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Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244

www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Comparative study of different solar cooling systems for buildings

in subtropical city
K.F. Fong *, T.T. Chow, C.K. Lee, Z. Lin, L.S. Chan
Division of Building Science and Technology, College of Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue,
Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

Received 11 June 2009; received in revised form 28 October 2009; accepted 7 November 2009
Available online 8 December 2009

Communicated by: Associated Editor Ruzhu Wang

Abstract

In recent years, more and more attention has been paid on the application potential of solar cooling for buildings. Due to the fact that
the efficiency of solar collectors is generally low at the time being, the effectiveness of solar cooling would be closely related to the avail-
ability of solar irradiation, climatic conditions and geographical location of a place. In this paper, five types of solar cooling systems were
involved in a comparative study for subtropical city, which is commonly featured with long hot and humid summer. The solar cooling
systems included the solar electric compression refrigeration, solar mechanical compression refrigeration, solar absorption refrigeration,
solar adsorption refrigeration and solar solid desiccant cooling. Component-based simulation models of these systems were developed,
and their performances were evaluated throughout a year. The key performance indicators are solar fraction, coefficient of performance,
solar thermal gain, and primary energy consumption. In addition, different installation strategies and types of solar collectors were com-
pared for each kind of solar cooling system. Through this comparative study, it was found that solar electric compression refrigeration
and solar absorption refrigeration had the highest energy saving potential in the subtropical Hong Kong. The former is to make use of
the solar electric gain, while the latter is to adopt the solar thermal gain. These two solar cooling systems would have even better per-
formances through the continual advancement of the solar collectors. It will provide a promising application potential of solar cooling
for buildings in the subtropical region.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Solar cooling; Photovoltaic; Solar thermal technology; Solar collectors; Air-conditioning; Plant simulation

1. Introduction fuels, leading to the non-stopping emission of global warm-

In the field of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning
(HVAC) engineering, electricity has been used to energize
the air-conditioning and refrigeration systems for a cen-
tury. It is undoubted that HVAC is one of the indispens-
able provisions in modern life, no matter in working or
living environments. Normally one-third to half of the
annual total electricity consumption is used for air-condi-
tioning and refrigeration in the metropolis worldwide.
80% of electricity is still generated by burning the fossil
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +852 27888724; fax: +852 27889716.
E-mail address: bssquare@cityu.edu.hk (K.F. Fong).
ing gases. In a typical subtropical city, like Hong Kong, the
summer is hot and humid, and the winter is generally tem-
perate. Therefore air-conditioning is essential in a subtrop-
ical city throughout a year, particularly for the commercial
and institutional buildings. In the subtropical Hong Kong,
air-conditioning and refrigeration are the largest area of
electricity consumption, accounting for 33% in 2006 (Hong
Kong Energy End-use Data, 2008).
Many facts show that the climate change is getting
worse. The changes of global surface temperature, global
average sea level, snow and ice over 1850–2000 are
reported (IPCC, 2007). To have wider application of
renewable energy is a crucial sustainable strategy to allevi-

0038-092X/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.solener.2009.11.002
228 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244
Nomenclature
COP coefficient of performance
COPab COP of solar absorption refrigeration
COPad COP of solar adsorption refrigeration
COPdesi COP of solar solid desiccant cooling
COPelect COP of solar electric compression refrigera-
tion
COPmech COP of solar mechanical compression refrig-
eration
Ep primary energy consumption (kWh)
Ep,desi primary energy consumption of solar solid des-
iccant cooling (kWh)
Ep,elect primary energy consumption of solar electric
compression refrigeration (kWh)
Elp,therma
primary energy consumption of solar thermal
refrigeration (kWh)
Gelect solar electric gain (kWh)
Gsolar solar thermal gain (kWh)
Gsolar,eq solar thermal gain equivalent (kWh)
ho specific enthalpy of outdoor air (kW/kg)
hs specific enthalpy of supply air (kW/kg)
m total number of time steps in a month for hot
water pump in operation
m0 total number of time steps in a month for chiller
in operation
m_ a mass flow rate of supply air (kg/s)
Qaux heat output of auxiliary heater (kWh)
Qboil heat input to boiler of heat engine (kW)
Qde heat input for desorption (kW)
Qe refrigeration effect (kW)
Qgen heat input to generator (kW)
Qregen heat input for regeneration (kW)
ate the climate change. Global warming has caused the
increasing trend of the environmental temperatures. This
gradual change would affect the future air-conditioning
requirements in Hong Kong (Lam et al., 2008). The
demand of air-conditioning would be increasing due to
the effect of climate change and global warming. If we still
rely on the conventional electric-driven air-conditioning
but the electricity is generated from the fossil fuels, the
greenhouse gas emission would continuously worsen global
warming, in turn the demand of air-conditioning would be
further increasing. If this dead loop cannot be solved, even
‘global heating’ would come one day. Therefore it is urgent
to minimize the consumption of fossil fuels and promote
wider use of solar energy, particularly in refrigeration
and air-conditioning.
Solar cooling is envisioned as the sustainable means to
provide air-conditioning and refrigeration, since solar
energy is considered to be the primary energy source. Tech-
nically, solar cooling is a feasible way to replace the electric
refrigeration machines for buildings. In recent years, more
Qsolar solar thermal gain from the solar collectors
(kW)
SF solar fraction
SFelect solar fraction of solar electric compression
refrigeration
SFthermal
solar fraction of solar thermal cooling
W power input to DC motor (kW)
WAHU electrical energy consumption of AHU (kWh)
Waux auxiliary electrical power from the city power
grid (kW)
Wfans electrical energy consumption of supply air fan
and exhaust air fan (kWh)
Wparasitic
electrical energy consumption of parasitic
equipment, including pumps and cooling tower
(kWh)
W para,desi electrical energy consumption of parasitic
equipment, including pumps, desiccant wheel,
heat wheel and evaporative coolers (kWh)
Wsolar solar electric gain from photovoltaic panels
(kW)
y total number of time steps in a year for hot
water pump in operation
y0 total number of time steps in a year for chiller in
operation
Greek symbols
ge energy efficiency for electrical energy converted
into primary energy
gg energy efficiency for gas energy converted into
primary energy
reviews have been made about the feasibility of wider
application of solar cooling technologies (Fan et al.,
2007; Hwang et al., 2008; Kim and Infante Ferreira,
2008). A number of demonstration projects have been
launched to gain more experience in the design and opera-
tion of solar refrigeration and air-conditioning (Eicker,
2003; Henning, 2004; Zhai et al., 2008). Air-conditioning
is already part of our daily lives, solar cooling certainly
has a positive and long-term impact. For the continual
population and economic growth, wider use of solar energy
in air-conditioning would secure the increasing energy
demand.
Solar cooling can be broadly categorized into solar elec-
tric refrigeration, solar thermal refrigeration and solar
thermal air-conditioning. In the first category, the solar
electric compression refrigeration uses photovoltaic (PV)
panels to power conventional refrigeration machine. In
the second category, the refrigeration effect can be pro-
duced through solar thermal gain, the solar mechanical
compression refrigeration, solar absorption refrigeration
 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244
and solar adsorption refrigeration are the three common
options. In the third category, the conditioned air can be
directly provided through the solar thermal gain by means
of desiccant cooling. Both solid and liquid sorbents are
available, like silica gel and lithium chloride, respectively.
However there is a risk of carry-over of the liquid sorbent
into the indoor space by the conditioned air, so it is more
suitable to apply the solar solid desiccant cooling. As a
result, the following five types of solar cooling systems were
included in this study:
 solar electric compression refrigeration;
 solar mechanical compression refrigeration;
 solar absorption refrigeration;
 solar adsorption refrigeration; and
 solar solid desiccant cooing.
The first one uses the solar electric approach, while the
rest apply the solar thermal technology.
The installation strategy and types of solar collectors
would directly affect the system performance since the
amount of solar irradiation acquired would be different.
The flat plate collectors and evacuated tubes are the com-
mon types of solar collectors used in the solar thermal sys-
tems. The parabolic concentrators are also getting more
popular in building applications. It is worthy to understand
their performances in response to different system design
and operating requirements based on the solar irradiation,
climatic and loading conditions in the subtropical region.
In the previous research works (Hwang et al., 2008; Kim
and Infante Ferreira, 2008), simulation and experimental
study on a certain type of solar cooling system has been
pinpointed, but not across a variety of solar cooling sys-
tems with different installation strategies and types of solar
collectors.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2
describes development of the simulation models of the five
types of solar cooling systems serving a typical local office.
Section 3 addresses the framework of the comparative
study of different scenarios, including different installation
strategies and types of solar collectors associated with the
solar cooling systems. Section 4 presents the definitions
of the performance indicators, including solar fraction,
coefficient of performance, solar thermal gain, and primary
energy consumption. Section 5 discusses the results of the
preliminary study for the installation strategies and types
of solar collectors. Section 6 discusses results of the full
comparative study based on the performance indicators.
The feasible choice of solar cooling systems would be iden-
tified and recommended. Section 7 is the conclusion.
2. Simulation of the five solar cooling systems
2.1. General design information
In this study, each type of the solar cooling systems was
designed to serve a common typical office in the subtropical
229
Hong Kong located at 22.32°N and 114.17°E. The office
was single storey with floor area of 200 m2. The daily occu-
pancy schedule was from 08:00 to 18:00, totally 10 h. The
wall-fenestration ratio was 0.5. The internal and external
shading factors of fenestration were 0.8 and 0.2, respec-
tively. The internal heat gains included 24 persons seated
at work, 230 W/person of personal computer, and 17 W/
m2 lighting with 30% convective part. The provisions and
schedules of the internal heat gains were based on the local
design practice (Code of Practice for Energy Efficiency of
Air Conditioning Installations, 2007). The fresh air flow
rate was 10 litre/s/person. The design indoor conditions
were 25.5 °C and 60% RH, and the year-round weather
data followed the Typical Meteorological Year of Hong
Kong (Chan et al., 2006). The design entering hot water,
condenser water and chilled water temperatures were
90 °C, 30 °C and 13 °C, respectively. The chiller was sized
based on the design entering condenser and chilled water
temperatures at 30 °C and 13 °C, respectively. The con-
denser and chilled water flow rates were designed based
on the 5 °C change between entering and leaving tempera-
tures. The component-based simulation program TRNSYS
(2006) and its component library TESS(2006) were used to
build and run the system simulations. The simulation time
step was 6 min. Table 1 summarizes the common parame-
ters used in modeling different solar cooling systems.
2.2. Solar electric compression refrigeration
2.2.1. Model building
Generally the solar electric compression refrigeration,
the air side system and the corresponding control provi-
sions were built by using TRNSYS and TESS, as shown
in Fig. 1. The major equipment included the PV panels,
direct current (DC) motor, power regulator, vapour com-
pression chiller, chilled water pump, cooling tower, con-
denser water pump, air handling unit (AHU). A detailed
chiller model was developed separately. The modeling
method of DC motor was based on Hughes (1993), that
of condenser and evaporator based on Lee (2008), and that
of the compressor followed the parameter estimation tech-
nique adopted by Jin and Spitler(2002). The total and space
cooling load were 29 kW and 20 kW, respectively. The gen-
eral modeling parameters of the solar electric compression
refrigeration is shown in Table 1.
2.2.2. Part-load control of chiller
The PV panels were designed to furnish the necessary
electric power to drive the chiller. When the supply from
the PV panels was insufficient due to the weather condition,
a power regulator was used to draw auxiliary electrical
power from the city power grid. The power regulator was
capable of tracking the maximum power point of the PV
panels at any circumstances, so that the auxiliary electrical
power requirement could be minimized. To prevent fre-
quent on/off of the chiller in low-load condition, a part-
load controller for the chiller was used to modulate the
230 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244

