Proceedings of the Second International Energy 2030 Conference,
November 4-5, 2008, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Modeling of a Solar Powered Absorption Cycle for Abu Dhabi

A. Al-Alili
University of Maryland, USA

M.D. Islam
The Petroleum Institute, UAE

I. Kubo
The Petroleum Institute, UAE

Y. Hwang
University of Maryland, USA

R. Radermacher
University of Maryland, USA

Abstract
In this study, the feasibility of a solar powered absorption cycle under Abu Dhabi’s weather conditions is assessed. Utilizing solar energy is very attractive since the cooling requirements are in phase with the solar energy availability. Using solar-driven air conditioners would reduce the dependence on fossil fuel based energy. It would also alleviate high electrical loads on the national grid especially at peak demand periods in summer. The proposed system uses evacuated tube collectors to drive a 10 kW Ammonia- Water absorption chiller. TRNSYS simulation of the complete system is carried out in order to select and optimize different system components. This simulation is based on TMY2 data for Abu Dhabi. The optimized solar air-conditioner for a residential house consists of a 60 m² collector area tilted at 12^o from the horizontal and 1 m³ hot water storage tank. It has been found that in order to provide the same cooling effect, the solar absorption cycle reduces the annual electricity consumption by 60% compared to a vapor compression cycle.