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Solar Absorption Cooling
www.SolarAbsorptionCooling.com
*
FREE SOLAR POWER SYSTEMS!
Through
an affiliated partner company, we are now installing *Free Solar
Power Systems for qualified homeowners and
businesses in the Palms Springs and Riverside County areas of
California.
To
qualify for our Free Solar Power Systems, homeowners and businesses
must:
We
expect ALL of our customers will be very happy knowing that the clean,
green, renewable power they are using is:
-
More
reliable than the electricity from the power company.
-
Saving
the environment by reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and helping
reverse Climate Change and Global Warming.
-
Generated
from their own reliable Solar Power System on their roofs.
-
Saving
Money! At today's Southern California Edison's published
electric rates, most of our customers will also enjoy
a SAVINGS on their present electric bills by as much as 10% from
what they are now paying for their electricity from the electric
utility.
-
Under
warranty.
-
At
the end of the Power Purchase Agreement, the Free Solar Power
Systems is then owned by our customers and the savings really start
to add us as the power and electricity generated from their Free
Solar Power Systems is now free!
To
find out if your home or business qualifies for one of our Free Solar
Power Systems, call (832) 758 - 0027 today!
Our Solar
Absorption Cooling (and heating) system will permanently reduce
your electric bills by up to 60% (or more) EVERY MONTH!
Add
our Solar Electric Power System and you can "cut the cord"
to your electric utility and eliminate your electric bills
forever!
With
our Solar Heating and Cooling System, you can Cool and Heat your Home,
School, Office Building, Hospital, or Just About any Other Building for
*free!
We provide
Solar Energy Systems and Demand Side Management design and
project development solutions. We offer both Solar
Thermal Collectors and Photovoltaic
Systems as well as other energy-saving technologies, including; Absorption Chillers,
Adsorption Chillers, Automated
Demand Response, Cogeneration, Demand
Response Programs, Demand Side
Management, Energy Master Planning,
Engine Driven Chillers, Trigeneration and Energy
Conservation Measures.
Cooler,
Cleaner, Greener Power & Energy Solutions project
development services are one of our many specialties. These projects are
Kyoto Protocol compliant and generate clean energy and significantly
fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike most companies, we are equipment
supplier/vendor neutral. This means we help our clients select the best
equipment for their specific application. This approach provides our
customers with superior performance, decreased operating expenses and
increased return on investment.
Renewable
Energy Technologies provides
project development services that generate clean energy and
significantly reduce greenhouse
gas emissions and carbon
dioxide emissions. Included in this are our
turnkey "ecogeneration"
products and services which includes renewable
energy technologies, waste to
energy, waste to watts and waste
heat recovery solutions. Other project development
technologies include; Anaerobic
Digester, Anaerobic Lagoon, Biogas
Recovery, BioMethane, Biomass
Gasification, and Landfill Gas
To Energy, project development services.
Products and
services provided by Renewable Energy Technologies includes the following
power and energy project development services:
-
Project
Engineering Feasibility & Economic Analysis Studies
-
Engineering,
Procurement and Construction
-
Environmental
Engineering & Permitting
-
Project
Funding & Financing Options; including Equity Investment, Debt
Financing, Lease and Municipal Lease
-
Shared/Guaranteed
Savings Program with No Capital Investment from Qualified Clients
-
Project
Commissioning
-
3rd
Party Ownership and Project Development
-
Long-term
Service Agreements
-
Operations
& Maintenance
-
Green
Tag (Renewable Energy Credit, Carbon Dioxide Credits, Emission
Reduction Credits) Brokerage Services; Application and Permitting
For
more information: call us at: 832-758-0027
We
are Renewable Energy
Technologies specialists and develop clean power and energy projects
that will generate a "Renewable
Energy Credit," Carbon
Dioxide Credits and Emission
Reduction Credits. Some of our products and services solutions
and technologies include; Absorption
Chillers, Adsorption Chillers,
Automated Demand Response, Biodiesel
Refineries, Biofuel Refineries,
Biomass Gasification, BioMethane,
Canola Biodiesel, Coconut
Biodiesel, Cogeneration, Concentrating
Solar Power, Demand Response
Programs, Demand Side
Management, Energy
Conservation Measures, Energy
Master Planning, Engine Driven
Chillers, Geothermal Heatpumps,
Groundsource Heatpumps, Solar
CHP, Solar Cogeneration, Rapeseed
Biodiesel, Solar Electric
Heat Pumps, Solar
Electric Power Systems, Solar
Heating and Cooling, Solar
Trigeneration, Soy Biodiesel, Trigeneration,
and Watersource Heat Pumps.
