International Journal of Refrigeration 28 (2005) 756765 www.elsevier.

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Experimental investigation of silica gelwater adsorption chillers with and without a passive heat recovery scheme
Xiaolin Wanga, Hui Tong Chuab,*, Kim Choon Nga
b

Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260, Singapore School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Western Australia, MDBP M050, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia Received 23 July 2004; received in revised form 23 November 2004; accepted 28 November 2004 Available online 7 April 2005

Abstract We experimentally show that for the same heat exchanger inventory allocation, a four-bed adsorption chiller delivers a 12% higher ultimate cooling capacity than its two-bed counterpart. In addition it delivers a signicantly improved quality of instantaneous cooling than a two-bed chiller at the same cooling capacity. The COP-enhancing feature of a passive heat recovery scheme that does not involve additional pumping action or valves is experimentally proven. It improves the COPs of a two-bed chiller and a four-bed chiller by as much as 38 and 25%, respectively, without any effect on their cooling capacities. The highest COPs achieved with a two-bed and four-bed chillers are 0.46G0.02 and 0.45G0.02, respectively. These are measured at a hot-water inlet temperature of 85 8C, cooling-water inlet temperature of 29.4 8C and chilled-water inlet temperature of 12.2 8C. q 2004 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Adsorption systems; Water; Silica gel; Experiment; Heat recovery; Improvement; COP

` adsorption au gel de silice/eau avec et sans Refroidisseurs a cupe ration de chaleur passive re
` me a ` adsorption ; Eau ; Gel de silice ; Expe rimentation ; Re cupe ration de chaleur ; Ame lioration ; COP s : Syste Mots cle

1. Introduction Silica gelwater adsorption chillers are proven to be an effective way to harness the potential of low-grade waste heat [110], and solar energy [11,12] for useful cooling. This genre of adsorption chiller uses an environmentally benign refrigerant and, in its standard form, can be driven by

* Corresponding author. E-mail address: htchua@mech.uwa.edu.au (H.T. Chua). 0140-7007/$35.00 q 2004 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2004.11.011

waste heat with temperatures as low as 55 8C. By adopting a multi-stage design, the chiller could even be driven by 50 8C waste heat and produce sizeable cooling capacities [1316]. Nishiyodo Kuchouki Co. Ltd [17] combined a watercirculation scheme and a mass-recovery scheme between the adsorber and desorber during the switching process to improve the coefcient of performance (COP). The efcacy of the mass-recovery scheme was largely explained by Akahira et al. [18]. Mayekawa manufacturing Co. Ltd also installs an active water-recirculation scheme between the two beds during the switching process into its adsorption

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chiller to improve the chiller COP [19]. Liu et al. [20] noted the high cost of refrigerant gas valves and did away with the need for them in their design. They also incorporated a water-circulation scheme and a variant of the standard massrecovery scheme to improve both the COP and cooling capacity. The aforementioned recirculation strategies are considered an open-loop design as the various schemes are connected to the external heat source and cooling tower. A fully independent uid recirculation loop, operated either continuously or only during the switching period, could also improve the COP of some types of adsorption chiller [21 23] and in particular multi-bed chillers [24], but is predicated on the use of a high-temperature heat source which precludes its use in silica gelwater adsorption chillers. Such a scheme can also be complemented by a mass-recovery scheme [25]. We had earlier proposed a multi-bed adsorption chiller that aims to boost the maximum cooling capacity for a given heat exchanger inventory allocation and reduce the temporal ` -vis a uctuation of the chilled water outlet temperature vis-a two-bed chiller [2628]. One objective of this article is to experimentally demonstrate the aforementioned virtues of a four-bed chiller in relation to a two-bed chiller. A combined multi-stage, multi-bed chiller that took advantage of the availability of very low-temperature waste heat and a singlestage three-bed chiller were subsequently studied by Saha et al. [29,30]. Our second objective is to experimentally demonstrate the substantial COP enhancement to the two- and four-bed chillers of a passive heat recovery scheme that does not employ additional pumping power or valves other than those already found in a standard adsorption chiller. This is to control the manufacturing cost [31]. It will be shown that this scheme is achieved simply by controlling the watervalve opening schedule. The COPs of the two-bed chiller and that of the four-bed chiller will be shown to be improved by as much as 38 and 25%, respectively.

Fig. 1. An aerial view of our adsorption chiller test facility [28].

