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Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182


www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

A solar thermal cooling and heating system for a building:


Experimental and model based performance analysis and design
Ming Qu a,*, Hongxi Yin b,1, David H. Archer c,2
a
School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, 550 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2051, USA
b
School of Engineering Education, Purdue University, 701 W. Stadium Ave., West Lafayette, IN 47907-2061, USA
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA

Received 29 December 2008; received in revised form 13 October 2009; accepted 14 October 2009
Available online 16 December 2009

Communicated by: Associate Editor Ruzhu Wang

Abstract

A solar thermal cooling and heating system at Carnegie Mellon University was studied through its design, installation, modeling, and
evaluation to deal with the question of how solar energy might most effectively be used in supplying energy for the operation of a build-
ing. This solar cooling and heating system incorporates 52 m2 of linear parabolic trough solar collectors; a 16 kW double effect, water–
lithium bromide (LiBr) absorption chiller, and a heat recovery heat exchanger with their circulation pumps and control valves. It gen-
erates chilled and heated water, dependent on the season, for space cooling and heating. This system is the smallest high temperature
solar cooling system in the world. Till now, only this system of the kind has been successfully operated for more than one year. Perfor-
mance of the system has been tested and the measured data were used to verify system performance models developed in the TRaNsient
SYstem Simulation program (TRNSYS). On the basis of the installed solar system, base case performance models were programmed;
and then they were modified and extended to investigate measures for improving system performance. The measures included changes
in the area and orientation of the solar collectors, the inclusion of thermal storage in the system, changes in the pipe diameter and length,
and various system operational control strategies. It was found that this solar thermal system could potentially supply 39% of cooling
and 20% of heating energy for this building space in Pittsburgh, PA, if it included a properly sized storage tank and short, low diameter
connecting pipes. Guidelines for the design and operation of an efficient and effective solar cooling and heating system for a given build-
ing space have been provided.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Parabolic trough solar collector; Double effect absorption chiller; Solar cooling and heating; System optimization; Carnegie Mellon University;
TRNSYS

1. Introduction energy costs have caused people to seek alternate cheaper,


renewable energy sources for the operation of buildings. As
At present, the buildings in the United States account one of renewable energy sources, solar energy as heat can
for more than one third of the total primary energy con- be used as the energy source for building cooling, heating,
sumption.3 Increases in building energy demands and and ventilation to conserve energy, as well as to protect the
environment by avoiding pollutant and CO2 emissions
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 765 494 9125; fax: +1 765 269 7903. associated with the generation of electric power and the
E-mail addresses: mqu@purdue.edu (M. Qu), hyin@purdue.edu (H. burning of natural gas.
Yin), archerdh@andrew.cmu.edu (D.H. Archer). For cooling systems, solar thermal energy can be used in
1
Tel.: +1 765 269 7917.
2
Tel.: +1 412 268 2004.
an absorption cycle, a desiccant cycle, or a mechanical
3
US Energy Information Administration, “Energy consumption by process. Compared with solar desiccant cycles and mechan-
section,” http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/txt/ptb0201a.html. ical processes, a solar absorption cycle is more reliable,

0038-092X/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.solener.2009.10.010
M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182 167

feasible, and quiet. Significant research on solar thermal ogy through installation, testing, modeling, and evaluation
absorption cooling occurred from 1970 to 1980, when a of a new system with an advanced system configuration
number of demonstration projects were conducted in the using recently available parabolic solar receivers and
United States. However, these systems failed to establish absorption chiller equipment. This system is the smallest
a significant global market for solar thermal absorption high temperature solar cooling system in the world. To
cooling due to their high initial cost, lack of commercial date, only this system of the kind has been successfully
hot water driven absorption chillers, and scarcity of dem- operated for more than 1 year. This research has proved
onstrations and impartial assessments by reputable institu- the feasibility of this technology, collected the detailed
tions (Kulkarni, 1994). operational data, provided techniques and tools for the
There are couple of successful studies demonstrating the design and evaluation of such systems, and helped to pro-
technical feasibility of solar thermal absorption cooling, mote widespread use of this technology.
specifically those that are based on high temperature solar
receivers and a double effect absorption chiller. A demon- 2. System description
stration solar absorption cooling system (Duff et al.,
2004), for instance, was installed for a commercial building The solar thermal absorption cooling and heating sys-
in Sacramento, California. The integrated compound para- tem was installed and studied in the Intelligent Workplace
bolic concentrator collectors have been operated over (IW) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh,
140 °C to provide hot water for a 70 kW (20 ton) double PA. It consists of 52 m2 of linear parabolic trough solar
effect McQuay/Sanyo chiller. Another high temperature collectors (PTSC’s); a 16 kW double effect absorption chil-
solar thermal absorption cooling system was developed ler; and a heat recovery heat exchanger, HX-2, indicated on
by the US Army at Yuma. This system has operated the process and instrumentation diagram of Fig. 1. The
1245 m2 of Hexel parabolic trough solar collectors driving PTSC’s were installed in series and oriented perpendicular
a 160 ton water–lithium bromide (LiBr) double effect to the axis of the building space, which is 15° east from true
absorption chiller for space cooling nearly 14 years since north. They collect and convert solar energy to thermal
its installation in 1979 (Hewett, 1995). However, the eco- energy in a heat transfer fluid (HTF), an aqueous solution
nomics of this system were unattractive because of the high containing 50% propylene glycol. The absorption chiller or
capital and operating costs of solar collectors with absorp- the HX-2 then uses thermal energy converted from sun to
tion chillers, compared to those with electrically driven generate chilled water in summer or hot water in the win-
vapor compression chillers, as reported in 1995. ter. If solar radiation is not adequate for the absorption
Recently solar thermal absorption cooling has again chiller operation, a natural gas burner in the chiller is then
aroused researchers’ interest in the development of high used to provide energy for space cooling. The chiller or the
temperature solar receivers, double effect chillers, and HX-2 connect with the heat exchanger, HX-1, serving as a
advanced control. The Center for Building Performance simulated, variable building load. In addition, there are
and Diagnostics (CBPD) at Carnegie Mellon University two main circulation pumps, S1 and S5; an expansion tank,
has carried out research on solar thermal absorption TK-1; and a three-way valve. The pump S1 circulates the
cooling and heating to assess the feasibility of this technol- HTF through the absorption chiller or the bypass and

