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Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Comparative study of dierent solar cooling systems for buildings

in subtropical city
K.F. Fong *, T.T. Chow, C.K. Lee, Z. Lin, L.S. Chan
Division of Building Science and Technology, College of Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue,
Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Received 11 June 2009; received in revised form 28 October 2009; accepted 7 November 2009
Available online 8 December 2009
Communicated by: Associated Editor Ruzhu Wang

Abstract
In recent years, more and more attention has been paid on the application potential of solar cooling for buildings. Due to the fact that
the eciency of solar collectors is generally low at the time being, the eectiveness of solar cooling would be closely related to the availability of solar irradiation, climatic conditions and geographical location of a place. In this paper, ve types of solar cooling systems were
involved in a comparative study for subtropical city, which is commonly featured with long hot and humid summer. The solar cooling
systems included the solar electric compression refrigeration, solar mechanical compression refrigeration, solar absorption refrigeration,
solar adsorption refrigeration and solar solid desiccant cooling. Component-based simulation models of these systems were developed,
and their performances were evaluated throughout a year. The key performance indicators are solar fraction, coecient of performance,
solar thermal gain, and primary energy consumption. In addition, dierent installation strategies and types of solar collectors were compared for each kind of solar cooling system. Through this comparative study, it was found that solar electric compression refrigeration
and solar absorption refrigeration had the highest energy saving potential in the subtropical Hong Kong. The former is to make use of
the solar electric gain, while the latter is to adopt the solar thermal gain. These two solar cooling systems would have even better performances through the continual advancement of the solar collectors. It will provide a promising application potential of solar cooling
for buildings in the subtropical region.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Solar cooling; Photovoltaic; Solar thermal technology; Solar collectors; Air-conditioning; Plant simulation

1. Introduction
In the eld of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning
(HVAC) engineering, electricity has been used to energize
the air-conditioning and refrigeration systems for a century. It is undoubted that HVAC is one of the indispensable provisions in modern life, no matter in working or
living environments. Normally one-third to half of the
annual total electricity consumption is used for air-conditioning and refrigeration in the metropolis worldwide.
80% of electricity is still generated by burning the fossil
*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +852 27888724; fax: +852 27889716.

E-mail address: bssquare@cityu.edu.hk (K.F. Fong).

0038-092X/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.solener.2009.11.002

fuels, leading to the non-stopping emission of global warming gases. In a typical subtropical city, like Hong Kong, the
summer is hot and humid, and the winter is generally temperate. Therefore air-conditioning is essential in a subtropical city throughout a year, particularly for the commercial
and institutional buildings. In the subtropical Hong Kong,
air-conditioning and refrigeration are the largest area of
electricity consumption, accounting for 33% in 2006 (Hong
Kong Energy End-use Data, 2008).
Many facts show that the climate change is getting
worse. The changes of global surface temperature, global
average sea level, snow and ice over 18502000 are
reported (IPCC, 2007). To have wider application of
renewable energy is a crucial sustainable strategy to allevi-

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K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

Nomenclature
COP coecient of performance
COPab COP of solar absorption refrigeration
COPad COP of solar adsorption refrigeration
COPdesi COP of solar solid desiccant cooling
COPelect COP of solar electric compression refrigeration
COPmech COP of solar mechanical compression refrigeration
primary energy consumption (kWh)
Ep
Ep,desi primary energy consumption of solar solid desiccant cooling (kWh)
Ep,elect primary energy consumption of solar electric
compression refrigeration (kWh)
Elp,therma
primary energy consumption of solar thermal
refrigeration (kWh)
Gelect solar electric gain (kWh)
Gsolar solar thermal gain (kWh)
Gsolar,eq solar thermal gain equivalent (kWh)
specic enthalpy of outdoor air (kW/kg)
ho
specic enthalpy of supply air (kW/kg)
hs
m
total number of time steps in a month for hot
water pump in operation
total number of time steps in a month for chiller
m0
in operation
m_ a
mass ow rate of supply air (kg/s)
Qaux
heat output of auxiliary heater (kWh)
heat input to boiler of heat engine (kW)
Qboil
heat input for desorption (kW)
Qde
refrigeration eect (kW)
Qe
heat input to generator (kW)
Qgen
Qregen heat input for regeneration (kW)

ate the climate change. Global warming has caused the

increasing trend of the environmental temperatures. This
gradual change would aect the future air-conditioning
requirements in Hong Kong (Lam et al., 2008). The
demand of air-conditioning would be increasing due to
the eect of climate change and global warming. If we still
rely on the conventional electric-driven air-conditioning
but the electricity is generated from the fossil fuels, the
greenhouse gas emission would continuously worsen global
warming, in turn the demand of air-conditioning would be
further increasing. If this dead loop cannot be solved, even
global heating would come one day. Therefore it is urgent
to minimize the consumption of fossil fuels and promote
wider use of solar energy, particularly in refrigeration
and air-conditioning.
Solar cooling is envisioned as the sustainable means to
provide air-conditioning and refrigeration, since solar
energy is considered to be the primary energy source. Technically, solar cooling is a feasible way to replace the electric
refrigeration machines for buildings. In recent years, more

Qsolar
SF
SFelect

solar thermal gain from the solar collectors

(kW)
solar fraction
solar fraction of solar electric compression
refrigeration

SFthermal
solar fraction of solar thermal cooling
W
power input to DC motor (kW)
WAHU electrical energy consumption of AHU (kWh)
Waux auxiliary electrical power from the city power
grid (kW)
Wfans electrical energy consumption of supply air fan
and exhaust air fan (kWh)
Wparasitic
electrical energy consumption of parasitic
equipment, including pumps and cooling tower
(kWh)
W para,desi electrical energy consumption of parasitic
equipment, including pumps, desiccant wheel,
heat wheel and evaporative coolers (kWh)
Wsolar solar electric gain from photovoltaic panels
(kW)
y
total number of time steps in a year for hot
water pump in operation
total number of time steps in a year for chiller in
y0
operation
Greek symbols
energy eciency for electrical energy converted
ge
into primary energy
energy eciency for gas energy converted into
gg
primary energy

reviews have been made about the feasibility of wider

application of solar cooling technologies (Fan et al.,
2007; Hwang et al., 2008; Kim and Infante Ferreira,
2008). A number of demonstration projects have been
launched to gain more experience in the design and operation of solar refrigeration and air-conditioning (Eicker,
2003; Henning, 2004; Zhai et al., 2008). Air-conditioning
is already part of our daily lives, solar cooling certainly
has a positive and long-term impact. For the continual
population and economic growth, wider use of solar energy
in air-conditioning would secure the increasing energy
demand.
Solar cooling can be broadly categorized into solar electric refrigeration, solar thermal refrigeration and solar
thermal air-conditioning. In the rst category, the solar
electric compression refrigeration uses photovoltaic (PV)
panels to power conventional refrigeration machine. In
the second category, the refrigeration eect can be produced through solar thermal gain, the solar mechanical
compression refrigeration, solar absorption refrigeration

K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

and solar adsorption refrigeration are the three common

options. In the third category, the conditioned air can be
directly provided through the solar thermal gain by means
of desiccant cooling. Both solid and liquid sorbents are
available, like silica gel and lithium chloride, respectively.
However there is a risk of carry-over of the liquid sorbent
into the indoor space by the conditioned air, so it is more
suitable to apply the solar solid desiccant cooling. As a
result, the following ve types of solar cooling systems were
included in this study:






solar
solar
solar
solar
solar

electric compression refrigeration;

mechanical compression refrigeration;
absorption refrigeration;
adsorption refrigeration; and
solid desiccant cooing.

