Performance evaluation of geothermal assisted VAC systems for residential cooling purposes

Abstract

Nowadays renewable energy sources are being integrated to HVAC-R system to reduce energy consumption of the buildings since buildings have the biggest share of the total energy consumption of nearly every country in the world. In this study a geothermal assisted cooling system with a vapour absorption refrigeration system having ammonia water or lithium bromide-water solution pair is studied in order to meet 10 kW cooling demand of a 150 m2 detached house in Izmir Turkey. The thermodynamic performances of the refrigeration systems are compared by conducting detailed energy exergy analyses and parametric studies. The exergetic efficiency of the lithium bromide-water vapour absorption refrigeration system is determined as 30% while it is 19.8% for ammonia-water vapour absorption refrigeration system. The vapour absorption refrigeration system with lithium bromide-water working pair is a better alternative for the considered house at the base case operating conditions.