studies on cycle characteristics and application of split heat pipe adsorption ice maker

7
Studies on cycle characteristics and application of split heat pipe adsorption ice maker C.J. Chen, R.Z. Wang * , L.W. Wang, Z.S. Lu Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, PR China Received 9 October 2005; received in revised form 26 April 2006; accepted 29 October 2006 Available online 12 December 2006 Abstract A split heat pipe adsorption ice maker, which uses a solidified compound adsorbent (calcium chloride and activated carbon)-ammonia as working pair, is studied. The application of split heat pipe technology in this system (ice maker for fishing boat powered by waste heat of exhaust gases from diesel engine) solves the corrosion problem caused by using seawater to cool the adsorber directly. Therefore, the adsorbers can be cooled or heated by the working substance of the heat pipe in the adsorption or desorption state, respectively. There are two adsorbers in the adsorption ice maker, and each adsorber contains 2.35 kg compound adsorbent in which the mass of calcium chlo- ride is 1.88 kg. The mass transfer performance and volume cooling density of the chemical adsorbent are greatly improved by the use of the compound adsorbent. Water is chosen as the working substance of the heat pipe due to its high cooling power in comparison with the experiments performed using acetone as working substance. When the cycle time is 70 min, the average SCP of ice making is about 329.8–712.8 W/kg calcium chloride with heat and mass recovery, which is approximately 1.6–3.5 times that of the best results of a con- ventional chemical adsorption ice maker. Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Adsorption refrigerator; Heat pipe; Fishing boat; Ice maker 1. Introduction The application of adsorption refrigeration system in waste heat recovery is due to its advantages, such as less vibration, simple control, environmentally benign, lower operation costs and so on [1]. Lots of studies focus on the feasibility and development of the adsorption refriger- ation system for fish preservation in fishing boats [2–6]. An adsorption ice maker with activated carbon–methanol as working pair was designed by the research group of SJTU. The ice productivity is about 20 kg/h if it is pow- ered by waste heat at about 100 °C [6,7]. The adsorption refrigeration system studied in this paper employs a com- pound adsorbent-ammonia as working pair, which greatly improves the mass transfer performance and the volume cooling density of the chemical adsorbent [8]. Normally, corrosion occurs if the adsorber is cooled by seawater or heated by the exhaust gases directly. In order to solve this problem, a split heat pipe adsorption ice maker is designed and tested. This paper shows the system config- uration and also the experimental performances of the adsorption ice maker under several typical working conditions. 2. Split heat pipe adsorption ice maker 2.1. Structure of adsorbers The cross section of adsorbers (adsorber 1 and adsorber 2) is shown in Fig. 1. There are 19 adsorption unit tubes (shown as Fig. 2) in each adsorber. The adsorption unit tube is filled with compound adsorbent in the space between the fins of the finned tube. A thin wire mesh is adopted to wrap the finned tube to keep the compound adsorbent filled properly, and it is encircled firmly with a thicker one in 0196-8904/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2006.10.017 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 21 62933838; fax: +86 21 62933250. E-mail address: [email protected] (R.Z. Wang). www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 1106–1112

Upload: cj-chen

Post on 05-Sep-2016

214 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Studies on cycle characteristics and application of split heat pipe adsorption ice maker

www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 1106–1112

Studies on cycle characteristics and application of splitheat pipe adsorption ice maker

C.J. Chen, R.Z. Wang *, L.W. Wang, Z.S. Lu

Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, PR China

Received 9 October 2005; received in revised form 26 April 2006; accepted 29 October 2006Available online 12 December 2006

