# Simulation of a Solar-Assisted Air-Conditioning System Applied to a Remote School
## 5 Conclusions  
An operational analysis of a 35-kW absorption cooling system driven by solar thermal energy was carried out and installed in a primary school in the isolated community of Puertecitors, Baja California, Mexico. The system was simulated using TRNSYS software in order to determine its performance under the typical operating conditions of a school in Mexico, as well as to determine the effect of different distinctive factors of a remote community, such as the scarcity of freshwater and electricity. The simulation results show that, under full load operation, the cooling system can satisfy the air-conditioning requirements of the four classrooms during the five days of the week, from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The weekends are used exclusively for the storage of thermal energy and elevation of the temperature of the TEST, using the solar collector field. The operation of the system under different thermal load profiles was also studied, and it was concluded that, under a thermal load of 75% of the chiller capacity or less, the system can operate the entire week without the need to dedicate weekends solely to thermal energy storage. With the configuration in the chilled water circuit, the individual operation of each cooling coil is possible; thus, it is possible to control the thermal load of the classrooms to extend the operation of the chiller system.  
On the other hand, the consumption of freshwater in the cooling tower is a critical factor due to the scarcity of this resource in the region. At its maximum capacity, the system consumes about 4 m\({}^{3}\) of water to remove heat from the equipment per normal week of operation. Therefore, the system is designed with two independent cooling water circuits, where seawater can be used in the cooling tower as it is easier to acquire in the project community. This study allowed establishing the operation and maintenance strategies, as well as determining the best operating conditions prior to system start-up, establishing the requirements for external heating and cooling services, and quantifying the freshwater requirements for the proper functioning of the system under a real scenario not studied in the literature.  
Figure 8: Rate of water loss due to evaporation in the cooling tower and its weekly accumulation.  
**Author Contributions:** Investigation, J.A.A.-J.; methodology, R.L.-Z., L.H.-C., and L.A.G.-U.; software, J.A.A.-J. and N.V.; formal analysis, J.A.A.-J., R.B., L.H.-C., and N.V.; writing--original draft preparation, J.A.A.-J., L.A.G.-U., and R.L.-Z.; writing--review and editing, N.V., R.B., and L.H.-C.; supervision, N.V. and L.H.-C.; funding acquisition, N.V. and L.H.-C.  
**Funding:** This research was funded by CONACYT-SENER-SUSTSTSTABILIDAD ENERGETICA through project P09 of CEMIE-Solar.  
**Acknowledgments:** The authors acknowledge CONACYT for the support received through a graduate scholarship for [PERSON]. The authors also acknowledge the CYTED Thematic Network \"CIUDADES INTELIGENTES TOTALMENTE INTERGARLES, FICIENTES Y SOSTENIBLES (CITIES)\" n\({}^{\circ}\) 518 RT0558.  
**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflicts of interest.