Fig. 1. Process and instrumentation diagram of the solar absorption cooling and heating system.
168 M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182

the pump S5 is used to circulate the HTF through the HX- temperature, to vaporize water from the solution by using
2.The three-way valve regulates the flow rate of the HTF thermal energy provided by either the solar collectors or
through the bypass and the chiller. the natural gas burner. The water vapor is condensed by
rejecting heat to cooling water in the condenser. Next,
2.1. The parabolic trough solar collector the condensate water is passed through an expansion noz-
zle into the evaporator. The water is vaporized there at a
A parabolic trough solar collector is a concentrating low pressure, absorbing heat transferred from chilled water
solar thermal receiver comprised of a long parabolic trough flow. This cycle then repeats. A single valve shown in Figs.
reflector with a surface treated receiver pipe enveloped by a 3 and 4 can be opened to switch the chiller from the cooling
glass tube at its focal line as shown in Fig. 2. The glass mode to heating mode. In the heating mode, the water
envelope, at temperature much lower than that of the vapor boiled from the LiBr solution in the regenerator,
absorber pipe, significantly reduces the convective and directly flows into the evaporator passing through the sin-
radiative heat losses from the absorber pipe to the sur- gle valve. The evaporator now acts as a condenser and
roundings. The annular space between the absorber pipe heats the water stream that is used for space heating.
and the glass envelope is evacuated to minimize conduction
and convection of heat between them. All these features of 3. System performance test program
the PTSC result in a higher solar efficiency compared with
those of various flat plate and evacuated tube collectors, A test program for the solar thermal cooling and heating
when the solar field operates at a high temperature. The system was carried out to characterize devices and system
trough rotates on an axis parallel to its focal line to track from February to September in 2007. It includes three
the altitude of the sun throughout a day. HTF flows types of tests: PTSC performance tests, absorption chiller
through the receiver pipe to absorb the focused solar based solar cooling/heating tests, and heat exchanger based
energy as heat for use outside of the PTSC’s. The installed solar heating tests. An instrumentation, control and data
PTSC’s comprise four modules, each 6 m long by 2.3 m acquisition systems, provided by the Automated Logical
aperture width with a concentration ratio of 19.6. Corporation (ALC), has been used for the tests and the

2.2. The absorption chiller

The absorption chiller installed is a dual fired, double


effect, LiBr chiller integrated with a cooling tower. It has
a natural gas burner in its regenerator to provide heat when
solar energy is inadequate. It has both cooling and heating
functions. In the cooling cycle, water vapor is absorbed
into concentrated LiBr solution in the absorber shown in
Fig. 3.
A solution pump then circulates the dilute LiBr solution
to the regenerator, which operates at a higher pressure and

Fig. 3. Absorption chiller in cooling cycle. Refer to the absorption chiller


Fig. 2. The parabolic trough solar collector. brochure of the courtesy Broad Air Conditioning Co.
M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182 169

and its variability was less than ±4% throughout the tests.
Since wind velocity greatly impacts the convective heat loss
from the PTSC’s, all of performance tests were performed
with wind speed less than 4.5 m/s. Turbulent flow was
maintained within the absorber pipe to ensure good heat
transfer between the fluid and the pipe. Figs. 5 and 6 depict
a typical PTSC performance test. Fig. 5 shows the temper-
atures at the inlet and outlet of the PTSC’s and the two
heat exchangers, cold side of HX-2 and cold side of HX-
1. Fig. 6 is the corresponding calculated heat quantities
of total solar radiation availability, solar collectors, and
two heat exchangers. The time step for the measurements
was 1.0 min. Based on 55 steady state data from the PTSC
performance tests, the statistical method was used to iden-
tify the PTSC’s performance. The system energy balances
were checked by using the data. The results showed that
the measurements were in reasonable agreement with the
energy balances, taking into account the sensor accuracy
and the impacts on energy of other devices such as the
pumps.
The mean values of experimental data were introduced
into the statistical tool to generate the correlation of the
solar collector efficiency, g, by using multiple regressions.
The PTSC efficiency was determined as indicated in Eq.
(1). The optical efficiency is 0.634 and the linear coefficient
of thermal losses is 1.4 W/°C m2.
ðT in þ T out Þ=2  T am
g ¼ 0:634  1:4 ð1Þ
I DN  cosðhÞ
where,
Fig. 4. Absorption chiller in heating cycle. Refer to the absorption chiller
brochure of the courtesy Broad Air Conditioning Co.
g: solar collector efficiency (no unit);