Abstract

A split heat pipe adsorption ice maker, which uses a solidified compound adsorbent (calcium chloride and activated carbon)-ammoniaas working pair, is studied. The application of split heat pipe technology in this system (ice maker for fishing boat powered by waste heatof exhaust gases from diesel engine) solves the corrosion problem caused by using seawater to cool the adsorber directly. Therefore, theadsorbers can be cooled or heated by the working substance of the heat pipe in the adsorption or desorption state, respectively. There aretwo adsorbers in the adsorption ice maker, and each adsorber contains 2.35 kg compound adsorbent in which the mass of calcium chlo-ride is 1.88 kg. The mass transfer performance and volume cooling density of the chemical adsorbent are greatly improved by the use ofthe compound adsorbent. Water is chosen as the working substance of the heat pipe due to its high cooling power in comparison with theexperiments performed using acetone as working substance. When the cycle time is 70 min, the average SCP of ice making is about329.8–712.8 W/kg calcium chloride with heat and mass recovery, which is approximately 1.6–3.5 times that of the best results of a con-ventional chemical adsorption ice maker.� 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Adsorption refrigerator; Heat pipe; Fishing boat; Ice maker

1. Introduction

The application of adsorption refrigeration system inwaste heat recovery is due to its advantages, such as lessvibration, simple control, environmentally benign, loweroperation costs and so on [1]. Lots of studies focus onthe feasibility and development of the adsorption refriger-ation system for fish preservation in fishing boats [2–6].An adsorption ice maker with activated carbon–methanolas working pair was designed by the research group ofSJTU. The ice productivity is about 20 kg/h if it is pow-ered by waste heat at about 100 �C [6,7]. The adsorptionrefrigeration system studied in this paper employs a com-pound adsorbent-ammonia as working pair, which greatlyimproves the mass transfer performance and the volumecooling density of the chemical adsorbent [8]. Normally,

0196-8904/$ - see front matter � 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2006.10.017

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 21 62933838; fax: +86 21 62933250.E-mail address: [email protected] (R.Z. Wang).

corrosion occurs if the adsorber is cooled by seawateror heated by the exhaust gases directly. In order to solvethis problem, a split heat pipe adsorption ice maker isdesigned and tested. This paper shows the system config-uration and also the experimental performances of theadsorption ice maker under several typical workingconditions.

2. Split heat pipe adsorption ice maker

2.1. Structure of adsorbers

The cross section of adsorbers (adsorber 1 and adsorber2) is shown in Fig. 1. There are 19 adsorption unit tubes(shown as Fig. 2) in each adsorber. The adsorption unittube is filled with compound adsorbent in the space betweenthe fins of the finned tube. A thin wire mesh is adopted towrap the finned tube to keep the compound adsorbent filledproperly, and it is encircled firmly with a thicker one in

Page 2: Studies on cycle characteristics and application of split heat pipe adsorption ice maker

Nomenclature

cH2O specific heat capacity of water (kJ/(kg �C))ci specific heat of ice (kJ/(kg �C))COP coefficient of performanceDt time variation (min)DTa temperature variation of adsorber (�C)Dx cycle adsorption quantity at fixed saturated tem-

perature (kg/kg)hfg latent heat of refrigerant at evaporating temper-

ature (kJ/kg)m mass of calcium chloride (kg)mi ice productivity (kg/h)q Average cooling power (kW)Qs volume cooling density (kJ/m3)rg latent heat of ice (kJ/kg)RT temperature variation rate of adsorber (�C/min)

Rx adsorption rate ((kg/kg)/min)SCP specific cooling power of calcium chloride (W/

kg)t cycle time (s)tH2O temperature of water (�C)ti temperature of ice (�C)Vcp volume of adsorbent and expansion space (m3)Vl evaporating volume of refrigerant (m3)w1 heating power (kW)w2 power of cooling water pump (kW)

Greek words

ql density of refrigerant at evaporating tempera-ture (kg/m3)

Fig. 1. Cross section of adsorbers.

Fig. 2. Adsorption unit tube after manufacturing.

C.J. Chen et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 1106–1112 1107

order to keep the shape of the adsorbent filled tube. Thesolidified compound adsorbent contains calcium chloride,activated carbon and a binder, and the mass ratio of cal-cium chloride to the other composition is about 4:1. Themass of compound adsorbent in each adsorber is 2.35 kg,which contains 1.88 kg calcium chloride.

