SIMULATION OF DISTRICT COOLING SYSTEM USING SOLAR COOLING WITH LITHIUM BROMIDE – WATER (LiBr/H20) ABSORPTION CHILLER

The worldwide cooling demands is rising drastically. Several causes lead to this scenario such as industrialization, global warming, tropical climate region and etc. This prompts the application of district energy such as gas district cooling (GDC) system to fulfill the demands. Considering the energy sustainability, this project aims to study the feasibility of solar cooling system to produce cooling air (chilled water) which can be scaled up later to function as solar district cooling plant. The conventional usage of vapor compression air-conditioning systems (A/C) causes serious environmental issues such as emission of greenhouse gases due to the coolants (chlorofluorocarbons) used. Hence, the district cooling system will produce chilled water through absorption cooling cycle (lithium bromide-water absorption chiller) which is environmental friendly. Parametric study will conducted by using TRNSYS software to examine the feasibility and potential of solar absorption cooling system. The feasibility of the system is determined when the cooling demand of a particular modelled building has been met (room temperature of the building model is lower after the application of solar cooling system). The typical meteorological year file (TMY 2) containing weather parameter for Malaysia, specifically Kuala Lumpur city is used to simulate the system.