Solar Cooling

First Solar Cooling in Europe using flat, high temperature collectors from Solel

An innovative solar cooling system has been installed on the roof of the ISI PERGRINE Business Center of Trento/Italy . This system is a first of its kind and integrates single effect absorption cooling fired by high temperature and flat industrial collectors. It has been designed with no backup boiler and operates from the energy of the sun alone.

Single effect absorption coolers are thermal machines fired by hot water at 85 oC that produce cold water at 6 to 12 oC. The cooler installed in Trento has a capacity of 30 TR (Ton Refrigeration) and is manufactured by LG from Korea. One TR equals almost 3.52 kW of cooling capacity and displaces 2.1 kW of electrical power.

The collector selected by ISI PERGRINE maintains a very high thermal efficiency at high temperature. This is achieved by the unique selective coatings on the absorber and the double glass cover, core competence of Solel developed for years in its parabolic trough technology.

Benefits
Although enjoying a lower COP (Coefficient of Performance) than double effect absorption cooler, single effect coolers are much easier to maintain for they require no steam and use low temperature water. Thus, they are easier to integrate with high temperature flat collectors and have relatively low installation and maintenance costs.