Solar energy storage cooling device

The deployment of solar-based thermal cooling systems is limited to available solar radiation hours. The intermittent of solar energy creates a mismatch between cooling needs and available energy supply. Energy storage is, therefore, necessary to minimize the mismatch and achieve extended cooling coverage from solar-driven cooling systems.

Thermal energy storage (TES) is crucial for solar cooling systems as it allows for the storage of excess thermal energy generated during peak sunlight hours for later use when sunlight is not available, thereby extending the cooling coverage of solar-driven absorption chillers .

Solar-driven cooling systems are either assisted or stand-alone . Solar-assisted cooling systems are those that combine a traditional cooling system, like a vapor compression chiller, with an absorption chiller powered by solar energy to meet a building's cooling needs. These systems can operate in tandem or independently .

A solar-based cooling system uses solar energy, in the form of heat or electricity, to provide cooling for air conditioning and/or refrigeration. The energy from the sun is captured using solar photovoltaic (PV) and transformed into electricity to drive vapor compression AC systems.

However,none of these reviews have sufficiently documented the integration aspects of a thermal storage system in the solar cooling plant design, or covered the system control approaches required for managing charging and discharging of the thermal store in order to maximize cooling output and achieve robust operation.

Solar-assisted cooling system also refers to a cooling system partially driven by a particular fuel and assisted by solar heat. An example of such a configuration is an absorption chiller driven by natural gas and supported by solar heat from a solar collector [107, 108].