Solar Air-Conditioning: Case Study of Solar
Absorption versus Photovoltaic Vapor Compression
Systems
Mohammad O. Hamdan
Mechanical Engineering Department
American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE
Abstract— Due to recent research and development
activities in solar-based air-conditioning systems, the GCC
engineering community has been investigating alternative
solutions to assess the feasibility towards adopting solar
absorption refrigeration as a sustainable air-conditioning
approach in hot environments. This study investigates the
feasibility of two solar air-conditioning technologies,
namely solar thermal absorption refrigeration and
photovoltaic vapor compression technologies. Based on
commercially available efficiencies of solar collectors and
photovoltaic panels, this case study indicates that
photovoltaic vapor compression air-conditioning systems
have higher coefficient of performance and require smaller
surface area when compared to solar thermal absorption
refrigeration systems.
Keywords— Solar air-conditioning; solar thermal absorption
refrigeration; photovoltaic vapor compression refrigeration
I. INTRODUCTION
As mankind population increases, the demand for energy
will evidently keep on growing. As it stands today, a large
share of electrical energy is produced from fossil fuels, which
are highly pollutant in nature. Air-conditioning alone counts for
more than 60 percent of electric energy consumption in the
GCC region during the summer seasons. The strong and
continuous global rise in demand for energy and the depletion
of fossil fuel resources have compelled an overhaul of the
energy sector and its consumption practices. Sustainable
energy sources are becoming part of international strategic
planning, which involves the use of more efficient systems,
diversified energy sources, innovated technologies and
sustainable operation. More efficient systems are being
developed around the globe to reduce energy consumption.
During summer time, air-conditioning systems are significantly
contributing to the peak in electricity demand. This not only
loads the electricity network, but also affects the cost of
maintaining a reliable electricity supply. The use of solar
energy to power air-conditioning systems is considered as a
viable promising solution that has a great potential in GCC
countries.
978-1-5090-5454-1/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
Bassam A. Abu-Nabah
Mechanical Engineering Department
American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE
Recently, many solar air-conditioning systems have been
developed and tested including solar-absorption, solar
adsorption and solar-vapor compression systems. Solar-
absorption and adsorption systems are powered mainly through
solar thermal energy. On the other hand, a solar-vapor
compression system is powered using solar electric energy.
Different research groups have explored the use of solar
thermal panels to power absorption [1-4] and adsorption [5-7]
air-conditioning systems. Recent reviews on solar air-
conditioning systems compared different solar thermal energy
techniques based on cost and performance [8, 9]. Such
comparison is useful to point the challenges and advancements
offered by different solar thermal energy techniques. However,
limiting the comparison to solar thermal air-conditioning
systems could be misunderstood by engineers. Based on these
studies, field engineers may consider such systems as viable
solution for the current problem, which is not the case as
discussed in this study.
This effort compares a single stage absorption air-
conditioning cycle powered by solar thermal collector and a
simple single vapor compression cycle powered by
photovoltaic panel. The study discusses the feasibility of both
systems based on performance and required solar panel surface
area.
II. MATHEMATICAL MODELING
In this section mathematical models are used to evaluate the
feasibility of two solar air-conditioning systems. The first
system (system-A) consists of an evacuated solar tube collector
integrated with absorption refrigeration cycle as shown in
Fig. 1. The second system (system-B) consists of photovoltaic
(PV) panel that is integrated with conventional compression
refrigeration cycle as show in Fig. 2.
A. System-A: Integrated solar thermal collector with
absorption refrigeration cycle
In system-A, the absorption cycle is powered by solar
thermal energy. The solar thermal energy is collected via
evacuated solar tube collectors. The coefficient of performance
(𝐶𝑂𝑃) of an absorption refrigeration system under reversible
conditions is given as shown in equation (1) [10].
 𝑇𝐻 𝑇𝐿 The values used in the calculations are shown in table I while
𝐶𝑂𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑣,𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = (1 − )( ) (1)
𝑇𝑠 𝑇𝐻 −𝑇𝐿 one variable is changed each time.
Where 𝑇𝐿 , 𝑇𝐻 and 𝑇𝑠 are the thermodynamics temperature of
the refrigerated space, the warm environment, and the heat
source, respectively. The overall 𝐶𝑂𝑃 of the integrated
absorption refrigeration system with solar collector is
calculated as follow:
𝑄𝐿
𝐶𝑂𝑃𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙−𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑝 = = 𝜂𝑆𝐶 𝐶𝑂𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑣,𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (2)
𝑄𝑔𝑒𝑛

Where 𝜂𝑆𝐶 represents the solar collector (SC) efficiency.

It is well known that the size of an absorption refrigeration
system is bulky when compared to a conventional vapor
compression refrigeration system. However, when the
thermal energy needed to operate the absorption system
comes from solar energy, the size of the integrated system
becomes mainly dominated by the surface area needed by
the solar energy components. For solar absorption
refrigeration system, the amount of heat needed to operate
the system is a function of the area needed by the solar
thermal collector (mainly the size of the evacuated tube
collectors). Based on the required heat (𝑄𝑔𝑒𝑛 ) to operate
the absorption refrigeration system, the area of the SC can
be calculated as follow:
𝑄𝐿 1 Fig. 1. System-A which consists of evacuated tube solar collector integrated
𝐴= ( ) (3) with absorption refrigeration cycle.
𝐶𝑂𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑣,𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝜂𝑠𝑐 𝑞𝑠′′

Where 𝑞𝑠′′ is the solar heat flux in W/m2 and 𝑄𝑔𝑒𝑛 =

𝜂𝑠𝑐 𝑞𝑠′′ 𝐴.

