An illustrated review on solar absorption cooling experimental studies

This paper constitutes a first part of a literature review on solar absorption cooling studies. It is dedicated to experimental studies. Based on several experimental studies intentionally selected, this review aims to highlight the operational aspects inherent to drive an absorption chiller by solar heat. Such an installation is the product of the interconnection of several components. The separate operation of each component under defined environmental conditions differs from its operation as a part of the overall system because of the varying temperature levels and heat transfer rates because of the inherently variable and unpredictable nature of the intensity of the solar energy on the one hand and the encountered heat losses within the installation itself on the other hand. Also, this review aims to provide to the reader a summary of results and conclusions from different case studies and identify the shortcomings of these systems through a comparative study. It was felt that illustrating the review with selected results would be very beneficial and more informative to the reader. The operating principles of a variety of solar absorption cooling options are presented. Each system description is supported by a related literature review concerning a short historical development, reported demonstration projects and performance data. It begins with the early studies motivated by the energy crisis where no economic consideration was observed in the conception of the experimental facilities to the most recent investigations that take into account the economic aspect by modifying the experimental setup configuration or combining solar cooling with other cooling modes or even implementing innovative heat storage and rejection systems. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.