of collector, the radiation availability at the site
and the available area has to be considered.
64
In extreme climates, the standard DEC cycle is often not sufficient, to meet the required supply air
states with respect to temperature and humidity. Several special configurations of the DEC cycle
can be considered, of which one is a desiccant evaporative cycle in combination with a chilled
water system. A sketch of such a possible configuration is shown in figure 4.5. Dehumidification is
mainly achieved by a desiccant wheel and the desiccant cycle is maintained using solar thermal
heat for regeneration of the sorption unit. The chilled water system is used for additional pre
dehumidification and precooling (heat exchanger in front of the dehumidification wheel) and for
a subsequent supply air cooling (2nd heat exchanger in the supply air channel). The chilled water
can be either produced by e.g. a conventional electrically driven compression chiller or by
thermally driven closed chilled water systems. An advantage of this technology solution is that the
chilled water has to be provided at comparatively high temperatures (> 12C), due to the high
dew point temperature in extreme climates (for predehumidification) and due to the
dehumidification, which is mainly achieved with the thermally driven desiccant process. This
results in a favourable and efficient operation of the chiller.
The system configuration as described above and shown in figure 4.5 was realised in a
demonstration plant at Palermo, Italy. However, the regeneration heat in this case is not provided
by solar thermal collector, but by use of a cogeneration unit. The produced electricity is
simultaneousely driving the compression chiller. But in principle, such systems can be operated
with solar heat as well. The plant in Palermo and other possible special configurations of DEC
systems are discussed more in detail in [Henning et al., 2005].

MEDIUM
START
START
Cooling
Coolingload
load calculation
(building
parameters,
parameters, e.g.,
e.g., materials,
materials,
loads,
meterologicalconditions)
conditions)

cooling
cooling load,
load, required
required
hygienic
hygienicair
airchange
change
solar heat
exhaust return
Installation
Installationof
ofcentralized
centralized air
air
handling
handlingunit
unitfeasible
feasibleand
and
desired?
desired? humidifier
yes
ambient
supply
dehumidifier heat recovery
Building
appropriate wheel wheel
for
forsupply
supply// return
return air
air system
system chilled chilled
(building tight enough)? water water
yes
Hygienic
Hygienicair
air change
changeable
able to
to
cover
covercooling
cooling load?
load?
yes
Climate
Climate
extreme
All
All air
airsystem:
system: DEC system,
Full
Fullair
airsystem
system special
(supply
(supply and exhaust
and exhaustair)
air) configuration
Figure 4.5 In climates with high ambient humidity and high ambient temperatures, a special configuration may be
necessary, if a desiccant cycle is included. The main dehumidification is done in this example in a solar thermally driven
sorption process. However, the desired air states of supply air may be not achieved in extreme climates. For this reason,
additional chilled water at high chilled water temperatures can be applied for precooling and predehumidification and
for a final adjustment of the supply air to the set temperature. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
65
4.2 Full air system + chilled water distribution
Figure 4.6 shows the decision path for situation where the building meets all requirements to
install a full air system (supply/return air), but the air change rate is not sufficient to remove all
the sensible loads. This may be for example the case in office buildings with normal occupation,
but high internal loads through equipment, large glazed facades, etc. It is further assumed that
the building is located in a temperate climate, thus, a desiccant evaporative cooling system is able
to remove all latent heat from the conditioned area. In this example, a standard DEC
configuration can be applied in combination with a chilled water network. The chilled water then
serves either chilled ceilings or fan coils (without need for dehumidification). This separation
between latent load handling (by the DEC system) and sensible load handling allows an efficient
operation of the chiller, since the chilled water can be provided at high temperatures (typically
> 12C).
Solar thermal heat is used to provide heat for the regeneration of the sorption unit, e.g., the
dehumidification wheel. In principle, a liquid desiccant system is possible as well instead of the
drawn solid desiccant system. In both cases, the required regeneration temperature from the
solar collector is < 75C for most materials, used in the sorption unit. Consequently, in most
systems a glazed flat plate solar collector of good quality is sufficient for the system operation.

MEDIUM
START collector
START storage backup
Cooling
Coolingload
load calculation
(building
parameters, conventional chiller
parameters, e.g.,
e.g., materials,
materials,
geometry,
loads,
conditions)

cooling
coolingload,
load, required
required
hygienic
hygienicair
airchange
change
regeneration
heat
Installation
Installationof
ofcentralized
centralized air
air humidifier
handling
handlingunit
unitfeasible
feasibleand
and
desired?
desired?
exhaust return air
air
yes cooling
loads
ambient supply air
air
dehumidifier heat recovery heating
Building
appropriate
for wheel wheel
forsupply
supply// return
return air
air system
system
(building
(building tight
tightenough)?
enough)?
yes
Climate
Climate
temperate
DEC system, standard

Full
Fullair
airsystem
system
Hygienic
Hygienicair
air change
changeable
ableto
to (supply
configuration,
cover no (supplyandand exhaust
exhaustair)
air)
cover cooling
cooling load?
load? ++ chilled chilled water network
chilledwater
watersystem
system
12C - 15C
Figure 4.6 In this decision, a full air system is possible, but not sufficient to cover all loads in the building. At temperate
climates, the latent laods may be covered e.g. with a standard DEC configuration and remaining sensible loads are to be
removed with an additional chilled water network in the building. In this example, solar thermal heat is the driving
source for the DEC system operation. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
66

MEDIUM heat
START
START
rejection
collector
Cooling
Coolingload
load calculation
(building storage backup
parameters,
parameters, e.g.,
e.g., materials,
materials,
loads,
conditions)

cooling
cooling load,
load, required
required chiller
hygienic
hygienicair
air change
change
Installation
Installationof
ofcentralized
centralized air
air
handling
handlingunit
unitfeasible
feasibleand
and
desired?
desired?
yes return air

cooling
loads
supply air
Building
appropriate
for
forsupply
supply// return
return air
airsystem
system cooling heating
(building
(building tight
tightenough)?
enough)?
yes
Climate
Climate
temperate extreme
Conv. AHU, thermally

Full
Fullair
airsystem
system
Hygienic
Hygienicair
airchange
changeable
able to
to (supply
driven chiller, chilled
cover no (supplyand
and exhaust
exhaustair)
air)
covercooling
cooling load?
load? ++chilled water network
chilledwater
water system
system
6C - 9C
Figure 4.7 In both, temperate and extreme climates, a conventional airhandling unit in combination with a thermally
driven chiller can be applied. Solar thermal heat is used to operate the chiller, which either can be an absorption chiller
or an adsorption chiller. In addition to the configuration shown in figure 4.4, chilled water is used for the operation of
decentralised cooling units (fancoils, chilled ceilings, etc.), since in this example the air flow rate is not sufficient to cover
all sensible loads. Chilled water has to be provided at low temperatures due to the necessity of supply air
dehumidification. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
For the same decision path, figure 4.7 presents a technological solution, which may be applied in
temperate climates as well as in extreme climates. A conventional supply/ return air system is
used, whereas the chilled is prepared by a thermally driven system, using solar heat. In
comparison to figure 4.4., the chilled water system is extended to a chilled water network to
maintain decentral cooling installations for sensible heat removal.
Another possibility for extreme climates, e.g. at Mediterranean sites, is again a special
configuration of a desiccant cycle as discussed above and shown in figure 4.5, but also with an
extended chilled water network for additional sensible load removal. This configuration is
presented in figure 4.8.
67

MEDIUM
START
START solar heat
Cooling
Coolingload
load calculation
(building
parameters,
parameters, e.g.,
e.g., materials,
materials,
geometry,
internal exhaust return
loads,
conditions)

cooling
cooling load,
load, required
required
hygienic
hygienic air
airchange
change humidifier
cooling
loads
ambient
supply
Installation
Installationof
ofcentralized
centralized air
air dehumidifier heat recovery
handling
handlingunit
unitfeasible
feasible and
and
desired?
wheel wheel
desired? chilled chilled
yes water water
Building
appropriate Conventional
for
for supply
supply// return
returnair
air system
system chiller
(building
(building tight
tightenough)?
enough)?
yes
Climate
Climate
extreme
DEC system, special

