SOLAR ASSISTED EVAPORATIVE COOLING BASED PASSIVE AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM FOR AGRICULTURAL AND LIVESTOCK APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Solar-chimney assisted evaporative cooling based passive-air-conditioning (SCAC) system has been investigated for different climatic cities of Pakistan. Driving force of system is based on solar chimney and electric fan for day and night time operations, respectively. Ideal temperature and humidity zones are formulated for agricultural products’ storage and animals’ thermal comfort. Recent studies have proven the advancement of Maisotsenko Cycle (M-Cycle) in air-conditioning (AC) field; therefore, SCAC system utilizes M-Cycle conception in order to achieve dew-point cooling. On the basis of M-Cycle experimental data available via literature, study provides thermodynamic investigation of SCAC system for various conditions. Two simplified correlations are developed for performance evaluation of M-Cycle unit. Both correlations showed precise agreement with experimental data with R2 > 0.95. The SCAC system could achieve sensible load of AC efficiently for various applications; however, performance index varies according to climatic conditions. The SCAC system’s applicability was found limited in humid areas because of nature of M-Cycle operation. Therefore, it has been concluded that system may not be sustainable as standalone AC, but it can be a onvenient solution in order to reduce the AC load. Moreover, it can provide chilled ceiling for various applications with the low-cost operation. It can be efficiently utilized in most of the dry and moderate areas, whereas, the system’s applicability is limited in humid and water scared regions.

Keywords

• Air-conditioning
• Solar chimney
• M-Cycle
• Agricultural products
• Livestock