Thermodynamic analysis of a steam ejector chiller with ice storage

An integrated solar cooling and ice storage system for domestic air conditioning is presented. The system is based on an ejector that draws the water vapour directly from the ice storage and is designed to fulfil the cooling load requirements of a small building placed in central Italy. The presence of hot storage in the solar thermal subsystem and ice storage in the cooling cycle allows a peculiar working strategy that collects thermal energy in the daytime and produces the cooling effect at night. This improves the ejector efficiency, due to the limited condensing temperature achievable at night. The system operation has been simulated along the summer season and the required size of the hot and cold tanks and the solar collector’s area have been calculated.