Study of a two-bed silica gel–water adsorption chiller: performance analysis

In this study, a lumped parameter simulation model has been developed for analysis of the thermal performance of a single-stage two-bed adsorption chiller. Since silica gel has low regeneration temperature and water has high latent heat of vaporisation, silica gel–water pair has been chosen as the working pair of the adsorption chiller. Low-grade waste heat or solar heat at around 70–80°C can be used to run this adsorption chiller. In this model, the effects of operating parameters on the performance of the chiller have been studied. The simulated results show that the cooling capacity of the chiller has an optimum value of 5.95?kW for a cycle time of 1600?s with the hot, cooling, and chilled water inlet temperatures at 85°C, 25°C, and 14°C, respectively. The present model can be utilised to investigate and optimise adsorption chillers.     

Experimental performance of a silica gel–water adsorption chiller

A newly developed adsorption water chiller is described and tested. In this adsorption refrigeration cycle system, there is no refrigerant valve. Thus, the problem of mass transfer resistance occurring in the conventional systems when methanol or water is used as refrigerant and resulting in pressure drop during the flow of refrigerant inside the tubing is eliminated. To make the utilization of low heat source with temperature ranging from 70 to 95 °C possible, silica gel–water was selected as working pair. The experimental results proved that it is able to produce a cooling power of 6.3 kW with a COP of about 0.4. The test results demonstrate that, through the heat recovery, the COP can be increased by 34.4% while mass recovery has the effect of increasing the cooling power by 13.7% and the COP by 18.3%. The performances of the system were analyzed for varied condensation temperature and for varied evaporation temperature. Based on the first prototype, the second prototype is designed and manufactured to improve the performance. Primary test results demonstrate that the performance is highly improved. It has a COP of about 0.5 and cooling power 9 kW for 13 °C evaporation temperature.     

Study on a compact silica gel–water adsorption chiller without vacuum valves: Design and experimental study

A compact silica gel–water adsorption chiller without vacuum valves was manufactured and experimentally studied. This chiller contains two adsorption/desorption chambers and one chilled water tank. Each adsorption/desorption chamber consists of one adsorber, one condenser and one evaporator. The chilled water tank is adopted to mitigate the variation of the chilled water outlet temperature. A mass recovery-like process, which is a heat recovery process between the two evaporators, was carried out in this chiller. A novel heat recovery process was also fulfilled after the mass recovery-like process to improve the coefficient of performance (COP). The cooling power and COP were 9.60 kW and 0.49 respectively when the average hot water inlet temperature, cooling water inlet temperature, and chilled water outlet temperature were 82.0, 31.6 and 12.3 °C, respectively.     

A solar-powered adsorption cooling system using a silica gel–water mixture

Solar-powered adsorption cooling is an attractive solar energy application. Metallic solar collectors with fins have been used to increase the thermal conductivity in solar collectors. This approach has a negative effect due to solar energy loss by reflection and heat loss resulting from the sensible heat of the metal. For these reasons, a direct-radiation absorption collector is proposed here. The effects of the wavelength of the absorbed light, types of silica gel used and additives to improve the absorptivity have been investigated. We have verified that blue silica gel has a better absorptivity in the near-infrared region than white silica gel. The addition of activated carbon to the silica gel improves the desorption rate and regeneration temperature of the packed bed.     

Experimental investigation of the silica gel–water adsorption isotherm characteristics

In designing adsorption chillers that employs silica gel–water as adsorbent-adsorbate pair, the overriding objective is to exploit low temperature waste-heat sources from industry. This paper describes an experimental approach for the determination of thermodynamic characteristics of silica gel–water working pair that is essential for the sizing of adsorption chillers. The experiments incorporated the moisture balance technique, a control-volume-variable-pressure (CVVP) apparatus and three types of silica gel have been investigated, namely the Fuji Davison Type A, Type 3A and Type RD. As evidenced by the experimental results, the Henry-type equation is found to be suitable for describing the isotherm characteristics of silica gel–water working pair at the conditions of adsorption chiller. The regeneration of adsorbent depends on the correct allocation of temperature as well as the amount of regeneration time. From the experiments, the isotherm characteristics of silica gel–water in the low- to high-pressure regimes and hence, its isosteric heat of adsorption will be determined. Key parameters for optimizing the amount of heat recovery such as the cycle and switching time of chiller can also be implied from the measured results.     

