IT-DREPS Conference & Exhibition May 29-31, 2013 |Amman, Jordan 1 | Page www.it-dreps.org Performance Analysis of Solar Air Cooling (Two-Stage Adsorption Chiller) in Jordan Ahmad Alsarayreh PSUT Amman – Jordan ahmadsarayrah@ymail.com Abdul Ghani Albaali PSUT Amman - Jordan ghanialbaali@hotmail.com Ghazi Alkhatib Hashemite University Zarqa - Jordan g_alkhatib@orange.jo Abstract— the future of energy supply in Jordan is a high priority; Jordan is almost totally dependent on imported oil and some petroleum products to meet domestic energy demand required for its socioeconomic development. The domestic energy resources, including oil and gas, cover only 3–4% of the country’s energy needs. Jordan growing demand for oil product expected to exceed 3 percent growth per year. Electricity consumption is also maintaining, and expected to exceed 4 percent growth per year [1]. The demand for air-conditioning is growing but there is no certain data. To meet the demand in cooling, Vapor Compression Chillers (VCC) is commonly used. This makes the Solar Air Cooling (SAC) as the potential option for significantly reducing the electricity consumption as well as the Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions. This study (which also involved a field study) presents a new solar air cooling system, which consists of a two-stage adsorption chiller that has been designed and developed in Jordan for hot climatic regions. A performance analysis has been conducted on the two-stage adsorption chiller using RETSCREEN software to find the best tilt angle for summer season at Aqaba, which was 20 degree and at zero degree azimuth angle. The results showed that the use of this chiller is technically feasible for Jordan weather and can operate at high ambient temperature and low driving temperature with dry cooler. Keywords— Two-Stage Adsorption Chiller, Vapor Compression Chillers, Solar Air Cooling, Greenhouse Gases, RETSCREEN software. I. INTRODUCTION The growing demand for air-conditioning in Jordan leads to the use of more VCC to meet this demand in cooling. These systems have a significant opposite effect on environment through two main ways:  Increasing Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions through increasing energy consumption.  The environmental problems caused by using refrigerants. The refrigerants that are currently used in the conventional refrigeration cycles do not have an Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) anymore, but they have a considerable Global Warming Potential (GWP) because of leakages of chiller, for example the refrigerant leakage in Europe is 5 to 15% per year [2]. The temperature rises due to climate change will increase the cooling load in future and thus more energy will be consumed for air-conditioned. All mentioned facts make the SAC technology as having the potential of significantly reducing the electricity consumption and the GHG emissions, additionally enhancing economic development. The total capacity of SAC systems in Jordan up to this date is very small; currently Jordan has only two systems for air conditioning of buildings in service, which are:  Aqaba Residence Energy Efficiency (AREE), with a theoretical cooling capacity of 10KW.  Dead Sea Spa Hotel, with a theoretical cooling capacity of 17.5KW The main reasons for that is the high initial cost for these systems, the technical problems in these systems because they are often designed for Europe weather conditions, which is differ than our weather conditions, and finally the lack of local experiences in SAC technology. II. TECHNICAL OVERVIEW Solar cooling systems can be classified into two main categories according to physical ways of solar radiation conversion, which are:  Electrical systems  Thermal systems Fig. 1 shows these categories in more detailed. Out of all options shown in fig. 1, only three different solar cooling systems are being commercially used at present [3], which are:  Absorption chillers  Adsorption chillers  Desiccant systems This work focuses on technology overview of vapor- compression cooling cycles which use mechanical energy as the driving force for refrigeration, and small size absorption/ adsorption chillers using thermal energy as the driving force for refrigeration. The classification into ‘small’ aligns with available chiller products (small applications) are in this sense systems with a nominal chilling capacity below 20 kW [4].