The rst one uses the solar electric approach, while the
rest apply the solar thermal technology.
The installation strategy and types of solar collectors
would directly aect the system performance since the
amount of solar irradiation acquired would be dierent.
The at plate collectors and evacuated tubes are the common types of solar collectors used in the solar thermal systems. The parabolic concentrators are also getting more
popular in building applications. It is worthy to understand
their performances in response to dierent system design
and operating requirements based on the solar irradiation,
climatic and loading conditions in the subtropical region.
In the previous research works (Hwang et al., 2008; Kim
and Infante Ferreira, 2008), simulation and experimental
study on a certain type of solar cooling system has been
pinpointed, but not across a variety of solar cooling systems with dierent installation strategies and types of solar
collectors.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2
describes development of the simulation models of the ve
types of solar cooling systems serving a typical local oce.
Section 3 addresses the framework of the comparative
study of dierent scenarios, including dierent installation
strategies and types of solar collectors associated with the
solar cooling systems. Section 4 presents the denitions
of the performance indicators, including solar fraction,
coecient of performance, solar thermal gain, and primary
energy consumption. Section 5 discusses the results of the
preliminary study for the installation strategies and types
of solar collectors. Section 6 discusses results of the full
comparative study based on the performance indicators.
The feasible choice of solar cooling systems would be identied and recommended. Section 7 is the conclusion.
2. Simulation of the ve solar cooling systems
2.1. General design information
In this study, each type of the solar cooling systems was
designed to serve a common typical oce in the subtropical

229

Hong Kong located at 22.32N and 114.17E. The oce

was single storey with oor area of 200 m2. The daily occupancy schedule was from 08:00 to 18:00, totally 10 h. The
wall-fenestration ratio was 0.5. The internal and external
shading factors of fenestration were 0.8 and 0.2, respectively. The internal heat gains included 24 persons seated
at work, 230 W/person of personal computer, and 17 W/
m2 lighting with 30% convective part. The provisions and
schedules of the internal heat gains were based on the local
design practice (Code of Practice for Energy Eciency of
Air Conditioning Installations, 2007). The fresh air ow
rate was 10 litre/s/person. The design indoor conditions
were 25.5 C and 60% RH, and the year-round weather
data followed the Typical Meteorological Year of Hong
Kong (Chan et al., 2006). The design entering hot water,
condenser water and chilled water temperatures were
90 C, 30 C and 13 C, respectively. The chiller was sized
based on the design entering condenser and chilled water
temperatures at 30 C and 13 C, respectively. The condenser and chilled water ow rates were designed based
on the 5 C change between entering and leaving temperatures. The component-based simulation program TRNSYS
(2006) and its component library TESS(2006) were used to
build and run the system simulations. The simulation time
step was 6 min. Table 1 summarizes the common parameters used in modeling dierent solar cooling systems.
2.2. Solar electric compression refrigeration
2.2.1. Model building
Generally the solar electric compression refrigeration,
the air side system and the corresponding control provisions were built by using TRNSYS and TESS, as shown
in Fig. 1. The major equipment included the PV panels,
direct current (DC) motor, power regulator, vapour compression chiller, chilled water pump, cooling tower, condenser water pump, air handling unit (AHU). A detailed
chiller model was developed separately. The modeling
method of DC motor was based on Hughes (1993), that
of condenser and evaporator based on Lee (2008), and that
of the compressor followed the parameter estimation technique adopted by Jin and Spitler(2002). The total and space
cooling load were 29 kW and 20 kW, respectively. The general modeling parameters of the solar electric compression
refrigeration is shown in Table 1.
2.2.2. Part-load control of chiller
The PV panels were designed to furnish the necessary
electric power to drive the chiller. When the supply from
the PV panels was insucient due to the weather condition,
a power regulator was used to draw auxiliary electrical
power from the city power grid. The power regulator was
capable of tracking the maximum power point of the PV
panels at any circumstances, so that the auxiliary electrical
power requirement could be minimized. To prevent frequent on/o of the chiller in low-load condition, a partload controller for the chiller was used to modulate the

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K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

Table 1
General modeling parameters for the solar cooling systems.
Solar electric
compression
refrigeration

Solar mechanical
compression
refrigeration

Solar
absorption
refrigeration

Solar
adsorption
refrigeration

Solar solid
desiccant
cooling

Air handling unit

Supply air mass ow rate (kg s1)
Supply fan power (kW)
Supply fan eciency
Face area of cooling coil (m2)

2.15
2.15
70%
0.9

2.15
2.15
70%
0.9

2.15
2.15
70%
0.9

2.15
2.15
70%
0.9

3.36
3.36
70%
N/A

Chiller
Chilled water mass ow rate (kg s1)
Condenser water mass ow rate (kg s1)
Specic heat capacity of liquid water (kJ kg1 K1)
Specic heat capacity of water vapour (kJ kg1 K1)
Overall heat transfer value of evaporator coil (kW K1)
Overall heat transfer value of condenser coil (kW K1)

1.4
1.9
4.19
N/A
2.1
3.1

1.4
1.9
4.19
N/A
2.1
3.1

1.4
1.6
4.19
1.866
4.3
4.8

1.4
1.8
4.19
1.866
6.0
6.5

N/A
N/A
N/A
2.028
N/A
N/A

Condenser/cooling water system

Cooling tower air volume ow rate (m3 s1)
Cooling tower fan power (kW)
Cooling tower fan eciency
Condenser water pump power (kW)
Condenser water pump eciency

1.17
0.36
65%
0.131
60%

11.11
3.42
65%
3.23
60%

2.22
0.683
65%
0.093
60%

2.78
0.855
65%
0.115
60%

N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A

Chilled water system

Chilled water pump power (kW)
Chilled water pump eciency

0.084
60%

0.084
60%

0.084
60%

0.084
60%

N/A
N/A

Hot/regenerative water system

Hot water mass ow rate (kg s1)
Hot water pump power (kW)
Hot water pump eciency
Regenerative water mass ow rate (kg s1)
Regenerative water pump power (kW)
Regenerative water pump eciency

N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A

2.8
0.233
60%
15
1.55
60%

2.0
0.2
60%
2.0
0.247
60%

2.8
0.233
60%
2.8
0.341
60%

1.92
0.192
60%
1.92
0.141
60%

General
Area of solar collectors (m2)
Minimum driving temperature (C)
Capacity of auxiliary heater (kW)

100
N/A
N/A

100
82
323

100
67
42

100
64
69

100
60
89

Remark: N/A means not applicable.

return temperature of the chiller exceeded 12 C, and

stepped up if the water temperature dropped less than
1 C after one simulation time step. On the contrary, when

set point of the power regulator between 1.5 and 7.5 kW in

ve steps. The set point started at 1.5 kW (the minimum
required power input for the chiller) when the chilled water

Cooling
Tower

PV Panels

Thermostat with
Cooling Tower
T
Controller

Condenser Water Pump

Return Air

Condenser

Power
Regulator
DC
PR
Motor

AHU
Expansion
Device

Compressor

City Power
Grid

Evaporator

Fresh
Air

Supply
Air

Vapour
Compression
Chiller

3-way
Valve

Indoor Space

Cooling Coil
Controller

Part-load
controller

Chilled Water Pump

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of HVAC system designed with solar electric compression refrigeration.

K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

the chilled water return temperature was below 12 C, the

set point would be stepped down if the water temperature
dropped more than 1 C after one simulation time step.
By employing the part-load control, the chiller capacity
could be adjusted through the input control of power
regulator.
2.2.3. Control and operation of chiller and associated
equipment
The chilled water entering the cooling coil of AHU was
controlled by a three-way valve based on space temperature. The cooling coil controller generated a linear signal
from 0 to 1 corresponding to no to full ow to the cooling
coil when the space temperature varied from 24.5 to
26.5 C. To avoid instability when simulating the cooling
coil, the valve would open at least 30% when the space temperature was above 24.5 C. The operation of the chiller
was determined by a controller that provided an on/o signal between 12 and 9 C with hysteresis based on the
chilled water return temperature at the chiller. When the
chiller was on, the condenser water pump would operate.
The operation of the cooling tower would be controlled
by a thermostat with hysteresis between 20 and 15 C based
on the condenser water temperature leaving the chiller.
Basically the chilled water pump and AHU were in operation according to the daily occupancy schedule.
2.3. Solar mechanical compression refrigeration
2.3.1. Model building
Development of the solar mechanical compression
refrigeration was based on the schematic diagram shown
in Fig. 2. The essential equipment consisted of the solar
collectors, hot water pump, hot water tank, auxiliary heater, regenerative water pump, heat engine using Rankine
cycle, vapour compression chiller, chilled water pump,
cooling tower, condenser water pump and AHU.