Cooling and heating your building (home, office, school,
hospital, etc.) costs you up to 60%, or more, every month you receive
your electric bill. You can eliminate the heating and cooling portion of
your electric bill forever, and cool and heat your home with the sun's
power with our Solar Heating and Cooling system!
Our Solar Heating and Cooling system is the cleanest,
greenest, and lowest cost method to cool and warm your home or
commercial office or other buildings. Our Solar Heating and
Cooling system will eliminate your energy costs for heating and cooling
your home, office, school, or any other commercial facility for *free:
Requires the purchase of our Solar Heating and Cooling system. Minimum
size is 10 tons. You must be located in a qualified geographic location,
which means our system must be located to receive direct sunlight.
For qualified customers, we will install the system with little to no
money down and you pay for the system with the savings our system
provides!
Solar Absorption Cooling. Solar heat can be used to displace electricity used for
cooling. Absorption chillers use a heat source, such as natural gas or
hot water from solar collectors, to evaporate the already-pressurized refrigerant from an
absorbent/refrigerant mixture. Condensation of vapors provides the same cooling effect
as that provided by mechanical cooling systems. Although absorption
chillers require electricity for pumping the refrigerant, the amount is very small compared to that
consumed by a compressor in a conventional electric air conditioner or refrigerator.
Solar Absorption Cooling systems are typically sized to carry the full air conditioning load during sunny periods.
Solar
Electric Power Systems www.SolarElectricPowerSystems.com
"Cut
the Cord" to Your Electric Company and
Dis-connect from Expensive Dirty-Power!
GO GREEN
WITH OUR COMBINATION
SOLAR ELECTRIC POWER &
SOLAR HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEM!
THERE IS NO
CLEANER, GREENER, CHEAPER
POWER AND ENERGY SYSTEM THAN OURS!
REBATES,
INCENTIVES, GREEN TAGS
AND TAX CREDITS AVAILABLE
Our Solar Electric Power Systems Combined with our
Solar Heating and Cooling system will eliminate your
electric bills
"Green" Cooling, Heating and Power is Here!
Homes, Schools, Office Buildings,
Hospitals, and
most any other building or facility can now have
Clean, Green, Power and Energy for *free!
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Solar electric power systems transform
sunlight into electricity. Sunlight is an abundant
resource. Every minute the sun bathes the Earth in as much
energy as the world consumes in an entire year.
Solar cells employ special materials called
semiconductors that create electricity when exposed to
light. Solar electric systems are quiet and easy to use,
and they require no fuel other than sunlight. Because they
contain no moving parts, they are durable, reliable, and
easy to maintain.
How It Works
Solar cells, also known as photovoltaic
(PV) cells, do the work of making electricity. Several
types of solar electric technology are under development,
but four—crystalline silicon (a form of refined beach
sand), thin films, concentrators, and thermophotovoltaics—are
illustrative of the range of technologies. Solar cells are
connected to a variety of other components to make a solar
electric power system.
Crystalline Silicon
Crystalline silicon solar cells are used
in more than half of all solar electric devices. Like most
semiconductor devices, they include a positive layer (on
the bottom) and a negative layer (on the top) that create
an electrical field inside the cell. When a photon of
light strikes a semiconductor, it releases electrons (see
animation). The free electrons flow through the solar
cell's bottom layer to a connecting wire as direct current
(DC) electricity.