Full
Fullair
air system
system
Hygienic
Hygienic air
air change
changeable
ableto
to (supply
configuration,
cover no (supplyand and exhaust
exhaustair)
air)
cover cooling
cooling load?
load? ++ chilled chilled water network
chilledwater
water system
system
12C - 15C
Figure 4.8 The application of a desiccant cycle in a special configuration is possible in extreme climates as well. The
example presented here is similar to the configuration in figure 4.5, but additionally, a chilled water network serves
decentralised cooling installations in the building in order to extract the remaining sensible cooling loads. Again, the
required chilled water temperature in this application is comparatively high (typically > 12C), thus allowing for an
efficient chilled water production. Solar thermal heat is used to provide regeneration heat for the sorption wheel.
4.3 Supply air system + chilled water distribution
It is considered that a central air handling unit is desired. However, in a building which is not
sufficiently tight, the installation of a supply/return air system is problematic since either outside
air is sucked inot the buioding (internal pressure lower than external), or is lost through the
building shell (internal pressure higher than external). In such a case an air handling unit to
provide fesh air only would be installed. Fresh air is cooling and dehumidified and sensible loads
not covered by the fesh air are purged by other means. An example might be a chilled ceiling
system.
The decision path for such a configuration and a possible realisation sketch is shown in figure 4.9.
A thermally driven chiller, operated with solar heat, supplies chilled water to the air handling unit
and to decentralised cooling installations via a chilled water network. Dehumidification is realised
in the supply air handling unit. Thus, the chilled water temperature has to be sufficient low. Of
course, the chilled water delivered to e.g. chilled ceilings is to be mixed to higher temperatures by
controlled valves. In general it is also possible to use the chilled water return flow from the air
handling unit as an inlet to a chilled ceiling, but the hydraulic scheme is more complex and
therefore not shown in the figure. The technology shown in figure 4.9 is in general applicable in
temperate as well as in extreme climates.
With this technology decision, either absorption chillers or adsorption chillers may be applied. The
selection of the chiller type is subject to a more detailed planning process, considering the cooling
68
load pattern, exact required level of chilled water temperature, cost, etc. At least a high quality
flat plate solar collector is required as driving source.
Depending on the load structure and on the requirements on the room air states, either a solar
thermal autonomous cooling operation during summer is possible, or a backup system to support
the cooling process when necessary is needed.

MEDIUM heat
START
START
rejection
collector
Cooling
Coolingload
load calculation
(building storage backup
parameters,
parameters, e.g.,
e.g., materials,
materials,
geometry,
internal
loads,
conditions)

cooling
cooling load,
load, required
required chiller
hygienic
hygienic air
air change
change
Installation
Installationof
of centralized
centralized air
air
handling
handlingunit
unitfeasible
feasibleand
and
desired?
desired?
yes
supply air
Building
appropriate Supply
Supplyair
air system
system
for
for supply
supply// return
return air
airsystem
system ++chilled
cooling heating
(building no chilledwater
water system
system
(building tight
tightenough)?
enough)?
Climate
Climate
temperate extreme
Conv. AHU, thermally

driven chiller, chilled
water network
6C - 9C
Figure 4.9 In this example, only a supply air system installation is possible for building quality reasons or due to limited
space for the air handling system. A desiccant evaporative cycle is then not applicable. Supply air cooling and
dehumidification and, if required, additional cooling via e.g. chilled ceilings is realised by means of a thermally driven
chiller. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
4.4 All water system
In case the installation of a centralized air handing unit is not ferasible or desired, the only
technical solution to use solar thermal erngy for building airconditioning is the installation of a
thermally driven chiller to supply cold water to a chilled water network. An example might be an
office building or large residential building, which disposes not of the space necessary for the
installation of a duct system. Independently from the climate conditions, a low temperature of
the chilled water (approx. between 6C and 9C) is required in order to allow for air
dehumidification in a fancoil system. This technical solution is shown in figure 4.10. The driving
source for the chiller is a solar collector system. At least high quality flat plate collectors are
required to provide heat to the chiller, which either can be an adsorption or an absorption chiller.
Whenever possible, solar gains should be used in winter for space heating, either in the identical
fancoil units or in separate indoor units. The use of solar heat in winter is highly recommended
for all examples shown before, wherever heating demand occurs, even if the presented figures
focus more on the summer operation of the air conditioning systems.
69

MEDIUM
START
START heat
Cooling
Coolingload
load calculation
(building rejection
parameters,
parameters, e.g.,
e.g., materials,
materials, collector
geometry, storage backup
loads,
conditions)

cooling
cooling load,
load, required
required
hygienic
hygienic air
air change
change chiller
Installation
Installationof
ofcentralized
centralized air
air All
All water
watersystem
system
handling
handlingunit
unitfeasible
feasible and
and
desired?
no (chilled
(chilledwater)
water)
desired?
cooling
Climate
Climate heating
temperate extreme
Thermally driven
chiller, chilled water
network
6C - 9C
Figure 4.10 Decision path for an all water system and a possible technical solution. No air handling unit is desired or
feasible in this example. A thermally driven chiller to operate a chilled water network is then the solution, to use solar
thermal heat as driving source. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
References
[IEASHC Task 25]

SolarAssisted AirConditioning of Buildings.Task25 in the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme of the International
Energy Agency (IEA). Completed in 2004.
http://www.ieashctask25.org/
[Henning, 2004]
HansMartin Henning: Decision scheme for the selection of the apporporate technology using solar thermal air
conditioning. Guideline document in IEA Task 25, October 2004.
[Hindenburgv et al., 2005]

Carsten Hindenburg, Lena Schnabel, Thorsten Geucke: Solar desiccant cooling system with solar air collectors four
years of operation with 100% solar fraction in summer. Proceedings of the International Conference Solar Air
Conditioning. October 2005, Bad Staffelstein, Germany.
[Henning et al., 2005]

