Waste heat driven dual-mode, multi-stage, multi-bed regenerative adsorption system

Over the past few decades there have been considerable efforts to use adsorption (solid/vapor) for cooling and heat pump applications, but intensified efforts were initiated only since the imposition of international restrictions on the production and utilization of CFCs and HCFCs. In this paper, a dual-mode silica gel–water adsorption chiller design is outlined along with the performance evaluation of the innovative chiller. This adsorption chiller utilizes effectively low-temperature solar or waste heat sources of temperature between 40 and 95 °C. Two operation modes are possible for the advanced chiller. The first operation mode will be to work as a highly efficient conventional chiller where the driving source temperature is between 60 and 95 °C. The second operation mode will be to work as an advanced three-stage adsorption chiller where the available driving source temperature is very low (between 40 and 60 °C). With this very low driving source temperature in combination with a coolant at 30 °C, no other cycle except an advanced adsorption cycle with staged regeneration will be operational. The drawback of this operational mode is its poor efficiency in terms of cooling capacity and COP. Simulation results show that the optimum COP values are obtained at driving source temperatures between 50 and 55 °C in three-stage mode, and between 80 and 85 °C in single-stage, multi-bed mode.     

A combined-cycle refrigeration system using ejector-cooling cycle as the bottom cycle

A combined-cycle refrigeration system (CCRS) that comprises a conventional refrigeration and air-conditioning system using mechanical compressor (RAC/MC) and an ejector-cooling cycle (EJC) is proposed and studied. The EJC is driven by the waste heat from the RAC/MC and acts as the bottom cycle of the RAC/MC. A system analysis shows that the COP of a CCRS is significantly higher than a single-stage refrigeration system. Improvement in COP can be as high as 18.4% for evaporating temperature of the RAC/MC T_e at −5°C. A prototype of the CCRS was built and tested in the present study. Experimental results show that at T_e=−4.5°C, COP is improved by 14% for a CCRS. For T_e at 5°C, COP can be improved by 24% for a CCRS with higher condensing temperature of the RAC/MC. The present study shows that the CCRS using the ejector-cooling cycle as the bottom cycle of the RAC/MC is viable. Further improvement in COP is possible since the prototype is not designed and operated at an optimal condition.     

A novel experimental investigation of a solar cooling system in Madrid

This paper reports novel experimental results derived through field testing of a part load solar energized cooling system for typical Spanish houses in Madrid during the summer period of 2003. Solar hot water was delivered by means of a 49.9 m² array of flat-plate collectors to drive a single-effect (LiBr/H₂O) absorption chiller of 35 kW nominal cooling capacity. Thermal energy was stored in a 2 m³ stratified hot water storage tank during hours of bright sunshine. Chilled water produced at the evaporator was supplied to a row of fan coil units and the heat of condensation and absorption was rejected by means of a forced draft cooling tower. Instantaneous, daily and period energy flows and energy balance in the installation is presented. System and absorption machine temperature profiles are given for a clear, hot and dry day's operation. Daily and period system efficiencies are given. Peak insolation of 969 W m⁻² (at 12:30 solar time on 08/08/03) produced 5.13 kW of cooling at a solar to cooling conversion efficiency of 11%. Maximum cooling capacity was 7.5 kW. Cooling was provided for 8.67 h and the chiller required a threshold insolation of 711 W m⁻² for start-up and 373 W m⁻² for shut-down. A minimum hot water inlet temperature to the generator of 65 °C was required to commence cold generation, whereas at 81 °C, 6.4 kW of cooling (18.3% of nominal capacity) was produced. The absorption refrigeration machine operated within the generation and absorption temperature ranges of 57–67 and 32–36 °C, respectively. The measured maximum instantaneous, daily average and period average COP were 0.60 (at maximum capacity), 0.42 and 0.34, respectively. Energy flows in the system are represented on a novel area diagram. The results clearly demonstrate that the technology works best in dry and hot climatic conditions where large daily variations in relative humidity and dry bulb temperature prevail. This case study provides benchmark data for the assessment of other similar prototypes and for the validation of mathematical models.     