Some solar cells are made from polycrystalline silicon,
which consists of several small silicon crystals.
Polycrystalline silicon solar cells are cheaper to produce
but somewhat less efficient than single-crystal silicon.
A simple silicon solar cell can power a watch or
calculator. However, it produces only a tiny amount of
electricity. Connected together, solar cells form modules
that can generate substantial amounts of power. Modules
are the building blocks of solar electric systems, which
can produce enough power for a house, a rural medical
clinic, or an entire village. Large arrays of solar
electric modules can power satellites or provide
electricity for utilities.
Solar Electric Power System Components
In addition to modules, several
components are needed to complete a solar electric power
system.
Many systems include batteries, battery chargers, a
backup generator, and a controller so that people in
solar-powered homes and buildings can turn on the lights
at night or run televisions or appliances on cloudy days.
Grid-connected systems don't require batteries or backup
generators because they use the grid for backup power.
Some remote system applications, such as those used to
pump water, do not require a backup power source.
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Components of a typical
standalone PV system using crystalline silicon
technology. (Source: Solar Electric Power
Association)
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Solar electric power systems can incorporate inverters
or power control units to transform the DC electricity
produced by the solar cells into alternating current (AC)
to run AC appliances or sell to a utility grid. Complete
systems usually include safety disconnects, fuses, and a
grounding circuit as well.
Thin Films
Solar electric thin films are lighter,
more resilient, and easier to manufacture than crystalline
silicon modules. The best-developed thin-film technology
uses amorphous silicon, in which the atoms are not
arranged in any particular order as they would be in a
crystal. An amorphous silicon film only one micron thick
can absorb 90% of the usable solar energy falling on it.
Other thin-film materials include cadmium telluride and
copper indium diselenide. Substantial cost savings are
possible with this technology because thin films require
relatively little semiconductor materials.
Thin films are produced as large, complete modules, not
as individual cells that must be mounted in frames and
wired together. They are manufactured by applying
extremely thin layers of semiconductor material to a
low-cost backing such as glass or plastic. Electrical
contacts, antireflective coatings, and protective layers
are also applied directly to the backing material. Thin
films conform to the shape of the backing, a feature that
allows them to be used in such innovative products as
flexible solar electric roofing shingles.
Concentrators
Concentrators use optical lenses (similar
to plastic magnifying glasses) or mirrors to concentrate
the sunlight that falls on a solar cell. With a
concentrator to magnify the light intensity, the solar
cell produces more electricity. Today, most solar cells in
concentrators are made from crystalline silicon. However,
materials such as gallium arsenide and gallium indium
phosphide are more efficient than silicon in solar
electric concentrators and will likely see more use in the
future. These materials are now used in communications
satellites and other space applications.
Concentrators produce more electricity using less of
the expensive semiconductor material than other solar
electric systems. A basic concentrator unit consists of a
lens to focus the light, a solar cell assembly, a housing
element, a secondary concentrator to reflect off-center
light rays onto the cell, a mechanism to dissipate excess
heat, and various contacts and adhesives. The basic unit
can be combined into modules of varying sizes and shapes.
Concentrators only work with direct sunlight and operate
most effectively in sunny, dry climates. They must be used
with tracking systems to keep them pointed toward the sun.
Thermophotovoltaics
Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) devices convert
heat into electricity in much the same way that other PV
devices convert light into electricity. The difference is
that TPV technology uses semiconductors "tuned"
to the longer-wavelength, invisible infrared radiation
emitted by warm objects. This technology is cleaner,
quieter, and simpler than conventional power generation
using steam turbines and generators.
TPV converters are relatively maintenance-free because
they contain no moving parts. In addition to using solar
energy, they can convert heat from any high-temperature
heat source, including combustion of a fuel such as
natural gas or propane, into electricity. TPV converters
produce virtually no carbon monoxide and few emissions.