operation. This control system is a web-based control and Tin: inlet temperature of the solar collector (°C);
data display system using BACnet as protocol. There were Tout: outlet temperature of the solar collector (°C);
a total of 21 sensors installed including electromagnetic Tam: ambient air temperature (°C);
flow rate sensors (accuracy: ±0.2% at 100% flow, ±0.1% IDN: direct normal solar radiation (W/m2);
at 40% flow), RTD temperature sensors (accuracy: H: incident angle of solar collector (°).
±0.3 °C at 0 °C; ±0.8 °C at 100 °C; ±1.3 °C at 200 °C;
transmitter: ±0.1% of span), pressure sensors (non-linear- 3.2. Solar absorption cooling daily test data
ity accuracy: ±0.25% full span), and pyrheliometer for
direct normal solar radiation (accuracy: ±0.5% of full In the absorption chiller based solar cooling tests, the
span). The measurements from the system performance HTF was circulated through bypass until the temperature
tests were collected and used to validate the system perfor- required by the absorption chiller was reached in the morn-
mance model. ing of a sunny day; and then the HTF was diverted through
absorption chiller to produce chilled water for space cool-
3.1. PTSC performance test data ing. When the amount of solar energy was no longer ade-
quate to provide heat for the absorption chiller, the HTF
In PTSC performance tests, building loads were simu- was circulated in the collection loop through the bypass
lated by the HX-1 and were adjusted to maintain the until the sun set. The measured data from solar absorption
PTSC’s operated at a quasi-steady state, which refers to cooling tests on July 16 and July 31, 2007 are selected to
the condition of the collector when the flow rate and inlet present the analyses of system performance. Figs. 7 and 9
fluid temperature are constant, but the exit temperature show throughout a day, the measured temperatures of
changes slightly due to the normal variations in solar irra- the HTF at the exit of the PTSC’s and at the inlet and out-
diance that occur with time for clear sky. The PTSC perfor- let of the chiller, and also of the chilled water at the inlet
mance tests were performed in 17 clear days when the and outlet of the chiller. The rapid rise of the temperatures
direct normal solar radiation was greater than 630 W/m2, of the HTF at the chiller inlet and outlet at noon was the
170 M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182

110.00

100.00

90.00
T_SC_out
80.00
T_HX-2_cs_out
Temperature in °C

70.00
T_SC_in
60.00
T_HX-2_cs_in
50.00

40.00 T_HX-1_cs_out

30.00

20.00

10.00 T_HX-1_cs_in

0.00

Local time on Apr.22, 2007

Fig. 5. Operating temperatures of the PTSC test on 22 April 07.

55.00

50.00

45.00
Idn*Aa*Cos(θ)
40.00

35.00
Power rate in kW

30.00 Q_useful_solar

25.00 Q_HX-2_hs

20.00 Q_HX-2_cs

15.00

10.00

5.00

0.00

Fig. 6. Energy flows of the PTSC test on 22 April 07.

result of the three-way valve opening to admit the HTF to of the HTF flow and the temperature difference over the
the chiller when its temperature exceeds the temperature chiller.
required by chiller to produce chilled water. Prior to this As indicated by these figures, energy delivered by solar
time, the chiller was driven by natural gas. Figs. 8 and 10 receiver was larger than the energy used by chiller at the
show the corresponding calculated heat quantities: (1) the beginning of the chiller operation while the relation
solar input marked as IDN  Aa  cos(h) in figures: the between them was reversed in the later afternoon. When
product of direct normal solar irradiation from pyrheliom- the HTF was operated at 150–160C, the overall solar effi-
eter measurements, actual aperture surface area (consider- ciency of the PTSC’s was approximately 33–40%. The COP
ing shadows), and the cosine of the incident angle; (2) the of the installed absorption chiller was in the range 1.0–1.1.
cooling capacity provided by the chiller marked as The solar COP of the overall installed solar cooling system,
Q_chiller_cooling: the product of the chilled water flow the product of the COP of absorption chiller and the solar
and the temperature difference over the chiller; (3) the ther- collector efficiency, was therefore about 0.33–0.44. The
mal energy to the chiller, marked as Q_useful_sc: the prod- maximum output of the absorption chiller was 12 kW.
uct of the HTF flow and the temperature difference over The reasons for this capacity, lower than the chillers design
the solar collector; (4) the thermal energy from solar field capacity of 16 kW, were related to the intensity of direct
to the chiller marked as Q_chiller_solarinput: the product solar radiation and rate of heat transfer between HTF
M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182 171

180
T_chiller_HTF_in
160

Temperature in °C 140 T_chiller_HTF_out


120

100 T_sc_out
80

60

40
T_chiller_CHW_return
20
T_chiller_CHW_supply
0

Local time on Jul.31, 2007

Fig. 7. Operating temperatures of solar cooling test on 31 July 07.

55
50
45
40 I DN *Aa*cos(θ)
Power rate in kW

35
30
25
20
15 Q_chiller_cooling

10 Q_useful_sc
5
Q_chiller_bySolar
0

Local time on Jul.31, 2007

Fig. 8. Cooling capacity of solar cooling system on 31 July 07.

180.00
T_chiller__HTF_in
160.00

140.00
T_chiller_HTF_out
120.00
Temperature in °C

100.00

80.00 T_sc_out

60.00

40.00
T_chiller_CHW_return
20.00
T_chiller_CHW_supply
0.00

Local time on Jul.16, 2007

Fig. 9. Operating temperatures of solar cooling test on 16 July 07.


