Transient exergy analysis of ejector cooling and thermoelectric generator systems using heat storage and parabolic trough collector for residential buildings

Abstract

Abstract The large amount of energy consumption has attracted the attention to exploiting renewable energy sources, the most significant of which are solar energy applications in hot climates to meet the demands of cooling and power. The novelty of the present study lies in applying transient exergy analysis to two ejectors and two evaporators in an ejector cooling cycle. Furthermore, the study uses solar data specific to Tehran in Iran. Third, by absorbing waste heat from the hot parts of the condenser, the thermoelectric generator system provides the energy needed to run the pumping and electrical control systems, thereby creating a fully autonomous system. Thermodynamic model have been designed using EES software. The results of Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NERL) have validated the parabolic trough solar model. The comparison with the experimental data collected by SNL during the LS-2 tests on the AZTRAK platform has shown good agreement. Weather conditions were analyzed as transients using Meteonorm software. The results show that the solar system produced the most heat in June and the least in December, with 816 kW and 262.3 kW, respectively. Additionally, production power and cooling in June are 5.9 kW and 86 kW, and in December: 2.7 kW and 28 kW. Regarding exergy destruction percentages, the solar collector has 86% and the storage tank has 6.5%.