OPTIMIZED OPERATION OF AN INTEGRATED SOLAR DESALINATION AND AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM: THEORETICAL STUDY

Abstract

Integrating   the   solar   distiller   with   the   air-conditioning  system  can  increase  the  condensate  output  from the  solar  stiller  while  meeting  the  cooling  load  needs.  The operation of the combined solar distillation and air conditioning system  has  been  modeled  and  simulated  to  predict  distillate output  from  the  cooling  coil  for  the  combined  system  for  a residential   space   application   in   the   suburbs  of   Beirut.   An optimization  problem  is  formulated  to  optimize  the  integrated system   operation   for   minimum   energy   consumption   while meeting the hourly cooling load and the daily  fresh  water need of  100  liters.  The  design  variable  in  the  optimization  study  is the fresh air flow rate that passes through the distiller and mixes with return air for the constant volume space supply fan.  The  optimization  problem  is  solved  for  a  10-hour  of operation of the combined system for the summer months: June, August  and  October.  It  is  found  that  the  cost  of  fresh  water production  of  the  combined  system  is  0.108  kWh/  liter  for  the month of August and 0.12 kWh/liter of fresh water in October.