172 M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182

55.00
50.00
IDN *Aa*cos(θ)
45.00
40.00
Power rate in kW

35.00
30.00
25.00
20.00
15.00 Q_chiller_cooling

10.00
5.00 Q_solar_delivered
Q_chiller_bySolar
0.00

Local time on Jul.16, 2007

Fig. 10. Cooling capacity of solar cooling system on 16 July 07.

and LiBr solution. Due to the relative high humidity of approximately 50–55% when they were operated at
Pittsburgh in summer, the direct solar radiation was rela- 60–70C. The heating generated by the solar system was
tive low with typical values of 600–850 W/m2. Rate of heat at range of 16–29 kW with changed direct solar radiation.
transfer depends on the temperature of HTF and the area
and heat transfer coefficient of the exchange surface in the 4. System performance models
regenerator.
System performance models have been developed for
3.3. Solar heating daily test data the design, evaluation, and optimization of the solar cool-
ing and heating system. A base case model was pro-
In heat exchanger based solar heating tests, the HTF grammed in accord with the configuration of the solar
was circulated and heated in the solar collection loop with- cooling and heating system installed in the IW at CMU.
out operating the load pump, marked S5 in Fig. 1, until the After verification by experimental data from the system
desired operating temperature was reached in the morning performance tests, the base case model was extended to
of a sunny winter day. Then pump S5 circulated water in develop system optimization models. Finally, guidelines
the load loop to deliver the heat from HX-2 to HX-1, for the design and operation of the solar cooling and
which simulates the building load by regulating chilled heating system were formulated on the basis of the results
water flow on its cold side. When the amount of solar of system optimization by exploring the effects of solar
energy was no longer adequate for the building load, the collector area and orientation, the provision of thermal
system operation was halted. In the absorption chiller storage, system pipe length and diameter, and system
based solar heating tests, the HTF was circulated through operational control strategies.
bypass until the temperature required by the absorption
chiller was reached in the morning of a sunny day; and then 4.1. Approach of the system performance model
the HTF was diverted through absorption chiller to pro-
duce hot water for space cooling. Experimental data have The software selected for modeling system performance
been obtained to define the system performance in solar is TRaNsient SYstem Simulation program (TRNSYS),
heating using either the absorption chiller with the HTF developed by Solar Energy Laboratory of the University
at 140 °C, or the heat recovery exchanger with the HTF Wisconsin. The system model developed includes building
at 68 °C. A comparison of solar heating using an absorp- model and energy supply system model. The building
tion chiller or a heat recovery exchanger, based on the tests, model considers the configuration of the building; weather
shows clearly that a heat recovery exchanger is more effec- conditions; the schedules for occupancy, lighting, equip-
tive. Figs. 11 and 12 depict the heat exchanger based solar ment; and set points for temperature and humidity and
heating testing data on 2 March 07. Use of the exchanger for conditioned fresh air flow. The output of the building
avoids the large temperature difference between the HTF model quantifies building thermal condition and building
and the heated water in the absorption chiller. And it sensible loads. The energy supply system model consists
allows the collectors to be operated at a lower temperature, of all major system components, most of which are avail-
thus reducing heat losses from the system. In solar heating able in the TRNSYS component library. The linear para-
system tests, the overall solar efficiency of the PTSC’s was bolic concentrator component of the library of TRNSYS
M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182 173

100.00
90.00
80.00
70.00
Temperature in °C

60.00
50.00
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00

Local time on Mar.02, 2007

Fig. 11. Operating temperatures of HX based solar heating system on 2 March 07.

55.00
50.00
45.00
40.00
Power rate in kW

35.00
30.00
25.00
20.00
15.00
10.00
5.00
0.00

Local time on Mar.02,2007

Fig. 12. Heating capacity of HX based solar heating system on 2 March 07.

was modified to represent the installed PTSC. In addition, period derived from the 1961–1990 National Solar
the overall system control was programmed as a new com- Radiation Data Base (NSRDB). TMY2 data for Pitts-
ponent to integrate the operation of the PTSC, absorption burgh, PA, indicate that the daily peak direct normal solar
chiller, pumps, and other devices. The system performance radiation intensity in the summer is lower than that in win-
model utilizes two indicators to assess the system perfor- ter. The very humid air in summer of Pittsburgh diffuses a
mance: solar fraction and saved energy per unit solar recei- large amount of direct normal solar radiation before it
ver area. The solar fraction is the ratio of the building reaches the earth. On the contrary, due to dry and chilled
cooling/heating provided by solar energy; and the saved weather in the winter, the daily peak direct normal solar
energy per unit solar receiver area is energy provided by radiation is relatively high, sometimes above 1000 W/m2.
solar for cooling/heating divided by the total area of solar The daily average direct normal solar radiation intensity
receivers. The solar building cooling and heating system throughout a year in Pittsburgh is lower than 420 W/m2.
models and their details have been published (Qu, 2008). The solar cooling system performance models use two
The system performance models use the typical meteo- absorption chiller components, a hot water driven absorp-
rological year (TMY2) data to obtain the weather condi- tion chiller and a direct fired absorption chiller, to simulate
tions and geographic information for the location of the the installed dual fire absorption chiller since the installed
solar system installed. TMY2 data sets were typical values chiller can be driven either by the solar energy or by the
of solar radiation and meteorological elements for a 1-year natural gas, not simultaneously by both energy sources.
174 M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182

