Effect of fin design parameters on the performance of a two-bed adsorption chiller

• Published in: International journal of refrigeration 2020-05, Vol.113, p.164-173
• Main Authors: Abd-Elhady, Mahmoud M., Hamed, Ahmed M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorption; Adsorption chiller; Ailettes; Cooling; Design parameters; Effects; Fin; Gel de silice; Heat recovery; Heat transfer; Lit tassé; Modeling; Modélisation; Packed bed; Power consumption; Refrigeration; Refroidisseur à adsorption; Silica gel; Silicon dioxide; Studies; Thickness
• ISSN: 0140-7007; 1879-2081
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2020.01.006

•Adsorption beds made by finned tube heat exchangers packed by silica-gel grains.•Heat and mass recovery cycles were combined with the system.•A lumped analysis for coupled heat and mass transfer model is carried out.•The effect of various fin configurations on the chiller performance is investigated. Adsorption refrigeration systems are commercially matured due to the need of decreasing electrical power consumption and usage of non-environmental refrigerants, which are the main problems of the conventional refrigeration systems. This paper presents an investigation on the performance of small-scale two-bed adsorption chiller combined with heat and mass recovery cycles with the aid of a lumped analytical simulation technique. This model is applied to analyze the effect of fin design parameters on the heat transfer inside the bed and system performance. The working pair used in the simulations is RD silica gel–water. Defining a base-case for the fin design parameters, fin thickness, fin radius, and fin spacing are changed and the performances of four fin configurations are demonstrated. Decreasing the fin spacing enhances the heat transfer significantly. For optimum operation condition, specific cooling capacity is improved by an average value up to 147.6% by decreasing fin spacing from 4 mm to 2 mm, while increasing the fin radius decreases temperatures of the adsorbent. Specific cooling capacity is improved by an average value up to 44% by decreasing fin radius from 16 mm to 8 mm. The fin thickness has a minor effect on heat transfer in the bed.