HansMartin Henning, Tullio Pagano, Stefano Mola, Edo Wiemken: Micro trigeneration for indoor air conditioning in the
Mediterranean climate. Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007), 21882194.
70
5 Small systems: schemes for typical applications
Most of the solar airconditioning systems which were realised until the year 2005 are systems in
the medium and large scale range. This development was forced due to the available product size
in thermally driven chillers, which was a minimum of 35 kW chilling capacity at that time. All of
the plants were individually designed; no standard system schemes for both, hydraulics and
control schemes, were available. Consequently, the number of different hydraulic layouts is
nearly as high as the number of pilot and demonstration system installations.
It is evident that any targeted progress in real market penetration of solar cooling and air
conditioning demands for a higher degree of standardisation in the system layout, especially in
the hydraulic schemes. Furthermore, for systems in the small capacity range, e.g., for residential
application, the goal is to minimize the planning effort nearly to zero. This finally demands to pre
assemble the system kernal, i.e., to define fixed hydraulic schemes and the respective
components (chiller, piping, pumps, valves, expansion equipment, heat rejection, control, etc.)
and to give recommendations on the appropriate type and size of the collector and e.g. on the
use of the backup system, if those components are not included into the package system.
The discussion on the appropriate system schemes is currently still ongoing in different levels of
which the IEA SHC Task 38 is one. However, first companies are in between on the market offering
complete solar cooling systems for sale. In this section, some basic ideas on system schemes will
be presented and discussed briefly. However, complete drawings with details on the hydraulic
components such as valve, piping and pump descriptions can not be outlined here.
heat
rejection
collector
storage
boiler
chiller cooling
heating
Figure 5.1 Scheme of a possible technical solution of a small solar thermally driven chilled water system. Source:
Fraunhofer ISE.
A basic sketch of a small solar cooling system is shown in figure 5.1, containing already the most
important components. The characteristics of this configuration are
No bypass possibility of the hot side storage. Advantage of this concept: solar heat is always
transferred first into the storage; thus, the storage keeps always a buffer function. The flow
rates between collector and driving circuit of the chiller are discoupled, the scheme is simple
and requires a simple charging/discharging control of the storage only. A disadvantage is that
in case of low storage temperature the thermal inertia of the system is high, i.e., before fluid
at high temperature can be applied to the chiller, the storage has to be charged first. This
results in a delay of the chiller operation start;
The boiler is installed separately, thus injects no heat into the solar hot water storage.
Advantage: higher utilisation of the solar collector and the boiler can be operated for space
heating or domestic hot water preparation (not shown in the figure) without unfavourable
71
thermal support of the chiller (see section 3). Additionally, the boiler may be operated in
exceptional cases at high room temperatures far from the comfort range for example, when
not sufficient solar power is available. Disadvantage: larger boiler capacity required than in a
buffer integrated boiler; higher instability of hot water temperatures. Furthermore, the
success of common solar combi systems (solar assisted heating and hot water preparation) in
some European countries is connected with a compact and preassembled system layout, in
which the solar hot water storage with an integrated top level boiler plays a central role;
Mixing valve in the hot water driving circuit of the chiller: the necessity of this device depends
on the control strategy of the chiller. In principle, it aims as a capacity control of the chiller by
limiting the driving temperature. In some chillers, this possibility is already integrated.
Alternatively, a control of the mass flow in the driving circuit may be considered;
Mixing valve in the heat rejection circuit: this safety equipment avoids too low cooling water
temperatures, entering the chiller (special requirements for absorption chillers). The necessity
of this device depends on the control requirements of the chiller. However, a continuous or
stepwise control of the cooling tower fan should be used in any case before applying the
mixing valve, since the fan control is an effective measure to decrease parasitic electricity
consumption;
Direct supply of chilled water to the consumers: no chilled water storage is foreseen in
figure 5.1. The chiller is operated as far as the thermal solar power allows and as far as heat
from the building has to be removed. Depending on the control and operation of the
decentral cooling installations, partload operation of the chiller may occur often, but also a
stop of the chiller operation at small cooling demand periods may be expected. A chilled
water storage can improve this situation: the chilled water production is to a certain degree
discoupled from the demand and the chiller can more often operate at full load. Solar heat
can be still utilised and chilled water can be stored even if there is no cooling demand in the
building, since due to the efficiency of 1effect sorption processes, it is in general more useful
to store chilled water than hot water. Disadvantage: higher investment cost for the chilled
water storage and additional hydraulics (pump and control).
In the project Solar Combi+ [SolarCombi+, 2008], supported by the European Commission within
the Intelligent Energy Europe program of the EACI, a virtual case study on small scale solar cooling
systems was carried out; through extensive simulation calculations a base of annual performances
of selected system configurations in different application fields was provided. In the beginning of
the study, typical system schemes had to be defined. It turned out soon that yet no common
understanding of the best system solution exists among the partners from different European
countries. The knowledge on appropriate solar cooling installations is distributed to numerous
working groups, the number of different technical approaches is high and the total number of
realised plants is not sufficient to condense the experience into one optimal system scheme.
Furthermore, national regulations may also affect the general layout; to give an example, a
regulation in Spain concerning the design of solar thermal systems does not allow the direct
integration of a backup heater into the solar hot water storage.
72
Loads
Heating
Boiler
DHW
Collector Chiller
Cooling
heat rejection
Source: Fraunhofer ISE
Loads
Heating
DHW
Collector Boiler Chiller
Cooling
heat rejection
Source: Fraunhofer ISE
Figure 5.2a (top) and 5.2b (bottom) Two system schemes for small solar cooling systems proposed within a case study
in the project SolarCombi+. The schemes are discussed more in detail in the text. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
However, it was agreed to focus on mainly two different system schemes as master con
figurations, which are presented in figure 5.2a and 5.2b. In both cases it is assumed that heating
demand and cooling demand has not to be covered at the same time, which is a realistic
assumption for small and medium buildings.
In the scheme 5.2a, the auxiliary boiler is installed seperately from the collector system. The
following operation modes are possible:
1. Space heating and domestic hot water preparation with the boiler; no sufficient solar
thermal energy is available. The cold return from the DHW heat exchanger is passed through
the solar buffer storage in order to be heated or preheated by solar energy. The chiller is not
in operation;
2. Space heating support by the solar thermal system: either thermal energy from the hot water
storage is used and, if necessary, subequently heated with the boiler to the desired setpoint
temperature, or heat direct from the collector system is used. This depends on the control of
the collector circuit pumps. Likewise in I., the chiller is not in operation;
73
3. In the summer operation mode, the chiller is in operation. To allow a quick start of the chiller
in the morning, the storage is bypassed through simultaneous operation of the chiller driving
circuit pump and of the primary and secondary collector circuit pump. This requires for an
adequate layout of the pumps in all circuits. In case the collector temperature is not
sufficient high, the fluid is subsequently heated in the boiler. However, attention should be
payed to the recommendations on the use of auxiliary heat sources in such a case as
dicussed in section 3;
4. When the collector system is not operated during chiller operation (stop of collector circuit
pumps), solar heat is removed from the storage and, if necessary, subsequently heated in the
boiler (again: recommendations on the used of auxiliary heat sources).
The bypass possibility of the hot water storage leads to a comparatively high complexity in the
hydraulic scheme and of the control strategy. An appropriate control strategy has to be
developed to allow nevertheless an efficient use of the storage, since a thermal storage is
normally connected with high investment cost. However, this solution is favourised by some
system providers and working groups. Hot water is always passing the heat exchanger of the
boiler, whether this component is active or not and thus resulting in a higher pressure drop in the
heat supply circuit.
In the configuration of scheme 5.2b, the hot water storage is as the central heat distribution
system always in use; the heat backup system is integrated into or attached to the storage. This
solution is today applied in numerous solar combi systems (solar thermal heating and DHW
preparation support), as these systems are preassambled to a certain degree and simplifies the
installation of the total solar thermal system. The development of this type of solar combi systems
has surely accelerated the success of solar heating support installations. Beside advantages in the
installation, the hydraulic system is less complex than the scheme 5.2a and the collector control is
indepent from the operation of the remaining system parts.
70C - 90C driving heat
Fossil fueled
50C - 65C domestic hot water
boiler operation
Figure 5.3 Basic idea on a heat backup control, when the boiler is integrated into the hot water storage, but a backup
support of driving heat for the chiller is not intended. The operation level of the boiler is below the operation range for
the driving circuit of the chiller. During winter, when the chiller is not active, the temperature operation range for the
boiler may be switched to higher levels, if necessary. Source: Fraunhofer ISE.
However, the integration of the heat backup into the storage in the context with solar cooling
requires a high attention on the control of the boiler with respect to the primary energy balance,
commented in section 3. In any case, the boiler should not heat up during the cooling season the
storage temperature for DHW use, when subsequently this hot water is used directly as driving
heat source for the chiller. This requires that the operation range between DHW temperature and
chiller operation has to be clearly separated for the boiler control. Figure 5.3 gives an idea on such
a control strategy: the boiler is operated for domestic hot water preparation in a narrow
temperature range only, e.g., up to 65C. The chiller however starts at storage temperatures of
> 70C, the additional heat for this level has to be prepared by the solar thermal system. During
chiller operation, the driving fluid temperature returning to the storage is still high (e.g., 60C) and
thus above the starting level of the boiler for DHW preparation.
In case adsorption chilling technology is used, a special issue of interest in the system
configuration arises from the heat recovery period during the chiller operation. It is part of the
adsorption process that in between the hydraulic switching from adsorption to desorption (see
section 2), a short period of heat recovery between the two compartments of the chiller is
included (typically with a duration of approx. 15 s). This results in short but distinct fluctuations in
74
the hot water temperature, returning from the chiller driving circuit. Figure 5.4 shows as an
example the temperature levels as monitored in an adsorption chiller system. The fluctuations
especially in the return of the driving circuit may require for additional measures in the system
control, when this temperature level is foreseen to be used in the control. An appropriate
measure is the smoothing of the temperature value in a storage, either the main hot water
storage or in a special return flow buffer.
80
70
hot water circuit
T_hot_supply
60 T_hot_return
50
temperature [C]
40
cooling water circuit
T_cold_supply
30
T_cold_return
20 chilled water circuit,