The experimental data from the system performance tests operation when there is a cooling demand and direct nor-
indicates that the heat exchanger based solar system mal solar radiation is greater than 300 W/m2 which is
provides more useful heat than the absorption chiller based required to balance the heat loss from the system during
heating system, so solar heating system performance mod- its operation. The highest operating temperature was set
els are based on the heat exchanger based solar heating at 185C. When this temperature is reached, the PTSC’s
system. are defocused to prevent overheating of the system. This
control feature is included in PTSC model based on on/
4.2. Building model results off with hysteresis. The HTF is continuously circulated
and heated through the bypass in the solar collection loop
The IW is a single floor building with 245 m2 of net floor until it reaches the temperature required by hot water
area and 3.1 m of average height. It is an open plan and sub- absorption chiller. Then the HTF is switched from the
divided by partition walls and furniture in nine offices and bypass to the regenerator of hot water driven absorption
one conference space. The building has horizontal shading chiller. The chiller controls the flow of the HTF by adjust-
on the east and west facades. Fig. 13 shows the building cool- ing the three-way valve and also the temperature of the
ing and heating loads estimated by the building model. HTF by the defocus of the PTSC’s, assuming solar input
meets or exceeds the need. The system model uses hystere-
4.3. Model based performance analysis of the installed solar sis control to switch between the two energy sources, natu-
cooling and heating system ral gas and solar energy. The chiller uses solar energy when
the HTF is at 155 °C or above, and it switches natural gas
In order to ensure the accuracy of the system model, sys- when the HTF is lower than 135 °C.
tem performance models started with the system perfor- The base case model for the solar heating system
mance evaluation models. These evaluation models were includes the PTSC’s, pumps, HX-2, an electric heater (or
programmed based on the installed system configuration natural gas burner), and controls. Similar control for the
and the daily system performance test conditions including PTSC’s in solar cooling system is applied to solar heating
the ambient temperature, wind velocity, direct normal solar system. The highest operating temperature of the solar
radiation, working condition, and operational procedures. receivers is set at 95C for solar heating. Whenever heating
The measured data from the tests verified the evaluation is required, hot water is delivered either from solar field or
models. And there was good agreement between model the auxiliary heater for space heating. When the HTF tem-
results and experimental data. perature from PTSC’s is 3 °C higher than the temperature
On the basis of system evaluation models, the base case of water entering HX-2 from building and there is a heat-
system models were developed according to the installed ing demand, the HX-2 transfers the heat from the solar
solar cooling and heating system. The components in the field to the building. The electrical heater (or natural gas
base case model included PTSCs, hot water driven double burner) is triggered by the temperature of water entering
effect absorption chiller (HW chiller), direct fired double the heater. If it is less than the temperature required by
effect absorption chiller (DF chiller), circulation pumps, building heating device, the heater is turned on providing
space cooling load and controllers. The system starts its hot water for space heating.

5500
5000 Q_sensible_heating
4500 Q_dehumidification
Q_sensible_heating
4000 Q_humidification
3500
Load in kWh

3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Month

Fig. 13. Building heating and cooling loads estimated by building model.
M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182 175

4.3.1. Results of the base case model of solar cooling of a typical operational scenario of the installed solar heat-
The results of the base case model for solar cooling show ing. Building requires heating when solar energy is not
that the installed solar cooling system is able to save available; and when solar energy is available and it exceeds
36 kW h/m2, which could provide 12.7% (solar fraction) the requirement of space heating during day time, the
of the building space cooling in a cooling reason. Although PTSC’s must be defocused to moderate the solar energy
the solar availability is in phase with building cooling collected and useful solar energy is lost. Therefore, heat
demands, 76% of useful solar energy collected is lost to storage is needed to overcome this difficulty. Much heat
the surroundings through the piping and solar collectors is lost from the system during its operation in the day
due to the system design and operation. The direct normal and at night. The heat lost at night must be replaced at
solar radiation with relatively low intensity in the summer the beginning of the day to rapidly return the solar heating
of Pittsburgh remarkably reduces the opportunities for system to its operating conditions, so reducing the surface
solar cooling. According to the model results, solar cooling area, volume, and heat capacity of the system can reduce
can operate only 69 days over 183 days from April 15th to this problem.
October 15th. A significant portion of useful solar energy
collected, as shown in Fig. 14, is used for system preheating 4.4. System optimization of the solar cooling and heating
due to its large system thermal heat capacity and the loss of system
heat from the system at night. The remaining, useful solar
energy, can only supply the absorption chiller for 3–4 h System optimization was carried out to improve system
over 8–10 h required for cooling in a summer day of Pitts- performance by modifications in the system design and
burgh. In addition, the high variability of the direct normal operation, including changes in the system configuration,
solar radiation makes the chiller operate intermittently equipment design details, operating conditions, and control
because chiller controller is sensitive to the temperature strategies.
of the HTF from solar field entering the chiller. A small
buffer storage tank should be used to stabilize chiller oper-
ation and to improve system performance. 4.4.1. Orientation of the PTSC’s
The tracking drive system of a PTSC rotates its collector
about its axis to track the sun until the sun central ray and the
4.3.2. Results of the base case model solar heating normal direction of the aperture surface of the reflector are
The results of the base case model for solar heating indi- coplanar. The angle between the sun rays and the aperture
cated that the installed solar thermal heating system could normal is called incident angle. The intensity of solar radia-
provide 6.7 kW h/m2, which provide 3.8% of building heat- tion on the surface is reduced by a factor equal to the cosine
ing from October 15 to April 15. Although solar receivers of the incident angle, so the incident angle significant influ-
potentially provide approximately half amount of energy ences the efficiency of the PTSC. The orientation of the PTSC
for building heating, as shown in Fig. 15, solar energy refers to the position of its tracking axis. North–south ori-
availability is out of phase with building heating demand. ented PTSC actually tracks solar azimuth and east–west ori-
Therefore, about 16% of available solar energy is rejected ented PTSC tracks solar altitude. Since the orientation of the
by defocusing and 94% of solar energy collected is lost to PTSC directly impacts on the incident angle, it significantly
the surroundings from the system as illustrated in Fig. 16 influences the system performance of solar system. To

20.00

Q_usef ul_solar (kW)

16.00 Q_Load (kW)


Q_HWchiller_CHW (kW)
Energy rate in kW

12.00

8.00

4.00

0.00
0:00 3:00 6:00 9:00 12:00 15:00 18:00 21:00 Solar time

Fig. 14. Useful solar energy, cooling load, and cooling provided by chiller on 9th August.
176 M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182

25
Q_usef ul_solar (kW)
Q_Load(kW)
20
Energy rate in kW

15

10

0
Date

Fig. 15. Useful solar energy and building sensible heating load in January.

