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Performance Evaluation of a Cascading Adsorption Cooling System Using a Robust Numerical Model

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Abstract

This paper adopts an investigation of a novel cascading adsorption cooling system. The system has two high-temperature zeolite-water beds topping a silica-gel/water bed using the heat recovery technique. A parametric study is carried out on the proposed method using a robust numerical model that shows excellent validation compared to the data reported in the literature. The system is assessed using two performance indices: the specific cooling power (SCP) and the coefficient of performance (COP). The results indicate that the proposed system has a COP value approaching 1.6, and its SCP can reach 170 W/kg. It is observed that increasing the half-cycle time of zeolite beds from 10 to 120 min reduces the SCP by 80% while it increases the COP by about 53%. In this regard, it is noticed that a half-cycle time of 60 min is recommended for optimal system performance. When the heating source temperature increases (110–190 °C), a rise of 120% is obtained in the SPC and COP enhances by about 35%. Above this temperature level, the increase in the SPC becomes unnoticeable, and conversely, the COP slightly drops. Moreover, when the bed's cooling-fluid inlet temperature to the system rises from 10 to 40 °C, there is a forty percent decline in SCP with a thirty percent drop in the COP. In this regard, it is preferable to keep the bed's cooling-fluid inlet temperature below 30 °C for better performance. Also, the mass flow rate of the cooling fluid shouldn't be less than 0.1 kg/s. An increase in the inlet temperature of chilled water (5–25 °C) leads to increases in the SCP and COP by 200 and 65%, respectively. Moreover, the SCP and COP decline by 70 and 30% when the total zeolite mass rises from 2 to 30 kg. For better system performance, the ratio of the silica-gel mass to the total zeolite mass in the system should range from 0.45 to 0.55.

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Abbreviations

\(A\) :

Heat transfer area, m2

\(\mathrm{AR}\) :

Adsorbent mass ratio, kg/kg

\({c}_{p}\) :

Specific heat, kJ/kg-K

\({D}_{so}\) :

Kinetic constant, m2/s

\({E}_{a}\) :

Activation energy, J/kg

\({h}_{fg}\) :

Latent heat of vaporization, kJ/kg

\(m\) :

Mass, kg, or heterogeneity factor, –

\(\dot{m}\) :

Mass flow rate, kg/s

\(n\) :

Interaction factor, –

\(P\) :

Pressure, kPa

\({P}_{s}\) :

Saturation pressure, kPa

\(q\) :

Instantaneous water vapor uptake, kg/kg

\({q}_{o}\) :

Equilibrium water vapor uptake, kg/kg

\({Q}_{st}\) :

Isosteric heat of adsorption, kJ/kg

\(\dot{Q}\) :

Heat transfer rate, kW

\(R\) :

Gas constant, kJ/kg-K

\(\overline{R }\) :

Universal gas constant, kJ/kmol-K

\({\overline{R} }_{p}\) :

Particle average radius, mm

\(t\) :

Time, s or min

\(T\) :

Temperature, °C or K

\(TC\) :

Thermal capacity, kJ/K

\(U\) :

Overall heat transfer coefficient, kW/m2-K

\(UA\) :

Overall heat transfer coefficient-area product, kW/K

\(z\) :

Compressibility factor,

α :

Dimensionless parameter defined by Eq. (3)

\(\beta\) :

Loading factor, –

\(\varphi\) :

Parameter defined by Eq. (5), kJ/kg

\({\varphi }_{m}\) :

Minimum potential energy, kJ/kg

\({\varphi }^{*}\) :

Parameter appears in Eq. (2), kPa

\({\eta }_{\mathrm{comb}}\) :

Combustion efficiency, –

\(\rho\) :

Density, kg/m3

\(\theta\) :

Floating variable,

\(1, 2,\dots\) :

State points

\(\mathrm{I},\mathrm{ II},\mathrm{III}\) :

Related to bed number

\(\mathrm{ads}\) :

Related adsorption process

\(\mathrm{b}\) :

Bed

\(\mathrm{cf}\) :

Cooling fluid

\(\mathrm{chw}\) :

Chilled water

\(\mathrm{cond}\) :

Condenser

\(\mathrm{cw}\) :

Cooling water

\(\mathrm{des}\) :

Related to desorption process

\(\mathrm{evap}\) :

Evaporator

\(\mathrm{ew}\) :

Evaporator water

\(\mathrm{hcycle}\) :

Half cycle

\(\mathrm{hf}\) :

Heating fluid

\(\mathrm{htf}\) :

Heat transfer fluid

\(\mathrm{in}\) :

Related to inlet flow stream

\(\mathrm{max}\) :

Maximum

\(\mathrm{out}\) :

Related to outlet flow stream

\(\mathrm{sg}\) :

Silica-gel

\(\mathrm{sgwb}\) :

Silica-gel/water bed

\(\mathrm{wl}\) :

Water liquid

\(\mathrm{wv}\) :

Water vapor

\(\mathrm{z}\) :

Zeolite

\(\mathrm{zwb}\) :

Zeolite/water bed

\(\mathrm{COP}\) :

Coefficient of performance, –

HR:

Heat recovery

HTF:

Heat transfer fluid

MR:

Mass recovery

PC:

Pre-cooling

PH:

Pre-heating

\(SCP\) :

Specific cooling power, W/kg

SGW:

Silica-gel/water

ZW:

Zeolite/water

\(\mathrm{COP}\) :

Coefficient of performance, –

HR:

Heat recovery

HTF:

Heat transfer fluid

MR:

Mass recovery

PC:

Pre-cooling

PH:

Pre-heating

\(SCP\) :

Specific cooling power, W/kg

SGW:

Silica-gel/water

ZW:

Zeolite/water

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support provided by King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) through the project DUP20101.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

    Muhammad H. Elbassoussi & Syed M. Zubair

  2. Researcher at K.A.CARE Energy Research & Innovation Center at Dhahran, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

    Syed M. Zubair

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Correspondence to Syed M. Zubair.

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Elbassoussi, M.H., Zubair, S.M. Performance Evaluation of a Cascading Adsorption Cooling System Using a Robust Numerical Model. Arab J Sci Eng 47, 16533–16550 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-022-07420-1

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