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Frontiers in Energy

ISSN 2095-1701

ISSN 2095-1698(Online)

CN 11-6017/TK

Postal Subscription Code 80-972

2018 Impact Factor: 1.701

Front. Energy    2020, Vol. 14 Issue (2) : 328-336    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-019-0623-1
RESEARCH ARTICLE
A small-scale silica gel-water adsorption system for domestic air conditioning and water heating by the recovery of solar energy
Y. YU, Q. W. PAN(), L. W. WANG
Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
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Abstract

A small-scale silica gel-water adsorption system with modular adsorber, which utilizes solar energy to achieve the cogeneration of domestic air conditioning and water heating effect, is proposed and investigated in this paper. A heat recovery process between two adsorbers and a mass recovery process between two evaporators are adopted to improve the overall cooling and heating performance. First, the adsorption system is tested under different modes (different mass recovery, heat recovery, and cogeneration time) to determine the optimal operating conditions. Then, the cogeneration performance of domestic cooling and water heating effect is studied at different heat transfer fluid temperatures. The results show that the optimal time for cogeneration, mass recovery, and heat recovery are 600 s, 40 s, and 40 s, respectively. When the inlet temperature of hot water is around 85°C, the largest cooling power and heating power are 8.25 kW and 21.94 kW, respectively. Under the condition of cooling water temperature of 35°C, the obtained maximum COPc, COPh, and SCP of the system are 0.59, 1.39, and 184.5 W/kg, respectively.

Keywords silica gel-water      heat and mass recovery      solar energy      domestic cooling and heating     
Corresponding Author(s): Q. W. PAN   
Online First Date: 07 May 2019    Issue Date: 22 June 2020
 Cite this article:   
Y. YU,Q. W. PAN,L. W. WANG. A small-scale silica gel-water adsorption system for domestic air conditioning and water heating by the recovery of solar energy[J]. Front. Energy, 2020, 14(2): 328-336.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/10.1007/s11708-019-0623-1
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/Y2020/V14/I2/328
Fig.1  Adsorption system for residential cooling and heating applications
Fig.2  Schematic diagram of adsorption chiller
Fig.3  Photo of experimental system
Fig.4  Structure of modular adsorber
Fig.5  Variation of heating, cooling, and chilling temperature
Fig.6  Temperature profiles of chilled water at different mass recovery times
Fig.7  Effect of mass recovery time on system performance
Fig.8  Temperature difference between LOTHW and HOTCW at different heat recovery times
tco/s Qc/kW Qh/kW COPc COPh SCP/(W·kg-1)
500 7.34 24.72 0.38 1.28 163.06
600 7.55 18.70 0.60 1.48 167.89
700 7.64 20.27 0.53 1.41 169.68
Tab.1  Effect of cogeneration time on system performance
Tcw, in/°C qcw/(m3·h-1) qhw/(m3·h-1) qci(m3·h-1) Qc/kW Qh/kW COPc COPh SCP/(W·kg-1)
30 5.7 4.2 1.6 7.22 20.79 0.38 1.11 160.37
32 5.9 4.2 1.6 8.25 21.94 0.41 1.08 183.22
35 5.9 4.2 1.6 6.86 17.73 0.38 0.97 152.43
Tab.2  Effect of Tcw, in on system performance at Thw, in = 85°C
Fig.9  Effect of inlet temperature of hot water on system performance under Tcw, in = 30°C
Fig.10  Cogeneration performance at Tcw, in>35°C
C Specific heat/(kJ·kg-1·K-1)
M Mass/kg
Q Power/kW
q Volume flux/(m3·s-1)
T Temperature/°C
t Time/s
R Density/(kg·m-3)
Subscripts
ad Adsorbent
c Cooling
ci Chilled water
co Cogeneration
cw Cooling water
h Heating
hr Heat recovery
hw Hot water
i Input
in Inlet
mr Mass recovery
out Outlet
Abbreviations
A Adsorber
C Condenser
E Evaporator
COP Coefficient of performance
COPc Coefficient of performance for cooling
COPh Coefficient of performance for heating
HOTCW Highest outlet temperature of cooling water
LOTHW Lowest outlet temperature of hot water
SCP Specific cooling power/(W kg-1)
V Valve
  
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