Reference materials to understand methods of solar-powered cooling

[Loboguy]

I am working on a concentrated solar heater using a linear fresnel reflector.
I want to learn how I can harness this heat to power a cooling system, preferably with minimal use of electricity. I am in India, so this has a huge ground for application.

I was looking at ideas here, and while neat concepts are presented, the details of how to model them are not.
http://www.machine-history.com/Solar%20Powered%20Air%20Conditioning

I'd be very much obliged if someone can list some good technical resources on solar cooling. If someone knows about an open-source solar cooler, or wants to start designing one, that'd be frickin' awesome too.

 

[Loboguy]

I found a pretty nice PDF, but it mostly covers efficiency and cost (yes, I know those are important). I can't find many resources detailing the physics behind these systems. Perhaps I'm not looking correctly.

 

[berkeman]

I am working on a concentrated solar heater using a linear fresnel reflector.
I want to learn how I can harness this heat to power a cooling system, preferably with minimal use of electricity. I am in India, so this has a huge ground for application.

I was looking at ideas here, and while neat concepts are presented, the details of how to model them are not.
http://www.machine-history.com/Solar%20Powered%20Air%20Conditioning

I'd be very much obliged if someone can list some good technical resources on solar cooling. If someone knows about an open-source solar cooler, or wants to start designing one, that'd be frickin' awesome too.

I found a pretty nice PDF, but it mostly covers efficiency and cost (yes, I know those are important). I can't find many resources detailing the physics behind these systems. Perhaps I'm not looking correctly.

Welcome to the PF.

The thermal energy you get from the solar power unit will need to run a compressor for the air conditioning portion. I don't think you need to convert it to electricity first, just mechanically turn the compressor shaft...

 

[Loboguy]

The thermal energy you get from the solar power unit will need to run a compressor for the air conditioning portion. I don't think you need to convert it to electricity first, just mechanically turn the compressor shaft...

That makes sense.

After some research I think I'm going to go with an Einstein refrigerator to do the cooling - it has no moving parts and is a closed system. Whatever it may lack in efficiency it makes up for in reliability, and I'll be using free solar energy to power it anyway ^_^

 

[berkeman]

Interesting. I'd never heard of the Einstein Refrigerator before:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_refrigerator

.

 

[Loboguy]

Interesting. I'd never heard of the Einstein Refrigerator before.

Neither had I, lol. I found it purely by accident. But it is extremely promising.
This fellow, Andrew Delano, built one for his Master's / Ph.D. He got below freezing on his first try, apparently.
http://www-old.me.gatech.edu/energy/students/andy.htm

 

[Loboguy]

The guy's research on the Einstein refrigerator is quite nice.
The problem is, I understand the concept just fine but I'm having trouble following all the equations, haha. And I need to understand the equations to calculate the pressures required and the amounts of water, butane, and ammonia to be used.

I don't suppose someone would be willing to break it down for me? lol