They may be used in the future in gas furnaces that
generate their own electricity for self-ignition (during
power outages) and in portable generators and battery
chargers.
Advantages
Solar electric systems offer many
advantages. Standalone systems can eliminate the need to
build expensive new power lines to remote locations. For
rural and remote applications, solar electricity can cost
less than any other means of producing electricity. Solar
electric systems can also connect to existing power lines
to boost electricity output during times of high demand
such as on hot, sunny days when air conditioners are on.
Solar electric systems are flexible. Solar electric
modules can stand on the ground or be mounted on rooftops.
They can also be built into glass skylights and walls.
They can be made to look like roof shingles and can even
come equipped with devices to turn their DC output into
the same AC utilities deliver to wall sockets. These
advances mean individual homeowners and businesses can
relieve pressure on local utilities struggling to meet the
increasing demand for electricity.
More than 30 states offer grid-connected solar electric
system owners the chance to save money on their energy
bills by feeding any excess power their solar electric
system produces into the utility grid—an arrangement
called net metering.
Solar power systems require minimal maintenance. They
run quietly and efficiently without polluting. They are
easy to combine with other types of electric generators
such as wind, hydro, or natural gas turbines. They can
charge batteries to make solar electricity continuously
available.
For utilities, large-scale
solar electric power plants can help meet demand for
new power generation, especially in distributed
applications. A solar electric power plant is created from
multiple arrays that are interconnected electronically.
Solar electric plants are easier to site and are quicker
to build than conventional power plants. They are also
easy to expand incrementally—by adding more modules—as
power demand increases.
Solar electric power systems are good for the
environment. When solar electric technologies displace
fossil fuels for pumping water, lighting homes, or running
appliances, they reduce the greenhouse gases and
pollutants emitted into the atmosphere. The use of solar
electric systems is particularly important in developing
nations because it can help avert the expected increases
in emissions of greenhouse gases caused by the growing
demand for electricity in those countries.
Solar electric technologies also benefit the U.S.
economy by creating jobs in U.S. companies. Exporting
solar electric technologies to developing nations expands
U.S. markets while protecting the global environment.
Disadvantages
Although solar electric systems make
financial sense in remote areas that lack access to power
lines, they are usually more expensive than fossil fuels
for grid-connected applications.
This disadvantage is significant for utilities
considering large-scale solar electric power plants.
Although solar electricity costs considerably more than
electricity generated by conventional plants, regulatory
agencies often require utilities to supply electricity for
the lowest cash cost.
Utilities view solar electric power plants differently
than they view conventional power plants. Solar electric
modules produce electricity intermittently—only when the
sun shines. Their output varies with the weather and
disappears altogether at night. Integrating solar
electricity into a utility system requires creative
planning.
Applications
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A combination of solar electric
arrays and pool-heating solar collectors were used
to provide power and heat to the Georgia Tech
University Aquatic Center, site of the 1996
Olympic swimming competition. (Credit: Heliocol)
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Solar electricity has powered satellites
since the dawn of the space program. It has run remote
communications outposts high in the mountains and turned
on the lights, kept medicines cold, and pumped water in
rural areas for more than 30 years. Small solar cells are
used to power wristwatches, calculators, and other
electronic gadgets. More recently, solar electric systems
have been used to provide supplemental power to homes and
commercial buildings in cities.
Solar electric technology has important roles to play
in both the developing and developed worlds. From the
farmer irrigating his crops in rural Mexico to an
innovative lighting system for an Olympic sports arena,
solar electric solutions abound.
Electric utilities harness solar electricity for
distributed applications—near substations or at the end
of overloaded power lines, for example, to avoid or defer
costly line upgrades. They use solar electricity during
hot, sunny periods when the demand for air conditioning
stretches conventional power generation to its limit. The Sacramento
Municipal Utility District, for example, uses large
solar electric arrays as part of its power generation mix.
