Thermodynamic analysis and assessment of a geothermal cooling system for a house

In this study, a geothermal assisted cooling system with a vapour absorption chiller (VAC) was designed in order to meet the cooling demand of a 140 m2 detached single-family house in Izmir, Turkey. In the considered system, the geothermal fluid is transported to the VAC, where water and ammonia are used as an absorbent and a refrigerant, respectively. Energy and exergy analyses methods are utilised to assess the performance of the whole system while some operational properties of the VAC such as pressure, temperature, ammonia concentration and flow rate are determined. Based on the parametric studies, optimum operating conditions of the VAC are obtained to be 30°C, 90°C and 2°C for the condenser, boiler and evaporator, respectively. Under these conditions, the system has a coefficient of performance (COP) value of 0.30 with a simple payback period of 6.4 years, the highest exergy destruction occurs within the absorber with a rate of 38.2%.