Experimental investigation of a natural zeolite–water adsorption cooling unit

In this study, a thermally driven adsorption cooling unit using natural zeolite–water as the adsorbent–refrigerant pair has been built and its performance investigated experimentally at various evaporator temperatures. The primary components of the cooling unit are a shell and tube adsorbent bed, an evaporator, a condenser, heating and cooling baths, measurement instruments and supplementary system components. The adsorbent bed is considered to enhance the bed’s heat and mass transfer characteristics; the bed consists of an inner vacuum tube filled with zeolite (zeolite tube) inserted into a larger tubular shell. Under the experimental conditions of 45 °C adsorption, 150 °C desorption, 30 °C condenser and 22.5 °C, 15 °C and 10 °C evaporator temperatures, the COP of the adsorption cooling unit is approximately 0.25 and the maximum average volumetric cooling power density (SCP_v) and mass specific cooling power density per kg adsorbent (SCP) of the cooling unit are 5.2 kW/m³ and 7 W/kg, respectively.     

Development and comparison of two-bed silica gel–water adsorption chillers driven by low-grade heat source

A novel silica gel–water adsorption chiller (driven by hot water of 60–90 °C) with three vacuum chambers has been built in Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). This chiller was an improvement of an earlier deigned chiller and it integrated two single-bed systems (basic system) with only one vacuum valve. The performance of the chiller was tested and compared with the former adsorption chiller. The results show that the cooling power and COP of the chiller are 8.70 kW and 0.39 for the heat source temperature of 82.5 °C, cooling water temperature of 30.4 °C and chilled water outlet temperature of 12 °C. For a higher chilled water outlet temperature of about 16 °C, the COP increases to 0.43 while the cooling power is about 11.0 kW. Compared with that of the former chiller, the COP of this chiller increases by 20%.     

Adsorption properties of a natural zeolite–water pair for use in adsorption cooling cycles

The equilibrium adsorption capacity of water on a natural zeolite has been experimentally determined at different zeolite temperatures and water vapor pressures for use in an adsorption cooling system. The Dubinin–Astakhov adsorption equilibrium model is fitted to experimental data with an acceptable error limit. Separate correlations are obtained for adsorption and desorption processes as well as a single correlation to model both processes. The isosteric heat of adsorption of water on zeolite has been calculated using the Clausius–Clapeyron equation as a function of adsorption capacity. The cyclic adsorption capacity swing for different condenser, evaporator and adsorbent temperatures is compared with that for the following adsorbent–refrigerant pairs: activated carbon–methanol; silica gel–water; and, zeolite 13X–water. Experimental results show that the maximum adsorption capacity of natural zeolite is nearly 0.12 kg_w/kg_ad for zeolite temperatures and water vapor pressures in the range 40–150 °C and 0.87–7.38 kPa.     

Experimental research of the guiding channels effect on the thermal performance of wet cooling towers subjected to crosswinds – Air guiding effect on cooling tower

The thermal performance of a natural-draft wet cooling tower model with inlet airflow guiding channels under crosswinds conditions was monitored and experimented. Three patterns of the air guiding channels with different setting angles (including 60°, 70° and 80°) were tested under various crosswinds velocities. The results show that the air flow rate and the cooling efficiency increase remarkably after the inlet air is directed. On the basis of testing data, some thermal performance parameters including the Lewis factor, the heat and mass transfer coefficient were also calculated and analysed. The results indicate that the Lewis factor ranges from 0.95 to 1.15, which is in accordance with the data of other literatures. Besides, it is found that the optimum setting angle for the air guiding channels is 70°, and it does not change with the channel quantity which ranges from 18 to 88. However, it should be noticed that although the guiding channels with 70° setting angle lead to better cooling performance, they may cause more circulating water consumption.     

A new generation cooling device employing CaCl2-in-silica gel–water system

This article presents the dynamic modelling of a single effect two-bed adsorption chiller utilizing the composite adsorbent “CaCl₂ confined to KSK silica gel” as adsorbent and water as adsorbate, which is based on the experimentally confirmed adsorption isotherms and kinetics data. Compared with the experimental data of conventional adsorption chiller based on RD silica gel + water pair, we found that the new working pair provides better cooling capacity and performances. From numerical simulation, it is also found that the cooling capacity can be increased up to 20% of the parent silica gel + water adsorption chiller and the coefficient of performance (COP) can be improved up to 25% at optimum conditions. We also demonstrate here that the best peak chilled water temperature suppression, and the maximum cooling capacity can be achieved by the optimum analysis for both cycles.     

