Performance Evaluation of a Single-Stage Two-Bed Adsorption Chiller With Desalination Function

Abstract

Energy efficiency is one of the most important topics nowadays. It is strictly related to the problem of energy demand, energy policy, environmental pollution, and economic issues. Because of the technological development, using more advanced processes in almost every part of industry and increasing demands both for a high standard of living and simplification of processes, the energy demand is growing. This can be observed, e.g., in the building sector—air conditioning is present in almost every new building and people expect high quality thermal conditions. At the same time, many technological processes result in dissipating energy to the environment. Energy efficiency can be increased and operation costs reduced by using waste heat in other processes. One of the possibilities is to use sorption chillers to produce cool and desalinated water. Low temperature waste heat is not easy to utilize because of low energy potential. Using adsorption chillers in low temperature conditions allows utilizing waste heat and producing useful products in many regions of the world. The paper presents the results of experimental study carried out on three-bed adsorption chiller with desalination, using silica gel and water as the working pair. The chiller was equipped with plate-fin tube heat exchanger filled with silica gel with a grain size of 0.5–1.5 mm. The laboratory test stand included one evaporator, one condenser, and three separate tanks for water, desalinated water, and brine, respectively. The test stand scheme and description were presented. All results were obtained during a few hours test with stable temperature conditions in the range of 55–85 °C for the heating water.