Abstract:
A building energy simulation study is carried out to analyze the performance of a triplehybrid single-effect vapor absorption cooling system (VACS) operated by solar, natural
gas, and auxiliary electricity-based cogeneration. A high capacity small office building
subjected to different climatic conditions is considered. The system is designed to continuously maintain a specified building comfort level throughout the year under diverse
environmental conditions. Simulations are done at different generator temperatures to
investigate the performance in terms of total annual electric energy consumption, heating
energy, and the coefficient of performance (COP). The performance of the present VACS
is compared with the conventional compression-based system, which demonstrates the
electric energy and cost saving potentials of the proposed VACS. Simulation outcomes
are well-validated against benchmark data from national renewable energy laboratory
and energy conservation building code. Interestingly, it is found that beyond a certain
collector area, surplus energy savings can be acquired with the present triple-hybrid
VACS as compared to the compression-based cooling. Results also show that COP of
the simulated system is in line with experimental values available in the literature.
Finally, recommendations are given to operate the complete system on solar and biomass
resources, which provide encouraging opportunity for agriculture-based countries.