Utilities also rely on solar electricity to power remote,
standalone monitoring systems.
Consumers and builders are integrating solar electric
modules into their homes and offices. Innovative solar
electric technologies can replace conventional roofing and
facade materials in new buildings. Solar electric roofing
shingles, for example, are being used in some new
residences. In grid-connected applications, solar
electricity supplies some of a consumer's energy needs;
the local utility provides the rest.
Standalone solar electric systems power a variety of
applications far from the reaches of the power grid. These
applications include remote communications systems such as
television and radio transmitters and receivers, telephone
systems, and microwave repeaters. Standalone solar
electric power is also used to prevent corrosion of metal
pipes, tanks, bridges, and buildings.
Many remote residences worldwide use solar electricity
as their source of power. For instance, more than 100,000
vacation homes in Scandinavia rely solely on solar
electric technology to run lights and appliances.
Villages around the world are building solar electric
systems to bring electricity to their homes and local
industries, often for the first time. To make the maximum
use of available resources, village power is typically
produced by a hybrid power system that combines solar
electricity with diesel backup generators and sometimes
another renewable energy technology such wind power.
Villages also use standalone solar electric systems for
pumping water—an application shared by rural farmers and
ranchers in the United States.
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Our Solar Heating and Cooling
System - Uses the "free" Power of the Sun to Heat and Cool
your Commercial Business or Home for Free!
Cooling and heating your building (home, office, school,
hospital, etc.) costs you up to 60%, or more, every month you receive
your electric bill. You can eliminate the heating and cooling portion of
your electric bill forever, and cool and heat your home with the sun's
power with our Solar Heating and Cooling system!
Our Solar Heating and Cooling system is the cleanest,
greenest, and lowest cost method to cool and warm your home or
commercial office or other buildings. Our Solar Heating and
Cooling system will eliminate your energy costs for heating and cooling
your home, office, school, or any other commercial facility for *free:
Requires the purchase of our Solar Heating and Cooling system. Minimum
size is 10 tons. You must be located in a qualified geographic location,
which means our system must be located to receive direct sunlight.
For qualified customers, we will install the system with little to no
money down and you pay for the system with the savings our system
provides!
Solar Absorption Cooling. Solar heat can be used to
displace electricity used for cooling. Absorption chillers use a heat
source, such as natural gas or hot water from solar collectors, to
evaporate the already-pressurized refrigerant from an
absorbent/refrigerant mixture. Condensation of vapors provides the same
cooling effect as that provided by mechanical cooling systems. Although
absorption chillers require electricity for pumping the refrigerant, the
amount is very small compared to that consumed by a compressor in a
conventional electric air conditioner or refrigerator. Solar Absorption
Cooling systems are typically sized to carry the full air conditioning
load during sunny periods.
Let
Us Help You Design, Install and Buy Your Combination
Solar Electric Power and Heating & Cooling System System
What
is an Absorption Chiller and How Does it Work?
Absorption
chillers use heat instead of mechanical energy to provide cooling. A
thermal compressor consists of an absorber, a generator, a pump, and a
throttling device, and replaces the mechanical vapor compressor.
In
the chiller, refrigerant vapor from the evaporator is absorbed by a
solution mixture in the absorber. This solution is then pumped to the
generator. There the refrigerant re-vaporizes using a waste steam heat
source. The refrigerant-depleted solution then returns to the absorber
via a throttling device. The two most common refrigerant/ absorbent
mixtures used in absorption chillers are water/lithium bromide and
ammonia/water.
Compared
with mechanical chillers, absorption chillers have a low coefficient of
performance (COP = chiller load/heat input). However, absorption
chillers can substantially reduce operating costs because they are
powered by low-grade waste heat. Vapor compression chillers, by
contrast, must be motor- or engine-driven.