Table 1
General modeling parameters for the solar cooling systems.
Solar electric Solar mechanical Solar Solar Solar solid
compression compression absorption adsorption desiccant
refrigeration refrigeration refrigeration refrigeration cooling
Air handling unit
Supply air mass flow rate (kg sÿ1) 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 3.36
Supply fan power (kW) 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 3.36
Supply fan efficiency 70% 70% 70% 70% 70%
Face area of cooling coil (m2) 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 N/A
Chiller
Chilled water mass flow rate (kg sÿ1) 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 N/A
Condenser water mass flow rate (kg sÿ1) 1.9 1.9 1.6 1.8 N/A
Specific heat capacity of liquid water (kJ kgÿ1 Kÿ1) 4.19 4.19 4.19 4.19 N/A
Specific heat capacity of water vapour (kJ kgÿ1 Kÿ1) N/A N/A 1.866 1.866 2.028
Overall heat transfer value of evaporator coil (kW Kÿ1) 2.1 2.1 4.3 6.0 N/A
Overall heat transfer value of condenser coil (kW Kÿ1) 3.1 3.1 4.8 6.5 N/A
Condenser/cooling water system
Cooling tower air volume flow rate (m3 sÿ1) 1.17 11.11 2.22 2.78 N/A
Cooling tower fan power (kW) 0.36 3.42 0.683 0.855 N/A
Cooling tower fan efficiency 65% 65% 65% 65% N/A
Condenser water pump power (kW) 0.131 3.23 0.093 0.115 N/A
Condenser water pump efficiency 60% 60% 60% 60% N/A
Chilled water system
Chilled water pump power (kW) 0.084 0.084 0.084 0.084 N/A
Chilled water pump efficiency 60% 60% 60% 60% N/A
Hot/regenerative water system
Hot water mass flow rate (kg sÿ1) N/A 2.8 2.0 2.8 1.92
Hot water pump power (kW) N/A 0.233 0.2 0.233 0.192
Hot water pump efficiency N/A 60% 60% 60% 60%
Regenerative water mass flow rate (kg sÿ1) N/A 15 2.0 2.8 1.92
Regenerative water pump power (kW) N/A 1.55 0.247 0.341 0.141
Regenerative water pump efficiency N/A 60% 60% 60% 60%
General
Area of solar collectors (m2) 100 100 100 100 100
Minimum driving temperature (°C) N/A 82 67 64 60
Capacity of auxiliary heater (kW) N/A 323 42 69 89
Remark: N/A means ‘not applicable’.

set point of the power regulator between 1.5 and 7.5 kW in return temperature of the chiller exceeded 12 °C, and
five steps. The set point started at 1.5 kW (the minimum stepped up if the water temperature dropped less than
required power input for the chiller) when the chilled water 1 °C after one simulation time step. On the contrary, when

Cooling
Tower

Thermostat with
Cooling Tower
PV Panels Controller T Condenser Water Pump Return Air

Condenser
Power AHU
Regulator
DC Fresh
PR Compressor Expansion -
Air
Motor Device Supply
Air
Vapour T Indoor Space
City Power 3-way
Grid Evaporator Compression C
Valve
Chiller Cooling Coil
Controller
C T
Part-load
controller
Chilled Water Pump

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of HVAC system designed with solar electric compression refrigeration.
 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244 231

