Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 27 (2021) 101275 Available online 21 July 2021 2214-157X/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Solar adsorption air conditioning system – Recent advances and its potential for cooling an offce building in tropical climate Norhayati Mat Wajid a , Abdul Murad Zainal Abidin b , Mirhamed Hakemzadeh c , Hasila Jarimi c, * , Ahmad Fazlizan c , Mohd Faizal Fauzan c , Adnan Ibrahim c , Ali H. A. Al-Waeli c , Kamaruzzaman Sopian c a Mechanical Engineering Branch, Public Works Department Malaysia., 50480, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia b JKR Centre of Excellence for Engineering and Technology (CREaTE), Public Works Department Malaysia, 78000, Alor Gajah, Melaka, Malaysia c Solar Energy Research Institute, National University of Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Malaysia A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Adsorption cooling Solar assisted cooling HVAC Tropical climate Building simulation ABSTRACT Solar adsorption air conditioning system (SADCS) is an excellent alternative to the conventional vapour compression system (VCS). SADCS has advantages over VCS system notably that it is a green cooling technology that utilizes solar energy to drive the adsorption/desorption cycle, using pure water as a green HFC-free refrigerant, mechanically simple and can be operated without moving parts other than the magnetic valves. In the last decade, several developments and in- novations have been achieved in the feld of SADCS research. However, further research is needed to bring this technology to practical level. Hence, this paper frst discusses the literature survey that adds insights into the research of SADCS technologies with emphasis placed on the practical research that has been conducted at lab-scale and commercial level. Then, the potential of SADCS for cooling applications of an offce building in tropical climate is discussed using simulation in TRNSYS. From the simulation we found that the solar fraction of the SADCS system is as high as 63 %, with the temperature and the relative humidity of an offce space can reach an average of 20 ◦ C and 60 % respectively, which are within the range of the thermal comfort level for the occupants. 1. Introduction The majority of energy consumption of buildings in tropical climates is done by air conditioning (AC) systems [1]. Being recognized as essential and crucial systems to enhance the thermal comfort and living conditions of the occupants, air conditioning (AC) system are also effective in dealing with problems stemming from heat-stress. It is forecasted that by the year 2100, air conditioning power consumption will expand to 33-fold worldwide [2] which is attributed to the ongoing and expected income rise in the developing world and the continuous advances of urbanization. Thus, major factors that are likely to cause for the need for more air conditioning systems, or that cause a higher demand, are the higher global temperature or warm spells. The most common air-conditioning system for buildings in hot and humid countries is the vapour compression air conditioning systems (VCS). In VCS the integration of the dehumidifcation and cooling process has led to higher energy wastage and CO 2 emissions. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: Hasila.jarimi@ukm.edu.my (H. Jarimi). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Case Studies in Thermal Engineering journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/csite https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csite.2021.101275 Received 24 May 2021; Received in revised form 10 July 2021; Accepted 19 July 2021