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IEA SHC Task 38 Solar Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Subtask C1 Report, 31 October 2010
1 Introduction
This report is the result of the work undertaken by one of the working groups set up as part of
Task 38 of the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme of the International Energy Agency.
The remit of Task 38 was to study Solar Air-conditioning and Refrigeration. The work was
split into four sub-tasks and these were further sub-divided into smaller sub-tasks. One such
sub-task CI, forming part of the sub-task C on Modelling and Fundamental Analysis, was set
up to carry out a survey on new solar cooling developments, a State-of-the-Art report. This
report documents the results of that work.
At the start of Task 38, it was decided that the work would be restricted to solar cooling
systems that use solar energy in the form of heat, i.e. of systems that consist of solar heat
collectors and thermally driven devices that produce the cooling effect using the heat from
the sun. Systems consisting of photovoltaic panels producing electricity to drive conventional
chillers were excluded a priori from the work of Task 38. It was also decided to restrict the
work to the thermally driven devices, i.e. the technologies to capture the solar radiation (flat
plate collectors, vacuum tube collectors, solar troughs, etc.) were not considered.
A number of participants in Task 38 were each assigned to research a particular technology
and to report back. The technologies to be surveyed were:
Absorption chillers (ammonia/water, water/lithium bromide)
Adsorption
Solid desiccant
Liquid desiccant
Thermo-mechanical chillers
Steam jet chillers
During the half-yearly meeting of April 2009, it was decided that the report would include:
Brief description of the technology
Thermodynamic cycle, characteristics, advantages and disadvantages,
problematic areas
What is on the market?
Names of companies selling machines and systems (including websites and
contact details), details of products sold, sizes and other important
parameters, new products on the market.
Research and Development
Names of institutes, universities and companies involved in R&D; (including
websites and contact details), names of researchers, what is being
researched and developed.
Relevant reports and publications
Thanks are due to all who have contributed to this report. All contributors have dedicated
time and effort to record the state-of-the art of these technologies, some of which are quite
old, but all of which require more research and development in order for them to reach a
state where they can compete realistically with the conventional vapour compression
machine driven by electricity. It is encouraging to note the increased interest in these
technologies, not only in academia but also in the market. This bodes well for the future.
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