Design and Economic Analysis of a Solar Air Conditioning System: Case of Study in Monterrey, México
Abstract
This article shows the procedures and considerations to evaluate a solar air-conditioning project considering both technical and economical analysis. Moreover, this work presents the design of a solar absorption airconditioning system driven by solar thermal collectors as a primary energy source. The system generates air conditioning and heating for a residential home. A thermodynamic analysis is conducted in order to determine the capacity of the equipments that will be used in the solar air-conditioning system. It also shows the economical analysis of the solar air-conditioning system comparing with conventional cooling and heating systems. Trough a developed computational model is possible to analyze different scenarios under which the solar air-conditioning system meets conditions of economical feasibility based on criteria such as the internal rate of return among others parameters. Tecnológico de Monterrey has a solar air-conditioning system that uses a single effect ammonia-water absorption chiller of 10.55 kW (3 tons of refrigeration) that works with evacuated tubes solar collectors. The system has a back-up heater that uses natural gas. This article concludes that under very specific conditions of energy costs, equipment costs and operation time, the solar air-conditioning system described here can become economically viable.