Low-pressure,
steam-driven absorption chillers are available in capacities ranging
from 100 to 1,500 tons. Absorption chillers come in two commercially
available designs: single-effect and double-effect. Single-effect
machines provide a thermal COP of 0.7 and require about 18 pounds of
15-pound-per-square-inch-gauge (psig) steam per ton-hour of cooling.
Double-effect machines are about 40% more efficient, but require a
higher grade of thermal input, using about 10 pounds of 100- to 150-psig
steam per ton-hour.
A
single-effect absorption machine means all condensing heat cools and
condenses in the condenser. From there it is released to the cooling
water. A double-effect machine adopts a higher heat efficiency of
condensation and divides the generator into a high-temperature and a
low-temperature generator.
Is It Right for You?
Absorption cooling may be worth considering if your site requires
cooling, and if at least one of the following applies:
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You have a combined heat and power CHP)
unit and cannot use all of the available heat, or if you are
considering a new CHP plant
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Waste heat is available
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A low-cost source of fuels is available
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Your boiler efficiency is low due to a
poor load factor
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Your site has an electrical load limit
that will be expensive to upgrade
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Your site needs more cooling, but has an
electrical load limitation that is expensive to overcome, and you
have an adequate supply of heat.
In
short, absorption cooling may fit when a source of free or low-cost heat
is available, or if objections exist to using conventional
refrigeration. Essentially, the low-cost heat source displaces
higher-cost electricity in a conventional chiller.
In
Practice
In a plant where low-pressure steam is currently being vented to the
atmosphere, a mechanical chiller with a COP of 4.0 is used 4,000 hours a
year to produce an average 300 tons of refrigeration. The plant's cost
of electricity is $0.05 a kilowatt-hour.
An absorption unit requiring 5,400 lbs/hr of 15-psig steam could replace
the mechanical chiller, providing annual electrical cost savings of:
Annual
Savings = 300 tons x (12,000 Btu/ton / 4.0) x 4,000 hrs/yr x $0.05/kWh x
kWh/3,413 Btu = $52,740
Actions You Can Take
Determine
the cost-effectiveness of displacing a portion of your cooling load with
a waste steam absorption chiller by taking the following steps:
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Conduct a plant survey to identify
sources and availability of waste steam
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Determine cooling load requirements and
the cost of meeting those requirements with existing mechanical
chillers or new installations
-
Obtain installed cost quotes for a waste
steam absorption chiller
-
Conduct a life cycle cost analysis to
determine if the waste steam absorption chiller meets your company's
cost-effectiveness criteria.
Absorption Chiller Refrigeration
Cycle
The basic cooling cycle
is the same for the absorption and electric chillers. Both systems use a
low-temperature liquid refrigerant that absorbs heat from the water to
be cooled and converts to a vapor phase (in the evaporator section). The
refrigerant vapors are then compressed to a higher pressure (by a
compressor or a generator), converted back into a liquid by rejecting
heat to the external surroundings (in the condenser section), and then
expanded to a low- pressure mixture of liquid and vapor (in the expander
section) that goes back to the evaporator section and the cycle is
repeated.
The basic difference
between the electric chillers and absorption chillers is that an
electric chiller uses an electric motor for operating a compressor used
for raising the pressure of refrigerant vapors and an absorption chiller
uses heat for compressing refrigerant vapors to a high-pressure. The
rejected heat from the power-generation equipment (e.g. turbines,
microturbines, and engines) may be used with an absorption chiller to
provide the cooling in a CHP system.