231

A number of validated models were involved in the solar

mechanical compression refrigeration. Modeling approach
of the Rankine cycle followed that proposed by Putten and
Colonna (2007). The performance of a multistage turbine
at dierent operating conditions was approximated by Stodolas law of the ellipse according to Dixon (1998). Modeling methods of condenser, evaporator and compressor
were same as those for the solar electric compression refrigeration in Section 2.2.1. The general modeling parameters
for the solar mechanical compression refrigeration are
shown in Table 1, while the specic parameters are presented in Table 2.
2.3.2. Control and operation of Rankine-cycle-driven chiller
The general provisions for the year-round control and
operation of the chiller and associated equipment were
same as those in Section 2.2.3 for the solar electric compression refrigeration. However, a specic consideration
was required for modeling the Rankine-cycle-driven chiller
in order to ensure its year-round operation. Chiller operation at an insucient driving temperature for the Rankine
Table 2
Modeling parameters for the Rankine cycle of solar mechanical compression refrigeration.
Parameter

Value

Cooler water mass ow rate (kg s1)

Specic heat capacity of circulating uid (kJ kg1 K1)
Density of circulating uid (kg m3)
Volume of circulating uid in boiler coil (m3)
Volume of circulating uid in cooler coil (m3)
Volume of circulating uid in feed pump and connecting pipeline
(m3)
Overall heat transfer value of boiler coil (kW K1)
Overall heat transfer value of cooler coil (kW K1)
Polytropic eciency of turbine
Mechanical eciency of turbine
Ratio of specic heat for circulating uid

14
4.19
1000
0.08
0.08
0.004

Cooling
Tower

Thermostat with Cooling

Tower Controller T

Hot Water Pump

Controller
C

Solar
Collectors

T
T

Hot Water Pump

Hot
Water
Tank

Regen. Feed
Water Pump
Pump

Turbine

Aux.
Heater
Town Gas
Supply

Condenser

Cooler

Boiler

Condenser Water Pump

Compressor

Expansion
Device

Evaporator

Heat Engine
(Rankine Cycle)
Chilled water supply and
return for the AHU serving the
indoor space (same as Fig. 1)

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of solar mechanical compression refrigeration.

Vapour
Compression
Chiller

50
50
80%
90%
1.3

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K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

cycle would cause heat loss from the hot water side to the
cooling water side with no cooling capacity produced. To
avoid this, the chiller would start only when the regenerative water temperature entering the boiler exceeded a preset
minimum driving temperature, which was required by the
Rankine-cycle-driven chiller according to the design entering cooling and chilled water conditions. This minimum
driving temperature was 82 C in this case.
2.3.3. Control and operation of hot water pump and auxiliary
heater
A hot water tank was used to store the heat transferred by
the solar collectors. To ensure fulllment of the cooling load
demand even when the solar irradiation was insucient,
auxiliary heating was provided inside the storage tank as a
backup heat source. The set point for the auxiliary heater
was 90 C. The temperature inside the hot water tank might
be higher than that at the outlet of the solar collectors in case
of weak solar irradiation, then the solar collectors would dissipate heat to the surrounding. To prevent this, the hot water
pump, which was used to circulate hot water between the
solar collectors and the hot water tank, was controlled by
the hot water pump controller using a hysteresis loop control. Whenever the temperature at the solar collector outlet
exceeded the water temperature inside the hot water tank
by 5 C, the hot water pump would be switched on until
the temperature dierence dropped to zero.
2.4. Solar absorption refrigeration
2.4.1. Model building
The entire solar absorption refrigeration was developed
as shown in Fig. 3. The major equipment covered the solar

collectors, hot water pump, hot water tank, auxiliary heater, regenerative water pump, absorption chiller, chilled
water pump, cooling tower, condenser water pump and
AHU.
The model of absorption refrigeration cycle was constructed according to the validated single-eect absorption
chiller of Kim and Infante Ferreira (2008). In addition, the
enthalpy of lithium bromide (LiBr) solution was given by
Florides et al. (2003) and the saturated vapour pressure
of LiBr solution by Patek and Klomfar (2006). The various
properties of refrigerant (water) were determined according
to Florides et al. (2003) and Zhang et al. (2003). The general parameters for solar absorption refrigeration are
shown in Table 1, while the specic parameters are listed
in Table 3.
2.4.2. Control and operation of absorption chiller and
auxiliary heater
The general provisions for the year-round control and
operation of hot water pump and auxiliary heater were
similar to those in Section 2.3.3 for solar mechanical compression refrigeration, expect that the auxiliary heater
Table 3
Modeling parameters for solar absorption refrigeration.
Parameter

Value
1

Absorber water mass ow rate (kg s )

Overall heat transfer value of generator (kW K1)
Overall heat transfer value of absorber (kW K1)
Overall heat transfer value of solution-to-solution heat exchanger
(kW K1)
Degree of superheat at evaporator outlet (C)
Solution volume ow rate at absorber outlet (L s1)

Hot Water Pump

Controller
C
T

Solar
Collectors

Hot Water Pump

Regenerative
Water Pump

Cooling
Tower

Hot
Water
Tank

Condenser Water Pump

Town Gas
Supply

Aux.
Heater
Part-load
Controller

Generator

Condenser

Heat
Exchanger

Expansion
Device

Throttling
Valve
Absorber

Evaporator

Solution
Pump

Absorption
Chiller
T

Chilled water supply and

return for the AHU serving the
indoor space (same as Fig. 1)

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of solar absorption refrigeration.

2.0
4.5
4.5
1.0
5.0
0.1

K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

would be activated through an on/o signal between 12

and 9 C with hysteresis based on the chilled water return
temperature at the chiller. The operation of chiller at an
insucient driving temperature would cause heat loss from
the hot water side to the condenser water side with no cooling capacity produced. To avoid this, the chiller would
start only when the auxiliary heater controller was on
and the regenerative water temperature entering the chiller
exceeded a preset minimum, which was 5 C lower than the
minimum driving temperature 67 C of the absorption chiller. When the chiller was on, the condenser water pump
and the regenerative water pump would be in operation
as well.
2.4.3. Part-load control of absorption chiller
To reduce the utilization of auxiliary heating, the hot
water temperature used to drive the chiller should be maintained as low as possible. This was achieved by adopting a
part-load control for the chiller which modulated the set
point of the auxiliary heater between the minimum driving
temperature 67 C and the ceiling temperature 90 C in 5
steps. The set point started at 67 C when the chilled water
return temperature at the chiller exceeded 12 C, and
stepped up if the water temperature dropped less than
1 C after one simulation time step. Conversely, when the
chilled water return temperature was below 12 C, the set
point would step down if the water temperature dropped
more than 1 C after one simulation time step. By employing this part-load control, the chiller capacity could be regulated through the control of driving temperature.
2.5. Solar adsorption refrigeration
2.5.1. Model building
The system simulation model of solar adsorption refrigeration was built according to Fig. 4. The system compo-

233

nents were similar to those of the solar absorption

refrigeration, except the adsorption chiller was used
instead.
For adsorption refrigeration, an economical adsorption
pair is silica gel and water, where silica gel is the adsorbent
and water the adsorbate (or refrigerant). For the conguration of adsorption cycle in the model, the two-chamber
design was used. In a working cycle, one of the chambers
was used for adsorption while another for desorption.
The role of these two chambers was interchanged in
another cycle, so as to maintain a pseudo-continuous production of refrigeration eect. Model development of the
solar adsorption refrigeration cycle was based on the validated model of Cho and Kim (1992). The general modeling
parameters for the solar adsorption refrigeration are shown
in Table 1, while the specic parameters are outlined in
Table 4.
2.5.2. Control and operation of solar adsorption refrigeration
The details of control and operation for the chiller and
the associated equipment were same as those in Section
2.2.3 for the solar electric compression refrigeration. The
provisions of control and operation of the hot water pump
Table 4
Modeling parameters for solar adsorption refrigeration.
Parameter

