A NOVEL SOLAR-POWERED

ADSORPTION REFRIGERATION

C.SURESH
M140539ME

INTRODUCTION
The use of solar energy for environmental control is

receiving much attention as a result of the projected world

energy shortage
Solar refrigeration has the potential to improve the quality

of life of people who live in areas with electricity

insufficient.
Solar cooling to produce ice accumulates

latent heat, thus leading to smaller volume of

ice-makers.

PRINCIPLE OF ADSORPTION
Adsorption occurs at the surface interface of two phases,

in which cohesive forces including electrostatic forces and

hydrogen bonding, act between the molecules of all
substances irrespective of their state of aggregation

The process of adsorption involves separation of

a substance from one phase accompanied by its

accumulation or concentration at the surface of
another.
The adsorbing phase is the adsorbent, and the

material concentrated or adsorbed at the surface

of that phase is the adsorbate.
An adsorbate is any substance that has undergone adsorption

on the surface. During the process of adsorption, charge

transfer occurs between the adsorbate and the metal.

REFRIGERANTS AND ADSORBENTS

There are several working pairs for solid adsorption. For

the successful operation of a solid adsorption system,

careful selection of the working medium is essential.
It is because, the performance of the system varies over a

wide range using different working pairs at different

temperatures.

 the choice of the adsorbent will depend mainly on the

following factors:
high adsorption and desorption capacity, to attain high

cooling effect;
good thermal conductivity, in order to shorten the cycle
time;
low specific heat capacity;
chemically compatible with the chosen refrigerant;
low cost and widely available.

 The selected adsorbate (working fluid) must have

most of the following desirable thermodynamics

and heat transfer properties:
high latent heat per unit volume;
molecular dimensions should be small enough to

allow easy adsorption;

high thermal conductivity;
good thermal stability;
low viscosity;
low specific heat;
non-toxic, non-inflammable, non-corrosive; and
chemically stable in the working temperature rang.

Based on the above criteria, some of the

appropriate working pairs are:

zeolitewater,
zeoliteorganic refrigerants,
silica gelwater,
zeolitewater and
activated carbonmethanol in solid adsorption

systems

BASIC ADSORPTION CYCLE

A basic adsorption cycle consists of four

steps :
1.Heating and pressurization,
2.Desorption and condensation,
3.Cooling and depressurization, and
4.Adsorption and evaporation

1.HEATING AND PRESSURIZATION

In the first step ,the adsorber

is heated by a heat source at a

temperature ofTH.The pressure
of the adsorber increases from
the evaporating pressure up to
the condensing pressure while
the adsorber temperature
increases.
This step is equivalent to the
compression in the vaporcompression cycle.

2.DESORPTION AND CONDENSATION

In the second step, the adsorber

continues receiving heat and its

temperature keeps increasing,
which results in the desorption
(generation) of refrigerant vapor
from adsorbent in the adsorber.
This desorbed vapor is liquefied in

the condenser and the condensing

heat is released to the first heat
sink at a temperature of TC

3.COOLING AND
DEPRESSURIZATION
At the beginning of the third
step, the adsorber is disconnected
from the condenser. Then, it is
cooled by heat transfer fluid at
the second heat sink temperature
of TM.
The pressure of the adsorber

decreases from the condensing

pressure down to the evaporating
pressure due to the decrease in
the adsorber temperature.

4.ADSORPTION AND EVAPORATION

In the last step, the adsorber keeps

releasing
heat
while
being
connected to the evaporator. The
adsorber temperature continues
decreasing, which results in the
adsorption of refrigerant vapor
from the evaporator by adsorbent,
producing the desired refrigeration
effect .
This step is equivalent to the
evaporation in the vaporcompression cycle.

Advanced Adsorption Cycle

Since the efficiency of the basic adsorption refrigeration

cycle is low, and the cooling output is not continuous.

Due to this many advanced adsorption refrigeration cycles

such as the
heat recovery cycle,
mass recovery cycle,
thermal wave cycle,
forced convective thermal wave cycle, etc. have been
developed to improve efficiency and practicability.

HEAT RECOVERY CYCLE

The heat recovery cycle is an
advanced adsorption cycle used in a
system with two or more adsorbers.
After the adsorption phase and
desorption phase are finished in the
adsorbers, the heat from the hot
adsorber is transferred to the cold
adsorber by circulating heat transfer
fluid between them in a closed loop.
The experimental results show that
the COP of the system will increase
by up to 25% with the heat recovery
cycle

OPERATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE ADSORPTION

CYCLE

Operation principle of solid adsorption refrigeration

system utilizing solar heat. A: Sorption bed (solar
collector);B: condenser; C: evaporator

PROPOSED MODULE
The modified glass tube is shown in Fig. 3a and b. It

consists of the sorption bed, the condenser and the

evaporator.
The sorption bed has been modified from a tube to a
circular container with small thickness to increase the
exposed area to the sun and insure uniform temperature
distribution inside the bed.
The sorption bed contains small granules of domestic
charcoal (granules diameters are between 5 and 7 mm).
The specific surface area of the used charcoal is 55.7 m2/g
and its porosity is 46.45%).

To increase bed conductivity, four types of bed techniques

are proposed. They are;

Type 1, black metallic meshes are placed on both faces of
the circular bed,
Type 2, black metallic plates are placed on both faces of
the bed,
Type 3, charcoal grains are mixed with small pieces of
blackened steel, and
Type 4 charcoal grains are bonded with small pieces of
blackened steel.

Four types of plane reflector arrangements are used to

heat the sorption bed. The details of each type are shown
in Fig. 4ad.

Inclination angles and concentration ratio cr for different

reflectors arrangements

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Measured average temperature of the four types of bed

techniques (February).

It is also clear from this figure that, by virtue of mixing

charcoal with metallic pieces, bed techniques Types 3 &

4 attained higher temperatures than Types 1 & 2.
Maximum temperature recorded is for the bed Type 4, it
reaches 95oC for about 2 h.
This temperature is higher by 60% than the temperature
of the plain bed heated directly by solar energy.
This figure also shows that the temperatures of all beds
during cooling at night are very close to the ambient
temperature.

Effect of reflector arrangements on the temperature of bed Type 4

(February)

The bed temperatures heated by reflector Type C stay

1000C for time duration 4 h and the maximum temperature

recorded is 1150C.
This temperature is higher by about 13.5% than the
maximum temperature recorded when this bed is heated
by reflector arrangement Type D.
Although reflector Type D does not realize the maximum
bed temperature during heating, it has the advantage of
fixed orientation over the whole year
The orientation of Types AC must be changed monthly
to attain maximum energy input at noon).

CONCLUSIONS
It is found that using the four types of bed techniques

heated by reflector Type D in cold climate can increase

maximum bed temperature by a ratio between 13% and
60% than the plain bed temperature heated directly by
solar energy.
The bed Type 4 heated by reflector arrangement Type D

achieve the maximum increase. This bed achieved an

increase of 13.5% when heated by reflector arrangement
Type C.

The maximum bed temperature of the module composed

of bed Type 4 and reflector arrangement Type C was

found to be 120 and 1330C in cold and hot climate
respectively.
The minimum bed temperature at night was found to be is

very close to ambient temperature in both winter and

summer