Faraday FastTrack Proposal : A Solar-Driven Cooling System Using Innovative Ground Heat Exchangers

Completed

Energy Efficiency(Residential and commercial)
Renewable Energy Sources(Solar Energy, Solar heating and cooling (including daylighting))

Basic and strategic applied research

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Architecture and the Built Environment)

Not Cross-cutting

Professor S Riffat
Architecture and Built Environment
University of Nottingham

Standard

EPSRC

01 April 2003

31 March 2006

36 months

£174,790

Management & business studies

East Midlands

Faraday - Eng for Infrastructure -- Process Environment and Sustainability

Professor S Riffat, Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham

Dr H Shehata, Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham

Project Contact, Carrier Holdings Ltd
Project Contact, Powersun Solar Ltd
Project Contact, Clima-Gas Ltd

Buildings account for approximately 50 of the UK s total energy consumption and it would be feasible to meet a major part of this demand using renewable energy sources such as solar energy. Solar-driven cooling systems could be used to provide air conditioning for buildings and therefore could play a significant role in reducing C02 emissions. These systems could enhance their performance by utilising the ground as a heat sink instead of using cooling towers. This research will investigate asolar-powered absorption air conditioning system using the ground as heat sink in order to reduce the effect of the environmental temperature and improve the performance of the system. The proposed system comprises a solar collector/generator, a condenser, an absorber and an evaporator. The system is designed to reject heat to the ground via a composite block/heat exchanger unit. The solar collector (generator) unit, installed on the roof of the building, absorbs solar heat and transfers it theabsorber unit buried below the earth s surface. The evaporator, situated in the building, could be either integrated within a fan coil unit or form a chilled ceiling coil. The composite concrete block (condenser) contains an embedded circuit of pipes carrying the working fluid and would normally be buried in the ground about 1.5-2m below the earth s surface, in close proximity to the building to be cooled

01/01/07