2.2. Structure of the adsorption ice maker

As shown in Fig. 3, the split heat pipe adsorption refrig-eration system contains two adsorbers, two coil pipe cool-ers, one liquid pumping boiler, one heating boiler, one

condenser, one evaporator and so on. In the desorptionstate, the adsorption unit tubes in the adsorber act as thecondensing section of the heat pipe, and the heating boilerserves as the evaporating section of the heat pipe. Theworking substance of the heat pipe is heated by an electricheater and evaporates, and then the vapor flows through avapor channel pipe (Fig. 1) into the adsorption unit tubes.In the adsorber, the vapor condenses inside the adsorptionunit tubes to provide desorption heat. Finally, the con-densed liquid returns to the heating boiler to be heatedagain. In the adsorption state, the adsorption unit tubesin the adsorber are the evaporating section of the heat pipeand the coil pipe cooler forms the condensing section of theheat pipe. The working substance of the heat pipe evapo-rates inside the adsorption unit tubes, and therefore, theadsorber can be cooled indirectly by seawater when theevaporated vapor enters the coil pipe cooler and is cooledby seawater. Then, the condensed working substancereturns to the adsorber. In the process of heat recovery,the working substance evaporates in the desorption adsor-ber and then enters the adsorption adsorber to be con-densed. The condensed working substance flows backinto the desorption adsorber again. Thus, heat is takenfrom the desorption adsorber to the adsorption adsorberby the working substance of the heat pipe.

The refrigeration process can be achieved continuouslyby switching the two adsorbers alternately to be connectedto the evaporator or condenser. Supposing adsorber 1 isadsorbing and adsorber 2 is desorbing, valves G and Kare open while valve E is closed. The working substanceevaporates in adsorber 1 and condenses in coil pipe cooler1. The liquid working substance returns to adsorber 1 viavalve G. Then, valve A4 is opened so the evaporator is con-nected to adsorber 1 so that the adsorbent in adsorber 1can adsorb refrigerant from the evaporator. At the sametime, valves D, F, A and A2 are opened, and thus, theadsorber 2 is heated by the heating boiler. So, the desorbed

Page 3: Studies on cycle characteristics and application of split heat pipe adsorption ice maker

A5

M

LK

JI

HG

FE

D

C

BA

A4

A3

A2

A1

2423

22

21

2019181716151413

12

11

10

9

8

7

6 5 4 3 2 1

P

T

T

TT

T

T

P

T

T

G

G

T

T

T

P

T

G

T

T

L

a b

Fig. 3. Split heat pipe adsorption refrigeration system: (a) Scheme of the adsorption system and (b) picture of the adsorption system. 1—Liquid pumpingboiler, 2—water drain bolt, 3—electric heater, 4—heating boiler, 5—temperature sensor, 6—evaporator, 7—adsorber 2, 8—adsorber 1, 9—megnetostrictive level sensor, 10—ammonia valve, 11—condenser, 12—relief valve, 13—pressure gauge, 14—vapor valve for heat pipe, 15—coil pipe cooler, 16—filler, 17—screw interface, 18—flow sensor, 19—water pump, 20—water valve, 21—pressure sensor, 22—liquid valve for heat pipe, 23—pumping tube,24—pressure balance pipe for boilers.

1108 C.J. Chen et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 1106–1112

refrigerant flows into the condenser via valve A2 and iscooled by the cooling water. After the cycle, valves G, K,A4, D, F, A and A2 are closed. Then, valve A5 is opened,and the liquid refrigerant in the condenser enters the evap-orator. Then, valve A5 is closed, and mass recovery pro-ceeds between the two adsorbers through valves A2 andA3. After the mass recovery, valves A2 and A3 are closed,and heat recovery is accomplished while opening valves C,F, I, J, G, H, K and L. Afterwards, adsorber 1 will switchinto the desorption state, and adsorber 2 will change intothe adsorption state.