20.0

Q_usef ul_solar (kW)


16.0
Q_Load(kW)
Energy rate in kW

Q_HX-2 (kW)
12.0

8.0

4.0

0.0
0:00 3:00 6:00 9:00 12:00 15:00 18:00 21:00 0:00

Solar time

Fig. 16. Useful solar energy, building sensible heating load, and heating provided by HX-2 on 30th December.

explore the effects of PTSC’s orientation on system perfor- For a combined solar cooling and heating system, the cal-
mance, system optimization calculations compared the solar culations show that a NS oriented PTSC could collect
radiation throughout a day on a PTSC oriented NS and EW 927.7 kW h/m2 per year, which is 14% more solar energy
in Pittsburgh. The calculations show that the incident solar than an EW oriented PTSC could collect, 815.3 kW h/m2,
radiation has two peaks throughout a day for a NS oriented as indicated in Fig. 18.
PTSC and one peak for an EW oriented PTSC. The NS ori- Based on the similar system optimization calculations in
ented PTSC can potentially deliver one third more useful other cities like Seattle, Albuquerque, Madison, San Fran-
solar energy than an EW oriented PTSC throughout a sum- cisco, generally NS is a better orientation than EW for
mer day. On a winter day, however, the NS oriented PTSC solar cooling, and conversely EW is better than NS for
can only deliver half the solar energy of that provided by solar heating although the latitude of a location influence
an EW oriented PTSC because daily average incident angle the incident angle. The system performance models also
on NS oriented PTSC is smaller than EW oriented PTSC quantified the impacts from the PTSC’s orientation on
in winter days, as illustrated in Fig. 17. the overall system performance. If the installed PTSCs
In Pittsburgh, a NS oriented PTSC would receive 25% were oriented in NS rather than EW, the system would
more solar radiation in the cooling season and 5% less in have an improved solar fraction of 18.7% for cooling and
the heating season, compared to an EW oriented PTSC. a reduced solar fraction of 2% for heating.
M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182 177

1000

Solar irradiations on aperture in W/m2


900
EW_Jun10
800 NS_Jun10
700 EW_Dec2
NS_Dec2
600
500
400
300
200
100
Time of day
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Fig. 17. Orientation and solar beam irradiation on aperture in Pittsburgh.

1200
Monthly solar irradiations (kWh/m2)

1000

800
NS_kWh/m2
600 EW_kWh/m2
Direct normal_kWh/m2
400

200

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Total
NS_kWh/m2 36.0 41.3 75.4 93.7 113.6 129.2 117.6 111.6 91.9 69.7 30.5 17.3 927.7
EW_kWh/m2 49.8 47.4 69.5 73.8 85.1 97.7 87.8 87.4 76.1 74.0 40.0 26.8 815.3
Direct normal_kWh/m2 58.4 57.9 90.8 100.7 117.3 132.4 120.7 118.3 104.5 92.3 47.0 30.3 1070.4

Fig. 18. Monthly solar irradiations on aperture throughout a year.

4.4.2. Control for the solar collection loop system models used 7.2 gpm (1.96 m3/h) as flow rate set point
The flow rate of the HTF in the solar collection loop is a in the constant flow control system. In the constant temper-
significant operating condition for solar cooling and heating ature control system, 75 and 156C were used as the temper-
system. There are two alternative control strategies: constant ature set points at the outlet of the PTSC’s for heating and
HTF flow and constant outlet temperature of HTF from the cooling, respectively. The HTF flow was adjusted between
PTSC’s. Constant flow control circulates HTF throughout the maximum value of 80 gpm, determined by the pump
the solar loop at a constant flow. It is common in flat plate capacity, and the minimum value, calculated from a Rey-
solar collector systems to minimize the costs of equipment nolds number of 4000, the required limit for well developed
used in water heating systems. Constant temperature control turbulent flow in the PTSC’s. The performance model calcu-
maintains the HTF temperature constant at the outlet of the lations indicate that the two alternatives result in little differ-
PTSC by varying HTF flow rate. This control is typically ence in system performance for heating, but for cooling the
used in high temperature concentrating solar systems that constant temperature control improves the solar fraction
require a given minimum HTF temperature for use and attained by a factor of two compared with the constant flow
where excessive temperatures can degrade the HTF or cause control. As shown in Fig. 19, the constant temperature con-
high system pressure resulting in damage (Stine, 1985). The trol reduces the system preheat time prior to chiller by
system performance model was used to explore the impacts approximately one hour and extends the operating time of
of the two control alternatives on system performance. The chiller driven by solar energy.
178 M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182

20

Q_usef ul_solar_ConsFR
16 Q_usef ul_solar_ConsT
Q_HWchiller_chw_ConsFR
Energy rate in kW

Q_HWchiller_chw_Cons T
12 Q_load

Time on Aug.09
0

Fig. 19. System performance in cooling with two alternate controls.

Fig. 20 shows the effect of the two control strategies on the system heat capacity. This approach improves the system
inlet and outlet temperatures of the PTSC’s supplying the performance in solar cooling by reducing energy used for sys-
absorption chiller. When the control is based on constant tem preheating.
outlet temperature from the PTSC’s, there is a significant
temperature difference between the HTF inlet and outlet 4.4.3. Thermal storage requirement
temperatures during the morning of the day; these HTF tem- Since the daily profiles of solar radiation with time may
peratures in the solar loop show that less solar energy is used not coincide with the profiles of the building cooling and
in system preheating and more for chiller operation. And the heating loads, some of solar energy available from the solar
duration of the chiller driven by solar energy is in this way receivers may have to be discarded. Thermal energy storage,
extended. The improvement in system performance due to therefore, should be used in solar systems to shift excess solar
the constant temperature control will not be as significant energy recovered during periods of high solar availability to
if the system capacity is reduced, because the energy used periods of low solar availability. System optimization calcu-
for system preheating will be small and the duration of sys- lations for thermal storage have estimated the impacts on
tem preheating will be short. In solar heating, however, since system performance, from thermal storage as heated HTF
the building load is out of phase with the availability of solar with the volumes ranging from 0.5 to 6 m3.
energy, the reduction of system preheating period does not
significantly improve system performance of solar heating. 4.4.3.1. Solar heating. On the basis of the base case system
In general, constant temperature control is recommended models, the system optimization models added a storage
for high temperature concentrating solar cooling with a large tank in the solar collection loop and a pump for discharg-

