A review: Renewable energy with absorption chillers in Thailand
Tawatchai Jaruwongwittaya, Guangming Chen *
Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, National Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, PR China
A B S T R A C T
The aim of this paper is to review the energy situation, renewable energy potential and absorption chiller system in Thailand. The renewable energy which will be used in low temperature applications, under the consideration of low operating cost, high availability and non-polluted emission such as solar energy was discussed. Solar energy can be used as power sources for cooling systems, especially for the absorption chiller. Thailand is located in the area where the solar intensity is very high and thus solar energy can be used as power sources. The absorption chiller using water/lithium bromide is the most appropriate for the solar applications. This system, however, is not widely used in Thailand due to its complexity, high toxicity caused by leakage and high initial cost. The utilization of absorption chillermay increase if more researches focus on the development of this cooling system, which is driven by solar energy. This may results in a substantial decrease in electricity consumption.
Keywords: Solar energy, Absorption chiller, Thailand
A R T I C L E I N F O
Article history:
Received 17 December 2009
Accepted 17 January 2010