Experimental results of a solar powered cooling system at low temperature

A solar thermochemical prototype producing low-temperature cold has been built and tested during the summer and autumn 2005 in Perpignan, France. It cools a 560 L cold box down to about −25 °C using only low-grade heat produced by two simple flat plate solar collectors. The process involves two cascaded thermochemical systems using BaCl₂ salt reacting with ammonia. Its working mode is discontinuous, as it alternates between one decomposition mode at high pressure (daytime) and one cold production mode at low pressure (nighttime). Experimental results prove the feasibility of this new concept of solar cold production, with temperatures as low as −30 °C, demonstrate its potential use in housing, by the acceptable size and weight of the system and show the system performances during the sunniest months of the year, with a rough solar coefficient of performance (COP) of about 0.031 over the test period. The major meteorological parameters influencing the process efficiency are the solar irradiation and the outside temperature.     

Carbon–ammonia pairs for adsorption refrigeration applications: ice making, air conditioning and heat pumping

A thermodynamic cycle model is used to select an optimum adsorbent-refrigerant pair in respect of a chosen figure of merit that could be the cooling production (MJ m⁻³), the heating production (MJ m⁻³) or the coefficient of performance (COP). This model is based mainly on the adsorption equilibrium equations of the adsorbent–refrigerant pair and heat flows. The simulation results of 26 various activated carbon–ammonia pairs for three cycles (single bed, two-bed and infinite number of beds) are presented at typical conditions for ice making, air conditioning and heat pumping applications. The driving temperature varies from 80 °C to 200 °C. The carbon absorbents investigated are mainly coconut shell and coal based types in multiple forms: monolithic, granular, compacted granular, fibre, compacted fibre, cloth, compacted cloth and powder. Considering a two-bed cycle, the best thermal performances based on power density are obtained with the monolithic carbon KOH-AC, with a driving temperature of 100 °C; the cooling production is about 66 MJ m⁻³ (COP = 0.45) and 151 MJ m⁻³ (COP = 0.61) for ice making and air conditioning respectively; the heating production is about 236 MJ m⁻³ (COP = 1.50).     

A year-round dynamic simulation of a solar-driven ejector refrigeration system with iso-butane as a refrigerant

In this paper, the performance of the solar-driven ejector refrigeration system with iso-butane (R600a) as the refrigerant is studied. The effects that both the operating conditions and the solar collector types have on the system's performance are also examined by dynamic simulation. The TRNSYS and EES simulation tools are used to model and analyze the performance of a solar-driven ejector refrigeration system. The whole system is modelled under the TRNSYS environment, but the model of the ejector refrigeration subsystem is developed in the Engineering Equations Solver (EES) program. A solar fraction of 75% is obtained when using the evacuated tube solar collector. In the very hot environment, the system requires relatively high generator temperature, thus a flat plate solar collector is not economically competitive because the high amount of auxiliary heat needed to boost up the generator temperature. The results from the simulation indicate that an efficient ejector system can only work in a region with decent solar radiation and where a sufficiently low condenser temperature can be kept. The average yearly system thermal ratio (STR) is about 0.22, the COP of the cooling subsystem is about 0.48, and the solar collector efficiency is about 0.47 at T_e 15 °C, T_c 5 °C above the ambient temperature, evacuated collector area 50 m² and hot storage tank volume 2 m³.     

Simulation d'une machine frigorifique à absorption fonctionnant avec des mélanges d'alcanes

We propose in this article an absorption chiller operating with binary alkane mixtures as an alternative to compression machines. It is an installation using low-level energy at a temperature below 150 °C (waste heat or solar energy) and operating with environmentally friendly fluids. Ten mixtures are considered and compared with two cooling mediums of the condenser and the absorber: the ambient air at 35 °C and the water at 25 °C. For an air-cooled chiller, the COP reaches 0.37 for the n-butane/octane system. This value remains 27% lower than that of an ammonia/water installation operating under the same conditions. For a water-cooling chiller, the n-butane/octane and propane/octane systems give a COP of about 0.63, which is comparable to that of the ammonia/water system. When n-butane is used as refrigerant, the machine works at a pressure under 5 bars, which is an advantage compared with machines working with ammonia/water mixtures.     

