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Solar Powered Air Conditioning

End-users, such as supermarkets and large businesses have now realised the importance of publicising their green credentials, with corporate responsibility becoming a competitive issue.

In response to this, the industry are working to improve the efficiency of traditional systems as well as a move to alternative solutions such as heat pump systems. These developments mean that solar power has now emerged as a variable way of powering, or partially powering, an air conditioning system.

The solar cells that make all this possible are also referred to as photovoltaic cells. Cells use the photovoltaic (PV) effect of semiconductors to generate electricity directly from sunlight. Pv technology has been used to power devices such as, calculators, roadside emergency telephones and even orbiting satellites.

The Technology

The new technology means that Sanyo is now able to offer the first standard solar air conditioning solution for the UK market. They have combined high performance solar powered PV cells with heat pumps, to produce high efficient air conditioning systems. The key to the technology is a power inverter, which allows the solar power to be harnessed to any air conditioning system, to offer high efficiencies of up to COP at 7.0 for part load.

How It Works

The unit sees the photons in the sunlight hitting the solar panel cells and being absorbed by the silicon, which is a semi-conducting material. Negatively charged electrons are then knocked loose from their atoms, which in turn facilitates flow through the material to produce electricity. This electricity enters the inverter as direct current (DC) electricity. The invertor then turns this DC electricity into 240-volt AC (alternating current). The AC power enters the utility panel and is distributed to the air conditioning system.

Even though solar power cannot yet provide enough energy to run an air conditioning systems single-handedly, it can provide a useful amount of the necessary electrical power. Technology will continue to evolve making the concept of a solar powered air conditioning system a reality.

Solar powered air conditioning can not only benefit the end-user economically, since the amount of electricity required from the grid is reduced, but it’s the environmental benefits that are the biggest factor.