Volume 20, Issue 53, January - June, 2023

Development of a solar hybrid air conditioner

Nwaiwu Uchechukwu, Nwadinobi Chibundo P^♦, Chukwuma Moses C, Nwakwuribe Victor C

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Abia State University, Uturu, Abia State, Nigeria

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Abia State University, Uturu, Abia State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

This research presents the development of a solar hybrid air conditioner. The primary aim was to develop an air-conditioning system that would be suitable and affordable for consumers and to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from fossil fuel consumption. Calculated convective heat Coefficients (h) obtained was used to analyze the performance of the machine. Cooling time was obtained by using the stopwatch. The result obtained showed that the initial surface temperature of the sample room varies from 28oC to 32oC. While an average instantaneous solar fraction of 45 percent, 60 percent and 40 percent are attained within the time frames of 0–120 minutes (that is, 9:00 am–11:00 am); 120–400 minutes (9:01 am–4:00 pm); and 400–550 minutes (4:01 pm–5:30:00 pm). For the air conditioner with a nominal cooling capacity of 2.5 kW and maximum power usage of roughly 1.19 kW, a solar PV system with 1219489.32 Wp, 24 V battery setup has a monthly mean solar fraction of 71%. The 1040 Wp solar PV system generates roughly 1211 kWh of electricity per year, according to calculations.

Keywords: Solar hybrid air conditioner, convective heat Coefficients, performance, cooling time

Indian Journal of Engineering, 2023, 20(53), e18ije1644

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v20i53/e18ije1644

Published: 03 June 2023