the chilled water return temperature was below 12 °C, the
set point would be stepped down if the water temperature
dropped more than 1 °C after one simulation time step.
By employing the part-load control, the chiller capacity
could be adjusted through the input control of power
regulator.
2.2.3. Control and operation of chiller and associated
equipment
The chilled water entering the cooling coil of AHU was
controlled by a three-way valve based on space tempera-
ture. The cooling coil controller generated a linear signal
from 0 to 1 corresponding to no to full flow to the cooling
coil when the space temperature varied from 24.5 to
26.5 °C. To avoid instability when simulating the cooling
coil, the valve would open at least 30% when the space tem-
perature was above 24.5 °C. The operation of the chiller
was determined by a controller that provided an on/off sig-
nal between 12 and 9 °C with hysteresis based on the
chilled water return temperature at the chiller. When the
chiller was on, the condenser water pump would operate.
The operation of the cooling tower would be controlled
by a thermostat with hysteresis between 20 and 15 °C based
on the condenser water temperature leaving the chiller.
Basically the chilled water pump and AHU were in opera-
tion according to the daily occupancy schedule.
2.3. Solar mechanical compression refrigeration
2.3.1. Model building
Development of the solar mechanical compression
refrigeration was based on the schematic diagram shown
in Fig. 2. The essential equipment consisted of the solar
collectors, hot water pump, hot water tank, auxiliary hea-
ter, regenerative water pump, heat engine using Rankine
cycle, vapour compression chiller, chilled water pump,
cooling tower, condenser water pump and AHU.
A number of validated models were involved in the solar
mechanical compression refrigeration. Modeling approach
of the Rankine cycle followed that proposed by Putten and
Colonna (2007). The performance of a multistage turbine
at different operating conditions was approximated by Sto-
dola’s ‘law of the ellipse’ according to Dixon (1998). Mod-
eling methods of condenser, evaporator and compressor
were same as those for the solar electric compression refrig-
eration in Section 2.2.1. The general modeling parameters
for the solar mechanical compression refrigeration are
shown in Table 1, while the specific parameters are pre-
sented in Table 2.
2.3.2. Control and operation of Rankine-cycle-driven chiller
The general provisions for the year-round control and
operation of the chiller and associated equipment were
same as those in Section 2.2.3 for the solar electric com-
pression refrigeration. However, a specific consideration
was required for modeling the Rankine-cycle-driven chiller
in order to ensure its year-round operation. Chiller opera-
tion at an insufficient driving temperature for the Rankine
Table 2
Modeling parameters for the Rankine cycle of solar mechanical compres-
sion refrigeration.
Parameter Value
Cooler water mass flow rate (kg sÿ1) 14
Specific heat capacity of circulating fluid (kJ kgÿ1 Kÿ1) 4.19
Density of circulating fluid (kg mÿ3) 1000
Volume of circulating fluid in boiler coil (m3) 0.08
Volume of circulating fluid in cooler coil (m3) 0.08
Volume of circulating fluid in feed pump and connecting pipeline 0.004
(m3)
Overall heat transfer value of boiler coil (kW Kÿ1) 50
Overall heat transfer value of cooler coil (kW Kÿ1) 50
Polytropic efficiency of turbine 80%
Mechanical efficiency of turbine 90%
Ratio of specific heat for circulating fluid 1.3

Cooling
Tower

Hot Water Pump Thermostat with Cooling

Controller Tower Controller T Condenser Water Pump
C Regen. Feed
Cooler Condenser
Solar T Water Pump
Collectors T
Pump
Vapour
Hot Expansion Compression
Boiler Turbine Compressor
Hot Water Pump Water Device Chiller
Tank

Aux. Evaporator
Heater
Heat Engine
Town Gas (Rankine Cycle)
Supply
Chilled water supply and
return for the AHU serving the
indoor space (same as Fig. 1)

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of solar mechanical compression refrigeration.

232 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244

cycle would cause heat loss from the hot water side to the
cooling water side with no cooling capacity produced. To
avoid this, the chiller would start only when the regenera-
tive water temperature entering the boiler exceeded a preset
minimum driving temperature, which was required by the
Rankine-cycle-driven chiller according to the design enter-
ing cooling and chilled water conditions. This minimum
driving temperature was 82 °C in this case.
2.3.3. Control and operation of hot water pump and auxiliary
heater
A hot water tank was used to store the heat transferred by
the solar collectors. To ensure fulfillment of the cooling load
demand even when the solar irradiation was insufficient,
auxiliary heating was provided inside the storage tank as a
backup heat source. The set point for the auxiliary heater
was 90 °C. The temperature inside the hot water tank might
be higher than that at the outlet of the solar collectors in case
of weak solar irradiation, then the solar collectors would dis-
sipate heat to the surrounding. To prevent this, the hot water
pump, which was used to circulate hot water between the
solar collectors and the hot water tank, was controlled by
the hot water pump controller using a hysteresis loop con-
trol. Whenever the temperature at the solar collector outlet
exceeded the water temperature inside the hot water tank
by 5 °C, the hot water pump would be switched on until
the temperature difference dropped to zero.
2.4. Solar absorption refrigeration
2.4.1. Model building
The entire solar absorption refrigeration was developed
as shown in Fig. 3. The major equipment covered the solar
collectors, hot water pump, hot water tank, auxiliary hea-
ter, regenerative water pump, absorption chiller, chilled
water pump, cooling tower, condenser water pump and
AHU.
The model of absorption refrigeration cycle was con-
structed according to the validated single-effect absorption
chiller of Kim and Infante Ferreira (2008). In addition, the
enthalpy of lithium bromide (LiBr) solution was given by
Florides et al. (2003) and the saturated vapour pressure
of LiBr solution by Patek and Klomfar (2006). The various
properties of refrigerant (water) were determined according
to Florides et al. (2003) and Zhang et al. (2003). The gen-
eral parameters for solar absorption refrigeration are
shown in Table 1, while the specific parameters are listed
in Table 3.
2.4.2. Control and operation of absorption chiller and
auxiliary heater
The general provisions for the year-round control and
operation of hot water pump and auxiliary heater were
similar to those in Section 2.3.3 for solar mechanical com-
pression refrigeration, expect that the auxiliary heater
Table 3
Modeling parameters for solar absorption refrigeration.
Parameter Value
ÿ1
Absorber water mass flow rate (kg s ) 2.0
Overall heat transfer value of generator (kW Kÿ1) 4.5
Overall heat transfer value of absorber (kW Kÿ1) 4.5
Overall heat transfer value of solution-to-solution heat exchanger 1.0
(kW Kÿ1)
Degree of superheat at evaporator outlet (°C) 5.0
Solution volume flow rate at absorber outlet (L sÿ1) 0.1

Hot Water Pump

Controller
C
Solar T Regenerative
Collectors T Water Pump Cooling
Tower
Hot
Hot Water Pump Water
Tank
Condenser Water Pump
Town Gas Aux.
Supply Heater
T
C
Part-load
Controller
Generator Condenser

Heat
Exchanger
Expansion
Throttling Device
Valve

Absorber Evaporator

Solution Absorption
Pump Chiller

T
Chilled water supply and
return for the AHU serving the
indoor space (same as Fig. 1)

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of solar absorption refrigeration.

 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244 233

would be activated through an on/off signal between 12
and 9 °C with hysteresis based on the chilled water return
temperature at the chiller. The operation of chiller at an
insufficient driving temperature would cause heat loss from
the hot water side to the condenser water side with no cool-
ing capacity produced. To avoid this, the chiller would
start only when the auxiliary heater controller was on
and the regenerative water temperature entering the chiller
exceeded a preset minimum, which was 5 °C lower than the
minimum driving temperature 67 °C of the absorption chil-
ler. When the chiller was on, the condenser water pump
and the regenerative water pump would be in operation
as well.
2.4.3. Part-load control of absorption chiller
To reduce the utilization of auxiliary heating, the hot
water temperature used to drive the chiller should be main-
tained as low as possible. This was achieved by adopting a
part-load control for the chiller which modulated the set
point of the auxiliary heater between the minimum driving
temperature 67 °C and the ceiling temperature 90 °C in 5
steps. The set point started at 67 °C when the chilled water
return temperature at the chiller exceeded 12 °C, and
stepped up if the water temperature dropped less than
1 °C after one simulation time step. Conversely, when the
chilled water return temperature was below 12 °C, the set
point would step down if the water temperature dropped
more than 1 °C after one simulation time step. By employ-
ing this part-load control, the chiller capacity could be reg-
ulated through the control of driving temperature.
2.5. Solar adsorption refrigeration
2.5.1. Model building
The system simulation model of solar adsorption refrig-
eration was built according to Fig. 4. The system compo-
nents were similar to those of the solar absorption
refrigeration, except the adsorption chiller was used
instead.
For adsorption refrigeration, an economical adsorption
pair is silica gel and water, where silica gel is the adsorbent
and water the adsorbate (or refrigerant). For the configura-
tion of adsorption cycle in the model, the two-chamber
design was used. In a working cycle, one of the chambers
was used for adsorption while another for desorption.
The role of these two chambers was interchanged in
another cycle, so as to maintain a pseudo-continuous pro-
duction of refrigeration effect. Model development of the
solar adsorption refrigeration cycle was based on the vali-
dated model of Cho and Kim (1992). The general modeling
parameters for the solar adsorption refrigeration are shown
in Table 1, while the specific parameters are outlined in
Table 4.
2.5.2. Control and operation of solar adsorption refrigeration
The details of control and operation for the chiller and
the associated equipment were same as those in Section
2.2.3 for the solar electric compression refrigeration. The
provisions of control and operation of the hot water pump
Table 4
Modeling parameters for solar adsorption refrigeration.
Parameter Value
Adsorption chamber water mass flow rate (kg sÿ1) 3.0
Specific heat capacity of metal (kJ kgÿ1 Kÿ1) 0.448
Specific heat capacity of silica gel (kJ kgÿ1 Kÿ1) 0.92
Specific heat of adsorption (kJ kgÿ1) 2,800
Mass of metal in adsorption/desorption chamber (kg) 120
Mass of silica gel in adsorption/desorption chamber (kg) 80
Mass of metal in condenser coil (kg) 150
Mass of metal in evaporator coil (kg) 150
Overall heat transfer value of adsorption chamber (kW Kÿ1) 16
Overall heat transfer value of desorption chamber (kW Kÿ1) 16
Adsorption/desorption period (s) 360

Cooling
Tower

T Condenser Water Pump

Hot Water Pump

Controller
Condenser
C Regen.
Solar T Water
Collectors T
Pump
Adsorption Adsorption
Hot
Compart- Compart-
Hot Water Pump Water
ment 1 ment 2
Tank

Town Gas Aux.