2. Experimental test facility Fig. 1 shows an aerial view of the chiller test facility that we have successfully prototyped in our laboratory. The chiller controller has been designed to be exible for programming such that the test facility could presently operate in two-bed and four-bed modes. The detailed operating schemes for the standard two-bed mode and the standard four-bed mode are recorded in Refs. [14,6,7,9] and [2628], respectively. In the two-bed operating mode, two of the beds operate in phase, whereas in the four-bed mode, all the four beds operate with a constant phase difference so that there are always master and slave adsorbers and desorbers. The controller can be freely programmed such that the test facility can function in other modes. The virtue of such a test facility is that the various conceivable operating modes can be tested and compared with the same heat exchanger inventory allocation.

Fig. 2 presents the schematic of our test facility. The facility is extensively instrumented and the various instrumentation points are marked out in the schematic. 5 kU thermistors with a 3 s time constant (G0.2 8C, YSI) are generally employed for all the temperature measurements except for the hot-water outlet temperature measurement, for which a 2.2 kU thermistor with similar specications is used. It is important to use low time constant and accurate temperature sensors so as to properly capture the rapid temperature swings during the switching period, otherwise one may erroneously measure a higher COP due to the sluggish temperature response. Electromagnetic ow transmitters are used for ow rate measurements (G0.5% of reading plus G0.05 L/min, Krohne). The absolute pressure sensors that are used have an accuracy G0.125 kPa (Yokogawa). It is estimated that the accuracy of cycle averaged cooling capacity measurements is G 3.5%, COP measurements is G3.8%, and heat input measurements is G1.7%. The evaporator is spray assisted so as to enhance the effective heat transfer coefcient. Two sight glasses are installed at the evaporator to allow visual inspection of the boiling efcacy. A low-n tube bundle with internal corrugation is used for the evaporator. At a chilled-water rated ow rate of 48 L/min, the evaporator heat exchanger has an overall heat transfer coefcient or U-value of 3028 W/m2 K. An internally bare, low-n tube bundle is used in the condenser. At a cooling-water rated ow rate of 120 L/min, the condenser has a U-value of 5833 W/m2 K. The proprietary plate-type heat exchanger of Mayekawa manufacturing Co. Ltd is employed for the bed heat exchanger. With a cooling-water rated ow rate of 48 L/min, it has a U-value of 1002 W/m2 K. Each of the four beds contains 36 kg of silica gel. When the test facility is operated in the four-bed mode, each pair of beds draws the cooling/hot water in series, so that each bed receives 48 L/min of cooling/hot water and the total cooling/hot-water ow rate is 48 L/min. When it is operated in the two-bed mode, each

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Fig. 2. Schematic of an adsorption-chiller test facility.

denotes an open valve, while

denotes a shut valve.

pair of beds draws the cooling/hot water in parallel, so that each bed receives 24 L/min of cooling/hot water and the total cooling/hot-water ow rate is still 48 L/min. It is conrmed that regardless of the operation mode, the ow in the bed heat exchanger piping is always maintained in the turbulent regime and the minimum Reynolds number is about 9000 in all the experiments. For the comparison between the two- and four-bed operation modes, the chilled water, condenser cooling water and total bed cooling water ow rates are maintained identical. The switching period for both modes of operation is xed at 40 s. The electrically red chiller rating facility is able to supply chilled water, cooling water and hot water at a practically constant ow rate and a temperature process control accuracy of G0.3 8C during cyclic steady state with an occasional drift to G0.5 8C. This is despite the fact that the waters emanating from the chiller test facility, with an afliated large temperature swing particularly during the switching period, are sent back to the rating facility in a closed loop manner.

3. Performance comparison between the standard twobed and four-bed modes As mentioned earlier, the detailed operating schemes for

the standard two-bed and four-bed modes are documented in Refs. [14,6,7,9,2628]. Fig. 3 features the performance `improvement offered by the standard four-bed scheme vis-a vis the standard two-bed scheme. The performance ratings for both the operation modes were conducted at a coolingwater inlet temperature of 29.4 8C, chilled-water inlet temperature of 12.2 8C, and hot-water inlet temperature of 85 8C. It is evident that for a given heat-exchanger inventory allocation, the four-bed mode delivers a 12% higher ultimate specic cooling power (SCP) which is dened as the ratio of cooling capacity to the total mass of adsorbent in the chiller system. At the same cooling capacity and for cycle times between 250 and 275 s, the improvement to the COP is between 3 and 6%. This is primarily attributed to a better match between the hot-water and bed temperatures which reduces heat transfer irreversibility. Beyond 275 s, both modes of operation enjoy the same COP. This is expected as the four-bed mode serves to mitigate the heat transfer irreversibility encountered during and immediately after the switching period, the proportion of which diminishes as the cycle time lengthens. It is reiterated that the system waters ow rates are maintained the same for this set of comparisons. In particular, for a total bed cooling/hotwater ow rate of 48 L/min, each of the two beds operating in phase in the two-bed mode draws 24 L/min of cooling/hot water, whereas each of the two beds in the four-bed mode

