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US 9,488,394 B1Granted
System and method for continuously operating a solar-powered air conditioner
AssigneeKing Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
InventorsMaged A. I. El-Shaarawi, Syed A. M. Said, Ali Abdulaziz Al-Ugla
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An air-cooled, single-effect, air conditioning system includes a first set of solar collectors configured to obtain energy to facilitate release of refrigerant from an absorbent-refrigerant solution in a generator. A tank is configured to store the energy for nighttime operations of the air conditioning system. One or more valves are configured to regulate consumption of the stored energy to maintain continuous cooling of at least one load.
Claims20
An air-cooled, single-effect, air-conditioning system comprising:
- a first set of solar collectors configured to obtain energy to facilitate release of refrigerant from an absorbent-refrigerant solution in a refrigerant generator wherein the first set of solar collectors are directly connected to the refrigerant generator via a first flow path including a first set of isolation valves configured to isolate the first set of solar collectors from the refrigerant generator;
- an energy storage tank configured to store thermal energy for nighttime operations of the air conditioning system wherein the energy storage tank is directly connected to the refrigerant generator via a second flow path in parallel with the first flow path including a second set of isolation valves configured to isolate the energy storage tank from the refrigerant generator;
- and
- a second set of solar collectors configured to obtain the thermal energy stored in the energy storage tank wherein the second set of solar collectors are directly connected to the energy storage tank via a third flow path including a third set of isolation valves configured to isolate the second set of solar collectors from the energy storage tank.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- obtaining, via a first set of solar collectors directly connected to a refrigerant generator via a first flow path including a first set of isolation valves configured to isolate the first set of solar collectors from the refrigerant generator, energy to facilitate release of refrigerant from an absorbent-refrigerant solution in a refrigerant generator;
- storing, via an energy storage tank directly connected to the refrigerant generator via a second flow path in parallel with the first flow path including a second set of isolation valves configured to isolate the energy storage tank from the refrigerant generator, thermal energy for nighttime operations of an air conditioning system;
- and
- obtaining, via a second set of solar collectors directly connected to the energy storage tank via a third flow path including a third set of isolation valves configured to isolate the second set of solar collectors from the energy storage tank, the thermal energy stored in the energy storage tank.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.