Supply Heater Adsorption
Evaporator
Part-load C Chiller
Controller
T

Chilled water supply and return

for the AHU serving the indoor
space (same as Fig. 1)

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of solar adsorption refrigeration.

234 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244

and auxiliary heater were same as those in Section 2.4.2 for Table 5
the solar absorption refrigeration. The part-load control of Modeling parameters for the solar solid desiccant cooling.
the adsorption chiller was same as that in Section 2.4.3 for Parameter Value
the solar absorption refrigeration, except the minimum Process air stream
driving temperature was 64 °C for the solar adsorption Process air evaporative cooler saturation efficiency 90%
refrigeration. Process air evaporative cooler power consumption (kW) 0.1
Exhaust air stream
Exhaust air mass flow rate (kg sÿ1) 3.36
2.6. Solar solid desiccant cooling Exhaust air fan power (kW) 3.36
Exhaust air fan efficiency 70%
2.6.1. Model building Exhaust air evaporative cooler saturation efficiency 90%
In the solar solid desiccant cooling, the system simula- Exhaust air evaporative cooler power consumption (kW) 0.1
Overall heat transfer value of regenerative heating coil (kW Kÿ1) 9.72
tion model was constructed based on Fig. 5. It encom-
passed the solar collectors, hot water pump, hot water Heat wheel
Temperature effectiveness of heat wheel 80%
tank, auxiliary heater, regenerative water pump, regenera-
Heat wheel power consumption (kW) 0.2
tive heating coil, desiccant wheel, heat wheel, evaporative
coolers, supply air fan and exhaust air fan. Desiccant wheel
Specific heat capacity of air (kJ kgÿ1Kÿ1) 1.005
The model of desiccant wheel was developed based on the Specific heat capacity of metal (kJ kgÿ1Kÿ1) 0.9
validated results of Zhang et al. (2003), the equilibrium rela- Specific heat capacity of silica gel (kJ kgÿ1Kÿ1) 0.921
tive humidity was given by Pesaran and Mills (1987a,b). The Specific latent heat of vaporization of water (kJ kgÿ1) 2.400
general parameters for modeling the solar solid desiccant Thermal conductivity of air (W mÿ1 Kÿ1) 0.0321
cooling are shown in Table 1, while the specific parameters Density of air (kg mÿ3) 1.2
Diameter of desiccant wheel (m) 2
are presented in Table 5. Width of desiccant wheel (m) 0.2
Effective area ratio of desiccant wheel 0.744
Fraction of wheel area for regeneration 0.5
2.6.2. Additional design considerations of solar desiccant
Desiccant wheel speed (rph) 12
cooling Desiccant wheel power consumption (kW) 0.2
Unlike the other four types of solar cooling systems con-
taining chillers, the solar desiccant cooling would directly
treat the fresh air for air-conditioning purpose. Although perature at the design conditions. The flow rate of the
the indoor space was identical, the total cooling load was regenerative water was selected so that the temperature
increased to 109 kW because ventilation load was much drop after passing through the regenerative heating coil
higher for the process air. The desiccant wheel was sized would be 10 °C. The flow rate of the hot water pump
according to the design regeneration temperature of was same as that of the regenerative water pump. The
85 °C, with 5 °C temperature difference between the enter- capacity of the auxiliary heater was 89 kW based on the
ing regenerative water and the leaving exhaust air of the worst situation that all the regenerative heat needed by
regenerative heating coil. The desiccant wheel speed was the desiccant cooling system was provided by the auxiliary
set to a value which would yield the lowest supply air tem- heater.

Controller for Hot

Water Pump
C
Solar T Regenerative
Collectors Water Pump
T
Hot
T Hot Water Pump Water
Outdoor Tank
Air
Town Gas Aux.
Supply Heater
C
Auxiliary Heater
T
Controller

Evapor-
Exhaust Air
ative
Cooler 2
Exhaust Regenerative Supply
Air Fan Heating Coil Air Fan
Evapor-
Outdoor Air ative T
Desiccant Heat Cooler 1
Wheel Wheel
Indoor Space

Fig. 5. Schematic diagram of solar solid desiccant cooling.

