Performance study of a four-bed silica gel-water adsorption chiller with the passive heat recovery scheme

Adsorption chiller technology is one of the effective means to convert waste thermal energy into effective cooling, which substantially improves energy efficiency and lowers environmental pollution. This paper uses an improved lump-parameter design model to theoretically and experimentally evaluate the efficacy of the passive heat recovery scheme as applied to a four-bed adsorption chiller. Results show that the model can accurately track the experimental temporal system outlet temperatures. The performance predictions from this model compare favourably with experimental results. At rated temperature conditions and over a wide range of cycle times, both the cooling capacity and COP can be predicted to within 12.5%. The analyses indicate that the model can be used confidently as a design tool for a four-bed adsorption chiller and the passive heat recovery scheme can effectively improve the system performance.