ABSTRACT
Among various types of clean energies, special attention has given to a solar energy
because it is freely available in hot regions where more than half the world's population
lives. Use of solar energy in vapor absorption refrigeration systems should be one
application which can achieve cooling/heating needs. In general, solar cooling systems
can be considered as combination of energy conversion and refrigeration subsystems.
The energy conversion subsystem transforms solar energy to power the refrigeration
system. In the present work, a solar cooling system for air conditioning applications is
simulated and optimized under Egyptian meteorological conditions. According to the
required comfort dry bulb air temperature, available cooling water temperature and
cooling coil capacity, optimal heat source mass flow rate and temperature to operate a
single-stage continuous absorption cycle was obtained. Then, economical optimization
of the solar system that can meet the required load was carried out for various types of
solar collectors. Results revealed that the flat-plate solar collector is the most efficient
collector from the economical point of view. Annual visualization of the system
performance was presented to investigate the system behavior under different weather
conditions for heating and cooling processes during the year to improve its life-cycle
savings. The environmental impact of using such system is considered. It is found that
the reduction of CO2 emission is a significant advantage of using solar energy.