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Fig. 3. Performance comparison between the standard two-bed and four-bed modes.

consumes 48 L/min cooling/hot water. The performance of the two-bed mode will expectedly improve if the total bed cooling/hot-water ow rate is doubled so that each of the two beds draws 48 L/min of water at the expense of a higher pumping power. On the other hand, the performance of the four-bed mode would also be enhanced if 96 L/min of cooling/hot water is available. Fig. 4 demonstrates the amelioration to the quality of cooling offered by the four-bed mode in relation to that of the two-bed mode at the same cycle time. In the four-bed mode, the temporal uctuation of the chilled-water outlet

temperature, and concomitantly the instantaneous cooling capacity, is markedly reduced. This improvement to the quality of cooling is desirable for air-conditioning and dehumidication applications. Fig. 5 presents the performance map of the four-bed mode at assorted hot-water inlet temperatures. Again the chilled-water and cooling-water inlet temperatures are maintained at 12.2 and 29.4 8C, respectively. One appreciates that the four-bed mode could still deliver a sizeable specic cooling power at a hot-water inlet temperature of 65 8C. The COP of the four-bed mode improves with the

Fig. 4. A comparison of chilled-water temporal temperature proles and the instantaneous cooling capacities of the standard two-bed and fourbed scheme.

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Fig. 5. Performance map of a four-bed chiller at various hot-water inlet temperatures.

hot-water temperature, but its increase experiences a diminishing return as the hot-water temperature approaches 85 8C.

4. A passive heat recovery scheme We shall now present a passive heat recovery scheme that aims to boost the COPs of both the two-bed and fourbed operation modes. It will be shown that this simple scheme could boost the COP of the two-bed mode by as much as 38%, and the four-bed mode by 25%. In addition, it does not compromise the cooling throughput of the chiller. In a standard two-bed or four-bed operation mode, as soon as the switching period commences, the status of the electromagnetic water valves is changed. Cooling water is introduced to the hot bed and hot water to the cool bed. Simultaneously, water emanating from the hot bed is channeled to the cooling tower while that from the cool bed is sent to the heat source. For a signicant time period after switching commences, the water from the hot bed is still warm due to the resident water in the hot-bed piping as well as the internal energy of the hot bed. Simultaneously, for the same reasons, water from the cool bed is still cool. This results in a very signicant dip in the hot-water outlet temperature, and a signicant rise in the cooling-water outlet temperature after switching commences. These signicant losses have earlier been quantied by a detailed entropy generation analysis [32] and a cycle temperature entropy diagrammatic analysis [33]. Essentially the essence of the passive heat recovery scheme is to delay changing the status of the water valves after the switching period commences for some prexed

time period. This is to enable the water from the cool bed to return to the cooling tower and the water from the hot bed to the heat source. The optimal time period is reached when the waters emanating from the hot and cool beds have identical temperatures, at which point in time the status of the water valve changes. Since this regenerative scheme only concerns how the waters emanating from the beds are being channeled while leaving the refrigerant-side of the chiller and the speed of operation untouched, the chiller specic cooling power should not be affected at all. The experimental conrmation will be demonstrated later. Referring specically to our four-bed test facility, Fig. 6 encapsulates the essence of the passive heat-recovery scheme as applied to a two-bed chiller and a four-bed chiller. This succinct mode of presentation is an adaptation of the depiction of Wade et al. [34]. Each of the circled numbers (14) represents one of the four beds in the test facility. The source of the heating input and the sink for the heating rejection are the hot water supply system, whereas the source of the cooling input and the sink for the cooling rejection are the cooling tower. Referring to the two-bed operation, for a substantial time period, beds 1 and 2 are heated by the hot water and the water from these two beds is sent back to the hot water supply system. Concomitantly, beds 3 and 4 are cooled by the cooling water and the water from these two beds is returned to the cooling tower. During the bed switching period, cooling water is sent to precool beds 1 and 2 and the water from these two beds is directed to the hot water supply system. Simultaneously, hot water is used to preheat beds 3 and 4 and the water from these two beds is channeled to the cooling tower. This water channeling scheme remains unchanged for a certain time period even after the bed switching has ended until the

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Fig. 6. A passive regenerative scheme with heating/cooling inputs/rejections rotating clockwise.