180
160 T_sc_in_ConsFR
T_sc_in_ConsT
140
T_sc_out_ConsFR
Temperature in °C

120 T_sc_out_ConsT
T_ambient
100
80
60
40
20
Time on Aug.09
0

Fig. 20. Operation temperatures of solar receiver in cooling with two alternate controls.
M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182 179

ing the storage tank to HX-2. If the HTF temperature at results, the storage tank did not improve the system perfor-
the outlet of the PTSC’s is higher than the HTF tempera- mance of solar cooling. The profiles of the building cooling
ture on the top of storage tank, the HTF flows to the stor- load and the solar radiation are basically in phase. The
age tank charging it; otherwise, the HTF circulates installed large volume of the solar collection loop is equiv-
through bypass. If there is a heating demand, the storage alent to a small storage and already provides the storage
tank is discharged until the stored energy is exhausted. for cooling; no additional storage is needed. And the area
The calculations show that the storage tank significantly of solar collector is not adequate for both chiller and stor-
improves system performance of solar heating by shifting age. It merely results in additional heat loss. None the less a
the excess solar energy. As illustrated in Fig. 21, there is a small amount of storage might smooth irregularities in the
time lag between heating load and the availability of the solar supply and building loads.
useful solar energy. The excess solar energy is collected
and stored in storage tank during the day and it is used
in the evening and the next morning. In this way, the solar 4.4.4. Auxiliary heater and drain-back tank
fraction of the base case system is potentially improved by A system with a large thermal capacity might use auxil-
factor six when 4 m3 is used as the optimized volume of iary heat for system preheating in order to improve system
storage. Additionally, the calculations indicated that incre- performance. A gas fired heater was added in the solar col-
mentally larger storage volumes lose more heat than they lection loop prior to the PTSC’s in the system performance
store. model to explore the impact of the auxiliary heat on system
performance. The results showed that the auxiliary heater
significantly improves the system performance as expected.
4.4.3.2. Solar cooling. Solar cooling optimization model for The solar fraction of solar heating is improved by 7.1%
evaluating thermal storage placed a storage tank parallel to when the target temperature of the heater was set to
the bypass in the solar collection loop. The PTSC’s are 50 °C; the solar fraction of solar cooling is increased to
operated by the constant temperature control. A variable 30.4% when the target temperature of heater was set to
frequency pump was added to discharge the storage tank. 120 °C. The use natural gas, however, as a substitute for
The HTF is circulated through the bypass and heated until solar energy is contrary to objective of the system. A
the operating temperature required by chiller is reached in drain-back tank for the HTF in the solar collection loop
the morning. The HTF is then diverted through the regen- might well be an energy saving feature in the design and
erator of the absorption chiller if there are cooling operation of the system. Drain back might significantly
demands. If the flow through the PTSCs is greater than reduce the loss of heat over night from the HTF contained
the flow required by the chiller and the HTF leaving from in the system. A drain-back system would drain all the
the PTSCs is at the set temperature, the storage tank is HTF, at about 120 °C in cooling or 50 °C in heating, from
charged. If the flow through the PTSC’s is not adequate the solar collection loop to a well insulated drain-back tank
for the chiller and the temperature of the HTF at the top in the late afternoon and pump this hot fluid back into the
of the storage tank is above the minimum operating tem- system the next morning. Calculations have determined
perature required by the chiller, the storage tank is dis- that drain back will improve solar fraction of the system
charged until it is exhausted. According to the simulation by about 4–9% in both heating and cooling.

20

Q_usef ul_solar
15
Q_Load
Energy rate in kW

Q_HX-2

10

Solar time

Fig. 21. Useful solar energy, heating load, and solar energy used for heating on 14 and 15 November 2007.
180 M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182

4.4.5. Length and size of the pipe in the solar collection loop reduces its pipe volume one fourth by reducing the pipe
The length and diameter size of the pipe in the solar col- diameter and length, the solar fraction for cooling and
lection loop play important roles in system performance. heating can be improved by a factor of 1.7. The system uses
Greater pipe lengths and diameters increase the heat loss solar energy to operate the absorption chiller one hour ear-
from the system and increase also the overall heat capacity lier than the base case system, as indicated in Fig. 22, and
of the system and of the HTF it contains, so that the system achieves a solar fraction of 22%, employing constant tem-
requires more energy for preheating. Greater pipe lengths perature control. Therefore small pipe lengths and diame-
also increase the pressure loss in circulating the HTF, while ters of pipe should be applied in solar absorption cooling
greater diameters reduce these losses. The system optimiza- and heating system to utilize more useful solar energy for
tion calculations show that reducing the length and diame- building cooling and heating.
ter of the loop pipes is an effective means to improve system
performance at least until pressure loss and pump energy 4.4.6. Solar receiver area and storage tank capacity
for HTF circulation in the collection loop become signifi- Solar receiver area and thermal storage capacity signifi-
cant. Since the installed solar system has a very long pipe cantly impact on system performance of solar cooling and
line, around 100 m long. If the solar thermal system heating. The hour by hour delivery of thermal energy by

20

Q_usef ul_ConsT
16 Q_usef ul_ConsT_1/4V
Q_Hchiller_chw_ConsT
Energy rate in kW

Q_Hchiller_chw_ConsT_1/4V
12 Q_load

Time on Aug.09

Fig. 22. System energy performance and pipe size on 9th August.