Value

Adsorption chamber water mass ow rate (kg s1)

Specic heat capacity of metal (kJ kg1 K1)
Specic heat capacity of silica gel (kJ kg1 K1)
Specic heat of adsorption (kJ kg1)
Mass of metal in adsorption/desorption chamber (kg)
Mass of silica gel in adsorption/desorption chamber (kg)
Mass of metal in condenser coil (kg)
Mass of metal in evaporator coil (kg)
Overall heat transfer value of adsorption chamber (kW K1)
Overall heat transfer value of desorption chamber (kW K1)
Adsorption/desorption period (s)

3.0
0.448
0.92
2,800
120
80
150
150
16
16
360

Cooling
Tower

Condenser Water Pump

Hot Water Pump

Controller
C
T

Solar
Collectors

Hot Water Pump

Town Gas
Supply

Hot
Water
Tank
Aux.
Heater

Part-load C
Controller

Regen.
Water
Pump

Condenser

Adsorption
Compartment 1

Adsorption
Compartment 2

Evaporator
T

Chilled water supply and return

for the AHU serving the indoor
space (same as Fig. 1)

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of solar adsorption refrigeration.

Adsorption
Chiller

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K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

and auxiliary heater were same as those in Section 2.4.2 for

the solar absorption refrigeration. The part-load control of
the adsorption chiller was same as that in Section 2.4.3 for
the solar absorption refrigeration, except the minimum
driving temperature was 64 C for the solar adsorption
refrigeration.
2.6. Solar solid desiccant cooling
2.6.1. Model building
In the solar solid desiccant cooling, the system simulation model was constructed based on Fig. 5. It encompassed the solar collectors, hot water pump, hot water
tank, auxiliary heater, regenerative water pump, regenerative heating coil, desiccant wheel, heat wheel, evaporative
coolers, supply air fan and exhaust air fan.
The model of desiccant wheel was developed based on the
validated results of Zhang et al. (2003), the equilibrium relative humidity was given by Pesaran and Mills (1987a,b). The
general parameters for modeling the solar solid desiccant
cooling are shown in Table 1, while the specic parameters
are presented in Table 5.
2.6.2. Additional design considerations of solar desiccant
cooling
Unlike the other four types of solar cooling systems containing chillers, the solar desiccant cooling would directly
treat the fresh air for air-conditioning purpose. Although
the indoor space was identical, the total cooling load was
increased to 109 kW because ventilation load was much
higher for the process air. The desiccant wheel was sized
according to the design regeneration temperature of
85 C, with 5 C temperature dierence between the entering regenerative water and the leaving exhaust air of the
regenerative heating coil. The desiccant wheel speed was
set to a value which would yield the lowest supply air tem-

Table 5
Modeling parameters for the solar solid desiccant cooling.
Parameter

Value

Process air stream

Process air evaporative cooler saturation eciency
Process air evaporative cooler power consumption (kW)

90%
0.1

Exhaust air stream

Exhaust air mass ow rate (kg s1)
Exhaust air fan power (kW)
Exhaust air fan eciency
Exhaust air evaporative cooler saturation eciency
Exhaust air evaporative cooler power consumption (kW)
Overall heat transfer value of regenerative heating coil (kW K1)

3.36
3.36
70%
90%
0.1
9.72

Heat wheel
Temperature eectiveness of heat wheel
Heat wheel power consumption (kW)

80%
0.2

Desiccant wheel
Specic heat capacity of air (kJ kg1K1)
Specic heat capacity of metal (kJ kg1K1)
Specic heat capacity of silica gel (kJ kg1K1)
Specic latent heat of vaporization of water (kJ kg1)
Thermal conductivity of air (W m1 K1)
Density of air (kg m3)
Diameter of desiccant wheel (m)
Width of desiccant wheel (m)
Eective area ratio of desiccant wheel
Fraction of wheel area for regeneration
Desiccant wheel speed (rph)
Desiccant wheel power consumption (kW)

1.005
0.9
0.921
2.400
0.0321
1.2
2
0.2
0.744
0.5
12
0.2

perature at the design conditions. The ow rate of the

regenerative water was selected so that the temperature
drop after passing through the regenerative heating coil
would be 10 C. The ow rate of the hot water pump
was same as that of the regenerative water pump. The
capacity of the auxiliary heater was 89 kW based on the
worst situation that all the regenerative heat needed by
the desiccant cooling system was provided by the auxiliary
heater.

Controller for Hot

Water Pump
C
T

Solar
Collectors
T

Outdoor
Air

Regenerative
Water Pump

Hot
Hot Water Pump Water
Tank
Town Gas
Supply

Aux.
Heater

Auxiliary Heater
Controller

C
T

Evaporative
Cooler 2

Exhaust Air

Exhaust
Air Fan

Regenerative
Heating Coil

Outdoor Air

Desiccant Heat
Wheel
Wheel

Evaporative
Cooler 1

Supply
Air Fan

Fig. 5. Schematic diagram of solar solid desiccant cooling.

Indoor Space

K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

2.6.3. Control and operation of solar desiccant cooling

The auxiliary heater was controlled through a desiccant
cooling controller that provided an on/o signal between
26.5 and 24.5 C with hysteresis based on the space temperature. Moreover, the auxiliary heater only started when the
ambient temperature was above 20 C. The operation of
the desiccant cooling system at insucient regeneration
temperature would cause heat loss from the hot water side
to the exhaust air with no cooling capacity produced. To
avoid this, the desiccant cooling system would run only
when the following three conditions were satised:
 The auxiliary heater controller was on.
 The ambient temperature was above 20 C.
 The regenerative water temperature entering the regenerative heating coil exceeded a preset minimum, which
was 5 C lower than the minimum driving temperature
60 C.
When the desiccant cooling system was on, the regenerative water pump, desiccant wheel, heat wheel and the
evaporative coolers would operate. The supply and exhaust
air fans would be in operation according to the daily occupancy schedule.
3. Framework of comparative study
3.1. Preliminary study and full study
In order to have a thorough comparative study of dierent solar cooling systems, the types of installation strategies
and solar collectors were also included. Generally, there are
two feasible installation strategies for the solar collectors.
The rst one is to make use of any unobstructed open
space, practically on the roof, to mount the solar collectors
at an inclination angle same as the local latitude. The second strategy is to apply the building-integrated approach
by mounting the solar collectors vertically on the building
facades. For the high-rise buildings commonly found in
Hong Kong, the former would be limited by the usable
roof area, while the latter can make use of the available
area of the external facades for solar collector installation.
About the common choices of solar thermal collectors,

235

there are at plate collectors, evacuated tubes and parabolic concentrators. By accounting for these installation
strategies and options of solar collectors, a variety of combinations can be formed for the ve types of solar cooling
systems as shown in Table 6.
From Table 6, there are altogether 26 combinations of
dierent installation strategies and solar collectors for the
ve types of solar cooling systems. It is an extensive simulation study about the solar cooling application in the context of year-round operation. Since certain installation
strategy and solar collector would have relatively inferior
eect to the system performances, a preliminary study
was carried out in order to remove the unnecessary combinations in the later full study. As a result, the following
comparison works would be conducted rst in the preliminary study:
 Eect of installation strategies: The performances of
solar electric compression refrigeration and solar
absorption refrigeration with at plate collectors based
on the two installation strategies would be compared,
so as to evaluate the more feasible option in view of
solar electric gain and solar thermal gain in the subtropical region.
 Eect of solar collectors: The performances of the at
plate collectors, evacuated tubes and parabolic concentrators applied to the absorption refrigeration would
be compared, so as to nd out the more feasible types
of solar collectors for the subtropical region.
The models of solar collectors were based on those in
the TESS library for TRNSYS. The coecients of the eciency curve for the evacuated tubes were based on
(Hochschul Rapperswil of Switzerland, 1997). To model
the building-integrated approach, the component model
of building-integrated photovoltaic/thermal system (TESS
Type 567, 2006) from TESS was used to interact to the
indoor space of the building system under study. In the
building-integrated strategy, the solar collectors were vertically installed to the east, south and west. The north side
was not used since this study was about the subtropical
region in the northern hemisphere. In addition, three directions were used instead of one because the three sides of