 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244
2.6.3. Control and operation of solar desiccant cooling
The auxiliary heater was controlled through a desiccant
cooling controller that provided an on/off signal between
26.5 and 24.5 °C with hysteresis based on the space temper-
ature. Moreover, the auxiliary heater only started when the
ambient temperature was above 20 °C. The operation of
the desiccant cooling system at insufficient regeneration
temperature would cause heat loss from the hot water side
to the exhaust air with no cooling capacity produced. To
avoid this, the desiccant cooling system would run only
when the following three conditions were satisfied:
 The auxiliary heater controller was on.
 The ambient temperature was above 20 °C.
 The regenerative water temperature entering the regen-
erative heating coil exceeded a preset minimum, which
was 5 °C lower than the minimum driving temperature
60 °C.
When the desiccant cooling system was on, the regener-
ative water pump, desiccant wheel, heat wheel and the
evaporative coolers would operate. The supply and exhaust
air fans would be in operation according to the daily occu-
pancy schedule.
3. Framework of comparative study
3.1. Preliminary study and full study
In order to have a thorough comparative study of differ-
ent solar cooling systems, the types of installation strategies
and solar collectors were also included. Generally, there are
two feasible installation strategies for the solar collectors.
The first one is to make use of any unobstructed open
space, practically on the roof, to mount the solar collectors
at an inclination angle same as the local latitude. The sec-
ond strategy is to apply the building-integrated approach
by mounting the solar collectors vertically on the building
facades. For the high-rise buildings commonly found in
Hong Kong, the former would be limited by the usable
roof area, while the latter can make use of the available
area of the external facades for solar collector installation.
About the common choices of solar thermal collectors,
Table 6
Possible combinations of installation strategies and solar collectors for the solar cooling systems.
Installation
strategy
Solar electric compression refrigeration Roof-mounted
Building-integrated
Solar mechanical compression Roof-mounted
refrigeration Building-integrated
Solar absorption refrigeration Roof-mounted
Building-integrated
Solar adsorption refrigeration Roof-mounted
Building-integrated
Solar solid desiccant cooling Roof-mounted
Building-integrated
235
there are flat plate collectors, evacuated tubes and para-
bolic concentrators. By accounting for these installation
strategies and options of solar collectors, a variety of com-
binations can be formed for the five types of solar cooling
systems as shown in Table 6.
From Table 6, there are altogether 26 combinations of
different installation strategies and solar collectors for the
five types of solar cooling systems. It is an extensive simu-
lation study about the solar cooling application in the con-
text of year-round operation. Since certain installation
strategy and solar collector would have relatively inferior
effect to the system performances, a preliminary study
was carried out in order to remove the unnecessary combi-
nations in the later full study. As a result, the following
comparison works would be conducted first in the preli-
minary study:
 Effect of installation strategies: The performances of
solar electric compression refrigeration and solar
absorption refrigeration with flat plate collectors based
on the two installation strategies would be compared,
so as to evaluate the more feasible option in view of
solar electric gain and solar thermal gain in the subtrop-
ical region.
 Effect of solar collectors: The performances of the flat
plate collectors, evacuated tubes and parabolic concen-
trators applied to the absorption refrigeration would
be compared, so as to find out the more feasible types
of solar collectors for the subtropical region.
The models of solar collectors were based on those in
the TESS library for TRNSYS. The coefficients of the effi-
ciency curve for the evacuated tubes were based on
(Hochschul Rapperswil of Switzerland, 1997). To model
the building-integrated approach, the component model
of building-integrated photovoltaic/thermal system (TESS
Type 567, 2006) from TESS was used to interact to the
indoor space of the building system under study. In the
building-integrated strategy, the solar collectors were verti-
cally installed to the east, south and west. The north side
was not used since this study was about the subtropical
region in the northern hemisphere. In addition, three direc-
tions were used instead of one because the three sides of
Photovoltaic Flat plate Evacuated Parabolic
panels collectors tubes concentrators
p
p
p p p
p p p
p p p
p p p
p p p
p p p
p p p
p p p
236 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244
external facades were all needed in order to sufficiently
accommodate the design mounting area of solar collectors.
3.2. Solar cooling systems against conventional electric-
driven vapour compression refrigeration
In order to promote wider application of the solar cooling
systems, it is necessary to benchmark their performances
against the conventional vapour compression refrigeration
solely energized by electricity. There are two kinds of chiller
plants commonly applied in the subtropical region:
 The air-cooled packaged vapour compression refrigera-
tion; and
 The water-cooled vapour compression refrigeration.
Based on the small and medium applications, the coeffi-
cient of performance of air-cooled chiller was 2.4 and that
of water-cooled chiller was 3.0 in this study. The general
modeling parameters of the chillers and the associated
equipment are same as those in Table 1, so as to have a
common ground for comparison.
4. Performance indicators
A number of performance indicators are needed in order
to have a full understanding of different aspects of the solar
cooling systems. These performance indicators include the
solar fraction, coefficient of performance, solar thermal
gain and primary energy consumption. A year-round per-
spective of these performance indicators was used, so that
the system performances could take into account the
changing loading and climatic conditions in this compara-
tive study. The definitions, particularly the first two, would
depend on the types of solar cooling systems, therefore they
are clearly described in this section.
4.1. Solar fraction, SF
Solar fraction is commonly used to evaluate the perfor-
mance of a solar cooling system. The fraction shows the
portion of solar energy contribution as compared to the
total energy required to drive the refrigeration part of solar
cooling system. This total amount of energy input is com-
monly supplemented by the auxiliary provision. In this
study, the solar fractions are defined below.
For solar electric compression refrigeration,
W solar
SF elect ¼ ð1Þ
W solar þ W aux
where SFelect = solar fraction of solar electric compression
refrigeration; Wsolar = solar electric gain from PV panels
(kW); Waux = auxiliary electrical power from the city
power grid (kW).
For the solar thermal cooling system including solar
mechanical compression refrigeration, absorption refriger-
ation, adsorption refrigeration and desiccant cooling,
Qsolar
SF thermal ¼ ð2Þ
Qsolar þ Qaux
where SFthermal = solar fraction of solar thermal cooling
system; Qsolar = solar thermal gain from the solar collectors
(kW); Qaux = heat output of auxiliary heater (kW).
The solar fraction would be averaged in monthly or
yearly basis, it is based on the SF acquired at each time step
when solar thermal gain is produced due to the hot water
pump in operation. The monthly averaged SF and yearly
averaged SF are formulated below:
Xm
SF i
Monthly averaged SF ¼ ð3Þ
i¼1
m
where m = total number of time steps in a month for hot
water pump in operation.
Xy
SF i
Yearly averaged SF ¼ ð4Þ
y
i¼1
where y = total number of time steps in a year for hot
water pump in operation.
For the dynamic simulation of the year-round operation
in this study, the simulation time step was 6 min as men-
tioned in Section 2.1. However the number of time steps
involved finding the averaged solar fraction depended on
whether the related equipment of the solar cooling system
was really in operation, since the indoor conditions could
still be maintained at certain climatic and loading condi-
tions in a year. The number of time steps involved to deter-
mine the monthly/yearly averaged solar fraction is based
on the total number of time steps for hot water pump in
operation only. As discussed in Section 2.3.3, a hot water
pump controller was included to activate the hot water
pump whenever the temperature at the solar collector out-
let exceeded the water temperature inside the hot water
tank. In this situation, solar thermal gain could be actually
acquired from the solar collectors. Therefore the solar frac-
tion was counted and averaged when the hot water pump
was in operation.
4.2. Coefficient of performance, COP
Coefficient of performance is an useful performance
indicator to evaluate the key air-conditioning equipment
of the solar cooling systems. In the solar electric refrigera-
tion, solar mechanical refrigeration, solar absorption
refrigeration and solar adsorption refrigeration, the key
air-conditioning equipment are the respective chillers. In
the solar solid desiccant cooling, it is the desiccant wheel.
Therefore the COP of different solar cooling systems are
defined below.
For solar electric compression refrigeration,
Qe
COP elect ¼ ð5Þ
W
 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244
where COPelect = COP of solar electric compression refrig-
eration; Qe = refrigeration effect (kW); W = power input to
DC motor (kW).
For solar mechanical compression refrigeration.
Qe
COP mech ¼
Qboil
where COPmech = COP of solar mechanical compression
refrigeration; Qboil = heat input to boiler of Rackine cycle
(kW).
For solar absorption refrigeration,
Qe
COP ab ¼
Qgen
where COPab = COP of solar absorption refrigeration;
Qgen = heat input to generator (kW).
For solar adsorption refrigeration,
Qe
COP ad ¼
Qde
where COPad = COP of solar adsorption refrigeration;
Qde = heat input for desorption (kW).
For solar solid desiccant cooling,
m_ a ðho ÿ hs Þ
COP desi ¼
Qregen
where COPdesi = COP of solar solid desiccant cooling; m_ a =
mass flow rate of supply air (kg/s); ho = specific enthalpy of
outdoor air (kW/kg); hs = specific enthalpy of supply air
(kW/kg); Qregen = heat input for regeneration (kW).
The COP would be averaged in monthly or yearly basis,
it is based on the COP acquired at the time step when the
key air-conditioning equipment (chiller or desiccant wheel)
is in operation. The monthly averaged COP and yearly
averaged COP are formulated below:
Xm0
COP i
Monthly averaged COP ¼ ð10Þ
i¼1
m0
where m0 = total number of time steps in a month for chil-
ler or desiccant wheel in operation.
Xy0
COP i
Yearly averaged COP ¼ ð11Þ
i¼1
y0
where y0 = total number of time steps in a year for chiller
or desiccant wheel in operation.
For the solar electric compression refrigeration, solar
mechanical compression refrigeration, solar absorption
refrigeration and solar adsorption refrigeration, the total
number of time steps involved were based on the chiller
in operation. As discussed in Section 2.2.3, the operation
of the chiller was determined by a controller that provided
an on/off signal based on the chilled water return tempera-
ture. For the solar desiccant cooling, the total number of
time steps was counted according to the desiccant wheel
in operation. As mentioned in Section 2.6.3, the desiccant
cooling system would be activated only when the auxiliary
237
heater controller was on; the ambient temperature was
above 20 °C and the regenerative water temperature enter-
ing the regenerative heating coil exceeded a preset
minimum.
ð6Þ 4.3. Solar thermal gain, Gsolar
Solar thermal gain is the useful energy acquired through
the solar collectors to drive a solar cooling system. It is not
just related to the efficiency of the solar collectors, but also
the nature of energy demand of the solar cooling system. In
the four solar thermal cooling systems under study, it is
ð7Þ about the gain of thermal energy from the flat plate collec-
tors, evacuated tubes or parabolic concentrators. The
amount of gain is related to both the type of solar collec-
tors and system operation due to different climatic and
loading conditions. Therefore it is also one of the perfor-
mance indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of a solar
ð8Þ cooling system with certain type of solar collector.
However in the solar electric refrigeration, the PV panels
are used and the solar electric gain Gelect is produced
instead of solar thermal gain. Since the solar electric gain
and solar thermal gain are different in nature, a term called
solar thermal gain equivalent Gsolar,eq is defined for com-
ð9Þ parison purpose:
Gsolar;eq ¼ Gelect =ge ð12Þ
where ge is the energy efficiency used to convert the electri-
cal energy into the primary energy, and it is taken to be
33% in this study.
4.4. Primary energy consumption, Ep
When calculating the primary energy consumption, it is
in a system approach. All the parasitic energy consump-
tions from the associated equipment were considered upon
those of the main equipment. Since two different types of
energy sources, electricity and gas, were involved, their
energy efficiencies were assumed below:
 energy efficiency for electrical energy converted into pri-
mary energy, ge = 33%;
 energy efficiency for gas energy converted into primary
energy, gg = 90%.
The former was used to determine the primary energy
input of the electric-driven equipment, while the latter for
the auxiliary heater operated by burning gas. Ep is there-
fore determined in different ways for the corresponding
solar cooling systems as follows.
For solar electric compression refrigeration,
Ep;elect ¼ ðW aux þ W parasitic þ W AHU Þ=ge ð13Þ
where Ep,elect = primary energy consumption of solar elec-
tric compression refrigeration (kWh); Wparasitic = electrical
energy consumption of parasitic equipment, including
pumps and cooling tower (kWh); WAHU = electrical energy
238 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244