primary:
T_chilled_supply
10 T_chilled_return
0
800 805 810 815 820 825 830 835 840 845 850
minute of the day
Figure 5.4 Typical for the operation of adsorption chillers are temperature fluctuations in the hydraulic circuits.
Especially the hot water return temperature fluctuations have to be considered in the system control and configuration.
The number of existing system configurations is currently nearly as high as the number of total
installed systems, this is an expression of the lack of standards and predefined systems in solar
cooling applications today. However, providers of solar cooling systems are well aware on the
benefits of standardised configurations and on their effects on cost reduction and system
operation reliability especially in the small scale capacity range. The tendency for more
standardised approaches and system schemes can be thus viewed on the web pages of e.g.
SolarNext www.solarnext.de
SOLution www.solution.com or
ClimateWell www.climatewell.com
System configurations of three different solar cooling applications are also described in detail for
plants with the HighCombi project [HighCombi, 2008]. In this project, three demonstration
systems will be realised with different innovative topics. Figure 5.5 shows the configuration of the
smallest system, equipped with the Rotartica Solar 7 chiller (4.5 kW chilling capacity).
In the Best Practice Catalogue of SOLAIR, further examples of configuration schemes can be
viewed for some of the installations in the SOLAIR data base [SOLAIR, 2008].
75
Figure 5.5 System scheme of the the Rotartica Solar 7 solar cooling system, installed within the project HighCombi.
Source: Project deliverable D6 State of the art of similar applications in HighCombi [HighCombi, 2008]
References
[SolarCombi+, 2008]
Identification of most promising markets and promotion of standardised system configurations for the market entry of
small scale combined solar heating & cooling applications (SOLAR COMBI+). Supported in the Intelligent Energy Europe
Programme of the European Commission. EIE/07/158/S12.466793. Duration: until 02/2010. www.solarcombiplus.eu
[HighCombi, 2008]
High solar fraction heating and cooling systems with combination of innovative components and methods (HighCombi).
Task 2, Deliverable 6: State of the art of similar applications, July 2008. Supported by the European Commission.
TREN/07/FP6EN/S07.68923/038659. Duration: until 2009. www.highcombi.eu.
[SOLAIR, 2008]
Increasing the market implementation of solar airconditioning systems for small and medium applications in residential
and commercial buildings. Task 2.2 / Best Practice Catalogue, June 2008. Supported in the Intelligent Energy Europe
Programme of the European Commission. EIE/06/034/S12.446612. Duration: until 12/2009. www.solairproject.eu
76
6 Recommendations on monitoring and quality assurance
With some hundred installations, solar cooling is still in an initial phase of market penetration. In
this phase it is important to obtain information on the achieved benefits of the installation and on
the overall efficiency of the system. Thus, monitoring plays an important role in both, attesting
the contribution of the systems to primary energy savings, thereby demonstrating the potential of
solar cooling, and supporting a reliable and optimised operation of the system. The latter issue is
directly related to an increased economic value of the installation.
Since solar cooling installations are more complex than e.g. solar thermal systems for heating
support, more effort has to be taken into account in the monitoring. In the planning of the
monitoring system, the selection and number of monitoring positions depends on the level of
interest in the system performance assessment. Roughly, the levels of system operation
assessment may be classified into
basic functional control: status of system operation for simple trouble shooting. This level of
system surveyllance provides at least status information on e.g. a reliable operation of the
solar system (pump control) and other key komponents in order to detect significant system
failures and to avoid unplanned operation of a backup system. This is a minimum of required
information to be provided. No information on the system performance is given. Especially
the capability of the chiller cannot be surveyed (except the internal chiller control reveals
such information);
basic global performance assessemt: integrated values of e.g. delivered solar heat, produced
cold, auxiliary heat, total electricity consumption. With these informations, a simple overall
energy balance can be calculated and the benefits in primary energy saving and CO2
avoidance may be estimated, when compared to data of a reference system. Cost figures can
be derived;
detailed system analysis: monitoring data with high time resolution are accessible for all
relevant hydraulic circuits, the radiation is monitored, electricity meters are installed, position
signals of valves are recorded. With this effort, efficiency of the components may be assessed,
heat flux through the systems can be traced. It allows of course the information gain of the
previous level, but at any time scale desired. Furthermore, this monitoring level allows to
identify weak points in the system control and thus the data should be used for system
optimisation.
The latter detailed monitoring level is currently applied in several pilot and demonstration plants
of solar cooling. The costs are high for both, monitoring equipment and installation as well as for
the time consuming data evaluation. As in general the effort for a detailed system analysis is
independent from the size of the cooling system (nearly identical number of hydraulic circuits and
componts in all systems), it is evident that this monitoring level will not become a standard for
small size systems on the market. However, this monitoring level is important in the ongoing
development of solar cooling systems.
Figure 6.1 gives an example on minimum requirements on monitoring in order to allow a
comparison with a reference system in terms of energy use and energy input. For a more detailed
analysis of the solar cooling system, the energy flux in between the components has to be
recorded as well (figure 6.1c).
Figure 6.2 gives another example on the required monitoring signals, necessary for a detailed
system analysis. No monitoring is applied at the ventilation systems, since the solar thermally
driven chilled water production is in the focus of this example. Each heat flux monitoring point Q
consists of two temperature signals and a mass flow signal, since for a detailed monitoring not
only the heat flux measured by a heat flux meter is of interest, but also the absolute temperature
77
and mass flow values. Not indicated in the figure are additionsally sensors which may ease the
error detection in case of system trouble significantly, such as position signals of threeway valves,
pump operation signals, etc.
system boundary: reference system