Table 6
Possible combinations of installation strategies and solar collectors for the solar cooling systems.
Installation
strategy
Solar electric compression refrigeration
Solar mechanical compression
refrigeration
Solar absorption refrigeration
Solar adsorption refrigeration
Solar solid desiccant cooling

Roof-mounted
Building-integrated
Roof-mounted
Building-integrated
Roof-mounted
Building-integrated
Roof-mounted
Building-integrated
Roof-mounted
Building-integrated

Photovoltaic
panels
p
p

Flat plate
collectors

Evacuated
tubes

Parabolic
concentrators

p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p

p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p

p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p

236

K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

Qsolar
Qsolar Qaux

external facades were all needed in order to suciently

accommodate the design mounting area of solar collectors.

SF thermal

3.2. Solar cooling systems against conventional electricdriven vapour compression refrigeration

where SFthermal = solar fraction of solar thermal cooling

system; Qsolar = solar thermal gain from the solar collectors
(kW); Qaux = heat output of auxiliary heater (kW).
The solar fraction would be averaged in monthly or
yearly basis, it is based on the SF acquired at each time step
when solar thermal gain is produced due to the hot water
pump in operation. The monthly averaged SF and yearly
averaged SF are formulated below:

In order to promote wider application of the solar cooling

systems, it is necessary to benchmark their performances
against the conventional vapour compression refrigeration
solely energized by electricity. There are two kinds of chiller
plants commonly applied in the subtropical region:
 The air-cooled packaged vapour compression refrigeration; and
 The water-cooled vapour compression refrigeration.
Based on the small and medium applications, the coecient of performance of air-cooled chiller was 2.4 and that
of water-cooled chiller was 3.0 in this study. The general
modeling parameters of the chillers and the associated
equipment are same as those in Table 1, so as to have a
common ground for comparison.
4. Performance indicators
A number of performance indicators are needed in order
to have a full understanding of dierent aspects of the solar
cooling systems. These performance indicators include the
solar fraction, coecient of performance, solar thermal
gain and primary energy consumption. A year-round perspective of these performance indicators was used, so that
the system performances could take into account the
changing loading and climatic conditions in this comparative study. The denitions, particularly the rst two, would
depend on the types of solar cooling systems, therefore they
are clearly described in this section.
4.1. Solar fraction, SF
Solar fraction is commonly used to evaluate the performance of a solar cooling system. The fraction shows the
portion of solar energy contribution as compared to the
total energy required to drive the refrigeration part of solar
cooling system. This total amount of energy input is commonly supplemented by the auxiliary provision. In this
study, the solar fractions are dened below.
For solar electric compression refrigeration,
SF elect

W solar
W solar W aux

where SFelect = solar fraction of solar electric compression

refrigeration; Wsolar = solar electric gain from PV panels
(kW); Waux = auxiliary electrical power from the city
power grid (kW).
For the solar thermal cooling system including solar
mechanical compression refrigeration, absorption refrigeration, adsorption refrigeration and desiccant cooling,

Monthly averaged SF

m
X
SF i
m
i1

where m = total number of time steps in a month for hot

water pump in operation.
Yearly averaged SF

y
X
SF i
y
i1

where y = total number of time steps in a year for hot

water pump in operation.
For the dynamic simulation of the year-round operation
in this study, the simulation time step was 6 min as mentioned in Section 2.1. However the number of time steps
involved nding the averaged solar fraction depended on
whether the related equipment of the solar cooling system
was really in operation, since the indoor conditions could
still be maintained at certain climatic and loading conditions in a year. The number of time steps involved to determine the monthly/yearly averaged solar fraction is based
on the total number of time steps for hot water pump in
operation only. As discussed in Section 2.3.3, a hot water
pump controller was included to activate the hot water
pump whenever the temperature at the solar collector outlet exceeded the water temperature inside the hot water
tank. In this situation, solar thermal gain could be actually
acquired from the solar collectors. Therefore the solar fraction was counted and averaged when the hot water pump
was in operation.
4.2. Coecient of performance, COP
Coecient of performance is an useful performance
indicator to evaluate the key air-conditioning equipment
of the solar cooling systems. In the solar electric refrigeration, solar mechanical refrigeration, solar absorption
refrigeration and solar adsorption refrigeration, the key
air-conditioning equipment are the respective chillers. In
the solar solid desiccant cooling, it is the desiccant wheel.
Therefore the COP of dierent solar cooling systems are
dened below.
For solar electric compression refrigeration,
COP elect

Qe
W

K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

where COPelect = COP of solar electric compression refrigeration; Qe = refrigeration eect (kW); W = power input to
DC motor (kW).
For solar mechanical compression refrigeration.
COP mech

Qe
Qboil

where COPmech = COP of solar mechanical compression

refrigeration; Qboil = heat input to boiler of Rackine cycle
(kW).
For solar absorption refrigeration,
COP ab

Qe
Qgen

where COPab = COP of solar absorption refrigeration;

Qgen = heat input to generator (kW).
For solar adsorption refrigeration,
COP ad

Qe
Qde

where COPad = COP of solar adsorption refrigeration;

Qde = heat input for desorption (kW).
For solar solid desiccant cooling,
COP desi

m_ a ho  hs
Qregen

where COPdesi = COP of solar solid desiccant cooling; m_ a =

mass ow rate of supply air (kg/s); ho = specic enthalpy of
outdoor air (kW/kg); hs = specic enthalpy of supply air
(kW/kg); Qregen = heat input for regeneration (kW).
The COP would be averaged in monthly or yearly basis,
it is based on the COP acquired at the time step when the
key air-conditioning equipment (chiller or desiccant wheel)
is in operation. The monthly averaged COP and yearly
averaged COP are formulated below:
Monthly averaged COP

m0
X
COP i
m0
i1

10

where m0 = total number of time steps in a month for chiller or desiccant wheel in operation.
y0
X
COP i
Yearly averaged COP
y0
i1

11

where y0 = total number of time steps in a year for chiller

or desiccant wheel in operation.
For the solar electric compression refrigeration, solar
mechanical compression refrigeration, solar absorption
refrigeration and solar adsorption refrigeration, the total
number of time steps involved were based on the chiller
in operation. As discussed in Section 2.2.3, the operation
of the chiller was determined by a controller that provided
an on/o signal based on the chilled water return temperature. For the solar desiccant cooling, the total number of
time steps was counted according to the desiccant wheel
in operation. As mentioned in Section 2.6.3, the desiccant
cooling system would be activated only when the auxiliary

237

heater controller was on; the ambient temperature was

above 20 C and the regenerative water temperature entering the regenerative heating coil exceeded a preset
minimum.
4.3. Solar thermal gain, Gsolar
Solar thermal gain is the useful energy acquired through
the solar collectors to drive a solar cooling system. It is not
just related to the eciency of the solar collectors, but also
the nature of energy demand of the solar cooling system. In
the four solar thermal cooling systems under study, it is
about the gain of thermal energy from the at plate collectors, evacuated tubes or parabolic concentrators. The
amount of gain is related to both the type of solar collectors and system operation due to dierent climatic and
loading conditions. Therefore it is also one of the performance indicators to evaluate the eectiveness of a solar
cooling system with certain type of solar collector.
However in the solar electric refrigeration, the PV panels
are used and the solar electric gain Gelect is produced
instead of solar thermal gain. Since the solar electric gain
and solar thermal gain are dierent in nature, a term called
solar thermal gain equivalent Gsolar,eq is dened for comparison purpose:
Gsolar;eq Gelect =ge