3. Characteristics of the adsorption cycle

3.1. Computation of parameters

The electric heater in the heating boiler is adopted toheat the working substance of the heat pipe instead ofusing waste heat from the diesel engine in the experiments.The heating power is set by a voltage regulating trans-

Table 1The accuracy of all the measurement sensors

Parameters Sensor t

Cooling water temperature Pt100 (4Adsorber temperature Pt100 (4Pressure in the adsorber ResistanLiquid level of the refrigerant in the evaporator MagnetoTemperature of the refrigerant in the evaporator Pt100,WTemperature of working substance of the heat pipe Pt100 (4

former. The evaporating temperature can be controlledby a low temperature thermostat, while the cooling watertemperature is controlled by another thermostat. Theliquid level of refrigerant in the evaporator is measuredby a magneto-strictive level sensor. Table 1 shows the accu-racy of all the measurement sensors.

Seven parameters, average cooling power, COP, SCP,ice productivity, volume cooling density, adsorption rateand temperature variation rate of the adsorber, are com-puted from the data of the experiments.

(1) Average cooling power

q ¼ hfg � ql � V l

tð1Þ

where q (kW) is the average cooling power, hfg (kJ/kg) islatent heat of refrigerant at the evaporating temperature,ql (kg/m3) is density of refrigerant at the evaporating tem-perature, Vl (m3) is evaporating volume of refrigerant and t

(s) is the cycle time. According to Table 1, a platinum resis-

ype Accuracy

-wire) ±0.15 �C-wire) ±0.15 �Cce pressure sensor ±1.5%-strictive level sensor KYCM-FM2450-0300P ±0.05%ZPK-235S ±0.15 �C-wire) ±0.15 �C

Page 4: Studies on cycle characteristics and application of split heat pipe adsorption ice maker

C.J. Chen et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 1106–1112 1109

tance thermometer was used to measure the temperature ofthe refrigerant, and the measuring error of temperature is0.15 �C. The relative error of the magneto-strictive levelsensor is 0.05%. The measuring error of time, which is col-lected by the data collector, is only about 0.036 s. The max-imum relative error of the cooling power, which iscomputed by using the measuring errors of temperature, li-quid level of the refrigerant and time, is only about 2.2%.

(2) COP

COP ¼ qw1 þ w2

ð2Þ

where COP is the coefficient of performance, w1 (kW) is theheating power and w2 (kW) is the power of the coolingwater pump. Here, w2 is so small that it is always neglectedin the computation.

(3) SCP

SCP ¼ 1000qm

ð3Þ

where SCP (W/kg) is the specific cooling power of calciumchloride as calcium chloride is the main contributor for theice maker and m (1.88 kg) is the mass of calcium chloride ineach adsorber.

(4) Ice productivity

mi ¼q� t

cH2O � ðtH2O � 0Þ þ ci � ð0� tiÞ þ rg

ð4Þ

where mi (kg/h) is ice productivity, tH2O (20 �C) is temper-ature of water, ti (�5 �C) is temperature of ice, cH2O (kJ/(kg �C)) is specific heat capacity of water, ci (kJ/(kg �C))is specific heat of ice and rg (kJ/kg) is the latent heat of ice.

(5) Volume cooling density

Qs ¼Dx� m� hfg

V cp

ð5Þ

where Qs (kJ/m3) is the volume cooling density, Dx (kg/kg)is the cycle adsorption quantity at the fixed saturated tem-perature and Vcp (4.37 · 10�3 m3) is the volume of adsor-bent and the expansion space.

(6) Adsorption rate

Rx ¼DxDt

ð6Þ

where Rx ((kg/kg)/min) is the adsorption rate and Dt (min)is time variation.

