Review of solar sorption refrigeration technologies: Development and applications

In this paper, a review of the research state of art of the solar sorption (absorption and adsorption) refrigeration technologies is presented. After an introduction of basic principles, the development history and recent progress in solar sorption refrigeration technologies are reported. The application areas of these technologies are categorized by cooling temperature demand. It shows that solar-powered sorption refrigeration technologies are attractive alternatives that not only can serve the needs for air-conditioning, refrigeration, ice making and congelation purposes, but also can meet demand for energy conservation and environment protection. However, a lot of research work still needs to be done for large-scale applications in industry and for the replacement of conventional refrigeration machines.