Integrated evaporator–condenser cascaded adsorption system for low temperature cooling using different working pairs. (1st January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dakkama, H.J.; Elsayed, A.; AL-Dadah, R.K.; Mahmoud, S.M.; Youssef, P.
• Is Part Of: Applied energy. Volume 185:Part 2(2017)
• Page Start: 2117
• Page End: 2126
• Publication Date: 2017-01-01
• Subjects: Adsorption -- Cascading -- Working pairs -- Freezing -- Simulink; Power (Mechanics) -- Periodicals; Energy conservation -- Periodicals; Energy conversion -- Periodicals; 621.042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.01.132
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-2619

Abstract

Highlights: Five combinations of working pairs with cascading adsorption system are simulated. Integrated evaporator–condenser heat exchanger is simulated with the stated system. The low-temperature heat source is applied to drive the adsorption refrigeration system. Natural refrigerants are investigated as one of the requirements of this work. ATO/Ethanol + AC-35/Methanol showed a good performance with the lowest cost. Abstract: A cascaded adsorption cooling system with an integrated evaporator/condenser can produce low temperature cooling, using waste heat sources. The choice of the working pair in such a system affects the system's performance when driven by low temperature waste heat sources, which can be as low as 70 °C. This paper investigates the performance of various adsorbent/refrigerant working pairs in a cascaded adsorption system with an integrated evaporator/condenser using Simulink/MATLAB software. The cascaded system consists of two pairs of adsorber beds, a condenser, an evaporator and an integrated condenser/evaporator heat exchanger, forming upper and bottoming cycles. Five combinations of working pairs were investigated: ATO/ethanol + Maxsorb/R507A; Maxsorb/R134a + Maxsorb/propane; ATO/Ethanol + Maxsorb/propane; ATO/ethanol + AC-35/methanol; and Maxsorb/R134a + Maxsorb/R507A. The latter combination was used for validation and as a reference combination for assessing the performance of the investigated working pairs in terms of COP and cooling capacity. The results showed that the Maxsorb/R134a + Maxsorb/propane combination gives a higher COP compared to the reference combination, with up to 30.0% and 30.1% for the COP and cooling capacity, respectively; while ATO/ethanol + AC-35/methanol produces a similar performance to the reference case but uses natural refrigerants with low global warming potential and low cost adsorbent materials.