B. System-B: Integrated photovoltaic with vapor compression

cycle
The 𝐶𝑂𝑃 of a vapor compression refrigeration cycle under
reversible conditions is given as [10]
𝑄𝐿 𝑇𝐿
𝐶𝑂𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑣,𝑉𝐶 = = (4)
𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡,𝑖𝑛 𝑇𝐻 −𝑇𝐿

The overall 𝐶𝑂𝑃 of the integrated vapor compression

refrigeration cycle with photovoltaic is calculated as follow:
𝐶𝑂𝑃𝑃𝑉−𝐶𝑉 = 𝜂𝑃𝑉 𝐶𝑂𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑣,𝑉𝐶 (5)
The size of a photovoltaic refrigeration system is based
on the efficiency of the used photovoltaic panel (𝜂𝑃𝑉 ),
which can be calculated as follow:
𝑄𝐿 1
𝐴= ( ) (6)
𝐶𝑂𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑣,𝑉𝐶 𝜂𝑃𝑉 𝑞𝑠′′

Where 𝑞𝑠′′ is the solar heat flux in W/m2 and

𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡,𝑖𝑛 = 𝜂𝑃𝑉 𝑞𝑠′′ 𝐴. Fig. 2. System-B which consists of PV with conventional vapor compression
refrigeration cycle.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION TABLE I. THE VALUE OF TEMPERATURE USED IN THE CALCULATIONS
The two systems under investigation are evaluated under
comparable constraints while changing one of the design Design constraints Temperature
parameters. The results of different design constraints are Solar collector outlet temperature (𝑇𝑠 ) 100 ℃
discussed in this section including the effect of the solar
collector outlet temperature (heat source, 𝑇𝑠 ), the surrounding Refrigerated space temperature (𝑇𝐿 ) −5 ℃
temperature (𝑇𝐻 ) and the refrigerated space temperature (𝑇𝐿 ).
Surrounding temperature (𝑇𝐻 ) 40 ℃

The effect of solar thermal collector outlet temperature (𝑇𝑠 ) on
both systems is shown in Fig. 3. It is clear that as collector
outlet temperature increases, the 𝐶𝑂𝑃 of the absorption
refrigeration cycle increases. This is expected since higher
solar collector outlet temperature means less work is needed to
separate the refrigerant from the transport medium in the
absorption cycle. It is clear that the rate of increase in 𝐶𝑂𝑃
starts decreasing as the solar collector temperature increases
until it reaches an asymptotic value. As expected, the solar
collector temperature does not have an effect on system-B
since no solar collector is needed to operate system-B.
Fig. 3. The variation of 𝐶𝑂𝑃 with solar collector outlet temperature (𝑇𝑠 ).
The effect of surrounding temperature (𝑇𝐻 ) on both systems is
shown in Fig. 4. It is clear that as the surrounding temperature
(outdoor temperature) increases, the 𝐶𝑂𝑃 of both refrigeration
systems decreases. The drop in 𝐶𝑂𝑃 as outdoor temperature
increases is due to the fact that more work is needed to force
heat to transfer to the surroudning.
Fig. 4. The variation of 𝐶𝑂𝑃 with outdoor temperature (𝑇𝐻 ).
The effect of the refrigerated space temperature (𝑇𝐿 ) on both
systems is shown in Fig. 5. It shows that as the refrigerated
space temperature (indoor temperature) increases, the
performance of both refrigeration systems increases. The
increase in 𝐶𝑂𝑃 as indoor temperature increases is due to the
fact that less work is needed to absorb the heat from the
refrigerated space.
Fig. 5. The variation of 𝐶𝑂𝑃 with indoor or refrigerated space temperature
(𝑇𝐿 ).
In order to compare the required surface area to be covered
with SC panels (for system-A) or PV panels (for system-B),
realistic conditions need to be selected. Hence, multiple solar
collector and photovoltaic suppliers in the UAE market were
surveyed. The market survey concluded that the average solar
collector efficiency (SCE) is around 85% and the average
photovoltaic efficiency (PVE) is around 15%.
Fig. 6 shows the results of adopting these surveyed efficiencies
with the design constraints shown in table I. It indicates that
surface area required to produce 1 ton of refrigeration load
under 250 W/m2 solar irradiance. As reported in the literature
[11], the maximum irradiance in UAE reaches 950 W/m2 with
an average irradiance of 250 W/m2 . Results show that based
on the required surface area, system-B with a PVE of 15%
requires less area when compared to system-A with SCE
efficiency of 85%. It is clear that only when solar collector
outlet temperature exceeds 180 ℃, system-A requires less
coverage area which is challenging to obtain. A higher solar
collector temperature is achievable by moving from evacuated
tube solar collectors to more expensive concentrated parabolic
solar collectors. A higher temperature solar collector means
that one can use multistage absorption refrigeration cycle,
which has higher 𝐶𝑂𝑃 when compared to a single stage
absorption refrigeration.
 reduce initial capital cost. For the solar thermal absorption
refrigeration system, the covered area depends on the
efficiency of the solar collector and the maximum temperature
that can be reached by the solar collector. The absorption
refrigeration system can become more attractive to HVAC field
engineers if this system starts utilizing concentrated solar
collectors which allows higher solar collector outlet
temperature.

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(c)

Fig. 6. The area coverage needed for solar thermal absorption refrigeration
(system-A) and solar PV vapor compression refrigeration (system-B) under
different (a) solar collector outlet, (b) outdoor, and (c) indoor temperatures.

IV. CONCLUSION

The results show that the 𝐶𝑂𝑃 of the vapor compression

refrigeration cycle is always higher than the absorption
refrigeration cycle. The required surface area for a photovoltaic
vapor compression refrigeration system is in general less than
the one needed for solar thermal absorption refrigeration
system. Hence, less land is needed which could dramatically