12

where ge is the energy eciency used to convert the electrical energy into the primary energy, and it is taken to be
33% in this study.
4.4. Primary energy consumption, Ep
When calculating the primary energy consumption, it is
in a system approach. All the parasitic energy consumptions from the associated equipment were considered upon
those of the main equipment. Since two dierent types of
energy sources, electricity and gas, were involved, their
energy eciencies were assumed below:
 energy eciency for electrical energy converted into primary energy, ge = 33%;
 energy eciency for gas energy converted into primary
energy, gg = 90%.
The former was used to determine the primary energy
input of the electric-driven equipment, while the latter for
the auxiliary heater operated by burning gas. Ep is therefore determined in dierent ways for the corresponding
solar cooling systems as follows.
For solar electric compression refrigeration,
Ep;elect W aux W parasitic W AHU =ge

13

where Ep,elect = primary energy consumption of solar electric compression refrigeration (kWh); Wparasitic = electrical
energy consumption of parasitic equipment, including
pumps and cooling tower (kWh); WAHU = electrical energy

238

K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

consumption of AHU (kWh).For solar mechanical compression refrigeration, absorption refrigeration and adsorption refrigeration,
Ep;thermal Qaux =gg W parasitic W AHU =ge

the year-round totals of primary energy consumptions were

increased by 13.9% and 35.7% for the building-integrated
solar electric refrigeration and solar absorption refrigeration respectively. The COP was about the same or slightly
increased, it was not due to the improvement of the building-integrated approach, but just because of the auxiliary
provisions operated whenever in need. Therefore, COP
was not eective to reect the performance of solar cooling
systems in this case.
The poorer result of the building-integrated solar
absorption system was further due to the performances
of the solar collectors installed at the three dierent directions. Based on the typical design, the hot water pump
would only operate when the water leaving temperature
of the solar collectors was higher than that of the hot water
storage tank. As the size of solar collector facing to each
direction was reduced to one-third, the hot water temperature that could be achieved would be lower, causing significant drops of solar fraction and solar thermal gain.
As a result, the building-integrated strategy was not
involved in the ongoing comparative study for dierent
solar cooling systems. Such strategy is only recommended
when the roof or the available open space is not enough
to accommodate the required number of solar collectors.

14

where Ep,thermal = primary energy consumption of solar

thermal refrigeration (kWh).
For solar solid desiccant cooling,
Ep;desi Qaux =gg W para;desi W fan =ge

15

where Ep,desi = primary energy consumption of solar solid

desiccant cooling (kWh); Wpara,desi = electrical energy consumption of parasitic equipment, including pumps, desiccant wheel, heat wheel and evaporative coolers (kWh);
Wfan = electrical energy consumption of supply air fan
and exhaust air fan (kWh).
5. Preliminary study
5.1. Eect of installation strategies of solar collectors
The results of the two feasible installation strategies for
the solar electric compression refrigeration and solar
absorption refrigeration are summarized in Table 7. The
performances were evaluated on a year-round basis,
including the four performance indicators and the averaged
space cooling load. Due to the fact that the solar collectors
integrated to the building facades can reduce the transmission heat gains, it is found that the year-round averaged
space cooling load was reduced by 12.7% and 9.2% for
the building-integrated solar electric compression refrigeration and solar absorption refrigeration, as compared to the
roof-mounted strategy. However, both cases could not outweigh the signicant drop of the corresponding solar fractions at 50.2% and 82.3%, as well as the decrease of the
respective solar thermal gains at 65.8% and 83%. Finally

5.2. Eect of solar collectors

Table 8 summarizes the year-round performances of
the solar absorption refrigeration system with dierent
types of solar collectors, including the at plate collectors,
evacuated tubes and parabolic concentrators. The four performance indicators were involved to evaluate the eectiveness of solar collectors.
The type of at plate collectors was used as the baseline
of comparison. It can be observed that both the evacuated
tubes and parabolic concentrators had higher solar fraction

Table 7
Year-round performances of the two feasible installation strategies for the solar electric compression refrigeration and solar absorption refrigeration.
Solar cooling system

Installation
strategy

Year-round
averaged space
load (kW)

Year-round
averaged SF

Year-round
averaged COP

Year-round
total of
Gsolar (kWh)

Year-round
total of Ep (kWh)

Solar electric compression refrigeration

Roof-mounted
Building-integrated

10.99
9.59 (;12.7%)

0.687
0.342 (;50.2%)

4.599
4.658 ("1.3%)

31,678
10,844 (;65.8%)

44,589
50,781 ("13.9%)

Solar absorption refrigeration

Roof-mounted
Building-integrated

11.11
10.09 (;9.2%)

0.497
0.088 (;82.3%)

0.769
0.763 (;0.8%)

37,234
6,326 (;83.0%)

72,797
98,787 ("35.7%)

Table 8
Year-round performances of dierent types of solar collectors for the solar absorption refrigeration.
Type of solar
collectors

Year-round averaged
SF

Year-round averaged
COP

Year-round total of Gsolar

(kWh)

Year-round total of Ep (kWh)

Flat plate
Evacuated tubes
Parabolic
concentrators

0.497
0.818 ("64.6%)
0.596 ("19.9%)

0.769
0.763 (;0.8%)
0.777 ("1.0%)

37,234
67,383 ("81.0%)
47,929 ("28.7%)

72,797
49,425 (;32.1%)
67,450 (;7.3% vs. at plate; ;36.5% vs.
evacuated tubes)

K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

and solar thermal gain, and lower primary energy

consumption. However, since the parabolic concentrators
only responded to the direct solar irradiation, their performances were lower than that of the evacuated tubes despite
a higher collector temperature could be achieved. In the
year-round total of primary energy consumption, the parabolic concentrators were 36.5% worse than the evacuated
tubes, and just 7.3% better than the at plate collectors. In
fact, the direct solar irradiation is only 42.4% of the total in
the subtropical Hong Kong (Fong et al., 2007). Moreover,
within the same collector installation area, the total
collector tubes of parabolic concentrators would be
fewer due to the substantial coverage of the parabolic
mirrors.
The year-round averaged COP varies only within a very
narrow range, from 0.763 to 0.777, for these three types of
solar collectors. The presence of the auxiliary heater tended
to minimize the variation of eectiveness of dierent types
of solar collectors to the absorption chiller.
As a result, the option of parabolic concentrators was
excluded from the following comparative study, since it
could not have a distinctive performance as compared to
the evacuated tubes in the subtropical Hong Kong. However, the at plate collectors were still involved because
of their popularity and simple conguration.
6. Comparative study of solar cooling systems
From the preliminary performance study, the options of
building-integrated strategy and parabolic concentrators
were removed, therefore the variety of combinations for
the full comparative study could be trimmed down as
shown in Table 9.

239

6.1. Overall year-round performances of dierent solar

cooling systems
The performance results of dierent solar cooling systems are summarized in Table 10. The four performance
indicators were involved in the analysis. The solar electric
compression refrigeration was used as the baseline of this
comparative study, except its COP due to dierent nature.
In terms of the year-round total of primary energy consumption, the order of the solar cooling systems from the
best to the worst is found as follows:






solar
solar
solar
solar
solar

electric compression refrigeration

absorption refrigeration
adsorption refrigeration
solid desiccant cooling
mechanical compression refrigeration

In fact, the solar electric compression refrigeration and

solar absorption with evacuated tubes had comparable performances. Although the primary energy consumption of
the solar absorption refrigeration was 10.8% higher, its
solar faction was 19.1% better. It is also observed that this
order is independent to the types of solar collectors
adopted. For the same kind of solar thermal cooling system, it is clear that the evacuated tubes had better performances than the at plate collectors. In this study, the
PV eciency is based on the typical information of the
PV component of TRNSYS (2006). The simulation result
showed the yearly averaged eciency was around 10%
according to the climatic conditions of Hong Kong.
Although the solar electric compression refrigeration has
the best overall performances, particularly primary energy

Table 9
Comparative study of dierent solar cooling systems.

