Abstract
The internal temperature change of an adsorbent bed, which is subjected to the solar insolation, has been numerically simulated. As the intensity of the solar radiation changes with the sun movement, the temperature distribution in the bed evolves continually. Based on the configuration of the evacuated tube bed, a two-dimensional model of heat transfer has been established and numerically solved. To identify the effect of the internal cooling mode, three kinds of thermal boundary condition have been applied to the cooling tunnel. The numerical results reveal that the uniform wall temperature condition presents the best cooling effect, while the natural air convection presents the worst effect. In addition, the temperature change of the bed with the bed diameter has been examined, incorporating with the effect of cooling channel size. For the cooling condition of the natural air convection, the sun-facing side of the bed not only warms up the most rapidly, but also shows the highest temperature. In contrast, the temperature rising of the sun-shading side is much less. The temperature difference between the sun-facing side and the sun-shading side can reach 70℃. The non-uniform distribution of the temperature of the bed will hinder the adsorption cooling performance.
Highlights
Due to the solar energy is clean and renewable, and due to the serious problems that have been resulted from the excessive exploitation of the fossil fuels such as the coal and the oil, the human society nowadays confronts the difficulty of the sustainable development
We present a theoretical heat-transfer model of the adsorption bed with the unsteady boundary condition of solar radiation
Three cooling boundary conditions have been investigated into the effect on the heat transfer of the bed
Summary
Due to the solar energy is clean and renewable, and due to the serious problems that have been resulted from the excessive exploitation of the fossil fuels such as the coal and the oil, the human society nowadays confronts the difficulty of the sustainable development. To improve the cooling performance, the bed must transfer effectively the solar heat to the adsorbent material inside, so that the desorption of the adsorbent is able to conduct. Zhang et al present a theoretical study on the heat transfer subjected to an unsteady boundary condition to obtain the coupling temperature distribution in the adsorbent bed [15]. We present a theoretical heat-transfer model of the adsorption bed with the unsteady boundary condition of solar radiation. Due to the characteristic of heat transfer of the bed is closely connected to the performance of the adsorption cooling cycle, the current study will lay a basis for the study of adsorption and desorption, and supply helpful suggestions to the design of the bed
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