Innovative Cooling System

I have done a feasibility study to operate one of the interior hospitals in Oman using solar energy and published a paper based on my study. In the paper I have provided some details about solar collector. If you're interested please furnish me your e mail id. I will send the paper. My e mail id is mrswamy@omantel.net.om

With Kind regards

Dr.Ram

This concept is interesting, but I am not familiar enough with the thermodynamics of compressed/expanded air to evaluate its effectiveness.

However, there are some items to note about the suggested geometry. A parabolic reflector will concentrate the incident solar energy at the focus of the paraboloid (assuming the paraboloid's axis tracks the sun). The relevant heat exchange surface would thus be a small sphere centered at the focus, with some means of conveying the working fluid to and from the sphere. Very high temperatures might be thus attained, but loss of working fluid flow could result in melting the sphere, if made of ordinary materials.

On the other hand, if you want to heat fluid in a pipe, there are at least two ways: one, a parabolic trough reflector (solar tracking) with the pipe running along the focal axis; and two, a conical reflector (again solar tracking) with the pipe running along the axis of the cone. I suspect the cone would be easier to fabricate. In either case, the solar energy is spread out along a line segment. This could produce a high enough temperature for efficiency in various Carnot-cycle processes, without excessive temperatures that might harm components.

This heating method could be used directly for heating/boiling water, or indirectly to drive various types of absorption refrigeration systems. Desalination might be a nice side benefit, especially in the poster's and Mrswamy's locale.

I suspect that some very promising research could be conducted in this direction. Good luck to both of you on your respective projects; I am interested to hear more.

Conventional refrigeration units use the same thermodynamic principles as your idea. The only difference is the means of heating the fluid within the closed system. Most manufacturers use a mechanical compressor or a gas-fired flame to heat/compress a gas. It would be relatively easy to convert a (propane or natural gas) cooling unit to solar power, but you need to secure the services of a HVAC Engineer to advise your specific project.