For countries with a high potential of solar energy, producing cold using solar energy is a promising way to sustainable development since the energy used is free and not harmful for the environment.
This report presents the description and operation of a simple structure and low cost, solar-powered adsorption refrigeration system with the solid adsorption different pairs such as activated carbon-methanol, silica gel-water and solution of lithium bromide. The system presented was designed to use waste heat or solar energy as the main heat source, but it was replaced by water bath. The system consists of three main parts which are: adsorber (regenerator), condenser, and evaporator. Two types of activated carbon with different amounts and different particle size were studied and compared.
Results show that activated carbon of large particle size with methanol is the best adsorbent-adsorbate pair that can be used in solar refrigeration systems. Best results get from small amount (90g) and large particles of adsorbent (activated carbon), at high vacuum (-66 cm Hg) and initial temperature of 58.8 °C.
From this report, one can conclude that there are many clean, cheap and renewable resources such as solar power can be used for many applications like air conditioning, refrigeration, and electricity regeneration.
The system was successful, and its process was done as wanted. But the system is a lab scale and this minimize the shown results, so a bigger system performed using solar power instead of water bath will give better and real results.