Limits to the thermodynamic performance of a thermal wave adsorption cooling cycle

Abstract

Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 1-4 July, 2007.

A thermal wave cycle is one method to achieve thermal regeneration in an adsorption cooling cycle. A thermodynamic model is developed to define the performance limits to this cycle. A zeolite-water adsorbent-refrigerant pair with maximum bed temperatures ranging from 110 to 200oC is predicted to have a limiting COP of 1.7 to 3.6. Relative to an ideal simple adsorption cycle with no thermal regeneration, these results translate into the potential to reduce the driving heat transfer by ~ 70%. These reductions in the driving heat transfer are similar to those for a system with an infinite number of beds following the simple cycle with maximum thermal regeneration.