Table 2Cooling power of the adsorption system under different cycle times

Workingsubstance

Cycle time(min)

Heating power(kW)

Cooling watertemperature (�C)

Acetone 50 3.88 2060 3.88 2070 3.88 1580 3.04 15

Water 50 3.88 1860 3.88 1770 3.88 1780 3.88 18

(7) Temperature variation rate of the adsorber

RT ¼DT a

Dtð7Þ

where RT (�C/min) is the temperature variation rate of theadsorber and DTa (�C) is the temperature variation of theadsorber.

3.2. Choices of working substance of heat pipe and the

optimal cycle time

The adsorber of the split heat pipe adsorption refrigera-tion system is heated by the heating boiler in the desorptionstate, and the desorption temperature is smaller than140 �C. In the adsorption state, the cooling water tempera-ture varies from 15 �C to 30 �C. Water or acetone is theappropriate working substance of a heat pipe under theseworking conditions. Both water and acetone can work sta-bly in the adsorption refrigeration system.

Mass recovery is adopted in the experiments as a massrecovery cycle will enlarge the desorption quantity of theadsorber and the cyclic mass of refrigerant. The massrecovery cycle is practically suitable for low generationtemperatures or low evaporation temperatures, and theincreased COP is in the range of 10–100% [9]. The COPis greatly increased via the process of mass recovery, whilethe operation for mass recovery can be easily achieved. Atthe beginning of a new cycle, valves A2 and A3 (Fig. 3) areopened so that the refrigerant vapor transfers from thedesorption adsorber to the adsorption adsorber due tothe differential pressure.

The typical ice making condition is 3.88 kW or 3.04 kWheating power, 20 �C cooling water temperature and�20 �C evaporating temperature. The performances ofthe adsorption system that use water and acetone as work-ing substance, respectively, under different cycle times arestudied. The results are given in Table 2.

As is seen in Table 2, the cooling power of the adsorptionsystem using water as working substance is greater than thatof the adsorption system that uses acetone as working sub-stance. When the cycle time is 70 min, the cooling power ofthe adsorption system reaches a maximum. Accordingly,70 min is chosen as the optimal cycle time under the icemaking working condition. The maximum cooling power

Mass recoverytime (s)

Evaporatingtemperature (�C)

Cooling power(kW)

40 �19 0.4440 �15 0.5020 �19 0.5840 �15 0.47

40 �15 0.6040 �15 0.8240 �17 1.1940 �17 1.10

Page 5: Studies on cycle characteristics and application of split heat pipe adsorption ice maker

-4

0

4

8

12

16

30 60 90 120

T/(oC)

/(o C

/min

)

Basic cycle

Heat and massrecovery cycle

12

RT

Fig. 4. RT variations temperature of adsorption adsorber.

1110 C.J. Chen et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 1106–1112

of the adsorption system using acetone is about 0.58 kWwith the corresponding COP and SCP of 0.17 and308.5 W/kg, respectively. The maximum cooling power ofthe adsorption system using water is 1.19 kW with the cor-responding COP and SCP of 0.35 and 633.0 W/kg, whichare 2 and 2.1 times greater than that of the adsorption sys-tem using acetone, respectively. Compared with acetone,water is more suitable as the working substance of the heatpipe when the cycle time is about 70 min. So, the followingstudies focus on the adsorption system with water as theworking substance of the heat pipe.

3.3. Influence of cooling water temperature

During the fishing period, the temperature of seawatermay vary from 15 to 30 �C. It is necessary to study theinfluence of cooling water temperature on the performanceof the adsorption system. The working condition is3.88 kW heating power, 70 min cycle time, 40 s mass recov-ery time and 2 min heat recovery time. The performance ofthe system under different cooling water temperature isshown in Table 3.

The average SCP of the system is 521.3 W/kg when thecooling water temperature is 25 �C, while the SCP is329.8 W/kg at the cooling water temperature of 30 �C,which is reduced by 36.7%. The results show that the tem-perature of seawater has a great influence on the perfor-mance of the system.

