New Solutions for the Use of Solar Cooling in Hot and Humid Weather Conditions

Abstract

Air conditioning is one of the areas that has a high electrical energy consumption, mainly during summer, in hot and humid climates. The major part of the air conditioning systems are based on the vapor compression cycle, but in the last decades solar cooling technology focused the interest of the scientific community and industrial world. Solar cooling deals with a heat driven cycle for cold production. This technology is well represented by absorption refrigerators and desiccant cooling systems. However, in hot and humid climates the latest cycles are not well developed, therefore the systems based on these cycles cannot face the full cooling load needed by the utilizer. Efforts have to be done in order to change their configuration and improve their efficiency. The aim of this paper is to propose new configurations for solar cooling systems and their adaptation to hot and humid climates