Solar
Solar
Solar
Solar
Solar

electric compression refrigeration

mechanical compression refrigeration
absorption refrigeration
adsorption refrigeration
solid desiccant cooling

Roof-mounted PV panels
p

Roof-mounted at plate collectors

Roof-mounted evacuated tubes

p
p
p
p

p
p
p
p

Table 10
Year-round performances of dierent solar cooling systems.
Solar cooling system

Type of solar
collector

Year-round
averaged SF

Year-round
averaged COP

Year-round total of Gsolar

(kWh)

Year-round total of Ep
(kWh)

Solar electric compression

refrigeration
Solar mechanical compression
refrigeration
Solar absorption refrigeration

PV

0.687

4.599

31,678, Gsolar,eq

44,589

0.102
0.102
0.769
0.763
0.435
0.437
1.066
1.059

26,911
65,513
37,234
67,383
40,421
72,885
40,435
71,832

629,897 ("1313%)
592,292 ("1228%)
72,797 ("63.3%)
49,425 ("10.8%)
128,715 ("189%)
93,692 ("110%)
149,356 ("235%)
128,052 ("187%)

Solar adsorption refrigeration

Solar solid desiccant cooling

Flat plate
Evacuated
Flat plate
Evacuated
Flat plate
Evacuated
Flat plate
Evacuated

tubes
tubes
tubes
tubes

0.046
0.112
0.497
0.818
0.313
0.577
0.336
0.552

(;93.9%)
(;83.7%)
(;27.7%)
("19.1%)
(;54.4%)
(;16.0%)
(;51.1%)
(;19.7%)

(;15.0%)
("107%)
("17.5%)
("113%)
("27.6%)
("130%)
("27.6%)
("127%)

240

K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

consumption, they were acquired based on a typical PV

panel, not due to a certain product with exceptionally high
eciency.
The solar mechanical compression refrigeration had
exceptionally high year-round primary energy consumption, showing that the auxiliary heater, instead of solar collectors, was the essential contributor for driving the
Rankine cycle of the heat engine. The narrow range of
operative driving temperature of the Rankine-cycle-driven
chiller maintained a high-temperature demand and the
part-load control became useless. The solar collectors
could not have eective contribution due to its relatively
low-temperature thermal gain.
The solar adsorption refrigeration was the third in view
of the primary energy consumption. Although its primary
energy consumption was about double of that of solar electric compression refrigeration or solar absorption refrigeration, continual research is being carried out for more
eective adsorbentadsorbate pairs (Fan et al., 2007; Khattab, 2004; Wang et al., 2005), instead of the typical pair of
silica gel and water used in this model. On the other hand,
there are emerging congurations for enhancing the eectiveness of adsorptiondesorption process (Wang et al.,
2005, 2008; Voyiatzis et al.,2007). Therefore the application
potential of solar adsorption refrigeration still exists.
The solar solid desiccant cooling had high year-round
primary energy consumption, but it was dierent from
the other solar cooling systems because it had to handle
the extra ventilation load due to the inherent nature of full
fresh air design. Therefore the total cooling capacity of desiccant cooling system would be much higher than those of
the other four solar cooling systems, hence higher primary
energy consumption. In addition, the parasitic energy consumption was comparatively high, particularly the supply
air fan and exhaust air fan. The feature of solar desiccant
cooling in eect is more than only to satisfy the required
cooling load, it is also capable to supply the fresh air
amount far above the minimum requirement of a functional area. This unique merit can guarantee a good indoor
air quality and ventilation eectiveness. Therefore the
application potential of solar solid desiccant cooling is still
valid.
The overall performances of the average room and supply air conditions are summarized in Table 11. As the solar

mechanical compression refrigeration had exceptionally

high year-round primary energy consumption, it was
excluded in this part of evaluation. From Table 11, it is
found that the average room air conditions of various solar
cooling systems are close to the design conditions at
25.5 C and 60% RH, showing that they could provide satisfactory indoor environment for the occupants. The performances of solar electric compression refrigeration,
solar absorption refrigeration and solar adsorption refrigeration are very close (24.424.9 C and 5961%RH)
regardless the type of solar collectors. It is because they
provided air-conditioning in a similar way, by using the
chilled water supply to cooling coil for cooling and dehumidication purposes. Solar desiccant cooling had slight
dierence of room temperature and relative humidity from
the other three types because the supply air was handled in
another way, by using the desiccant wheel, heat wheel and
evaporative cooler.
6.2. Monthly performances of dierent solar cooling systems
Apart from the year-round performances, it is also worthy to understand the monthly variations of the performance indicators of dierent solar cooling systems. The
changes would be according to the climatic conditions,
loading conditions and features of solar cooling systems.
The annual prole of each performance indicator is therefore presented and discussed in this section.
6.2.1. Monthly averaged solar fraction
Fig. 6 shows the annual proles of solar fraction. It is
found that the solar fraction was commonly low from
May to September, which is the typical summer period
and the cooling load is around the peak. On the other
hand, the solar fraction was usually high from December
to February, which is the typical winter season. Generally,
the solar fraction was less than one, indicating that just the
solar electric or thermal gain acquired from the solar collectors was not sucient to fully drive the respective solar
cooling system (except the solar desiccant cooling), so the
auxiliary provision was inevitably activated to supplement
the decit. As a whole, the solar absorption refrigeration
had the highest solar fraction; the solar electric compression refrigeration the second; the solar adsorption refriger-

Table 11
Yearly average room and supply air conditions of various solar cooling systems.
Solar cooling system

Type of solar
collector

Average room
temperature (C)

Average room
relative humidity (%)

Average supply air

temperature (C)

Average supply air

humidity ratio
(kg/kg dry air)

Solar electric compression refrigeration

Solar absorption refrigeration

PV
Flat plate
Evacuated tubes
Flat plate
Evacuated tubes
Flat plate
Evacuated tubes

24.9
24.5
24.4
24.5
24.5
23.6
23.6

61
59
59
59
59
67
67

19.4
19.7
19.6
19.7
19.7
20.5
20.4

11.7  103
11.1  103
11.0  103
11.2  103
11.1  103
12.2  103
12.2  103

Solar adsorption refrigeration

Solar solid desiccant cooling

K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

241

Fig. 6. Annual proles of solar fraction of dierent solar cooling systems. (Abbreviation: AB, absorption refrigeration; AD, adsorption refrigeration; DE,
desiccant cooling; EL, electric compression refrigeration; ME, mechanical compression refrigeration; et, evacuated tubes; fp, at plate collectors; pv,
photovoltaic panels).

ation the third; the solar desiccant cooling the fourth; and
the solar mechanical compression refrigeration the last.
For the solar solid desiccant cooling, the solar fraction
was unity from December to February. This shows that
the solar thermal gain from solar collectors was enough
to drive the system in such period, and free air cooling
might also be involved. On the other hand, the extremely
low solar fraction of solar mechanical compression refrigeration shows its heavy reliance on auxiliary heating and
very weak support from the solar collectors.

6.2.2. Monthly averaged COP

Fig. 7 shows the monthly averaged COP of dierent
solar cooling systems. The solar electric compression refrigeration is excluded from this analysis because the nature of
its COP is dierent from that of the four solar thermal
cooling systems. For the COP in the summer period

(May to September), the order from the best to the worst

is found as follows:





solar
solar
solar
solar

solid desiccant cooling

absorption refrigeration
adsorption refrigeration
mechanical compression refrigeration

The solar solid desiccant cooling could have COP

greater than unity in such period. From Eq. (9), its COP
denition is dierent to the three solar thermal refrigeration systems. The numerator is the enthalpy change of
the process air, instead of refrigeration eect. For the three
solar thermal refrigeration systems, their patterns are similar and nearly at throughout a year. This is because the
support from auxiliary heating would not stop whenever
the required driving temperature is not sucient. On the
other hand, suitable control and operation of auxiliary

Fig. 7. Annual proles of coecient of performance of dierent solar cooling systems. (Abbreviation: AB, absorption refrigeration; AD, adsorption
refrigeration; DE, desiccant cooling; EL, electric compression refrigeration; ME, mechanical compression refrigeration; et, evacuated tubes; fp, at plate
collectors; pv, photovoltaic panels).

