Analysis of H2O/EMISE absorption chiller driven by stationary solar collectors in hot-humid climate

The performance of H2O/EMISE (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate) absorption chiller driven by stationary solar collectors including the flat plate collector (FPC), evacuated tube collector (ETC), compound parabolic collector (CPC) in hot-humid climate is the focus of this study. As a case study, the cooling capacity of the absorption chiller is constant at 100 kW and used for air conditioning in Guangzhou, China with the inlet/outlet temperature of cooling water fixed at 32/37 degrees C and the inlet/outlet temperature of chilled water set at 17/12 degrees C. The effects of heat source temperature between 78 and 100 degrees C on the thermodynamic as well as economic performance of the solar absorption chiller system have been analyzed and meanwhile the application potentials of the three candidate solar collectors are compared also. The results show that there is an optimum heat source temperature makes the coefficient of performance (COP) and exergetic efficiency (ECOP) of solar absorption chiller system maximum, which is featured with a shifting to lower values compared to the optimum one that leads to the COP of absorption chiller machine maximum. Besides, while the CPC absorption chiller system has the best thermodynamic performance with the overall COP and ECOP about 0.351 and 0.027, respectively, the ETC system becomes the most economic one with the specific investment cost about 1194 USD/kW. Recommendations are given based on the findings as resources to help the design of solar driven H2O/EMISE absorption chiller systems in the hot-humid region.