conversion heat supply
E fossil
Primary boiler
fuel
energy heating,
air-conditioning hot water
Q
E chiller,
other
el. compr. cooling
heat
rejection
electricity
waste heat
Figure 6.1a To obtain a very rough picture on the energy input of a conventional heating and cooling system (reference
system), the useful energy output (indicated by the red and blue bars) has to be assessed as well as the electricity
consumption of the whole supply system (light blue triangle). The fossil fuel demand may be estimated from average
boiler efficiencies.
solar radiation
system boundary: solar assisted system
conversion
heat supply
solar- heat
collector storage
E Q
fossil
Primary boiler
fuel
energy heating,
E Q
chiller,
other
thermal cooling
other water
media heat
V rejection
electricity
waste heat
Figure 6.1b For a performance comparison of a solar cooling system with a reference system shown in figure 6.1a, at
least the indicated energy values have to be recorded. The results (e.g., annual energy data) may be compared with the
estimated data of the reference case in order to calculate the benefits in fossil fuel saving. However, no detailed
information on the components is available, such as collector efficiency and chiller performance.
78
solar radiation
G,T system boundary: solar assisted system
conversion
Q heat supply
solar- heat
collector storage
E Q
fossil
Primary boiler
fuel
energy heating,
chiller, Q
other
thermal cooling
other water Q
Q
media heat
V rejection
E E E
electricity E
waste heat
Figure 6.1c A detailed analysis of the system requires for more monitoring effort than shown in figure 6.1.b.
Additionally, not only the heat flux but also the temperature levels and differences, mass flow rates and status signals
from the system control are of interest (not shown in the figure). At this level, unsufficient system behaviour may be
detected and system control strategies can be optimised as well. Source: Fraunhofer ISE
Figure 6.2 Example on a detailed monitoring in a solar cooling application with two small absorption chillers, providing
chilled water for supply air cooling and chilled ceilings. The coloured bars indicate precisely calibrated twin temperature
sensors and a volume flow meter for heat flux measurements; the triangles denote electricity meters. In practice, groups
of pumps are monitored by one electricity meter. Further signals in the monitoring not shown in the figure are position
signals of valves. All data are recorded as mean values of 60 second time intervals. Source: Technikerschule
Butzbach/Fraunhofer ISE
79
In the IEA Task38 Solar aircondition and refrigeration [IEASHC Task 38] of the Solar Heating and
Cooling Programme (SHC), more detailed guidelines on monitoring and on defined monitoring
levels are developed and will be available at the end of the Task. Within this activity, three
monitoring levels are proposed, characterised by a progressive increase in the number of sensors
and data amount:
Level One: Basic Information on Primary Energy Ratio and Costs. At this level, minimum
requirements are defined in order to allow a comparison between different solar cooling
systems with respect to their primary energy efficiency and their economic performance. A
limited number of heat flux meters and one overall electricity consumption meter is required.
Conversion factors for the primary energy evaluation and the evaluation parameter Primary
Energy Ratio are defined as well. The approach is applicable for chilled water systems and for
open cycle systems;
Level Two: Simple analysis of the solar energy resource management. At this level, extended
monitoring is especially applied to the solar system (pyranometer for radiation measurement
and additional heat flux meters). The exploitation of the collector system and the thermal
losses in the storage can be analysed more in detail;
Level Three: Advanced monitoring procedure. The monitoring system is expanded in order to
apply the FSC method (Fractional Solar Consumption), developed in IEA Task 26 for solar
combi systems. The method was extended in IEA Task 32 for solar heating systems with large
storages [Letz, 2002], [Weiss (Ed), 2003]. Additional monitoring points may be necessary to
identify the energy flux in the system in detail. A conventional heating and cooling system is
defined without solar heat supply for reference calculations. The method is applicable for
closed cycle systems as well as for open cycle systems.
Other important measures for the quality assurance are not directly related to the plant
monitoring, but related to regulary maintenance and system checks. The chiller manufactures
provide suggestions on maintenance, adapted to the type of chiller, such as vacuum checks,
analysis of the solution etc. The maintenance, to be done in different time scales ranging from
semiannual until e.g. 6years checks, comprises several checks such as mechanical tests, vacuum
checks, analysis of the solution, etc. An example on the checks for a specific type of chiller is
presented in the SOLAIR training material data base in part D3: operation and maintenance
[SOLAIR Training, 2008]. Further maintenance has to be applied to the heat rejection system and
to the collector system. An example for a preventive maintenance plan of a collector system is
shown in figure 6.3.
At least, quality assurance measures have already to be considered in the early step of system
planning and when the calls for tender are prepared. To give some examples:
the minimum of useful solar collector field productivity (kWh/m per year should be
determined for the heating mode and for the cooling mode (e.g., derived from an annual COP
number of the cold production process) from the planned collector array. The real achieved
useful yield should be monitored, thus an adequate monitoring equipment has to be
considered in the planning phase;
It is recommended that the call for tender includes the obligation to guarantee a minimum
annual yield of the collector system for the foreseen application and temperature range. This
measure pushes the provider of the collector system to present realistic yield data of the
collector system, this gives a more reliable base for economic assessments. In case the yield
was not achieved under normal working conditions, a certain penalty has to be paid by the
collector provider. Details on the definition of normal working conditions and on the
reference annual radiation have to be specified in the contract. At least a collector yield
monitoring is necessary in this case;
Additionally, the collector or system provider should specify the risks of collector stagnation
and guarantee a stagnation safe behaviour of the system in such an event through adequate
80
design of the hydraulic components. A stagnation situation may always occur, for example in
case of electricity or pump breakdown. An option is also to induce a stagnation situation after
installation of the system and to prove the stagnation safety with this method;
The contract with the supplier of the chiller shall include the verification of the chilling
capacity at given operation conditions after the system installation and start of the operation.
For this reason, a monitoring of at least the heat flux and temperature levels in the hydraulic
circuits of the chiller is necessary;
The overall electricity consumption of the system should be outlined in the tender and, as a
more severe criteria, the electric efficiency of the total system could be specified. In the first
operation year(s), the real electricity consumption is then to be inspected by an appropriate
monitoring equimpent. Similar criteria may be exposed e.g. for the water consumption in
open cycle systems or in case wet cooling towers are intended to be installed.
81
COLLECTORS FIELD
Item Frequency Description
(months)
6 VI differences with the original one
Collectors
VI differences between collectors
Glasses 6 VI condensations and dirtiness
Joints 6 VI cracking, deformations
Absorber 6 VI corrosion, deformations
Frame of the collector 6 VI deformation, movement, ventilation spaces
Connexions 6 VI escapes
Structure 6 VI degradation, corrosion, checking of the screws
HEAT EXCHANGER
Equip Frequency Description
(months)
Heat exchanger 12 WC efficiency
12 Clean
Submersible heat 12 WC efficiency
exchanger (loop) 12 Clean
TANKS
(months)
Tanks 12 Dust in the inferior part
Sacrifice anode 12 Check wear
Electrical anode 12 Check good working
Insulation 12 Check there is no humidity
HYDRAULIC LOOPS
(months)
Refrigerant 12 Check density and PH
Tightness 24 Do a pressure proof
Outdoor insulation 6 VI degradation protection, unions and no humidity
Indoor insulation 12 VI unions and no humidity
Automatic purge 12 WC and clean
Manual purge 6 Take the air out
Pumps 12 WC and tightness
Closed expansion vessel 6 Check the pressure
Automatic filling system 6 WC actuation
Cut valve 12 WC actuations (open and close)
Security valve 12 WC actuation
Distribution loop 6 Check the pressure
ELECTRICAL AND CONTROL PARTS

(months)
Electrical part 12 Check the electrical board is closed to avoid the
entrance of dust
Differential control 12 WC actuation
Sensors 6 WC actuation
Thermostat 12 WC actuation
Energy-meter 6 Write the produced energy
Figure 6.3 Example on a preventive maintenance plan of an entire solar collector systems.
VI = visual inspection; WC = working control. Source: Aiguasol.
82
References
[Letz, 2002]
T. Letz: Validation and background information of the FSC procedure. Technical report of subtask A, IEASHC Task 26.
2002. www.ieashc.org/outputs/task26/A_Letz_FSC_method.pdf
[Weiss (Ed), 2003]

W. Weiss (Ed): Solar Heating Systems for Houses A Design Handbook for Solar Combisystems. IEASHC Task 26,
James&James Ltd London, pp 125154, 2003.
[IEASHC Task 38]

Task 38 Solar airconditioning and refrigeration, executed in the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme of the
International Energy Agency IEA. www.ieashc.org/task38
[SOLAIR Training, 2008]

Increasing the market implementation of solar airconditioning systems for small and medium applications in residential
and commercial buildings (SOLAIR). Supported in the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme of the European Commission.
EIE/06/034/S12.446612. Duration: until 12/2009.
Training modules available at the SOLAIR web page; Tools and Products: Training modules and materials;
D_3_Operation_Maintenance.pdf. Prepared 2008. www.solairproject.eu
83
7 Planning tools
7.1 Design approaches
Design with regard to solarassisted airconditioning mainly means

Selection of the proper thermally driven cooling equipment for the selected airconditioning
system
Selection of the proper type of solar collectors for the selected airconditioning system and
thermally driven cooling equipment
Sizing of the solar collector field and other components of the solar system with regard to
energy and cost performance
The two first items were discussed in section 2.