3.4. Comparison of basic cycle and cycle with heat and massrecovery

A heat recovery cycle can shorten the cycle time andincrease the SCP and COP [9], but if time for heat recoveryis increased in order to get more heat recovered, the perfor-mance of the system may drop, specially for SCP [10]. In agood design of adsorption refrigeration system, the major-ity of the heat quantity can be recovered if the process ofheat recovery lasts about 3 min [11].

The mass recovery cycle can increase the cyclic refriger-ant obviously, so the cooling power and COP of theadsorption system can be increased significantly too. Ingeneral, the mass recovery process usually arises before aheat recovery process [9]. In order to show the effect ofmass recovery clearly, the mass recovery process is oper-ated in the experiments.

The following studies focus on the comparison of thebasic cycle and the cycle with heat and mass recovery.The working condition is 3.88 kW heating power, 30 �C

Table 3Influence of cooling water temperature on the performance of the system

Cooling watertemperature (�C)

Evaporatingtemperature (�C)

Cooling power(kW)

Ic(k

16 �17 1.34 125 �13 0.98 830 �16 0.62 5

cooling water, �16 �C evaporating temperature, 70 mincycle time, 2 min heat recovery and 40 s mass recovery.

3.4.1. Studies on non-equilibrium performance of the system

As is presented in Fig. 4, the temperature variation rateRT of the heat and mass recovery cycle is smaller than thatof the basic cycle at the beginning of the adsorption state.The reason is that in the heat recovery process, heat trans-fer occurs between the two adsorbers by circulation of theworking substances, whereas the adsorber is cooled directlyby the cooling water in a basic cycle system.

As time goes on, heat is quickly transferred from oneadsorber to another by the evaporation and condensationof the working substance in the process of heat recovery.So, the coefficient of heat transfer is greatly increased,and the accumulating heat quantity of the desorptionadsorber can be taken away by the working substancepromptly. As a result, the temperature of the adsorberdrops rapidly, so RT of the mass and heat recovery cycleis increased gradually and reaches a maximum of11.9 �C/min, whereas RT of the basic cycle is decreaseddue to the heat capacity of the metallic adsorber.

In the adsorption state, the RT drop is caused by the dis-sipation of adsorption heat. Points 1 and 2, shown inFig. 4, explain that the temperature of the adsorber isincreased in the adsorption process. This phenomenon iscaused by dissipation of a great deal of adsorption heat,and it also shows that the adsorbent has adsorbed lots ofrefrigerant. At the temperature of 64 �C, the adsorber withheat and mass recovery begins to adsorb much refrigerant,while the adsorber of the basic cycle starts at 57 �C. It canbe observed that the heat and mass recovery cycle canimprove the performance of the system greatly.

Figs. 5 and 6 have shown, respectively, that the adsorp-tion rate (Rx) varies with time and temperature of theadsorption adsorber. At the beginning of the adsorptionprocess, the adsorber is cooled and the adsorption valve

e productivityg/h)

Volume cooling density(· 105 kJ/m3)

SCP(W/kg)

COP

1.2 3.82 712.8 0.35.2 2.67 521.3 0.25.2 1.80 329.8 0.16

Page 6: Studies on cycle characteristics and application of split heat pipe adsorption ice maker

4.5

5.5

6.5

7.5

-0.0032 -0.003 -0.0028 -0.0026 -0.0024

(-1/T) /(-1/K)

lnp/

kPa

Basic cycle Heat and mass recovery cycle

Fig. 7. Clausius–Clapeyron diagram.

0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500t/s

/((k

g/kg

)/m

in)

Heat and massrecovery cycle

Basic cycle

Rx

Fig. 5. Rx variations adsorption time.

T/(oC)

0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

35 55 75 95 115

((kg

/kg)

/min

) Heat and massrecovery cycle

Basic cycle

Rx

Fig. 6. Rx variations temperature of adsorption adsorber.

