System and method for continuously operating a solar-powered air conditioner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9488394-B1
Application number	US-201514838557-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 28, 2015
Priority date	Aug 28, 2015
Publication date	Nov 8, 2016
Grant date	Nov 8, 2016

Abstract

An air-cooled, single-effect, air conditioning system includes a first set of solar collectors configured to obtain energy to facilitate release of refrigerant from an absorbent-refrigerant solution in a generator. A tank is configured to store the energy for nighttime operations of the air conditioning system. One or more valves are configured to regulate consumption of the stored energy to maintain continuous cooling of at least one load.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An air-cooled, single-effect, air-conditioning system comprising:
a first set of solar collectors configured to obtain energy to facilitate release of refrigerant from an absorbent-refrigerant solution in a refrigerant generator wherein the first set of solar collectors are directly connected to the refrigerant generator via a first flow path including a first set of isolation valves configured to isolate the first set of solar collectors from the refrigerant generator;
an energy storage tank configured to store thermal energy for nighttime operations of the air conditioning system wherein the energy storage tank is directly connected to the refrigerant generator via a second flow path in parallel with the first flow path including a second set of isolation valves configured to isolate the energy storage tank from the refrigerant generator; and
a second set of solar collectors configured to obtain the thermal energy stored in the energy storage tank wherein the second set of solar collectors are directly connected to the energy storage tank via a third flow path including a third set of isolation valves configured to isolate the second set of solar collectors from the energy storage tank.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the absorbent-refrigerant solution is lithium bromide (LiBr)—water.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the energy storage tank is a hot thermal storage tank that is aligned to directly provide thermal energy to the refrigerant generator via the second flow path to maintain operational temperatures in the refrigerant generator during the nighttime operations.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second set of solar collectors is further configured to operate at higher temperatures than the first set of solar collectors.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the tank is a cold thermal storage tank connected downstream of an evaporator via a three-way valve.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the three-way valve is further configured to regulate refrigerant flow to at least one daytime load.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the three-way valve is further configured to divert excess refrigerant to the tank and to a daytime load.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the tank is further configured to provide direct cooling to at least one nighttime load via cold thermal energy.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the tank is a refrigerant storage tank connected downstream of a condenser to provide cooling to the at least one load during nighttime operations.

10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a refrigerant storage isolation valve configured to regulate flow of the refrigerant from the tank to an evaporator to maintain continuous cooling of the at least one load.

11. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a condenser outlet valve configured to regulate flow of the refrigerant from the condenser to the tank.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the tank is configured to operate at room temperature.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first set of isolation valves is configured to isolate the first set of solar collectors from the refrigerant generator when the energy tank is aligned to provide the energy to the refrigerant generator by opening the second set of isolation valves in the second flow path.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first flow path directly connecting the first set of solar collectors to the refrigerant generator bypasses the energy storage tank.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second set of isolation valves is configured to isolate the energy storage tank from the refrigerant generator when the first set of solar collectors are aligned to provide the energy to the refrigerant generator by opening the first set of isolation valves in the first flow path.

16. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an evaporator configured to receive the refrigerant from a condenser to provide cooling to at least one load.

17. The system of claim 16 , further comprising an absorber configured to facilitate absorption of the refrigerant received from the evaporator into an absorbent solution to produce the absorbent-refrigerant solution.

18. The system of claim 17 , further comprising a pump configured to transfer the absorbent-refrigerant solution from the absorber to the refrigerant generator via a heat exchanger.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the pump consumes electric power that is less than 0.1% of a total energy consumed by the system.

20. A method comprising:
obtaining, via a first set of solar collectors directly connected to a refrigerant generator via a first flow path including a first set of isolation valves configured to isolate the first set of solar collectors from the refrigerant generator, energy to facilitate release of refrigerant from an absorbent-refrigerant solution in a refrigerant generator;
storing, via an energy storage tank directly connected to the refrigerant generator via a second flow path in parallel with the first flow path including a second set of isolation valves configured to isolate the energy storage tank from the refrigerant generator, thermal energy for nighttime operations of an air conditioning system; and
obtaining, via a second set of solar collectors directly connected to the energy storage tank via a third flow path including a third set of isolation valves configured to isolate the second set of solar collectors from the energy storage tank, the thermal energy stored in the energy storage tank.

Assignees

• Univ King Fahd Pet & Minerals

Inventors

• El-Shaarawi Maged A I
• Said Syed A M
• Al-Ugla Ali Abdulaziz

Classifications

• F24F2005/0064

  using solar energy · CPC title

• F24F5/0017

  using cold storage bodies, e.g. ice · CPC title

• F24F2005/0032

  Systems storing energy during the night · CPC title

• F25B27/007 Primary

  in sorption type systems · CPC title

• F24F5/0014

  using absorption or desorption · CPC title