For sizing of the system different design approaches can be followed as exemplified in Figure 7.1.
In the following sections these different design approaches are described and its advantages and
drawbacks referred, as well as, its application limits.
Rules of thumb
Accuracy, reliability of results, details of design information
Required system information, effort for parametrization
Collector cost per heating

capacity
Cost of solar heat for

given climate
Load - gain - analysis for

given climate and load
Anual cost based on load-

gain-analysis
Computer design tool with

predefined systems
Open simulation platform
Figure 7.1 Different design approaches. Accuracy is closely related with the complexity. Reference [Henning,
2004/2008].
84
7.2 Rules of Thumb
In section 3 of this document, an initial rule of thumb is given. The expression:

1
Aspec =
Gcoll ,designCOPdesign
with
Aspec = specific collector are per installed kW thermally driven chilling capacity
[m/kWcold]
G = irradiance at collector surface [kW/m]
coll,design = collector efficiency at design condition (driving temperature) []
COPdesign = thermal COP of chiller at design conditions []
gives a rough idea of the collector area to be installed in a solar airconditioning system.
This simple rule:
+ Allows a very quick assessment (guess) about the required collector area, if the efficiency of
the collector and the COP of the thermally driven cooling equipment is known
Neglects completely the influence of the variation of radiation on the collector during day
and year
Any information on the specific site and load is neglected
Neglects completely part load conditions4 of cooling load in thermally driven cooling
equipment
In reference [Henning, 2004/2008] other simple rules of thumb are introduced.

For determination of Collector First Costs a simple calculation can be performed considering
the collector efficiency curve obtained according to [EN 129752:2006]:
= 0 a1
tm ta (t t )2
a2 m a
G G
with
0 = optical efficiency
a1, a2 = collector heatloss coefficients
tm = collector temperature (average between input and output temperature)
ta = ambient temperature
The power delivered by the solar collector operating at a temperature tm is:
q
q = AG A =
G
The collector area for kW power produced, Aspec, is:
1kw
Aspec =
G
4
Part load conditions correspond to the working conditions of a cooling machine that are not the optimal ones do not
correspond to those of highest COP.
85
If a collector has 50% efficiency at an average temperature of 80C and considering that the
irradiance incident on the collector is 800 W/m2, the collector specific area, i.e, the area necessary
to produce 1kW power is 2,5 m2.
Considering the collector specific cost, based on information of current solar thermal systems
installed, i.e., the collector cost per collector area, the cost of collectors per power unit produced
can be determined by:
Cost heat ,power = AspecCostspec
If the collector specific cost is 500 /m2 and collector specific area is 2,5 m2/kW the collector costs
per power unit is 1250 /kW.
Also in this case the calculation made:
+ Allows a rough comparison of different solar collectors, if the collector parameters and the
operation temperature of the thermally driven cooling equipment are known
Neglects completely the influence of the variation of radiation on the collector during day
and year
Any information on the specific site and load is neglected
Neglects completely part load of cooling load and thermally driven cooling equipment
All calculations made until this moment considered only power produced by the collector. Solar
Thermal collectors do not produce a constant power, but a variable power which depends of the
variation of the irradiance incident on the collectors due to variation of weather conditions. To
determine the energy produced by a solar thermal collector, information on climatic data is
needed. With hourly values of irradiance incident on the collector and the knowledge of collector
efficiency curve and collector incidence angle modifier it is possible to calculate to maximum
energy produced by the collector at a fixed working temperature. References [Horta et al, 2008,
2008a] give the necessary methodology for this calculation. Form this methodology an annual
gross energy produced by the solar thermal collectors is obtained, Qgross, which can be expressed
in kWh.
The annual cost of the heat produced by the solar thermal system Solar heat cost can than be
calculated considering:
Costannual = Costspecfannuity
where fannuity is the annuity factor that takes into account the interest rate of the investment and
the lifetime of the collector system.
Costannual
Cost heat =
Qgross
where Qgross is the annual collector heat production at a given site and a given operation
temperature.
In this case the calculation made:
+ Allows a good comparison of different solar collectors using their parameters and the
radiation data of a specific site
+ The maximum possible heat production of a specific solar collector for a given site (annual
meteorological data file) and a given constant operation temperature is determined
Any information about the load profile is neglected
Method neglects completely part load of cooling load and thermally driven cooling
equipment
86
For calculation of Qgross some software tools usually for the design of solar thermal systems for hot
water preparation can be used. Some of these software tools use monthly averages of climatic
data, others use hourly data.
7.3 Simple predesign tools
More or less simple predesign tools are available for free download, which have been developed
in the frame work of different European Projects. Table 7.1 lists the ones that were identified up
to now.
Software Reference / Source

SACE: Solar cooling Reference [HansMartin Henning, 2003]
evaluation light tool http://www.solairproject.eu/218.0.html
SHCSoftwareTool (NEGST Reference [Sabatelli, V. et al., 2007]
project) http://www.swttechnologie.de/html/publicdeliverables3.html
EasySolarCooling See reference [Wiemken, E. et al (2004)]
Not available
SolAC Solar Assisted Air Reference [Franke, U. et al (2005)]
Conditioning Software http://www.ieashctask25.org/english/hps6/index.html
Table 7.1 List of predesign software tools
A simple description of each of these tools is given here focusing mainly on its capabilities and
limits of application.
7.3.1 SHCSoftwaretool (NEGST Project)

An example of a simple software tools using monthly data was developed in the framework of the
NEGST project [NEGST (20042007)]. Is available for free download at http://www.swt
technologie.de/html/publicdeliverables3.html. Figure 7.2 is a picture of the main window of this
tool.
This software tools allows for the determination of solar collector area required to achieve a given
overall primary energy saving with respect to the most common conventional cooling system. The
program considers both cooling and heating loads on monthly bases. The user needs to input the
energy load per square meter of room area to be conditioned and the area of the room. The solar
thermal system has to satisfy these loads considering that the heating load is satisfied directly and
that the cooling load is satisfied by a cooling machine with a specific COP.
As an example, the Solar Load is determined and listed in Table 7.2, where a COP of 0.7 for the
cooling machine was considered.
87
Month Heating Load [kWh] Cooling Load [kWh] Solar Load [kWh]
1 1,226 0 1,226
2 864 0 864
3 649 0 649
4 191 0 191
5 0 44 63
6 0 420 600
7 0 1,273 1,819
8 0 1,477 2,110
9 0 677 967
10 0 81 116
11 375 0 375
12 962 0 962
Table 7.2 Calculation of monthly values of solar load, considering known values of cooling and Heating load of a
building.
The monthly energy delivered by the solar thermal system is determined based on the calculation
method phifchart [Duffie, J. and W. Beckman, 2006]. Qgross is calculated for different collector
areas. The primary energy savings is calculated in each case and the result is represented on the
graph on the left (see Figure 8.2). The results corresponding to the chosen fraction of primary
energy saved are graphically represented in the right graph and can also be visualised in the form
of table (View results).
Figure 7.2 Main window of the SHC predesign tool
88
There is no detailed information on the calculation procedure adopted for primary energy. It is
not guaranteed that equations given in Figure 3.2 of section 3 are fully adopted. Also it is not
possible to know which values of conversion of primary energy for electricity and fossil fuels are
adopted.
This predesign software tool:
Takes into account average climatic conditions as well as average load (heating and cooling)
Allows for the determination of a collector area as a function of primary energy savings
Method neglects completely part load of cooling load and thermally driven cooling equipment
7.3.2 SACE Solar cooling evaluation light tool

This software was developed in the framework of the European Project SACE: Solar air
conditioning in Europe. Project summary and deliverables can be found at the SOLAIR website
http://www.solairproject.eu/218.0.html. The software can be downloaded for free. The objective
of this software is to allow a quick prefeasibility study of solar assisted air conditioning systems.
The annual solar fraction for heating and cooling is calculated based on an hourbyhour
comparison of needed heat for a thermal driven cooling machine and available solar heat.
It performs parametric studies which are a function of specific collector area, i.e. ratio between
collector area and room area, as well as, storage capacity. The storage capacity is defined in terms
of time allowed to satisfy the annual peak load. The information obtained is solar fraction and
solar thermal collector efficiency.
The software has available a set of load files for seven locations and three different building types
(Hotel, 642.4 m2 ; Office, 930 m2; Lecture room, 216 m2). Load files for other locations and
buildings can be generated with external commercial software tools, but in such a case the actual
room area should be correctly introduced in the SACE tool software window.
Figure 7.3 SACE tool main window
For calculations it needs a load file (heating and cooling load) and a weather file with hourly
values. The solar system is mainly characterized by collector efficiency parameters. The building is
represented by its area and the HVAC equipemnet by two operating temperatures (heating and
cooling), efficiency of heating system and COP of thermal chiller.
89

