PRODUCING COOLING FROM SOLAR ENERGY BY USING ADSORPTION CYCLE WITH ACTIVATED CARBON AND METHANOL PAIR

Indonesia is blessed with abundant supply of solar energy which can be harvested in a whole year. According to Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Republic of Indonesia, total energy of solar radiation in Indonesia varies between 16- 18MJ/m2/day. A refrigeration machine with adsorption cycle is an alternative that can be used to collect the solar energy and use it to produce cooling. This paper deals with design, fabrication, and testing a small scale solar-powered adsorption cyle refrigeration machine. It consists of condenser, evaporator, absorber and generator. The absorber has a surface area of 0.25 m2 and it is loaded with 6 kg local produced activated carbon, as a generator. The evaporator is filled with 2 litres of methanol as refrigerant. The refrigeration machine has been tested by exposing directly to solar radiation in Medan city. Using data acquisition system, operational temperatures and solar radiations are measured and collected. The results show that solar radiation can heat the absorber up to 120oC. Thus the methanol is desorbed from the activated carbon and condensed by condenser and sent it back to evaporator. During night, the methanol is absorbed from evaporator and produces cooling. The lowest temperature can be reached here is 10oC. The conclusion can be drawn here is that solar radiation can be used to produce cooling in a very simple way and without any moving part