Solar Collection Grid Sizing for Absorption Air Conditioning: A Design for El Salvador

To decrease high levels of energy consumption associated with air conditioning in tropical regions the usefulness of a chiller, powered by solar energy and utilizing a lithium bromide absorption cycle was analyzed. In conjunction with officials at the University of Central America (UCA) in El Salvador, a solar heat collection system has been designed which will be implemented at UCA and used to power a 10 ton absorption chiller. The unit will be installed to provide air conditioning to an auditorium, which is currently under construction. Using climate data from the region, an analysis was performed to determine the cooling load and resulting solar collection grid size needed. The system was designed to provide air conditioning 80% of the year. A simulation tool was created to predict the performance of the heat collection system based on the collector grid and storage tank size. To prove the efficacy of the theoretical calculations, a scaled down model of the heat collection system for the solar powered chiller was built and tested at Santa Clara University (SCU).