VAPOUR JET SOLAR REFRIGERATION

Abstract

The study of solar refrigeration is growing up to develop, alternatives for conventional refrigeration system which can reduce electric power consumption and eliminate CFC dependency of refrigerants. Stress has been given on following aspects of solar refrigeration. 1. The choice of refrigeration system 2. The type of working fluid used 3. Possibilities with reference to the available systems. Performance of the solar refrigeration system depends on collector/regenerator. Significantly most of the studies are based on open cycle absorption solar refrigeration system, as it requires less power compared to other mechanical or thermal systems. A solar refrigeration using a relatively new vapour jet system has been undertaken for detailed investigation in the present work. First an extensive survey of properties of candidate fluids is completed for the selection of fluid to be used for the system. After selecting the proper fluid the analysis has been made on the components of the system for simulation. As the whole system is based on solar radiation so solar radiation simulation is required hourwise to obtain typical-day performance of vapour jet•ejector which is the heart of the system has been analysed theoretically for use in the design of the system. Also designing, calculations of flat plate solar collector is incorporated in the simulation. Flat plate collector is chosen for the system to make the system cost competitive. Simple analysis of compressor and evaporator parts are done to enable to compute for the entire system. For this reason all the elements have been assembled together for calculation of the entire system. On hourly basis the results of the simulation have been presented graphically for different value of the significant process parameters. These are discussed and three fluids have been selected for comparison the performance of the vapour jet solar refrigeration system. The results indicate that the performance of the system depends on the intensity of the solar radiation. Out of the chosen three fluids the performance of ethyl ether on refrigerating effect is more. Considering the increase of inlet fluid temperature, condensing temperature and evaporating temperature the refrigerating effect also increases for each case keeping the other parameter constant. A comparative cost analysis of vapour jet solar refrigeration system with a i conventional refrigerator shows that initial cost is more for,, vapour jet solar refrigeration system, but energy cost is nill as compared to energy cost for running the conventional refrigerator. Iv