45%

Solar cooling (N/S, 52 m2, 1/4 V)


40%

35%
Solar heating (E/W, 52 m2, 1/4 V)
30%
Solar fraction

Solar cooling (E/W, 52 m2, 1/4 V)


25%
Solar heating (E/W, 52 m2) Solar cooling (E/W, 52 m2)
20%
Solar heating (N/S, 52 m2, 1/4 V)
15%

10%

5%
Volume of tank (m3)
0%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Fig. 23. Solar absorption cooling/heating system optimization.


M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182 181

the collectors should be studied to examine the effects of solar  A storage tank should be placed in solar collection loop,
collector area and storage capacity on the utilization of the so that it can switch the excess thermal energy as much
collected solar energy. This energy supply profile should then as possible from the periods of high solar availabilities
be compared with the application’s demand profile and the and low loads to the periods of low solar availabilities
storage capacity available for storing excess solar thermal and high loads. The storage, in addition, can also be
energy. A larger area of collectors and greater capacity of used to minimize the effects of short term fluctuations
the storage will increase the quantity of solar heat made in the solar radiation or in the cooling and heating
available for cooling and heating, but also increase the cost loads. Since the solar availability and the cooling
of the installation. The selection of solar receiver area and demands are nearly coincident, only a small storage tank
storage tank capacity is an economic decision. The system is required to smooth operation. Solar availability and
optimization models and calculations explored the effects the heating loads, during the evening, night, and early
of collector area and storage capacity on the system perfor- morning, are far from coincident. A sizable storage tank
mance for cooling and heating. The model results indicate can significantly improve the system performance of
that a larger solar field could improve system performance solar heating by storing the excess solar energy during
of solar cooling and solar heating. the day and making it available in the evening and early
morning.
4.4.7. Optimized system performance  A drain-back tank should be considered for a solar cool-
System optimization models and calculations have char- ing and heating system, which has a large heat capacity,
acterized the performance of an optimal solar cooling and to achieve a higher system performance. The system can
heating system for the IW s by taking into account all the drain all the hot HTF from the solar collection loop
factors addressed above. According to the model results, back to the well insulated drain-back tank in the late
this optimal system would have a 4 m3 storage tank, one afternoon and fill the HTF in the system in the next
fourth of the installed pipe volume of the current system, morning in order to avoid energy lost from HTF in sys-
and constant temperature control. If the PTSC’s were ori- tem pipes to surroundings at night.
ented in NS, the system could potentially provide 39% of  Decreasing the length and diameter of the pipe in the
the cooling and 20% of the heating for the IW in Pitts- solar collection loop reduces the system heat capacity,
burgh, PA, and correspondingly save annually 100 kW h/ the heat loss, and the preheating time and energy
m2 and 34 kW h/m2, respectively. The PTSC’s are oriented required by the system. And these dimensions also affect
in EW; this system could provide 37% of cooling and 29% the pressure loss and the energy required for circulating
of heating by solar energy and correspondingly save annu- the HTF in the solar collection loop. The length and
ally 74 kW h/m2 and 61 kW h/m2, respectively, as indicated diameter of the pipe line should be designed as small
in Fig. 23. In summary, the improved solar cooling and as feasible within the limitations placed by the pressure
heating system could totally save annually 135 kW h/m2 loss and pumping energy for the loop in order to opti-
for both NS and EW orientation. mize the system performance in both solar cooling and
heating.
5. Recommendations  The constant temperature control should be applied in a
high temperature solar cooling and heating system to
Based on the system optimization analyses, guidelines achieve higher system performances since it effectively
are generated for the design and operation of a solar reduces the time and energy for system preheating of a
absorption cooling and heating system, primarily com- solar thermal system with a large system heat capacity.
posed of high temperature PTSC’s and a double effect Its advantage, however, is dependent on the heat capac-
absorption chiller. ity of the system.

 The orientation of PTSC’s significantly impacts on the In addition, the design and operation of a solar absorption
performance of solar cooling and heating system. A cooling and heating system should consider the building
NS orientation is recommended for solar cooling domi- and its load profiles, the climate conditions and the inci-
nated system and an EW orientation should be applied dent solar radiation profiles, the physical limitations of
to solar heating dominated system to derive the greatest the situation, and also the economics of the energy supply.
amount of energy from the sun for building operation.
 Solar receiver area is reasonably determined by the solar References
energy collected and building cooling and heating load
in the design day. Although solar receivers of larger area Duff, W.S., Winston, R., O’Gallagher, J.J., Bergquam, J., Henkel, T.,
2004. Performance of the Sacramento demonstration ICPC collector
with adequate storage tank capacity improve the system
and double effect chiller. Solar Energy 76, 175–180.
performance for both cooling and heating in days when Hewett, R., 1995. Solar absorption cooling: an innovative use of solar
the solar incidence is intermittent or low, the selection of energy. AIChE Symposium Series 91 (306), 291–299.
solar receiver area and thermal storage capacity is prop- Kulkarni, P.P., 1994. Solar absorption cooling for demand-side manage-
erly determined by an economic analysis. ment. Energy Engineering 91 (5), 29–39.
182 M. Qu et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 166–182

Qu, M., 2008. Model Based Design and Performance Analysis of Solar Stine, W.B., 1985. Energy Fundamentals and Design: With Computer
Absorption Cooling and Heating System. Carnegie Mellon University, Applications. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Pittsburgh.

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