consumption of AHU (kWh).For solar mechanical com-
pression refrigeration, absorption refrigeration and adsorp-
tion refrigeration,
Ep;thermal ¼ Qaux =gg þ ðW parasitic þ W AHU Þ=ge
where Ep,thermal = primary energy consumption of solar
thermal refrigeration (kWh).
For solar solid desiccant cooling,
Ep;desi ¼ Qaux =gg þ ðW para;desi þ W fan Þ=ge
where Ep,desi = primary energy consumption of solar solid
desiccant cooling (kWh); Wpara,desi = electrical energy con-
sumption of parasitic equipment, including pumps, desic-
cant wheel, heat wheel and evaporative coolers (kWh);
Wfan = electrical energy consumption of supply air fan
and exhaust air fan (kWh).
5. Preliminary study
5.1. Effect of installation strategies of solar collectors
The results of the two feasible installation strategies for
the solar electric compression refrigeration and solar
absorption refrigeration are summarized in Table 7. The
performances were evaluated on a year-round basis,
including the four performance indicators and the averaged
space cooling load. Due to the fact that the solar collectors
integrated to the building facades can reduce the transmis-
sion heat gains, it is found that the year-round averaged
space cooling load was reduced by 12.7% and 9.2% for
the building-integrated solar electric compression refrigera-
tion and solar absorption refrigeration, as compared to the
roof-mounted strategy. However, both cases could not out-
weigh the significant drop of the corresponding solar frac-
tions at 50.2% and 82.3%, as well as the decrease of the
respective solar thermal gains at 65.8% and 83%. Finally
the year-round totals of primary energy consumptions were
increased by 13.9% and 35.7% for the building-integrated
solar electric refrigeration and solar absorption refrigera-
tion respectively. The COP was about the same or slightly
ð14Þ
increased, it was not due to the improvement of the build-
ing-integrated approach, but just because of the auxiliary
provisions operated whenever in need. Therefore, COP
was not effective to reflect the performance of solar cooling
systems in this case.
ð15Þ The poorer result of the building-integrated solar
absorption system was further due to the performances
of the solar collectors installed at the three different direc-
tions. Based on the typical design, the hot water pump
would only operate when the water leaving temperature
of the solar collectors was higher than that of the hot water
storage tank. As the size of solar collector facing to each
direction was reduced to one-third, the hot water tempera-
ture that could be achieved would be lower, causing signif-
icant drops of solar fraction and solar thermal gain.
As a result, the building-integrated strategy was not
involved in the ongoing comparative study for different
solar cooling systems. Such strategy is only recommended
when the roof or the available open space is not enough
to accommodate the required number of solar collectors.
5.2. Effect of solar collectors
Table 8 summarizes the year-round performances of
the solar absorption refrigeration system with different
types of solar collectors, including the flat plate collectors,
evacuated tubes and parabolic concentrators. The four per-
formance indicators were involved to evaluate the effective-
ness of solar collectors.
The type of flat plate collectors was used as the baseline
of comparison. It can be observed that both the evacuated
tubes and parabolic concentrators had higher solar fraction

Table 7
Year-round performances of the two feasible installation strategies for the solar electric compression refrigeration and solar absorption refrigeration.
Solar cooling system Installation Year-round Year-round Year-round Year-round Year-round
strategy averaged space averaged SF averaged COP total of total of Ep (kWh)
load (kW) Gsolar (kWh)
Solar electric compression refrigeration Roof-mounted 10.99 0.687 4.599 31,678 44,589
Building-integrated 9.59 (;12.7%) 0.342 (;50.2%) 4.658 ("1.3%) 10,844 (;65.8%) 50,781 ("13.9%)
Solar absorption refrigeration Roof-mounted 11.11 0.497 0.769 37,234 72,797
Building-integrated 10.09 (;9.2%) 0.088 (;82.3%) 0.763 (;0.8%) 6,326 (;83.0%) 98,787 ("35.7%)

Table 8
Year-round performances of different types of solar collectors for the solar absorption refrigeration.
Type of solar Year-round averaged Year-round averaged Year-round total of Gsolar Year-round total of Ep (kWh)
collectors SF COP (kWh)
Flat plate 0.497 0.769 37,234 72,797
Evacuated tubes 0.818 ("64.6%) 0.763 (;0.8%) 67,383 ("81.0%) 49,425 (;32.1%)
Parabolic 0.596 ("19.9%) 0.777 ("1.0%) 47,929 ("28.7%) 67,450 (;7.3% vs. flat plate; ;36.5% vs.
concentrators evacuated tubes)
 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244 239

and solar thermal gain, and lower primary energy
consumption. However, since the parabolic concentrators
only responded to the direct solar irradiation, their perfor-
mances were lower than that of the evacuated tubes despite
a higher collector temperature could be achieved. In the
year-round total of primary energy consumption, the par-
abolic concentrators were 36.5% worse than the evacuated
tubes, and just 7.3% better than the flat plate collectors. In
fact, the direct solar irradiation is only 42.4% of the total in
the subtropical Hong Kong (Fong et al., 2007). Moreover,
within the same collector installation area, the total
collector tubes of parabolic concentrators would be
fewer due to the substantial coverage of the parabolic
mirrors.
The year-round averaged COP varies only within a very
narrow range, from 0.763 to 0.777, for these three types of
solar collectors. The presence of the auxiliary heater tended
to minimize the variation of effectiveness of different types
of solar collectors to the absorption chiller.
As a result, the option of parabolic concentrators was
excluded from the following comparative study, since it
could not have a distinctive performance as compared to
the evacuated tubes in the subtropical Hong Kong. How-
ever, the flat plate collectors were still involved because
of their popularity and simple configuration.
6. Comparative study of solar cooling systems
From the preliminary performance study, the options of
building-integrated strategy and parabolic concentrators
were removed, therefore the variety of combinations for
the full comparative study could be trimmed down as
shown in Table 9.
6.1. Overall year-round performances of different solar
cooling systems
The performance results of different solar cooling sys-
tems are summarized in Table 10. The four performance
indicators were involved in the analysis. The solar electric
compression refrigeration was used as the baseline of this
comparative study, except its COP due to different nature.
In terms of the year-round total of primary energy con-
sumption, the order of the solar cooling systems from the
best to the worst is found as follows:
 solar electric compression refrigeration
 solar absorption refrigeration
 solar adsorption refrigeration
 solar solid desiccant cooling
 solar mechanical compression refrigeration
In fact, the solar electric compression refrigeration and
solar absorption with evacuated tubes had comparable per-
formances. Although the primary energy consumption of
the solar absorption refrigeration was 10.8% higher, its
solar faction was 19.1% better. It is also observed that this
order is independent to the types of solar collectors
adopted. For the same kind of solar thermal cooling sys-
tem, it is clear that the evacuated tubes had better perfor-
mances than the flat plate collectors. In this study, the
PV efficiency is based on the typical information of the
PV component of TRNSYS (2006). The simulation result
showed the yearly averaged efficiency was around 10%
according to the climatic conditions of Hong Kong.
Although the solar electric compression refrigeration has
the best overall performances, particularly primary energy