C.J. Chen et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 1106–1112 1111

(A1, A4 in Fig. 3) is closed, so Rx is 0 (kg/kg)/min. After5 min, the temperature of the adsorber is 64 �C, and Rx isabout 0.016 (kg/kg)/min in the heat and mass recoverycycle, while the temperature of the adsorber is 57 �C andRx reaches about 0.008 (kg/kg)/min after 12 min in the basiccycle. The changing tendency of Rx agrees well with thechange of RT in Fig. 4. The average Rx of the heat and massrecovery cycle is about 0.023 (kg/kg)/min, while the averageRx of the basic cycle is about 0.007 (kg/kg)/min. The resultsshow that the cooling power of the mass and heat recoverycycle is greater than that of the basic cycle.

3.4.2. Clausius–Clapeyron diagram

The Clausius–Clapeyron diagram of the basic cycle andthe heat and mass recovery cycle is shown in Fig. 7. In theadsorption state, the adsorption pressure of the heat andmass recovery cycle is smaller than the adsorption pressureof the basic cycle. As is seen in Fig. 7, the area of the heatand mass recovery cycle formed by P–T is larger than thatof the basic cycle. The heat and mass recovery cycle canimprove the thermal completeness degree of the systemand also increase the cooling power.

Table 4Performance of other adsorption refrigeration systems

Source of the data Working pair System featu

Ref. [12] Silica gel–water Two beds adSilica–expanded graphite EnhancemenZeolite–water Adsorption aZeolite–water Zeolite coateMonolithic carbon–ammonia Multi-bed re

Ref. [13] Activated carbon–methanol Heat and ma

The cooling power of the basic cycle is 0.48 kW with thecorresponding COP and SCP of 0.12 and 255.3 W/kg,while the cooling power of the heat and mass recovery cycleis 0.62 kW with the corresponding COP and SCP of 0.16and 329.8 W/kg. The cooling power, COP and SCP areimproved by 29.2%, 33.3% and 29.2%, respectively, withthe heat and mass recovery cycle.

3.5. Comparison of split heat pipe adsorption refrigeration

system and other adsorption systems

The performance of other adsorption refrigeration sys-tems is shown in Table 4. The SCP obtained by experi-ments is smaller than 200 W/kg (in Table 4), while theSCP of the split heat pipe adsorption ice maker is about329.8–712.8 W/kg, which is approximately 1.6–3.5 timesthat of the other experimental achievements of ice makers.When the cooling power required is fixed, the adsorber canbe more compact due to the high SCP of the system.

4. Conclusions

A split heat pipe adsorption ice maker is designed. Theadsorption system that uses the compound adsorbent (cal-cium chloride and activated carbon)-ammonia as workingpair can be driven by the waste heat of a diesel engine.The mass transfer performance and the volume coolingdensity of the chemical adsorbent are greatly improvedby the use of the compound adsorbent, and the corrosioncaused by using seawater to cool the adsorber directlycan be solved by application of the split heat pipe technol-ogy. The performance of the adsorption ice maker is stud-ied and several conclusions are achieved.

re SCP (W/kg) Type of the data

sorption chiller 190 Experimentst of heat and mass transfer 40 Experimentsir conditioner 36 Experimentsd tubes 600 Simulationgenerative adsorption cycle 180 Simulation

ss recovery cycle 16.1 Experiments

Page 7: Studies on cycle characteristics and application of split heat pipe adsorption ice maker

