Utilization of Solar Energy for Air Conditioning System

Chemical Engineering Departement, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya, 60111

^* Corresponding author: joecheits@yahoo.com

Abstract

The purposes of this research are to do a system simulation of air conditioning utilizing solar energy with single effect absorption refrigeration method, analyze the coefficient of performance (COP) for each absorbent-refrigerant variable and compare the effectivity of every absorbent-refrigerant variable used. COP is a constant that denotes the effeciency of a refrigeration system, that is ratio of work or useful output to the amount of work or energy input. The higher the number of COP, the more efficient the system is. Absorbent-refrigerant (working fluids) variables used in this research depend on its chemical and thermodynamics properties. Steps in this research are including data collection and tabulation from literature and do a simulation of air conditioning system both commercial air conditioning system (using electrical energy) and solar energy air conditioning system with Aspen Plus software. Next, run the simulation for each working fluid variables used and calculate the COP for each variable. Subsequently, analyze and compare the effectivity of all variables used from COP value and economical point of view with commercial air conditioning system. From the result of the simulation, can be concluded that solar air conditioning can achieve 98,85 % of energy savings than commercial air conditioning. Furthermore, from the calculation of COP, the highest COP value is achieved by solar conditioning system with LiNO₃-NH₃ as working fluid where 55% of the composition is the refrigerant and 45% of absorbent.