temperatures of the waters from beds 1 and 2 as well as from beds 3 and 4 are the same. Turning to the four-bed operation, for a substantial time period, hot water is used to heat up bed 1 and serially bed 2, while the water from bed 2 is then returned to the hot water supply system. In the meantime, cooling water is sent to bed 3 and then bed 4, while the water from bed 4 is directed to the cooling tower. During the switching period, hot water is sent to heat bed 2 and then preheat bed 3, while the water from bed 3 is then returned to the cooling tower. At the same time, cooling water is supplied to bed 4 and then precool bed 1, whilst the water

from bed 1 is channeled to the hot water supply system. Again this water channeling strategy remains unchanged for a certain time period even after the switching has completed until the water temperatures for the waters from beds 1 and 3 are identical. 4.1. Modied two-bed mode Table 1 delineates the actual water channeling schemes for the standard two-bed mode as well as the modied twobed mode equipped with the passive heat recovery feature. It

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Table 1 Water channeling schemes for the standard two-bed mode and the modied two-bed mode with a passive heat recovery scheme (*C#a/b, C: normal operating period of a cycle, #a/b: 1a/b to 2a/b refer to the various stages of the normal operating period; sw: bed switching) Water channeling strategies Standard two-bed mode Hot water
*

Two-bed mode with a passive heat recovery scheme Cooling water V6/bed1/V19 V8/bed2/V17 V10/bed3/V15 V12/bed4/V13 V10/bed3/V15 V12/bed4/V13 V10/bed3/V15 V12/bed4/V13 V6/bed1/V19 V8/bed2/V17 V6/bed1/V19 V8/bed2/V17 V6/bed1/V19 V8/bed2/V17 Hot water V9/bed3/V16 V11/bed4/V14 V5/bed1/V19 V7/bed2/V17 V5/bed1/V19 V7/bed2/V17 V5/bed1/V20 V7/bed2/V18 V9/bed3/V15 V11/bed4/V13 V9/bed3/V15 V11/bed4/V13 V9/bed3/V16 V11/bed4/V14 Cooling water V6/bed1/V19 V8/bed2/V17 V10/bed3/V16 V12/bed4/V14 V10/bed3/V16 V12/bed4/V14 V10/bed3/V15 V12/bed4/V13 V6/bed1/V20 V8/bed2/V18 V6/bed1/V20 V8/bed2/V18 V6/bed1/V19 V8/bed2/V17

C1b

sw
*

C2a C2b

sw
*

C1a C1b

V9/bed3/V16 V11/bed4/V14 V5/bed1/V20 V7/bed2/V18 V5/bed1/V20 V7/bed2/V18 V5/bed1/V20 V7/bed2/V18 V9/bed3/V16 V11/bed4/V14 V9/bed3/V16 V11/bed4/V14 V9/bed3/V16 V11/bed4/V14

species the routes taken by the cooling and hot waters via the valves and the beds over the entire cycle time. Fig. 7 presents the COP boosting achieved by the passive heat recovery scheme for the two-bed operation mode. The cycle time is 600 s and the bed switching time is 40 s. The changeover of the water-valves status is delayed by 75 s after bed switching commences. This achieves a near optimal effect in enhancing the chiller performance. Referring to Table 1, this set of conditions would correspond to sw and C#a (#: 1, 2) being 40 and 35 s, respectively. The specic cooling power with and without heat recovery is 97.2 W/kg. On the other hand, the specic heat input

without heat recovery is 287.5 W/kg, while that with heat recovery is 222.2 W/kg. One could readily observe that the heat input and heat rejection is signicantly reduced and thereby achieving a signicantly higher COP. A 23% reduction in heat input and a 17% reduction in heat rejection have been achieved. Fig. 8 charts out the effects introduced by the passive heat recovery scheme on the two-bed operation mode over a range of practical cycle times. The COP is seen to have improved by 14% at long cycle times to 38% at short cycle times. It is also conrmed that the heat recovery scheme does not compromise the cooling throughput of the chiller.

Fig. 7. The energy-reduction effect of a passive heat recovery scheme on a two-bed chiller.

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Fig. 8. The efcacy of a passive heat recovery scheme over an assortment of cycle times for a two-bed chiller.