+ Takes into account the hourly data for climatic conditions as well as hourly load files (heating
and cooling)
+ Allows for the determination of solar fraction as a function of parameters like specific
collector area and storage buffer volume
Method neglects completely part load of cooling load and thermally driven cooling
equipment
7.3.3 SolAC Solar Assisted Air Conditioning Software

This software was developed by ILK Dresden in the frame work of Implementing Agreement
Solar Heating & Cooling Task 25 Solar assisted airconditioning systems.
The software is available for free download at:
http://www.ieashctask25.org/english/hps6/index.html
Documentation of the software is also available after downloading (reference [Franke, U. and
Seifert, C. (2005)])
The input data for the programme is:
weather data including solar radiation (hourly data)
load files including heating and cooling loads (hourly data)
An example of the system different components can be seen in Figure 7.4.

Four different units are considered in this software:
Solar system
Cooling device
Air handling unit
Cooling and heating components in the room
These units can have different configurations chosen by the user (see Figure 7.5).
The results of the simulation are available as the hourly power requirement of a unit system (the
system is considered to be formed by the above referred four components). The models adopted
for each component are described in detail in reference [Franke, U. and Seifert, C. (2005)], but the
source code is not available. It is not possible to add other components.
90
Figure 7.4 Graphical representation used by the software to represent the system components considered (from left to
right) Solar system; Cooling device; Air handling unit; cooling and heating components in the room, as well as input
data (source [Franke, U. and Seifert, C. (2005)])
Figure 7.5a Solar system options Figure 7.5b Cooling device options
Figure 7.5c Air handling unit options Figure 7.5d Options for cooling and heating
components in the room
91

+ Takes into account the hourly data for climatic conditions as well as hourly load files (heating
and cooling)
+ Performs hourly calculations of energy demand of the main components and determines
yearly values
+ Considers part load behaviour of thermally driven cooling equipment
+ Also includes and economical analysis
Only considers predefined systems
No full primary energy analysis possible, since the electricity demand of some components is
not considered
7.3.4 ODIRSOL Solar Assisted cooling Software

The ODIRSOL software has been developed in partnership between CSTB and TECSOL. It aims at
being a decision tool for designers and planners. The tool is based on dynamic simulations with
TRNSYS, in order to provide a technical and economical assessment of a detailed solar cooling
project using single effect absorption chillers. Simulations are covering simple configurations with
hot and/or cold back up and/or hot and/or cold storage.
An online help is available for most of the steps, as well as examples of projects of several sizes.
The hourly results of a yearly load simulation of the building to be cooled have to be provided by
the user. All the data used in the program are presented in a data base included in the software,
in the directory ODIRSOL\ Interface\ Data. The data are French data on 20052007 period.
Content and method
The first step consists in selecting the

hydraulic configuration; 4 choices are
available, with or without storage.
Then the user has to feed up hourly meteo
and cooling load data under the required
format from a TRNSYS PREBID study, or
coming from selected thermal hourly
simulation software.
The user also provides other geographical
simple data.
From those data, the software will
automatically presize all components of
the installation.
The presizing method is based on simple
ratios, rules of thumb and on a database of
commercially available products.
In the main screen, the user has the
possibility to modify each component, to fill
his own feature or to choose other compo
nents in the database.
92
When the overall material has been chosen, the user starts running the simulation. The TRNSYS
core runs a semihourly simulation. The component models mainly belong to standard library and
CSTB addon library. The absorption chiller is Type107 derivate model modified by TECSOL using
operating curves provided by manufacturers.
At the end of the simulation time, the software provides a written report including energy balance
on all the loops and financial assessment of the solar cooling project. The user can also look at
temperature evolution at different parts of the system (mainly input and output component
temperatures). Monthly data files are also available in notepad format within the
ODIRSOL/project directory
Status
The final ODIRSOL software is free but has been delivered in a Beta test format. All configurations
have been tested and provide realistic results in detailed configurations; only a few could be
validated in comparison with real installations because of a lack of reference monitoring results.
The software is now available in French only but the database has to be enlarged in short term to
cover recent commercially available products.
Contact
Description: http://software.cstb.fr/soft/present.asp?context=Odirsol&langue=us
Download : http://software.cstb.fr/soft/download.asp?page_id=us!Odirsol
7.3.5 Expected new predesign tools

An extended version of the SACE solar cooling light tool (section 7.3.2) was developed at
Fraunhofer ISE for a fast predesign of solar cooling applications. This version allows the selection
of predefined system configurations and the definition of a conventional reference system in
order to achieve within a simulation run comparative annual results in a specified sizing range.
This product is not public available, but an improved and extended new version is currently being
developed for the general predesign of thermally driven chiller systems. This new version will
allow for the selection of different heat sources (e.g., district heating, waste heat, solar heat) and
additionally provides of a generation tool to prepare building load files without the need of using
external building simulation tools. For this reason, a building simulation program is integrated,
based on a simple 1zone approach.
After finalising this program, it will be made public available within the EU project POLYSMART
(www.polysmart.org) and the IEA Task 38 (www.ieashc.org/task38), but probably not for free of
charge.
93
7.4 Detailed simulation tools
Detailed simulation tools have the possibility to model the building and the HVAC system. Table
7.3 lists the ones that were identified and are most commonly used for transient simulation of
SAC systems.
Software Reference / Source

TRNSYS Reference [TRNSYS]
www.sel.me.wisc.edu/trnsys/
ColSim www.colsim.de
EnergyPlus Reference [Energy Plus, 2005]
www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/
INSEL Reference [INSEL,20032006]
http://www.inseldi.com/index.php?id=21&L=1
Table 7.3 List of detailed simulation software tools
These simulation tools can be mainly focused on the HVAC system and have an additional
possibility to model the building and generate load files (heating and cooling). In this case we
consider them as System oriented. Others focused on the detailed modelling of the building
associating the active component of HVAC Systems. In this case we consider them as Building
oriented. A short descriptions of this software tools is given in the next sections.
7.4.1 System orientated

TRNSYS
TRNSYS is a very well know tool among the solar energy community. It was developed in the
seventies in the University of Wisconsin.
Subroutines describing the components of solar systems, hydraulic components and HVAC are
called Types. It already includes Types for many solar heating system components and also for
HVAC system components. It is mainly an open source software and it allows for the inclusion of
new components.
It also has a special editor for definition of the Building characteristics which allows the calculation
of heating and cooling loads. In difference to the other components, the source code of the
building model type is not open.
It is not a free software and it involves some degree of complexity and experience in its use.
Many examples of its use for design of solar assisted air conditioning systems are available. Some
are referred in [Wiemken, E. et al (2004)].
ColSim
The objective for the development of ColSim was the possibility to simulate and test complex
control strategies in different HVAC and thermal solar systems coupled to a building model. The
developers of this Software tool indicate as a reason to develop it, the fact that the simulation of
controller strategies with the simulation code TRNSYS and other commercially available programs
is not possible without modifying numeric algorithms of the programs' solvers in order to achieve
convergence with small time steps.
Detailed description of ColSim can be found in www.colsim.de and in the Programme Manual
available for download. It is a public domain software and its current platform is LINUX, although
it can also be used in Windows. However, the Colsim web page gives no information on actuality
(no dates). A password for free download is provided after contacting the responsible developer.
94
It allows the construction of new modules for different system components, but there is no clear
knowledge of the present situation.
Several references can be downloaded in the internet page but most of them are in German
language.
INSEL Integrated Simulation Environment Language

