Numerical Study of a Three-Bed Adsorption Chiller Employing an Advanced Mass Recovery Process

Abstract

The performance improvement of a three-bed (equal bed) adsorption chiller employing an advanced mass recovery process has been numerically studied in this paper. The mass recovery scheme is used to improve the cooling effect and a CFC-free-based sorption chiller driven by the low-grade waste heat or any renewable energy source can be developed for the next generation of refrigeration. Silica gel/water is taken as adsorbent/adsorbate pair for the present chiller. The three-bed adsorption chiller comprises with three adsorber/desorber heat exchanger, one evaporator and one condenser. In the present numerical solution, the heat source temperature variation is taken from 500C to 900C along with coolant inlet temperature at 300C and the chilled water inlet temperature at 140C. In the new strategy, if any one bed (3rd bed) is connect with the evaporator during pre-heating or pre-cooling time then it will give better performance than that of existing system. In this strategy, mass recovery process also occurs in all bed. A cycle simulation computer program is constructed to analyze the influence of operating conditions (hot and cooling water temperature) on COP (coefficient of performance), and CC (cooling capacity).