A theoretical study of a novel regenerative ejector refrigeration cycle

There has been a demand for developments of the ejector refrigeration systems using low grade thermal energy, such as solar energy and waste heat. In this paper, a novel regenerative ejector refrigeration cycle was described, which uses an auxiliary jet pump and a conventional regenerator to enhance the performance of the novel cycle. The theoretical analysis on the performance characteristics was carried out for the novel cycle with the refrigerant R141b. Compared with the conventional cycle, the simulation results show that the coefficient of performance (COP) of the novel cycle increases, respectively, by from 9.3 to 12.1% when generating temperature is in a range of 80–160 °C, the condensing temperature is in a range of 35–45 °C and the evaporating temperature is fixed at 10 °C. Especially due to the enhanced regeneration with increasing the pump outlet pressure, the improvement of COP of the novel cycle is approached to 17.8% compared with that in the conventional cycle under the operating condition that generating temperature is 100 °C, condensing temperature is 40 °C and evaporating temperature is 10 °C. Therefore, the characteristics of the novel cycle performance show its promise in using low grade thermal energy for the ejector refrigeration system.     

Study of a novel silica gel–water adsorption chiller. Part II. Experimental study

The prototype of a novel silica gel–water adsorption chiller is built and its performance is tested in detail. The experimental results show that the refrigerating capacity (RC) and COP of the chiller are 7.15 and 0.38 kW, respectively, when the hot water temperature is 84.8 °C, the cooling water temperature is 30.6 °C, and the chilled water outlet temperature is 11.7 °C. The RC will reach 6 kW under the condition of 65 °C hot water temperature, 30.5 °C cooling water temperature and 17.6 °C chilled water temperature. The results confirm that this kind of adsorption chiller is an effective refrigerating machine though its performance is not as fine as the prediction results. Also it is well effectively driven by a low-grade heat source. Therefore, its applications to the low-grade heat source are much attractive.     

Thermodynamic limits to thermal regeneration in adsorption cooling cycles

Energy and exergy models for ideal adsorption cycles with isothermal beds and no mass recovery are developed to predict the limits to COP enhancement using thermal regeneration. The models are applied to compare the performance of zeolite–water and silica gel–water adsorbent–refrigerant pairs over a range of maximum bed temperatures. The thermodynamic consistencies of several alternate adsorption property assumptions are quantified. Differences in adsorption characteristics between zeolite–water and silica gel–water result in a significantly larger potential to enhance COP by implementing thermal regeneration for zeolite–water. Based on COP, the zeolite–water pair is preferred when both thermal regeneration and a high temperature thermal energy source (>150 °C) are used, while the silica gel–water pair is preferred when thermal regeneration is not used and/or a low temperature thermal energy source (<100 °C) is used.     

Experimental investigation of a novel multifunction heat pipe solid sorption icemaker for fishing boats using CaCl2/activated carbon compound–ammonia

The performance of a solid sorption icemaker is investigated. CaCl₂/activated carbon was used as compound adsorbent and ammonia was employed as adsorbate. The influence of operating conditions (cooling water temperature, mass recovery and heat pipe heat recovery, etc.) on the mass of ice, SCP (specific cooling power) and COP (coefficient of performance) was experimentally assessed. At the desorption temperature of 126 °C, cooling water temperature of 22 °C, ice produced temperature of −7.5 °C, 40 s of mass recovery and 2 min of heat pipe heat recovery, the mass of ice, SCP and COP values are 17.6 kg/h, 369.1 W/kg and 0.2, respectively.     

Study of a novel silica gel–water adsorption chiller. Part I. Design and performance prediction

A novel silica gel–water adsorption chiller is designed and its performance is predicted in this work. This adsorption chiller includes three vacuum chambers: two adsorption/desorption (or evaporation/condensation) vacuum chambers and one heat pipe working vacuum chamber as the evaporator. One adsorber, one condenser and one evaporator are housed in the same chamber to constitute an adsorption/desorption unit. The evaporators of two adsorption/desorption units are combined together by a heat-pipe heat exchanger to make continuous refrigerating capacity. In this chiller, a vacuum valve is installed between the two adsorption/desorption vacuum chambers to increase its performance especially when the chiller is driven by a low temperature heat source. The operating reliability of the chiller rises greatly because of using fewer valves. Furthermore, the performance of the chiller is predicted. The simulated results show that the refrigerating capacity is more than 10 kW under a typical working condition with hot water temperature of 85 °C, the cooling water temperature of 31 °C and the chilled water inlet temperature of 15 °C. The COP exceeds 0.5 even under a heat source temperature of 65 °C.     

