Simulation Performance of a Solar Powered Double Bed Novel Composite Adsorbent Water Adsorption Chiller with Thermal Storage

Building energy efficiency and sustainability has played a major role in battling global warming. The energy consumed on cooling system represented about 30% of total energy consumption for building located under subtropical climate. The vapor compression chiller is the most commonly used technology for cooling generation but it consumes large amount of electricity. Adsorption chiller utilizing renewable or waste heat as the driving energy is an attractive alternative to vapor compression system. This paper simulated the performance of pairing three different types of solar collectors (flat plate, evacuated tube and parabolic trough) with a double bed adsorption chiller. The modeled chiller applied a novel composite adsorbent, a mixture of activated carbon, silica gel and calcium chloride. The mathematical model for the solar collectors, hot water thermal storage tank, adsorbent bed, evaporator and condenser were solved. The optimization of the thermal storage system and the overall system control is the critical next step for this application to be succeeded.