On Standardizing Solar Cooling – Field Test in the Small Capacity Range

AbstractTo approach a market launch of small scale solar cooling installations, standardized and pre-designed packages offer a way for investment cost reduction and optimizing the control and operation strategies in a compressed way. In the German national research project “SolCoolSys”, six field test plants were installed and monitored under real conditions in four European countries, Austria, Germany, Italy and Spain. The cooling capacity ranges between 8 – 15kW of the installed adsorption chillers that are driven by solar heat from flat plate or evacuated tube collectors. The load applications are industrial, hotel sector and public building uses. Free cooling operation is tested, additionally to the solar cooling and heat pump mode of the chillers. Special focus was laid on a standardized layout, installation and accompanying monitoring procedure.This work focusses on the solar cooling application of the installations; offering preliminary work for simplified and standardized solar cooling kits in small and medium capacity range on the market. Favourable for the economic viability is a thorough system design, increased efficiency and a high usage of the collector field for further heating demands, like space heating and domestic hot water supply