This software is described as an integrated environment and a graphical language for the
creation of simulation applications. It uses graphical symbols that are interconnected by mouse
operations and which can represent mathematical functions or real components of different
systems , e.g., solar thermal collectors.
The present version of INSEL already has available a toolbox for Solar Thermal that includes
collectors for liquid heating as flat plate and vacuum tubes, air collectors, storage tanks and also
models for solar thermal cooling plants, like dessicant and evaporative cooling systems, as well as,
absorption cycles.
This software also has a userprogramable environment in which other component models can be
built. Programming languages like FORTRAN and C/C++ are supported.
A learning edition is available for free download at
http://www.inseldi.com/index.php?id=21&L=1 .
7.4.2 Building orientated

Energy Plus
EnergyPlus is described as an energy analysis and thermal load simulation program.
It is based on a users description of a building from the perspective of the buildings physical
makeup, associated mechanical systems, etc., EnergyPlus calculates the heating and cooling
loads necessary to maintain thermal control setpoints
Some of the main characteristics of this software, selected from the detailed description in
[Energy Plus, 2005], are:
Integrated, simultaneous solution where the building response and the primary and
secondary systems are tightly coupled (iteration performed when necessary)
Subhourly, userdefinable time steps for the interaction between the thermal zones and the
environment; variable time steps for interactions between the thermal zones and the HVAC
systems (automatically varied to ensure solution stability)
ASCII text based weather, input, and output files that include hourly or subhourly
environmental conditions
Heat balance based solution technique for building thermal loads that allows for simultaneous
calculation of radiant and convective effects at both in the interior and exterior surface during
each time step
Loop based configurable HVAC systems (conventional and radiant) that allow users to model
typical systems and slightly modified systems without recompiling the program source code
EnergyPlus can be downloaded free from www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/.

It has already incorporated several HVAC system components as well as solar thermal collectors.
The physical models of the components are described in detail in reference [Energy Plus, 2005]. It
will be possible to include new models. Guidelines for this are given in reference [Energy Plus,
2005].
Reference [Carvalho, M.J., 2007] includes reference to other simulation tools.
95
7.4.3 Further simulation tool description

In the Task 38 Solar airconditioning and refrigeration in the Solar Heating and Cooling
Programme of the International Energy Agency IEA, a description of appropriate simulation tools
for solar cooling applications will be also available in the course of the Task activities.
Furthermore, a comparative assessment of different simulation tools on base of defined
benchmark systems will be made. This work is carried out in the subtask C of the Task (www.iea
shc.org/task38).
References
[Carvalho, M.J., 2007]

Carvalho, MJ (2007), WP 4.5: SOLAR COOLING: Contribution to a future development of CTSS method applicable to solar
assisted air conditioning systems (or solar cooling systems),
http://www.swttechnologie.de/WP4_D2.5cooling.pdf
[Duffie, J. and W. Beckman, 2006]

Duffie, J. and W. Beckman, Solar engineering of thermal processes, John Wiley & Sons, 2006; ISBN 0471698679.
[Energy Plus, 2005]

Energy Plus Manual version1.2.2 (2005), US Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,
www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/
[EN 129752:2006]
EN 129752:2006, Thermal solar systems and components Factory made systems Part 2: Test methods, ICS 27.160
[Franke, U. and Seifert, C. (2005)]

Franke, U. and Seifert, C. (2005), Solar Assisted air conditioning of Buildings IEA Task 25, Subtask B: Design tools and
simulation programmes documentation for SolAC programme, version 1.5
[Henning, 2003]
HansMartin Henning (2003), SACE Solar Cooling Computer Tool Guidelines for use, http://www.solair
project.eu/218.0.html
[Henning, 2004/2008]
HansMartin Henning (Ed.): SolarAssisted AirConditioning in Buildings A Handbook for Planners. Springer
nd
Wien/NewYork. 2 revised edition 2008; ISBN 3211730958.
[Horta, 2008]
Horta, P and M. J. Carvalho, M. Collares Pereira, W. Carbajal (2008), Longterm performance calculations based on
steadystate efficiency test results: Analysis of optical effects affecting beam, diffuse and reflected radiation, Solar
Energy 82, pages 10761082
[Horta, 2008a]
Horta, P and M. J. Carvalho, S. Fischer (2008a), Solar thermal collector yield experimental validation of calculations
based on steadystate and quasidynamic test methodologies, EUROSUN2008
[INSEL,20032006]
Tutorial INSEL INtegrated Simulation Environment Language 20032006 Doppelintegral GbR (www.inseldi.com)
[NEGST (20042007)]
th
NEGST (20042007) NEGST New Generation of Solar Thermal Systems European Project 6 Framework
programme Project No.: TREN/04/FP6EN/S07.31155/503119
[Sabatelli, V, 2007]
Sabatelli, V and G. Fiorenza, D. Marano (2007), WP5.D3: Design and simulation software, http://www.swt
technologie.de/html/publicdeliverables3.html
96
[TRNSYS]
TRNSYS Transient system simulation environment developed at the Solar Energy Laboratory at Univ. of Winsconsin,
Madison, USA, http://sel.me.wisc.edu/trnsys/
[TRNSYS 16]
TRNSYS 16 Transient system simulation environment. Standard Component Library. Overview, Volume 3
[Wiemken, E et al, 2004]

Wiemken, E et al (2004), Design and planning support for solar assisted airconditioning guidelines and tools, Eurosun
2004
97
98
99
Supported by
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not
necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Communities. The European Commission
is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
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Requirements on the design

and configuration of small and medium sized

This publication has been produced in the framework of the

April 15, 2009

Partners in the SOLAIR consortium:

1 Building cooling and airconditioning..............................................................................9

2 Technologies applicable for solar thermally driven cooling ...........................................1

3 General requirements on solar airconditioning and cooling systems.........................46

4 Selection of the appropriate technology.......................................................................60

5 Small systems: schemes for typical applications ..........................................................71

6 Recommendations on monitoring and quality assurance ............................................77

7 Planning tools .................................................................................................................84

1 Building cooling and airconditioning

Thermal confort Indoor air quality

Lighting confort Noise protection

1.1 Indoor thermal comfort

air temperature (oC)

1.1.1 Parameters of indoor thermal comfort

1.1.2 Integrated indicators of thermal comfort

1.2 Cooling demand of buildings

Detailed descriptions of planning tools are presented in Chapter 7.

1.2.3. Study cases

Cooling Cooling Useful End energy

1.3 Energy conservation principles

Zunanja lamelna senila, nehlajen prostor

Hour starting Dan

1.4 Fundamentals of solar cooling

1.4.2 Principle of sorption solar cooling

1.5 Impact of climate changes on thermal indoor comfort

Number of hours [h/a]

[EN ISO 7730, 2005]

[EN 15251, 2007]

[McQuiston et al., 2005]

[Vidrih, Medved, 2006]

[Arkar, Medved, 2007]

2 Technologies applicable for solar thermally driven cooling

Desiccant evaporative Conditioned

2.1 Chilled water systems

cooling water chilled water

York, Carrier, Trane ..

Mayekawa (JP) water/silicagel

0 20 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

In principle, different possibilities and heat rejection technologies may be applicable:

Figure 2.13 Example of a large wet cooling tower installation.

Ta [C] Twb [C] RH [%] G_Gh [kWh/m2]

Global horizontal radiation sum

2.2 Open cycle processes

dehumidifier heat recovery

Regenerator QH driving heat

supply air diluted solution

2.3 Solar thermal collectors

solar air collector

flat plate collector

optionally: reflector Absorber with fluid channel

Figure 2.17 Examples of stationary collectors, applicable for solar cooling.

energy yield [kW h/m ]

Figure 2.22 Examples of 1axis tracked concentrating solar sthermal collectors.

[Henning, Wiemken, 2007]

[Mugnier et al., 2008]

[SOLAIR: Review technical solutions, 2008].

[SOLAIR: Best practice Catalogue, 2008]

[Task 33/IV, 2008]

3.1 Primary energy saving