Application of an ejector in autocascade refrigeration cycle for the performance improvement

This paper presented a novel autocascade refrigeration cycle (NARC) with an ejector. In the NARC, the ejector is used to recover some available work to increase the compressor suction pressure. The NARC enables the compressor to operate at lower pressure ratio, which in turn improves the cycle performance. Theoretical computation model based on the constant pressure-mixing model for the ejector is used to perform a thermodynamic cycle analysis for the NARC with the refrigerant mixture of R23/R134a. The effects of some main parameters on cycle performance were investigated. The results show the NARC has an outstanding merit in decreasing the pressure ratio of compressor as well as increasing the COP. For NARC operated at the condenser outlet temperature of 40 °C, the evaporator inlet temperature of −40.3 °C, and the mass fraction of R23 is 0.15, the pressure ratio of the ejector reaches to 1.35, the pressure ratio of compressor is reduced by 25.8% and the COP is improved by 19.1% over the conventional autocascade refrigeration cycle.     

Application of hydrocarbon mixtures in small refrigerating and cryogenic machines

Application of hydrocarbon mixtures enables the creation of simple, reliable and durable refrigerating and cryogenic Joule–Thomson micro coolers for the temperature range of −73 to −183 °C. The temperature, thermal, power and hydraulic performances of a series of prototypes are presented. The results of tests demonstrate that small, single stage, sealed, lubricated compressors can be applied to these purposes. The start up and steady operation hydraulic performance of those machines are quite similar to the performance of domestic refrigerators. The last, together with the fact that in the studied micro coolers the lubricated compressors are used at temperatures down to −183 °C, ensures a large resource of operation. That is just the reason that holds out a hope for prospects in a broad field of applications for the studied prototypes, despite their lower power performances in contrast to gas micro coolers.     

Empirical correlation for ejector designCorrélation empirique pour la conception des éjecteurs

In the present study, two empirical correlations from the test results of 15 ejectors are derived for the performance prediction of ejectors using R141b as the working fluid. The ratio of the hypothetical throat area of the entrained flow to the nozzle throat area A_e/A_t, the geometric design parameter of the ejector A₃/A_t, and the pressure ratios P_g/P_e and P_c*/P_e are used to correlate the performance of the ejector. The prediction of the entrainment ratio ω using the correlations is within ±10% error. A method of calculation for the ejector design using the correlations is also developed. R141b is shown in the present study to be a good working fluid for an ejector. The measured ω for the ejectors used in the present study can reach as high as 0.54 at P_g=0.465 MPa (84°C), P_c^*=0.087 MPa (28°C) and P_e=0.040 MPa (8°C). For P_g=0.538 MPa (90°C), P_c^*=0.101 MPa (32°C) and P_e=0.040 MPa (8°C), ω reaches 0.45.

Résumé

Dans cette étude, on a établi deux corrélations empiriques à partir des résultats expérimentaux obtenus utilisant 15 éjecteurs; ces corrélations ont été utilisées ensuite pour prédire la performance d'éjecteurs utilisant le R141b comme fluide frigorigène. Les rapports A_e/A_t (section de passage du fluide entraîné rapporté à la section théorique du col de l'éjecteur), et A₃/A_t (section de sortie de l'éjecteur rapporté à la section théorique du col de l'éjecteur) et les relations entre pressions P_g/P_e et P_c*/P_e sont utilisés pour trouver la corrélation de la performance de l'éjecteur. La prévision du taux d'entraînement à partir des corrélations est précise à la hauteur de ±10%. Les auteurs ont également développé une méthode de calcul permettant de concevoir des éjecteurs à partir des corrélations. On a montré dans cette étude que le R141b s'avère être un fluide actif efficace pour cette utilisation. Le ω mesuré des éjecteurs utilisés dans cette étude peuvent atteindre 0.54 à P_g=0.465 MPa (84°C), P_c^*=0.087 MPa (28°C) et P_e=0.040 MPa (8°C). Pour P_g=0.538 MPa (90°C), P_c^*=0.101 MPa (32°C) et P_e=0.040 MPa (8°C), ω atteint 0.45.     

