Although investment costs for adsorption chillers using silica
gel are still high, the environmental benefits are impressive,when
compared to conventional compressor chillers. The absence of
harmful or hazardous products such as CFCs, together with a
substantial reduction of CO2 emissions due to very low
consumption of electricity, creates an environmentally safe
technology. Low temperature waste heat or solar energy can be
converted into a chilling capacity as low as 5 8C with minor
maintenance costs.
Nevertheless, some crucial points in the development of
sorption systems still exist and those are closely connected to
the low specific power of the machine and the investment costs.
Recently, more close attention was paid to the development of
combined systems of solar cooling and heating in order to make
use of all types of energies rationally. All these works will be of
great favour to the development of the solar sorption refrigeration