Who are we?
Sunairco is a Caribbean based company that is headquartered on the island federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. We specialize in the design and installation of Solar Thermal Cooling Systems for both residential and business applications. Our services are unique in the Caribbean; we are one of only a handful of companies in the world (the majority are located in Europe) that offers this technology.
Sunairco is an Authorized Service Provider with Yazaki Energy Systems, Inc. Yazaki Energy Systems, Inc. is a leader in commercially available low temperature water fired absorption chiller systems.
What is solar thermal cooling?
Solar cooling is the use of solar thermal energy (heat via hot water) instead of electricity as the energy source to power a cooling appliance. For solar thermal air-conditioning, single effect water fired absorption chillers are most commonly used because they require relatively low temperature heat input.
In principle, it works like a normal electrical driven appliance, however, instead of electricity, water fired absorption chiller systems use hot water from solar thermal collectors as the source of energy to start the cooling (absorption) process. The chiller provide cold water at temperatures between 44°F and 48°F, therefore they can be used for either central cooling or decentralized cooling via fan coils. Additionally, the thermal heat source can be used as a source of hot water during the year.
Benefits of Solar Cooling
Uses almost no electricity
A Sunairco 30 ton solar thermal cooling system uses only about 10,060 watts total for all components (Chiller, pumps, heaters, etc), whereas most conventional, high efficiency electrical driven 30 ton chiller systems will consume approximately 33,400 watts. The low power consumption of Sunairco’s system not only provides stable and predictable cooling cost, but also provides increased independence from the public utility.
Very quiet operation
Since there are very few mechanical parts (the solution pump being the only moving part on the chiller), the chiller has a very small noise footprint. Most WFC chillers are rated at approximately 46 dB in a free field at a point 79 inches behind the chiller and 59 inches above the ground.
Extremely high reliability and reduced maintenance costs
With proper maintenance, the major components of the system are rated for a life expectancy of approximately 20 years. The chiller is designed for coastal conditions of Japan (high salt content) and requires very little maintenance. The maintenance is in the form of three evacuations per year to remove hydrogen buildup in the system. The evacuated tube solar panels are manufactured from glass and high-grade metals. The solar panels are modular in design, thus the evacuated tubes can be individually added or replaced as required.
Environmentally friendly
Absorption chillers use environmentally friendly non-toxic refrigerants that have no global warming or ozone destruction potential. The chiller uses non-toxic Lithium Bromide as the absorbent and water as the refrigerant.