Table 2 Water channeling schemes for the standard four-bed mode and the modied four-bed mode equipped with a passive heat recovery scheme (*C#a/b, C: normal operating period during a cycle, #a/b: 1a/b to 4a/b refer to the various stages of the normal operating period; sw, bed switching) Water channeling strategies Standard four-bed mode Hot water
*

Four-bed mode with a passive heat recovery scheme Cooling water V6/bed1/V1/bed2/ V17 V8/bed2/V2/bed3/ V15 V8/bed2/V2/bed3/ V15 V8/bed2/V2/bed3/ V15 V10/bed3/V3/bed4/ V13 V10/bed3/V3/bed4/ V13 V10/bed3/V3/bed4/ V13 V12/bed4/V4/bed1/ V19 V12/bed4/V4/bed1/ V19 V12/bed4/V4/bed1/ V19 V6/bed1/V1/bed2/ V17 V6/bed1/V1/bed2/ V17 V6/bed1/V1/bed2/ V17 Hot water V9/bed3/V3/bed4/ V14 V11/bed4/V4/bed1/ V19 V11/bed4/V4/bed1/ V19 V11/bed4/V4/bed1/ V20 V5/bed1/V1/bed2/ V17 V5/bed1/V1/bed2/ V17 V5/bed1/V1/bed2/ V18 V7/bed2/V2/bed3/ V15 V7/bed2/V2/bed3/ V15 V7/bed2/V2/bed3/ V16 V9/bed3/V3/bed4/ V13 V9/bed3/V3/bed4/ V13 V9/bed3/V3/bed4/ V14 Cooling water V6/bed1/V1/bed2/ V17 V8/bed2/V2/bed3/ V16 V8/bed2/V2/bed3/ V16 V8/bed2/V2/bed3/ V15 V10/bed3/V3/bed4/ V14 V10/bed3/V3/bed4/ V14 V10/bed3/V3/bed4/ V13 V12/bed4/V4/bed1/ V20 V12/bed4/V4/bed1/ V20 V12/bed4/V4/bed1/ V19 V6/bed1/V1/bed2/ V18 V6/bed1/V1/bed2/ V18 V6/bed1/V1/bed2/ V17

C1b

sw
*

C2a C2b

sw
*

C3a C3b

sw
*

C4a C4b

sw
*

C1a C1b

V9/bed3/V3/bed4/ V14 V11/bed4/V4/bed1/ V20 V11/bed4/V4/bed1/ V20 V11/bed4/V4/bed1/ V20 V5/bed1/V1/bed2/ V18 V5/bed1/V1/bed2/ V18 V5/bed1/V1/bed2/ V18 V7/bed2/V2/bed3/ V16 V7/bed2/V2/bed3/ V16 V7/bed2/V2/bed3/ V16 V9/bed3/V3/bed4/ V14 V9/bed3/V3/bed4/ V14 V9/bed3/V3/bed4/ V14

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Fig. 9. The energy-reduction effect of a passive heat recovery scheme on a four-bed chiller.

4.2. Modied four-bed mode Table 2 documents the water channeling strategies of both the standard four-bed mode and the modied four-bed mode imbued with the passive heat recovery scheme. It delineates the actual routes taken by both the hot and cooling waters via the valves and the beds over the entire cycle. Fig. 9 features the input and rejected energy savings achieved with the passive heat recovery scheme. The cycle time was set to be 600 s and the switching time 40 s. The valve delay time period is also set to be approximately 41 s. In Table 2, this would correspond to sw and C#a (#: 1, 2, 3, 4) being 40 and 12 s, respectively. The specic cooling power for this set of conditions is 114.6 W/kg. The specic heat input with and without heat recovery are 268.4 and 343.8 W/kg, respectively. One could readily discern the signicant amount of saving in terms of heat input and rejection, with the COP being boosted by 25% at this set of conditions. Specically, the heat input and heat rejection savings are 16 and 17%, respectively. As with the two-bed mode, the COP improvement is even higher at shorter cycle times and lower at longer cycle times, while the cooling capacities remain practically unchanged. It is clear that the passive heat recovery system, on top of improving the COP of an adsorption chiller, could also effectively reduce the system outlet water temperatures uctuations. This implies that the peak capacities of the various ancillary heat-and-mass-transfer equipment could be reduced.

enhancement achieved with a four-bed silica gelwater ` -vis a two-bed chiller. Specically, adsorption chiller vis-a for the same heat exchanger inventory allocation, a four-bed chiller could deliver a 12% larger ultimate cooling capacity. At the same cooling capacity, a four-bed chiller also achieves a signicantly better quality of instantaneous cooling. We also demonstrate the efcacy of a passive heat recovery scheme on both the two-bed and four-bed chillers. For the two-bed chiller, the COP is enhanced by 14% at long cycle times and 38% at short cycle times, whereas for the four-bed chiller, the COP is enhanced by 25%. This scheme also does not compromise the cooling throughput of an adsorption chiller.

Acknowledgements The generous nancial supports of the National Science and Technology Board of Singapore, the National University of Singapore, Cyclect Holdings Pte. Ltd, the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and the New Energy Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan are gratefully acknowledged. The excellent technical support offered by Mayekawa Manufacturing Company Limited is also gratefully acknowledged.

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