Study on a lab-scale hydrogen production by closed cycle thermo-chemical iodine–sulfur process

The Iodine–Sulfur (IS) thermo-chemical process for the production of hydrogen is one of the most promising approaches for use of the high temperature process heat supplied by high temperature reactor, which was developed in the Institute of nuclear and new energy technology (INET) of Tsinghua University, China, and INET initiated the fundamental studies on IS cycle since 2005. Based on the experiment results obtained by fundamental researches, a lab-scaled closed cycle loop (IS-10), which featured in electro-electrodialysis (EED) for hydriodic acid (HI) concentration, was designed and built at INET. The loop was composed of three sections, i.e., Bunsen section, HI section and sulfuric acid section. The closed cycle experiment on the loop was successfully carried out recently. In HI section, HI_x produced by Bunsen reaction was continuously purified through reverse Bunsen reaction, concentrated by EED, and then HI solution was obtained by distillation. Finally HI was catalytically decomposed to H₂ and I₂ with the conversion of 20%. In sulfuric acid section, sulfuric acid was continuously purified, concentrated by distillation, and catalytically decomposed to SO₂, O₂ and H₂O with the conversion of 75%. In Bunsen section, water, including recycled water, reacted with I₂ and SO₂ recycled from HI section and sulfuric acid section to form two separated acids phases, thus to form a closed cycle. The closed cycle experiment lasted for 7 h with the hydrogen production rate of 10 NL/h, with Pt loaded on activated carbon and copper chromite used as the catalysts for HI and sulfuric acid decomposition, respectively. This paper summarizes the main features of IS-10 and the main results of the closed cycle experiment. So far IS-10 is the second reported facility on which closed experiment was carried out, and the first one with EED embedded to perform a closed cycle operation.     

Hydromagnetic natural cooling of a triangular heat source in a triangular cavity with water–CuO nanofluid

This paper presents a numerical analysis of natural cooling of a right triangular heat source by a water–CuO nanofluid in a right triangular cavity that is under the influence of a horizontal magnetic field. A computational domain is defined and a numerical scheme based on the control volume formulation using the SIMPLE algorithm is developed. The convection–diffusion terms are discretised using a power-law scheme. The effects of the Rayleigh number, the solid volume fraction, the Hartmann number and the heat source position in the cavity on the heat transfer performance of the cavity are examined. The thermal performance of the cavity is enhanced as the Rayleigh number increases, the Hartmann number decreases and the distance of the heat source with the cold walls decreases. An optimum solid volume fraction is found that maximises the heat transfer at high Rayleigh numbers.     

Study on an advanced adsorption desalination cycle with evaporator–condenser heat recovery circuit

This paper presents the results of an investigation on the efficacy of a silica gel–water based advanced adsorption desalination (AD) cycle with internal heat recovery between the condenser and the evaporator. A mathematical model of the AD cycle was developed and the performance data were compared with the experimental results. The advanced AD cycle is able to produce the specific daily water production (SDWP) of 9.24 m³/tonne of silica gel per day at 70 °C hot water inlet temperature while the corresponding performance ratio (PR) is comparatively high at 0.77. It is found that the cycle can be operational at 50 °C hot water temperature with SDWP 4.3. The SDWP of the advanced cycle is almost twice that of the conventional AD cycle.     

Development and transient performance results of a single stage activated carbon – HFC 134a closed cycle adsorption cooling system

A laboratory model of a thermally driven adsorption refrigeration system with activated carbon as the adsorbent and 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (HFC 134a) as the refrigerant was developed. The single stage compression system has an ensemble of four adsorbers packed with Maxsorb II specimen of activated carbon that provide a near continuous flow which caters to a cooling load of up to 5 W in the 5–18 °C region. The objective was to utilise the low grade thermal energy to drive a refrigeration system that can be used to cool some critical electronic components. The laboratory model was tested for its performance at various cooling loads with the heat source temperature from 73 to 93 °C. The pressure transients during heating and cooling phases were traced. The cyclic steady state and transient performance data are presented.     

