Mobile and modular thermally-driven-cooling-system

Status

ongoing

Background

Worldwide the chiller and air conditioning market is growing. It is dominated by compression chillers which need a high amount of electric energy. Their high consumption of electricity leads to peak loads and malfunction of the power grid. This situation in combination with rising electricity charges causes an increasing demand on cooling systems consuming less electricity. Thermally-driven-cooling systems could be the answer to these problems.

Description

The content of the project is to develop a mobile, modular thermally-driven-cooling-system for cooling powers ranging from 17 to 210 kW. The driving heat is provided by solar collectors and as back-up a biomass boiler is installed. The system consists of 3 modules:

• Modul 1: Lithium bromide absorption chiller, pumps and cold water tank
• Modul 2: back up boiler and hot water tank
• Modul 3: thermal solar system and cooling tower

Modul 1 and 2 are mounted in steal containers and are tested at the production facility. The solar panels and the cooling tower are mounted and integrated into the system on-site.

A demonstration plant will be set up at EnergyCabin in Gleisdorf, Austria. During the summer of 2007 the demonstration plant will be operated to collect experience with the system and to identify weak points.

Advantages of the thermally-driven-cooling system compared to compression chillers are:

• Independency of rising prices for fossil fuels
• Fast and cheap connection to cold water distribution systems for the air conditioning system in the building
• Easy to transport
• Financing via leasing and contracting possible

Method

The project is divided into 6 working packages:

1. Development and design of the thermally-driven-cooling system for 6 different capacities (17 to 210 kW)
2. Assembling of the demonstration plant
3. Set up of the demonstration plant
4. Tests and Optimization
5. Evaluation of the collected data and conclusions for the system development
6. Development of the product range

Expected results

The result of the project is a ready developed solar- and biomass drive cooling system for the following cooling capacities: 17 kW, 35 kW, 70 kW, 105 kW, 140 kW and 210 kW.

Additionally test data is available which will be included in the product development process

Project manager

DI Ernst Meißner
DI(FH) Johanna Pucker

Project and cooperation partners

• CONNESS Energieberatungs-, Planungs- und Betriebs GmbH
• S.O.L.I.D. Solarinstallation und Design GmbH

EnergyCabin Produktions- und Vertriebs GmbH
Grazer Straße 27, 8200 Gleisdorf
DI Ernst Meißner
DI(FH) Johanna Pucker
E-Mail: ernst.meissner@energycabin.com
E-Mail: johanna.pucker@energycabin.com