Effect of Adsorbent/Adsorbate Couple on the Performance of Adsorption Solar Refrigerator

Abstract

This work presents a contribution to the study of the process of cold production by adsorption from solar energy. In this paper, we discuss a comparative study of the operation of a solar adsorption refrigerator using the silica gel-water couple and the zeolite-water couple through dynamic modeling and simulation. The mathematical model representing the evolution of heat and mass transfer at each component of the adsorption solar refrigerator has been developed. It appears from this study that the evolution of the temperature of the two adsorbents (zeolite and silica gel) is quasi-similar throughout the operating cycle. However, the maximum mass of water vapor adsorbed by the silicagel (0.24 kg/kg) is higher than that adsorbed by the zeolite (0.201 kg/kg). In the same way, the mass of water vapor cycled, obtained with the silicagel-water couple which is 0.14 kg/kg, is higher than that obtained with the zeolite-water couple which is 0.081 kg/kg. Therefore, the amount of cold produced 9.178 MJ and the solar coefficient of performance 0.378 obtained with the solar refrigerator using the silica gel-water couple, are better.