International.
The University of Nottingham, England, is developing a solar air conditioning system that is said to have the ability to reduce electricity consumption by up to 50% compared to conventional vapor compression (VC) systems.
Dr Zhu Jie, from the Department of Environmental Architecture and Construction at the University of Nottingham, and Professor Tingxian Li, from Shanghai Jiaotong University, China, are carrying out this research with the support of the Royal Society.
The two institutions are investigating a new air conditioning technology, powered by solar energy, whose features include:
• The ability to condition air and control humidity independently.
• A thermal sorption battery that combines heat and cold energy storage in one unit and has the ability to achieve temperature-controllable thermal energy storage.
Zhu said, "A VC cooling system adopts a condensation dehumidification method to handle sensitive and latent heat loads. This means that the system has to operate under lower evaporation temperatures, resulting in lower cooling capacity, lower coefficient of performance (COP), as sometimes a reheating process is required to meet air supply needs."
The professor adds: "We are proposing an independent temperature and humidity control technology to solve this problem. This system can save 25-50% of electricity consumption and increase COP around 40-60%, which considerably reduces operating costs, compared to the conventional VC system."
Thermal energy battery storage plays a key role in the use of solar energy for heating and cooling due to the inherent solar fluctuation and lack of year-round sun in many countries.
The solid gas sorption thermal battery has the ability to store heat and cold energy at a controllable temperature in a single unit. Thermal energy is used to power the dehumidification subsystem, while cold energy is used to cool the air circulating in the indoor environment.
The proposed research is looking at new absorbent compounds, thermal energy storage capacity, heat and mass transfer properties, and will assess economic and environmental impacts using theoretical and experimental measures.
Source: www.nottingham.ac.uk
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