Author(s)

Ganesh Utham¹, Sagarkumar M. Agravat², Bela Jani³, Jignasha Bhutka⁴

¹School of Mechanical and Building Science, VIT University, Vellore, India.
²Solar R&D Projects, Gujarat Energy Research & Management Institute (GERMI), Gandhinagar, India 3Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL), Vadodara, India.
³Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL), Vadodara, India.
⁴Gujarat Energy Research & Management Institute (GERMI), Gandhinagar, India.

Commercial building sector accounts for 8% of the total electricity consumption in India. Cooling activities (HVAC) in commercial buildings consume 55% of the total energy utilized. Consequently, CO₂ emissions from conventional buildings in India were estimated to be 98 metric tonnes of CO₂ per million ft² in 2014. Solar thermal air conditioning can be the solution to these demands and can contribute to about 15% to 20% of India’s total oil consumption thereby reducing the dependence on fossil fuels. Hence, the main objective of the work is to model and simulate a solar absorption cooling system for GERMI office building located in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India, using the transient simulation software ‘TRNSYS’. Cooling load estimation and comfort conditions required for the building were determined based on ASHRAE standards. Evacuated tube collectors were selected because of its market availability, ease of manufacturing and proven technology. Single effect absorption chiller was used because of its commercial availability. The effects of storage tank volume, collector area and collector slope were also investigated for parametric optimization. The results of the simulation and parametric analysis are analyzed and presented in the paper.

Solar Air Conditioning, Evacuated Tube Collectors (ETC), TRNSYS, Simulation, Single Effect Absorption Chiller, Parametric Analysis, India

Utham, G. , Agravat, S. , Jani, B. and Bhutka, J. (2016) Modelling, Transient Simulation and Economic Analysis of Solar Thermal Based Air Conditioning System in Gujarat. Smart Grid and Renewable Energy, 7, 233-246. doi: 10.4236/sgre.2016.78018.