Three-dimensional measurement of ice crystals in frozen dilute solution

A Micro-Slicer Image Processing System (MSIPS) has been applied to observe the ice crystal structures formed in frozen dilute solutions. Several characteristic parameters were also proposed to investigate the three-dimensional (3-D) morphology and distribution of ice crystals, based on their reconstructed images obtained by multi-slicing a frozen sample with the thickness of 5 μm. The values of characteristic parameters were determined for the sample images with the dimension of 530×700×1000 μm. The 3-D morphology of ice crystals was found to be a bundle of continuous or dendrite columns at any freezing condition. The equivalent diameter of ice crystals were in the range of 73–169 μm, and decreased exponentially with increasing freezing rate at the copper cooling plate temperature of −20 to −80 °C. At the T_cp −40 °C, the volumes of ice crystals were in the range of 4.6×10⁴ μm³ to 3.3×10⁷ μm³, and 36 ice columns were counted in the 3-D image.     

Performance evaluation of a two-stage adsorption refrigeration cycle with different mass ratio

The performance of a two-stage adsorption chiller with different mass allocation between upper and bottom beds has been investigated numerically. It is found that the chiller can be driven effectively by the waste heat of temperature 55 °C with the heat sink at environment temperature. Results show that cooling capacity can be improved with the optimum allocation of adsorbent mass to the bottom beds than that to the upper beds. The improvement in Coefficient of Performance (COP) values, however, is less significant. It is also seen that the improvement in cooling capacity is more significant for the relatively higher heat source temperature. It is shown that the cooling capacity can be improved up to 20% if the heat source temperature is 80 °C and the average outlet temperature is fixed at 7 °C.     

An empirical model for predicting air infiltration into refrigerated stores through doors

An empirical model based on Tamm's equation was developed to predict the rate of air infiltration through doors into refrigerated buildings. The model sums the contributions of air-tightness, air infiltration due to door openings and the additional air exchange caused by forklift traffic through the doors. The model was validated against measured air infiltration rates through rapid-roll and sliding doors into 7 commercial coldstores with sizes ranging from 740 to 12,000 m³ operating at temperatures ranging from 3.3 to –21.8 °C.     

Experimental investigation on the performance of NH3/CO2 cascade refrigeration system with twin-screw compressor

This paper describes the experiment carried out to analyze the performance of a refrigeration system in cascade with ammonia and carbon dioxide as working fluids. The effect of operation parameters, such as the evaporating temperature of the low temperature cycle, the condensing temperature of low temperature cycle, temperature difference in cascade heat exchanger and superheat degree, on the system performance was investigated. Performance of the cascade system with NH₃/CO₂ was compared with that of two-stage NH₃ system and single-stage NH₃ system with or without economizer. It was found that the COP of the cascade system is the best among all the systems, when the evaporating temperature is below −40 °C. Also, the cascade system performance is greatly affected by evaporating temperature, condensing temperature of low temperature cycle, temperature difference in cascade heat exchanger and is only slightly sensitive to superheat degree. All the experimental results indicate that the NH₃/CO₂ cascade system is very competitive in low temperature applications.     

Experimental evaluation of the performances of a H2O–LiBr absorption refrigerator under different service conditions

The paper describes an experimental plant aimed at simulating and verifying the performances of a single-stage H₂O–LiBr absorption machine. The machine is water cooled and it is supplied by hot water produced by an electrical boiler; it is possible to simulate different service conditions by varying the temperatures and the flow rate of water in the external circuits. Measurement facilities allow to record in real time all the main operating parameters of internal and external circuits (temperatures, pressures and flow rates). The paper illustrates the characteristics of the machine and of the plant and the results of various experimental campaigns. In particular, the acquisitions on the plant have tested different service conditions by varying the flow rate and the temperature of the supplying hot water; the energy and energy performances of the plant are presented and compared with data from literature and from a simulation code developed for the plant.The results show that the absorption machine can work, with acceptable efficiency, with input temperatures of about 65–70 °C; this result is interesting for a future supply of the machine with solar energy.