Adsorption Cooler Design, Dynamic Modeling, and Performance Analyses

• Published in: Clean technologies 2022-12, Vol.4 (4), p.1152-1161
• Main Authors: Dias, João M. S., Costa, Vítor A. F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorbates; Adsorbents; Adsorption; adsorption cooler; air cooling; Alternative energy sources; Analysis; Cooling systems; Design; Dynamic models; Energy industry; Evaporators; Force and energy; Heat; Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning industry; Hot water heating; Ordinary differential equations; Partial differential equations; Refrigeration; Residential areas; Residential buildings; Silica; Silica gel; solar heat surplus; Solar heating; Thermal energy; thermally driven cooling; Working conditions
• ISSN: 2571-8797; 2571-8797
• DOI: 10.3390/cleantechnol4040070

This paper presents an adsorption cooler (AC) driven by the surplus heat of a solar thermal domestic hot water system to provide cooling to residential buildings. A cylindrical tube adsorber using granular silica gel as adsorbent and water as adsorbate was considered. The AC was modelled using a two-dimensional distributed parameter model implemented in previous adsorption heating and cooling studies. The performance coefficients of the resultant thermally driven cooling system were obtained for a broad range of working conditions. The thermally driven AC was found to have coefficient of performance (COP) of 0.5 and a specific cooling power (SCP) of 44 W·kg−1 when considering condenser, evaporator, and regeneration temperatures of 30 °C, 15 °C, and 70 °C, respectively. Moreover, the results showed that the AC could be used for refrigeration purposes at temperatures as low as 2 °C and that it could also operate during hotter days under temperatures of 42 °C.