air conditioning

Researchers in Portugal have addressed the so-called ‘parking dilemma’ of electric cars incorporating photovoltaic modules. They looked into the tradeoff between charging the car and raising its inside temperature. They calculated the critical time as a function of the car’s solar capacity.

An international research team has investigated how air conditioning may be used to reduce the operating temperature of PV panels. The researchers not only found that the proposed approach is technically viable, but they also tested the use of excess heat from the panels for drying dishes.

A research team in Turkey sought to assess how solar power may help reduce emissions and improve performance in air conditioning systems. Their analysis showed that using a heater in the AC system improves the coefficient of performance and mitigates negative environmental effects.

A British research team has investigated the technical feasibility of an air conditioning unit powered exclusively by solar-plus-storage and has found that two 130 Ah batteries charged by two 400 W solar panels are capable of supporting the system during the night.

Researchers in the United Arab Emirates have developed a way to use compressed air storage to store solar power and provide additional cooling. They claim their prototype could compete with commercially available compression-cooling air conditioners.

According to new research from Sweden, solar PV might be cost-competitive in powering electric cooling for an investment cost ranging from $165/kW to $480/kW in hot-climate countries such as Brazil, Spain, India and China, among others. The study focused on the cooling demand for the residential sector, where most of it is expected to originate.

Researchers in China have built a PV-powered air conditioner that can store power through ice thermal storage. The performance of the system was evaluated considering operating efficiency and stability and the scientists found that a device relying on a variable-speed compressor and an MPPT controller showed very good ice-making capability.

French company Sirea has installed one of its energy management systems on a rooftop PV plant that is connected to an air conditioning system at a school on Reunion island. The system can help manage four real-time measurement points: photovoltaic production, withdrawal and injection into the distribution network, consumption of cooling units, and building consumption.

Research from Finland’s Aalto University claims the residential cooling sector could sustain 540 GW of solar generation capacity if the world’s air conditioning systems were solar powered. Academics say synergies between PV and the cooling industry will become stronger as demand for the latter shifts nearer the equator, where seasonal differences in weather are less pronounced.