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K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

heating would lead to the COP independent to the type of

solar collectors. It is found that both at plate collectors
and evacuated tubes had similar COP for the same type
of solar thermal systems.
For solar solid desiccant cooling system, the COP was
lower than one in the months other than the summer period, in between 0.67 and 0.98. In January and February,
the COP was zero. It is because the operation mode of free
air cooling was eective to handle the space cooling load,
so the desiccant wheel and related equipment were not
needed to operate.

6.2.3. Monthly total of solar thermal gain

Fig. 8 shows the variation of monthly averaged solar
thermal gain of dierent solar cooling systems. It is found
that there are two sets of curves clustered together due to
the type of solar collectors. The set of performance curves
of solar cooling systems using evacuated tubes are higher
than those using at plate collectors. This clearly shows
the evacuated tubes have a more superior solar thermal
gain compared to the at plate collectors. It is noted that
the performance curve of solar electric compression refrigeration is within the lower cluster. Although it was transformed to Gsolar,eq due to its nature of solar electric gain,
its performance was not as low as those systems with at
plate collectors. It can be found that the yearly averaged
solar fraction of solar electric compression refrigeration is
0.687, which is relatively high in Table 10, showing that
the solar electric gain was quite enough to drive the refrigeration cycle.
Generally the solar thermal gain was high in the period
of July to October, which covers from the mid-summer to
early autumn. It is not fully matched to the solar fraction
proles, which are mainly aected by the cooling load
demand in the hot season from May to September. The
variation of solar thermal gain primarily follows the availability of solar irradiation in the subtropical Hong Kong,

in which the prole is also high from July to October, while

low in January and February (Fong et al., 2007).
6.2.4. Monthly total of primary energy consumption
Fig. 9 shows the annual proles of the primary energy
consumption of dierent solar cooling systems. The performance of the solar mechanical compression refrigeration
was excluded from the analysis since its year-round total
was far more higher than the other types of solar cooling
systems as shown in Table 10. It is clear that the solar electric compression refrigeration has the lowest primary
energy consumption. In fact, the annual prole of solar
absorption refrigeration with evacuated tubes was close
to that of the solar electric compression refrigeration, the
slight dierence was mainly due to the additional energy
required for the parasitic equipment for the solar thermal
part, particularly the hot water pump and regenerative
pump. Generally these proles are similar to the annual
cooling load variation. The primary energy consumption
is high from June to August, which is coincident to the
peak cooling load demand in the summer period. The primary energy consumption is low from December to February, which is the typical winter.
6.3. Performances of solar cooling systems against
conventional electric-driven vapour compression refrigeration
Application potential of solar cooling systems depends on
their performances against the conventional electric-driven
vapour compression refrigeration, particularly the primary
energy consumption. Both the air-cooled and water-cooled
vapour compression chiller plants were involved in this
study, it is found that their year-round totals of primary
energy consumption were 86,289 kWh and 79,138 kWh,
respectively, and their annual proles are plotted together
with those for the solar cooling systems in Fig. 9. From the
year-round totals of dierent solar cooling systems shown

Fig. 8. Annual proles of solar thermal gain of dierent solar cooling systems. (Abbreviation: AB, absorption refrigeration; AD, adsorption refrigeration;
DE, desiccant cooling; EL, electric compression refrigeration; ME, mechanical compression refrigeration; et, evacuated tubes; fp, at plate collectors; pv,
photovoltaic panels).

K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

243

Fig. 9. Annual proles of primary energy consumption of dierent solar cooling systems (including those of electric-driven vapour compression
refrigeration). (Abbreviation: AB, absorption refrigeration; ACVCR, conventional air-cooled vapour compression refrigeration; AD, adsorption
refrigeration; DE, desiccant cooling; EL, electric compression refrigeration; ME, mechanical compression refrigeration; WCVCR, conventional watercooled vapour compression refrigeration; et, evacuated tubes; fp, at plate collectors; pv, photovoltaic panels).

in Table 10, only the solar electric compression refrigeration

and solar absorption refrigeration (no matter with evacuated tubes or at plate collectors) have lower primary energy
consumption. The same results can also be observed in
Fig. 9. As compared to the conventional air-cooled and
water-cooled refrigeration, the primary energy savings of
solar electric compression refrigeration were decreased by
48.3% and 43.7%, while those of solar absorption refrigeration with evacuated tubes by 42.7% and 37.5%, and those of
solar absorption refrigeration with at plate collectors by
15.6% and 8.0%. Although the solar adsorption refrigeration with evacuated tubes had relatively higher primary
energy consumption, it was only 8.6% and 18.4% above
the conventional air-cooled and water-cooled refrigeration
systems, respectively.
For the other types of solar cooling systems, their primary
energy consumptions were far higher than those of the two
conventional electric-driven refrigeration systems. Therefore they do not have any energy saving potential even the
free solar energy is consumed. If life-cycle cost analysis is carried out, both initial and operating costs of such solar cooling systems do not have any advantages at all.
7. Conclusion
A comparative study was thoroughly carried out for the
ve types of solar cooling systems for a typical oce in the
subtropical Hong Kong. The results were worked out with
the emphasis of suitable system control and operation in
response to the year-round changing climatic and loading
conditions. Based on the best year-round total of primary
energy consumption, the order of the ve types of solar
cooling systems is:
 solar electric compression refrigeration,
 solar absorption refrigeration,
 solar adsorption refrigeration,

 solar solid desiccant cooling, and

 solar mechanical compression refrigeration.
In the preliminary study for the options of installation
strategies and types of solar collectors, the alternatives of
building-integrated approach and parabolic concentrators
were found not energy-ecient enough. Although the
building-integrated approach could reduce the space cooling load by about 10%, but the overall system performances were worse than the typical roof-mounted
approach. For the choice of solar collectors, the parabolic
concentrators had the primary energy consumption only
slightly better than the at plate collectors by 7.3% for
the absorption refrigeration, but worse than the evacuated
tubes by 36.5%.
If the conventional electric-driven air-cooled and watercooled vapour compression chiller plants were included in
the comparison, the solar electric compression refrigeration
and solar absorption refrigeration (with evacuated tubes or
at plate collectors) were the two types of solar cooling systems that could have attractive energy saving potential.
The year-round energy savings would be from 15.6% to
48.3% compared to the conventional electric-driven aircooled refrigeration, while 8.0% to 43.7% to the watercooled refrigeration. In fact, it is possible to have continual
improvement in the solar electric compression refrigeration
and solar absorption refrigeration, particularly the technology advancement of the solar collectors.
The application potential of solar adsorption refrigeration with evacuated tubes still exists, since its year-round
total of primary energy consumption is just slightly higher
than the conventional electric-driven air-cooled vapour
compression refrigeration. Continual advancement of the
adsorption pair and chiller conguration would enhance
the use of its distinctive merit of low driving temperature.
Although the solar solid desiccant cooling has high yearround primary energy consumption, it is dierent from the

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K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227244

other types of solar cooling systems because it has to tackle

the high ventilation load from its inherent full fresh air
provision. Subsequently it has high cooling capacity and
large energy consumption of supply and exhaust air fans.
In fact, the solar desiccant cooling is able to supply
excessive fresh air for a functional area, resulting a good
indoor air quality and ventilation eectiveness. Therefore
application potential of solar solid desiccant cooling is still
valid.
This paper also describes the framework and useful performance indicators for a comparative study of dierent
solar cooling systems. The methodology can be applied
to evaluate the potential systems and congurations, and
to benchmark the conventional electric-driven vapour compression refrigeration.
Acknowledgement
The work described in this paper was fully supported by
a grant from City University of Hong Kong (Project No.
7002310).
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