J ournal of E nvironment & R esearch VINANIE PUBLISHERS Development of equilibrium and dynamic models for an adsorption refrigeration system Anirban Sur, 1 Randip K. Das 2,* 1 Department of Mechanical Engg, Inderprasatha Engineering College, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India 2 Department of Mechanical Engg, Indian Institute of Technology (ISM) Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE A BSTRACT Adsorption refrigeration systems are thermally driven systems. Solar radiation, waste energy from heat engine can be used to power these systems. Theoretical study and simulation work of adsorption-based cooling systems require the knowledge about the adsorption pair characteristics and capacities at diferent conditions of working pressures and temperatures. After reviewing diferent parameters on which adsorption refrigeration performances are dependent, simple equilibrium and dynamic models are developed. These models can be used for generating simulation results of diferent combinations of adsorbate and adsorbent. Furthermore, some coefcients and parameters which are required for solving the governing equations and have been determined experimentally by diferent researchers for each combination of the adsorption pair are also included in the paper. The present model adopts the Dubinin-Astakhov adsorption equation, which has been used by diferent researchers in their study. KEYWORDS activated carbon–methanol; adsorption; dynamic model; equilibrium model; refrigeration 1 . INTRODUCTION The physical adsorption cooling system is similar to the basic vapour compression refrigeration setup, except that the power compressor in the former is replaced with a thermal compressor. This system consists of an adsorber/ desorber bed, a condenser and an evaporator along with heating and cooling arrangements. The adsorber bed is composed of solid adsorbent that has an ability to physically adsorb and desorb the refrigerant vapour. This system operates intermittently through four diferent and consecutive processes. These include: heating and pressurization process, constant pressure desorption process, cooling and depressurization process and constant pressure adsorption process. A basic adsorption cycle operates on the basis of the adsorption of a refrigerant vapour (adsorbate) into an adsorbent (solid matrix) at low pressure and the subsequent desorption at a high pressure by heating the adsorber bed. In the simplest case, an adsorption refrigerator can be considered to be an adsorber/ desorber bed connected with an evaporator and condenser through valves. Diferent processes of basic adsorption cycle are explained below. Process 1-2 (Heating and Pressurisation): The adsorber (adsorbent), flled with adsorbed refrigerant, is heated by an external heat source (Q H ) from an initial ambient temperature T 1 to a temperature T 2 . The valves are kept closed so that the adsorbed mass of refrigerant remains constant (x 1 ). The pressure of the adsorber bed increases from the point of evaporating pressure (P 1 = P E ) up to the condensing pressure (P 2 = P C ) while the adsorber temperature rises. This step is equivalent to the ‘compression’ in the vapour-compression cycle (Figure 1a). Process 2-3 (Desorption and Condensation): When pressure of the adsorber bed reaches the condenser pressure (P C ), the valve connecting the adsorber bed and the condenser is opened and the www.vinanie.com/jebr B iotechnology C orresponding author: R.K. Das Tel: +91-03262235479 Fax: +9103262296563 E. mail: ranadipdas69@gmail.com Received: 18-10-2016 Revised: 18-11-2016 Accepted: 30-11-2016 Available online: 01-01-2017 Journal of Environment and Biotechnology Research, Vol. 6, No. 1, Pages 64-81, 2017 64