Fouling resistance prediction based on GA–Elman neural network for circulating cooling water with electromagnetic anti-fouling treatment

Dynamic simulation experiments were conducted on calcium carbonate fouling formation in shell and tube heat exchangers by using a self-designed online evaluation experimental platform of the electromagnetic anti-fouling effect to obtain the experimental data of conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen and fouling resistance with the electromagnetic anti-fouling treatment (EAT). And the Elman neural network (Elman NN) was optimized using the genetic algorithm (GA) to derive the GA–Elman neural network (GA–Elman NN). On the basis of GA–Elman NN, a fouling resistance prediction model was established with conductivity, pH, and dissolved oxygen as the input variables and fouling resistance as the output variable. Prediction results indicated that GA–Elman NN improved the weight and threshold, overcame the drawback of falling into the local minimum, and strengthened the capability of finding the optimal solution, thereby improving the prediction accuracy significantly. Moreover, the GA–Elman NN prediction model presented enhanced generalization capability. The mean absolute percent error was 6.07%, and the total error was 8.78% with the experimental system uncertainty. These values indicate that the GA-Elman NN prediction model possesses the high prediction accuracy and is rational and feasible in predicting fouling resistance.     

Performance analysis of a trigeneration system based on a micro gas turbine and an air-cooled,indirect fired,ammonia–water absorption chiller

The objective of this paper is to experimentally determine the efficiency and viability of the performance of an advanced trigeneration system that consists of a micro gas turbine in which the exhaust gases heat hot thermal oil to produce cooling with an air cooled absorption chiller and hot water for heating and DHW. The micro gas turbine with a net power of 28 kW produces around 60 kW of heat to drive an ammonia/water air-cooled absorption chiller with a rated capacity of 17 kW. The trigeneration system was tested in different operating conditions by varying the output power of the micro gas turbine, the ambient temperature for the absorption unit, the chilled water outlet temperature and the thermal oil inlet temperature. The modelling performance of the trigeneration system and the electrical modelling of the micro gas turbine are presented and compared with experimental results. Finally, the primary energy saving and the economic analysis show the advantages and drawbacks of this trigeneration configuration.     

Study of the effect of finned tube adsorber on the performance of solar driven adsorption cooling machine using activated carbon–ammonia pair

Solar refrigeration represents an important application of solar energy due to the excellent matching between the high sunshine and the refrigeration needs. Solar adsorption refrigeration devices are among the significant techniques used to meet the needs for cooling requirements. Several solar refrigeration systems have been proposed and are under development such as sorption systems including liquid/vapor, solid/vapor absorption, adsorption, vapor compression and others. The purpose of this paper is to identify the influence of a cylindrical adsorber on the performances of a solar adsorption refrigerating machine. The adsorber heated by solar energy contains an activated carbon–ammonia pair; it is composed by many cylindrical tubes welded using external fins. A model based on the conservation equations of energy and mass in the adsorber has been developed and well described. Using real solar irradiance data as well as many initial conditions, the model computes for each point and in the considered time interval during the day, the temperature, the adsorbed mass, the pressure inside the adsorber and the solar performance coefficient (COP). The results show that the optimal diameter of the adsorber with fins is greater than the one without fins. Moreover the mass cycled in the case of an adsorber equipped with external fins is more significant than the one without fins, and the maximal temperature reached in the adsorber with fins attains 97 °C while in the adsorber without fins reaches 77 °C. Thus, the performances of the solar adsorption refrigerating machine with an adsorber equipped with fins are higher than the machine without fins.     

Study of hydrogen production and storage based on aluminum–water reaction

The rate and yield of hydrogen production from the reaction between activated aluminum and water has been investigated. The effect of different parameters such as water–aluminum ratio, water temperature and aluminum particle size and shape was studied experimentally. The aluminum activation method developed in-house involves 1%–2.5% of lithium-based activator which is diffused into the aluminum particles, enabling sustained reaction with tap water or sea water at room temperature. Hydrogen production rates in the range of 200–600 ml/min/g Al, at a yield of about 90%, depending on operating parameters, were demonstrated. The work further studied the application in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells in order to generate green electric energy, demonstrating theoretical specific electric energy storage that can exceed batteries by 10–20 folds.     

Study on a new ejection–absorption heat transformer

Based on the performance analysis of the single stage, the two-stage and the double absorption heat transformer, a new ejection–absorption heat transformer is presented and analyzed in this paper. The results show that it has a simpler configuration than the double absorption heat transformer and two-stage heat transformer. The delivered useful temperature in the ejection–absorption heat transformer is higher than for a single stage heat transformer and simultaneously its system performance is raised.