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Experimental investigation on waste heat driven activated carbon-methanol adsorption cooling system

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Abstract

This paper presents design and fabrication of an adsorption refrigeration system working with activated carbon-methanol and coupled to the exhaust system of a multi-cylinder turbo-charged diesel engine. We have also carried out experiments to study the cycle time, refrigeration effect and COP of the cycle. This paper is reported of the original experimental data obtained from experimentation of a real adsorption refrigeration setup. We have studied and reported the effects of minimum bed temperature (T 1) and maximum bed temperature (T 3), the two most important parameters influencing the performance of an adsorption refrigeration system. From experimental result it is observed that the maximum temperature (T 3) of the cycle should be kept as high as possible to generate higher volume of methanol from the activated carbon and, hence, higher refrigeration effect and COP. Since, the temperature of hot water circulated through the desorption bed has been restricted to 90 °C, it takes long time duration to achieve T 3 above 80 °C and hence, during the experiment, the maximum temperature of the bed (T 3) has been limited to 80 °C. It is also observed that the minimum temperature of the bed (i.e., the temperature of the bed after end of adsorption) (T 1) should be kept as low as possible to optimize COP of the cycle. The experimental results show that, for T 1 of 30 °C and T 3 of 80 °C, the maximum refrigeration effect is 1519.41 kJ per cycle for the given configuration of the refrigeration system and the cycle COP is 0.21. Uncertainty analysis predicts that variation of experimental COP varies between ±6.59%. This paper also presents different practical problems that faced by the authors during fabrication of the setup, for the benefit of the future researchers. The study also aims to comment on the capability of meeting the air-conditioning requirement of a vehicle by the waste heat associated with exhaust gases only, without requiring any extra power from the engine, thereby reducing fuel consumption and environment pollution.

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Abbreviations

COP:

Coefficient of performance (–)

c p :

Specific heat of water (kJ/kg °C)

\(\dot{m}_{\text{hw}}\) :

Mass flow rate of hot water (L/h)

\(\dot{m}_{\text{cw}}\) :

Mass flow rate of cold water (L/h)

\(\dot{Q}\) :

Heat transfer rate to the desorber bed (kW)

Q in :

Heat input to the desorber bed (kJ)

\(Q_{ln}^{ \cdot }\) :

Input heat transfer rate to the desorber bed (kW)

Q EVP :

Refrigeration effect (kJ)

\(\dot{Q}_{\text{EVP}}^{ \cdot }\) :

Heat transfer rate at evaporator

T :

Average temperature of the adsorber bed, (°C)

T 1 :

Temperature at the end of adsorption, (°C)

T 2 :

Temperature at the beginning of desorption, (°C)

T 3 :

Temperature at the end of desorption, (°C)

T 4 :

Temperature at the beginning of adsorption, (°C)

T C :

Saturation temperature of the condenser, (°C)

T E :

Saturation temperature of the evaporator, (°C)

δT :

Temperature differences between entry and exist of water stream for a fixed duration, (°C)

U in :

Uncertainty in heat transfer rate (kW)

\(\dot{U}_{\text{R}}\) :

Uncertainty in heat transfer rate (kW)

U COP :

Uncertainty in coefficient of performance

U EVP :

Uncertainty in refrigeration effect (kW)

\(\dot{u}_{{\dot{Q}_{\ln }^{ \cdot } }}\) :

Uncertainty in input heat transfer rate (kW)

u ρ :

Uncertainty in density (kg/m3)

u cp :

Uncertainty in sp heat (kJ/kg °C)

\(u_{{{\dot{\text{v}}}}}\) :

Uncertainty in volume flow rate (L/h)

u δT :

Uncertainty Temperature differences between entry and exist of water stream for a fixed duration (°C)

\(\dot{V}\) :

Volume flow rate (L/h)

x 1 :

The maximum loading of the refrigerant (kg/kg)

x 3 :

The minimum loading of refrigerant per kg of adsorbent (kg/kg)

θ :

Sensitivity factor for uncertainty (–)

θ δT :

Sensitivity factor for Temperature differences between entry and exist of water stream (°C)

\({{\theta }}_{{{\dot{\text{V}}}}}\) :

Sensitivity factor for volume flow rate of water stream (kJ/m3)

θ ρ :

Sensitivity factor for density of water stream (m3 kW/kg)

θ cp :

Sensitivity factor for specific heat of water stream (kg °C/s)

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Acknowledgement

This research was supported by Mechanical Engineering Department of Indian Institute of Technology (ISM) Dhanbad (India) where this adsorption refrigeration system set up has been developed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engg, Inderprasatha Engineering College, 63, Site IV Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Anirban Sur

  2. Department of Mechanical Engg, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India

    Randip K. Das

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  1. Anirban Sur
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Correspondence to Anirban Sur.

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Technical Editor: Jose A. dos Reis Parise.

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Sur, A., Das, R.K. Experimental investigation on waste heat driven activated carbon-methanol adsorption cooling system. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 39, 2735–2746 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-017-0792-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-017-0792-y

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