Table 9
Comparative study of different solar cooling systems.
Roof-mounted PV panels Roof-mounted flat plate collectors Roof-mounted evacuated tubes
p
Solar electric compression refrigeration
p p
Solar mechanical compression refrigeration
p p
Solar absorption refrigeration
p p
Solar adsorption refrigeration
p p
Solar solid desiccant cooling

Table 10
Year-round performances of different solar cooling systems.
Solar cooling system Type of solar Year-round Year-round Year-round total of Gsolar Year-round total of Ep
collector averaged SF averaged COP (kWh) (kWh)
Solar electric compression PV 0.687 4.599 31,678, Gsolar,eq 44,589
refrigeration
Solar mechanical compression Flat plate 0.046 (;93.9%) 0.102 26,911 (;15.0%) 629,897 ("1313%)
refrigeration Evacuated tubes 0.112 (;83.7%) 0.102 65,513 ("107%) 592,292 ("1228%)
Solar absorption refrigeration Flat plate 0.497 (;27.7%) 0.769 37,234 ("17.5%) 72,797 ("63.3%)
Evacuated tubes 0.818 ("19.1%) 0.763 67,383 ("113%) 49,425 ("10.8%)
Solar adsorption refrigeration Flat plate 0.313 (;54.4%) 0.435 40,421 ("27.6%) 128,715 ("189%)
Evacuated tubes 0.577 (;16.0%) 0.437 72,885 ("130%) 93,692 ("110%)
Solar solid desiccant cooling Flat plate 0.336 (;51.1%) 1.066 40,435 ("27.6%) 149,356 ("235%)
Evacuated tubes 0.552 (;19.7%) 1.059 71,832 ("127%) 128,052 ("187%)
240 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244
consumption, they were acquired based on a typical PV
panel, not due to a certain product with exceptionally high
efficiency.
The solar mechanical compression refrigeration had
exceptionally high year-round primary energy consump-
tion, showing that the auxiliary heater, instead of solar col-
lectors, was the essential contributor for driving the
Rankine cycle of the heat engine. The narrow range of
operative driving temperature of the Rankine-cycle-driven
chiller maintained a high-temperature demand and the
part-load control became useless. The solar collectors
could not have effective contribution due to its relatively
low-temperature thermal gain.
The solar adsorption refrigeration was the third in view
of the primary energy consumption. Although its primary
energy consumption was about double of that of solar elec-
tric compression refrigeration or solar absorption refriger-
ation, continual research is being carried out for more
effective adsorbent–adsorbate pairs (Fan et al., 2007; Khat-
tab, 2004; Wang et al., 2005), instead of the typical pair of
silica gel and water used in this model. On the other hand,
there are emerging configurations for enhancing the effec-
tiveness of adsorption–desorption process (Wang et al.,
2005, 2008; Voyiatzis et al.,2007). Therefore the application
potential of solar adsorption refrigeration still exists.
The solar solid desiccant cooling had high year-round
primary energy consumption, but it was different from
the other solar cooling systems because it had to handle
the extra ventilation load due to the inherent nature of full
fresh air design. Therefore the total cooling capacity of des-
iccant cooling system would be much higher than those of
the other four solar cooling systems, hence higher primary
energy consumption. In addition, the parasitic energy con-
sumption was comparatively high, particularly the supply
air fan and exhaust air fan. The feature of solar desiccant
cooling in effect is more than only to satisfy the required
cooling load, it is also capable to supply the fresh air
amount far above the minimum requirement of a func-
tional area. This unique merit can guarantee a good indoor
air quality and ventilation effectiveness. Therefore the
application potential of solar solid desiccant cooling is still
valid.
The overall performances of the average room and sup-
ply air conditions are summarized in Table 11. As the solar
Table 11
Yearly average room and supply air conditions of various solar cooling systems.
Solar cooling system Type of solar Average room
collector temperature (°C)
Solar electric compression refrigeration PV 24.9
Solar absorption refrigeration Flat plate 24.5
Evacuated tubes 24.4
Solar adsorption refrigeration Flat plate 24.5
Evacuated tubes 24.5
Solar solid desiccant cooling Flat plate 23.6
Evacuated tubes 23.6
mechanical compression refrigeration had exceptionally
high year-round primary energy consumption, it was
excluded in this part of evaluation. From Table 11, it is
found that the average room air conditions of various solar
cooling systems are close to the design conditions at
25.5 °C and 60% RH, showing that they could provide sat-
isfactory indoor environment for the occupants. The per-
formances of solar electric compression refrigeration,
solar absorption refrigeration and solar adsorption refrig-
eration are very close (24.4–24.9 °C and 59–61%RH)
regardless the type of solar collectors. It is because they
provided air-conditioning in a similar way, by using the
chilled water supply to cooling coil for cooling and dehu-
midification purposes. Solar desiccant cooling had slight
difference of room temperature and relative humidity from
the other three types because the supply air was handled in
another way, by using the desiccant wheel, heat wheel and
evaporative cooler.
6.2. Monthly performances of different solar cooling systems
Apart from the year-round performances, it is also wor-
thy to understand the monthly variations of the perfor-
mance indicators of different solar cooling systems. The
changes would be according to the climatic conditions,
loading conditions and features of solar cooling systems.
The annual profile of each performance indicator is there-
fore presented and discussed in this section.
6.2.1. Monthly averaged solar fraction
Fig. 6 shows the annual profiles of solar fraction. It is
found that the solar fraction was commonly low from
May to September, which is the typical summer period
and the cooling load is around the peak. On the other
hand, the solar fraction was usually high from December
to February, which is the typical winter season. Generally,
the solar fraction was less than one, indicating that just the
solar electric or thermal gain acquired from the solar col-
lectors was not sufficient to fully drive the respective solar
cooling system (except the solar desiccant cooling), so the
auxiliary provision was inevitably activated to supplement
the deficit. As a whole, the solar absorption refrigeration
had the highest solar fraction; the solar electric compres-
sion refrigeration the second; the solar adsorption refriger-
Average room Average supply air Average supply air
relative humidity (%) temperature (°C) humidity ratio
(kg/kg dry air)
61 19.4 11.7  10ÿ3
59 19.7 11.1  10ÿ3
59 19.6 11.0  10ÿ3
59 19.7 11.2  10ÿ3
59 19.7 11.1  10ÿ3
67 20.5 12.2  10ÿ3
67 20.4 12.2  10ÿ3
 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244 241

Fig. 6. Annual profiles of solar fraction of different solar cooling systems. (Abbreviation: AB, absorption refrigeration; AD, adsorption refrigeration; DE,
desiccant cooling; EL, electric compression refrigeration; ME, mechanical compression refrigeration; et, evacuated tubes; fp, flat plate collectors; pv,
photovoltaic panels).

ation the third; the solar desiccant cooling the fourth; and
the solar mechanical compression refrigeration the last.
For the solar solid desiccant cooling, the solar fraction
was unity from December to February. This shows that
the solar thermal gain from solar collectors was enough
to drive the system in such period, and free air cooling
might also be involved. On the other hand, the extremely
low solar fraction of solar mechanical compression refrig-
eration shows its heavy reliance on auxiliary heating and
very weak support from the solar collectors.
6.2.2. Monthly averaged COP
Fig. 7 shows the monthly averaged COP of different
solar cooling systems. The solar electric compression refrig-
eration is excluded from this analysis because the nature of
its COP is different from that of the four solar thermal
cooling systems. For the COP in the summer period
(May to September), the order from the best to the worst
is found as follows:
 solar solid desiccant cooling
 solar absorption refrigeration
 solar adsorption refrigeration
 solar mechanical compression refrigeration
The solar solid desiccant cooling could have COP
greater than unity in such period. From Eq. (9), its COP
definition is different to the three solar thermal refrigera-
tion systems. The numerator is the enthalpy change of
the process air, instead of refrigeration effect. For the three
solar thermal refrigeration systems, their patterns are sim-
ilar and nearly flat throughout a year. This is because the
support from auxiliary heating would not stop whenever
the required driving temperature is not sufficient. On the
other hand, suitable control and operation of auxiliary

