| This thesis describes the design and experimental performance of a pilot solar air cooling system located in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. The system consists of a 35 kW LiBr-H{dollar}sb2{dollar}O absorption chiller, an array of 113 m{dollar}sp2{dollar} of selective surface flat plate collectors, a 5700 liters hot water storage tank, a 84 kW cooling tower, a 1800 liters per hour air handling unit, and a 50 kW auxiliary heater. The system was installed to supply conditioned air to the visitor center and the conference room area of a building in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. The experimentally measured thermal performance of the absorption chiller along with the solar energy collection system is reported in this thesis. The data to estimate the thermal performance of the system were taken at one minute intervals during the months of October, November, and December, 1997. The performance of the system was assessed using both first and second laws of thermodynamic. Performance parameters such as system's coefficient of performance (COP), first and second law efficiency of collectors, latent and sensible load on the chiller, and auxiliary heat requirement were measured and documented in this work. To optimize the performance of this system serial and parallel solar collector arrangements were considered. The performance over a long period of operation of the system is also compared with similar systems installed in Italy, Singapore and Hong Kong. It was found that the solar air conditioning system located in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico operates better with a serial collector arrangement delivering a daily overall efficiency of 12.2%, with an average solar fraction of 95%. |
