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Sizing and control design of solar thermal absorption refrigeration for horticultural cold storage in hot-humid climates.

Number: 2485

Author(s) : BAROOAH P., CAI J., GOGOI T. K.

Summary

Cold storage facilities for horticultural produce typically use vapor compression refrigeration (VCR) systems. The large electricity consumption of VCR systems is a hurdle in the wider use of cold stores in developing countries. An alternative is solar thermal vapor absorption/adsorption refrigeration (VAR), which require much less electricity. However, any solar driven cooling system for a cold store needs energy storage to ensure 24x7 operation. Especially for VAR, that requirement leads to a complex system with both hot and cold storage tanks, apart from solar collectors and
absorption chillers. Since it is driven by an intermittent source of energy, complexity of the supervisory control system also increases: constant setpoints are not possible. That makes both the system sizing problem (how big should the components be?) and the control design problem (how should the setpoints be changed over time?) intertwined. In this paper we present a method for co-solution of the system design and supervisory controller design problems of a Solar Thermal Absorption Refrigeration with Energy Storage (STARES) system. The method takes solar irradiance
and cooling load - over a planning period - as input data. It solves an optimization problem that yields the optimal component sizes and optimal set points over that planning horizon. We develop a simple dynamic model of the STARES system that acts as dynamic constraints, making the optimization problem solvable for a year’s hourly data in just a few seconds. User-chosen weights in the optimization problem have a strong impact on the solution. This feature allows incorporating human expertise to guide the solution. We also compute the hourly cooling load for a year for a small cold store at a specific location in India. Numerical results show that the proposed method can yield a STARES system with small component sizes and a supervisory controller that can meet cooling load with that system.

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  • Original title: Sizing and control design of solar thermal absorption refrigeration for horticultural cold storage in hot-humid climates.
  • Record ID : 30033051
  • Languages: English
  • Subject: Environment
  • Source: 2024 Purdue Conferences. 20th International Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Conference at Purdue.
  • Publication date: 2024/07/17

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