Energy, Vol.114, 10-23, 2016
Novel process for performance enhancement of a solar continuous adsorption cooling system
Adsorption cooling is regarded as one of promising clean technologies since it constitutes a rational way for the use of low-grade thermal energy (industrial waste, excess production, etc.) and renewable energy sources. The current paper provides fresh ideas on the relevant issues associated with the intermittence and low performance, which are considered among the main drawbacks of solar-driven adsorption cooling systems. Its primary aim is to design and analyze a solar continuous adsorption cooling System whose design consists mainly of combining a two-tank thermal energy storage system with two adsorbent beds. The operating process is based on storage of excess thermal energy, supplied by means of a solar parabolic trough concentrator, and on its subsequent recovery for producing an additional amount of cold. The simulation results indicate that under the system conditions (design, working and weather), the solar coefficient of performance and daily cooling production are considerably improved when a latent heat storage unit is integrated with the system. The study reveals also that, thanks to thiS novel process, the number of refrigeration cycles achieved per day could be significantly increased, which means that the intermittence disadvantage could widely be overcome. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Thermal energy storage;Solar parabolic trough collector;Cooling;Adsorption;Continuous cycle;Modeling