Modeling and simulation of an activated carbon–CO2 four bed based adsorption cooling system

Highlights: • A transient mathematical model of a 4-bed adsorption chiller is proposed. • The performances of the cyclic-steady-state system are presented for different heating and cooling water inlet temperatures. • The desorption pressure has a big influence in the performances. • With 80 kg of Maxsorb III, the CO2 based adsorption chiller produces 2 kW of cooling power and presents a COP of 0.1. - Abstract: In this study, a transient mathematical model of a 4-bed adsorption chiller using Maxsorb III as the adsorbent and CO2 as the refrigerant has been analyzed. The performances of the cyclic-steady-state system are presented for different heating and cooling water inlet temperatures. It is found that the desorption pressure has a big influence in the performances due to the low critical point of CO2 (Tc = 31 °C). With 80 kg of Maxsorb III, the CO2 based adsorption chiller produces 2 kW of cooling power and presents a COP of 0.1, at driving heat source temperature of 95 °C along with a cooling temperature of 27 °C and at optimum desorption pressure of 79 bar. The present thermal compression air-conditioning system could be driven with solar energy or waste heat from internal combustion engines and therefore is suitable for both residential and mobile air-conditioning applications