The basic absorption
cycle employs two fluids, the absorbate or refrigerant, and the
absorbent. The most commonly fluids are water as the refrigerant and
lithium bromide as the absorbent. These fluids are separated and
recombined in the absorption cycle. In the absorption cycle the
low-pressure refrigerant vapor is absorbed into the absorbent releasing
a large amount of heat. The liquid refrigerant/absorbent solution is
pumped to a high-operating pressure generator using significantly less
electricity than that for compressing the refrigerant for an electric
chiller. Heat is added at the high-pressure generator from a gas burner,
steam, hot water or hot gases. The added heat causes the refrigerant to
desorb from the absorbent and vaporize. The vapors flow to a condenser,
where heat is rejected and condense to a high-pressure liquid. The
liquid is then throttled though an expansion valve to the lower pressure
in the evaporator where it evaporates by absorbing heat and provides
useful cooling. The remaining liquid absorbent, in the generator passes
through a valve, where its pressure is reduced, and then is recombined
with the low-pressure refrigerant vapors returning from the evaporator
so the cycle can be repeated.
Absorption chillers are
used to generate cold water (44°F) that is circulated to air handlers
in the distribution system for air conditioning.
"Indirect-fired"
absorption chillers use steam, hot water or hot gases steam from a
boiler, turbine or engine generator, or fuel cell as their primary power
input. Theses chillers can be well suited for integration into a CHP
system for buildings by utilizing the rejected heat from the electric
generation process, thereby providing high operating efficiencies
through use of otherwise wasted energy.
"Direct-fired"
systems contain natural gas burners; rejected heat from these chillers
can be used to regenerate desiccant dehumidifiers or provide hot water.
Commercially absorption
chillers can be single-effect or multiple-effect. The above schematic
refers to a single-effect absorption chiller. Multiple-effect absorption
chillers are more efficient and discussed below.
Multiple-Effect
Absorption Chillers
In a single-effect
absorption chiller, the heat released during the chemical process of
absorbing refrigerant vapor into the liquid stream, rich in absorbent,
is rejected to the environment. In a multiple-effect absorption chiller,
some of this energy is used as the driving force to generate more
refrigerant vapor. The more vapor generated per unit of heat or fuel
input, the greater the cooling capacity and the higher the overall
operating efficiency.
A double-effect chiller
uses two generators paired with a single condenser, absorber, and
evaporator. It requires a higher temperature heat input to operate and
therefore they are limited in the type of electrical generation
equipment they can be paired with when used in a CHP System.
Triple-effect chillers
can achieve even higher efficiencies than the double-effect chillers.
These chillers require still higher elevated operating temperatures that
can limit choices in materials and refrigerant/absorbent pairs.
Triple-effect chillers are under development by manufacturers working in
cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy.
About Solar Heating and Cooling
It is possible to use solar thermal energy or solar electricity to
operate or power an HVAC or heating and cooling system. The
following is a brief description of "active" solar cooling and
refrigeration technologies. Active solar energy systems use a mechanical
or electrical device to transfer solar energy absorbed in a solar
collector to another component in the "system." It is possible
to also cool a building or structure by using the natural processes of
solar heat transfer (conduction, convection, and radiation). This is
often referred to as "passive solar cooling," and is primarily
an architectural technique. This brief focuses on active solar cooling
systems. The American Solar Energy Society (ASES, see Source List below)
is one source of information on passive solar cooling techniques.
Absorption Cooling and Refrigeration
Absorption cooling is the first and oldest form of air conditioning and
refrigeration. An absorption air conditioner or refrigerator does not
use an electric compressor to mechanically pressurize the refrigerant.
Instead, the absorption device uses a heat source, such as natural gas
or a large solar collector, to evaporate the already-pressurized
refrigerant from an absorbent/refrigerant mixture. This takes place in a
device called the vapor generator. Although absorption coolers require
electricity for pumping the refrigerant, the amount is small compared to
that consumed by a compressor in a conventional electric air conditioner
or refrigerator. When used with solar thermal energy systems, absorption
coolers must be adapted to operate at the normal working temperatures
for solar collectors: 180° to 250°F (82° to 121°C). It is also
possible to produce ice with a solar powered absorption device, which
can be used for cooling or refrigeration.
For
more information on absorption chillers, call
us at: 832-758-0027
* Some of the above information from the Department
of Energy website with permission.
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