Modelling and experimental investigation of an adsorption chiller using low-temperature heat from cogeneration

Adsorption technology enables construction of chillers that can be driven with a low temperature cogeneration, solar or waste heat source. As compared with absorption chillers, the adsorption devices have the unique advantages like the utilization of heat source characterized by lower temperature. The paper presents the thermodynamic model of a three-bed adsorption chiller of a cooling capacity equal to 90 kW. The chiller has been commissioned at Wrocław Technology Park and is instrumented in a way allowing a full identification of important thermodynamic and operational parameters like COP (coefficient of performance), switching time, temperatures and pressures of adsorption and desorption processes as well as water condensation. The chiller provides cooling power at two temperature levels of about 13 and 8 °C. Experimental results of a long-term chiller investigation are presented. The dependence of the chiller COP on the adsorption bed regeneration temperature in the range from 45 °C to 70 °C has been identified. It has been demonstrated that the chiller can be driven with a hot water of 65 °C, what is a typical cogeneration heating temperature in distributed systems. It allows the utilization of cogeneration heat in trigeneration mode, what is especially important for distributed heating systems in summer time. - Highlights: • The 90 kW silica gel-water, three-bed adsorption chiller was examined in a various range of parameters sets. • The chiller COP was compared with a theoretical COP evaluated from a mathematical model. • The chiller achieved a thermal COP greater than 0.6 driven by hot water which temperature was lower than 65 °C.