Fig. 7. Annual profiles of coefficient of performance of different solar cooling systems. (Abbreviation: AB, absorption refrigeration; AD, adsorption
refrigeration; DE, desiccant cooling; EL, electric compression refrigeration; ME, mechanical compression refrigeration; et, evacuated tubes; fp, flat plate
collectors; pv, photovoltaic panels).
242 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244

heating would lead to the COP independent to the type of
solar collectors. It is found that both flat plate collectors
and evacuated tubes had similar COP for the same type
of solar thermal systems.
For solar solid desiccant cooling system, the COP was
lower than one in the months other than the summer per-
iod, in between 0.67 and 0.98. In January and February,
the COP was zero. It is because the operation mode of free
air cooling was effective to handle the space cooling load,
so the desiccant wheel and related equipment were not
needed to operate.
6.2.3. Monthly total of solar thermal gain
Fig. 8 shows the variation of monthly averaged solar
thermal gain of different solar cooling systems. It is found
that there are two sets of curves clustered together due to
the type of solar collectors. The set of performance curves
of solar cooling systems using evacuated tubes are higher
than those using flat plate collectors. This clearly shows
the evacuated tubes have a more superior solar thermal
gain compared to the flat plate collectors. It is noted that
the performance curve of solar electric compression refrig-
eration is within the lower cluster. Although it was trans-
formed to Gsolar,eq due to its nature of solar electric gain,
its performance was not as low as those systems with flat
plate collectors. It can be found that the yearly averaged
solar fraction of solar electric compression refrigeration is
0.687, which is relatively high in Table 10, showing that
the solar electric gain was quite enough to drive the refrig-
eration cycle.
Generally the solar thermal gain was high in the period
of July to October, which covers from the mid-summer to
early autumn. It is not fully matched to the solar fraction
profiles, which are mainly affected by the cooling load
demand in the hot season from May to September. The
variation of solar thermal gain primarily follows the avail-
ability of solar irradiation in the subtropical Hong Kong,
in which the profile is also high from July to October, while
low in January and February (Fong et al., 2007).
6.2.4. Monthly total of primary energy consumption
Fig. 9 shows the annual profiles of the primary energy
consumption of different solar cooling systems. The perfor-
mance of the solar mechanical compression refrigeration
was excluded from the analysis since its year-round total
was far more higher than the other types of solar cooling
systems as shown in Table 10. It is clear that the solar elec-
tric compression refrigeration has the lowest primary
energy consumption. In fact, the annual profile of solar
absorption refrigeration with evacuated tubes was close
to that of the solar electric compression refrigeration, the
slight difference was mainly due to the additional energy
required for the parasitic equipment for the solar thermal
part, particularly the hot water pump and regenerative
pump. Generally these profiles are similar to the annual
cooling load variation. The primary energy consumption
is high from June to August, which is coincident to the
peak cooling load demand in the summer period. The pri-
mary energy consumption is low from December to Febru-
ary, which is the typical winter.
6.3. Performances of solar cooling systems against
conventional electric-driven vapour compression refrigeration
Application potential of solar cooling systems depends on
their performances against the conventional electric-driven
vapour compression refrigeration, particularly the primary
energy consumption. Both the air-cooled and water-cooled
vapour compression chiller plants were involved in this
study, it is found that their year-round totals of primary
energy consumption were 86,289 kWh and 79,138 kWh,
respectively, and their annual profiles are plotted together
with those for the solar cooling systems in Fig. 9. From the
year-round totals of different solar cooling systems shown

Fig. 8. Annual profiles of solar thermal gain of different solar cooling systems. (Abbreviation: AB, absorption refrigeration; AD, adsorption refrigeration;
DE, desiccant cooling; EL, electric compression refrigeration; ME, mechanical compression refrigeration; et, evacuated tubes; fp, flat plate collectors; pv,
photovoltaic panels).
 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244 243

Fig. 9. Annual profiles of primary energy consumption of different solar cooling systems (including those of electric-driven vapour compression
refrigeration). (Abbreviation: AB, absorption refrigeration; ACVCR, conventional air-cooled vapour compression refrigeration; AD, adsorption
refrigeration; DE, desiccant cooling; EL, electric compression refrigeration; ME, mechanical compression refrigeration; WCVCR, conventional water-
cooled vapour compression refrigeration; et, evacuated tubes; fp, flat plate collectors; pv, photovoltaic panels).

in Table 10, only the solar electric compression refrigeration
and solar absorption refrigeration (no matter with evacu-
ated tubes or flat plate collectors) have lower primary energy
consumption. The same results can also be observed in
Fig. 9. As compared to the conventional air-cooled and
water-cooled refrigeration, the primary energy savings of
solar electric compression refrigeration were decreased by
48.3% and 43.7%, while those of solar absorption refrigera-
tion with evacuated tubes by 42.7% and 37.5%, and those of
solar absorption refrigeration with flat plate collectors by
15.6% and 8.0%. Although the solar adsorption refrigera-
tion with evacuated tubes had relatively higher primary
energy consumption, it was only 8.6% and 18.4% above
the conventional air-cooled and water-cooled refrigeration
systems, respectively.
For the other types of solar cooling systems, their primary
energy consumptions were far higher than those of the two
conventional electric-driven refrigeration systems. There-
fore they do not have any energy saving potential even the
free solar energy is consumed. If life-cycle cost analysis is car-
ried out, both initial and operating costs of such solar cool-
ing systems do not have any advantages at all.
7. Conclusion
A comparative study was thoroughly carried out for the
five types of solar cooling systems for a typical office in the
subtropical Hong Kong. The results were worked out with
the emphasis of suitable system control and operation in
response to the year-round changing climatic and loading
conditions. Based on the best year-round total of primary
energy consumption, the order of the five types of solar
cooling systems is:
 solar electric compression refrigeration,
 solar absorption refrigeration,
 solar adsorption refrigeration,
 solar solid desiccant cooling, and
 solar mechanical compression refrigeration.
In the preliminary study for the options of installation
strategies and types of solar collectors, the alternatives of
building-integrated approach and parabolic concentrators
were found not energy-efficient enough. Although the
building-integrated approach could reduce the space cool-
ing load by about 10%, but the overall system perfor-
mances were worse than the typical roof-mounted
approach. For the choice of solar collectors, the parabolic
concentrators had the primary energy consumption only
slightly better than the flat plate collectors by 7.3% for
the absorption refrigeration, but worse than the evacuated
tubes by 36.5%.
If the conventional electric-driven air-cooled and water-
cooled vapour compression chiller plants were included in
the comparison, the solar electric compression refrigeration
and solar absorption refrigeration (with evacuated tubes or
flat plate collectors) were the two types of solar cooling sys-
tems that could have attractive energy saving potential.
The year-round energy savings would be from 15.6% to
48.3% compared to the conventional electric-driven air-
cooled refrigeration, while 8.0% to 43.7% to the water-
cooled refrigeration. In fact, it is possible to have continual
improvement in the solar electric compression refrigeration
and solar absorption refrigeration, particularly the technol-
ogy advancement of the solar collectors.
The application potential of solar adsorption refrigera-
tion with evacuated tubes still exists, since its year-round
total of primary energy consumption is just slightly higher
than the conventional electric-driven air-cooled vapour
compression refrigeration. Continual advancement of the
adsorption pair and chiller configuration would enhance
the use of its distinctive merit of low driving temperature.
Although the solar solid desiccant cooling has high year-
round primary energy consumption, it is different from the
244 K.F. Fong et al. / Solar Energy 84 (2010) 227–244
other types of solar cooling systems because it has to tackle
the high ventilation load from its inherent full fresh air
provision. Subsequently it has high cooling capacity and
large energy consumption of supply and exhaust air fans.
In fact, the solar desiccant cooling is able to supply
excessive fresh air for a functional area, resulting a good
indoor air quality and ventilation effectiveness. Therefore
application potential of solar solid desiccant cooling is still
valid.
This paper also describes the framework and useful per-
formance indicators for a comparative study of different
solar cooling systems. The methodology can be applied
to evaluate the potential systems and configurations, and
to benchmark the conventional electric-driven vapour com-
pression refrigeration.
Acknowledgement
The work described in this paper was fully supported by
a grant from City University of Hong Kong (Project No.
7002310).
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