Study of sorption cooling systems adapted to hot climates: use of available energy resources in the Saharan regions

Abstract

In this work, we propose three configurations for the cooling tower, including one suggested as a technical solution to enhance the thermal performance of the solar sorption cooling system during scorching outdoor air temperatures. These configurations are based on a combination of the dry cooling tower (DCT) with one or more sorption systems, where these systems are defined as a spray water system (SWS), a direct evaporative cooler (DEC), and a ground heat exchanger (GHE). The combined system may incorporate more than one sorption system in the same configuration. A case study is presented concerning an adsorption device primarily driven by solar energy in the dry and hot climate of Biskra, Algeria. The developed methodology was validated, and a good agreement was found between numerical simulations and experimental results obtained from the literature. It was concluded that the coupling of the cooling tower with one or more sorption systems is an effective solution in hot and arid regions.