1112 C.J. Chen et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 1106–1112

(1) When the cycle time is 70 min, the cooling power ofthe adsorption system reaches a maximum. Undertypical ice making conditions (20 �C cooling water tem-perature and �20 �C evaporating temperature), themaximum cooling power of an adsorption system usingacetone as working substance is about 0.58 kW with thecorresponding COP and SCP of 0.17 and 308.5 W/kg,respectively, while the maximum cooling power of anadsorption system using water as working substance is1.19 kW with the corresponding COP and SCP of 0.35and 633.0 W/kg, respectively, which are 2 and 2.1 timesgreater than that of the adsorption system using acetoneas the heat pipe medium, respectively. Compared withacetone, water is more suitable as the working substanceof the heat pipe for this system.(2) When the cooling water temperature varies from16 �C to 30 �C, the SCP of the system varies from329.8 W/kg to 712.8 W/kg. The results show that thetemperature of seawater has a great influence on the per-formance of the system.(3) The cooling power, COP and SCP are improved by29.2%, 33.3% and 29.2%, respectively, with heat andmass recovery. The average Rx of the mass and heatrecovery cycle is about 0.023 (kg/kg)/min, while theaverage Rx of the basic cycle is about 0.007 (kg/kg)/min. The results show that the mass and heat recoverycycle can improve the thermal completeness degree ofthe system and also increase the cooling power.(4) The SCP obtained by experiments is normally smal-ler than 200 W/kg in the literatures, but the SCP of thissplit heat pipe adsorption ice maker is about 329.8–712.8 W/kg, which is approximately 1.6–3.5 times thatof the published data. Because of the high SCP of theadsorption system, the adsorption system can be madecompactly.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Science Fundfor Distinguished Young Scholars of China under contract

No. 50225621, Shanghai Shuguang Training Program forthe Talents under contract No. 02GG03 and the NaturalScience Fund of Shanghai City under contract No.05ZR14072. The authors thank Mr. Xu YX, Dr. Xia ZZand Mr. Sun YK for their helps to install the experimentalsetup.

References

[1] Wang RZ, Oliveira RG. Adsorption refrigeration—an efficient way tomake good use of waste heat and solar energy. In: Internationalsorption heat pump conference, June 22–24, 2005, Denver, CO, USA,ISHPC-101K-2005.

[2] Wang SG, Wang RZ. Recent development of refrigeration technol-ogy in fishing vessels. Renew Energy 2005;30(4):589–600.

[3] Wang DC, Wu JY. Influence of intermittent heat source onadsorption ice maker using waste heat. Energy Convers Manage2005;46(6):985–98.

[4] Niemann M, Kreuzburg J, Schreitmuller KR, Leppers L. Solarprocess heat generation using an ETC collector field with externalparabolic circle concentrator (PCC) to operate an adsorptionrefrigeration system. Solar Energy 1997;59(1–3):67–73.

[5] Tamainot-Telto Z, Critoph RE. Adsorption refrigerator usingmonolithic carbon–ammonia pair. Int J Refrig 1997;20(2): 146–55.

[6] Wang LW, Wang RZ, Wu JY, et al. Design, simulation andperformance of a waste heat driven adsorption ice maker for fishingboat. Energy 2006;31(2–3):244–59.

[7] Wang LW, Wu JY, Wang RZ, et al. Study of the performance ofactivated carbon-methanol adsorption systems concerning heat andmass transfer. Appl Therm Eng 2003;23(13):1605–17.

[8] Wang LW, Wang RZ, Wu JY, et al. Adsorption ice maker for fishingboats driven by exhaust heat from diesel engine: choice of adsorptionpair. Energy Convers Manage 2004;45(13–14):2043–57.

[9] Wang RZ. Performance improvement of adsorption cooling by heatand mass recovery operation. Int J Refrig 2001;24(7):602–11.

[10] Wang RZ, Wu JY, Wang W, et al. Adsorption refrigeration. Bei-jing: China Machine Press; 2002. p. 114–5.

[11] Wu JY, Xu YX, Wang RZ, et al. Analysis on the effect of the heatcapacity of adsorber material on COP in adsorption refrigerationsystem. Chin J Eng Thermophys 1998;19(5):549–52.

[12] Critoph RE, Metcalf SJ. Specific cooling power intensification limitsin ammonia–carbon adsorption refrigeration system. Appl ThermEng 2004;24(5-6):661–78.

[13] Wang LW, Wu JY, Wang RZ, et al. Studies on the characteristic ofadsorption cycle of adsorption ice maker with activated carbon-methanol as working pair. Chin J Eng Thermophys 2004;25(2):208–10.