Investigating the capacity sufficiency of an optimized standalone solar hot water fired absorption chiller for Australian 6-star house: The case of Adelaide

Abstract

In this paper, the sufficiency of the optimal components capacity integrating the least expensive solar standalone hot water fired absorption chiller (SSA-HWF-ABS-CH) to handle the space conditioning demand of a typical Australian 6-star house in Adelaide is investigated. The optimal capacity of the components found via techno-economic optimization methodology. The SSA-HWF-ABS-CH was modelled and simulated with TRNSYS 17 software, and the house space conditioning load was determined with AccuRate sustainability software. Investigating the sufficiency of the optimized SSA-HWF-ABS-CH capacity to meet the indoor comfort condition carried out by observing the temperature and the humidity ratio condition of the air inside the house spaces which needs air-conditioning before and after supplying the ventilation air into the house. The results show the optimized SSA-HWF-ABS-CH, which comprises a 23 m2 solar array, 3,800 L hot buffer tank, 3.2 kW absorption chiller, and 2,800 L chilled buffer tank, can operate with solar energy only and handle 95% of the summer space cooling demand hours and 100% of the winter space heating demand hours. Despite the optimized SSA-HWF-ABS-CH presented in this study can handle the house space conditioning demand, but the system not sized nor supposed to operate for 24 h, rather prioritize conditioning the house with natural ventilation through the openable windows must still be considered whenever the outdoor air can handle the indoor thermal comfort conditions.