Experimental Assessment of a Continuously Operating Solar Vapour Adsorption Cooling System Operated with Composite adsorbent/ethanol as working pair

Adsorption cooling is a tried-and-true efficient heat conversion technology that can substantially reduce pollution while increasing energy efficiency. The conventional single-bed adsorption system for cooling purposes has a low efficiency because it is prone to intermittent cooling. Moreover, the adsorbent-adsorbate pair of typical adsorption system for cooling contributes significantly to its inefficiency. This study suggests a composite adsorbent that is synthesized by activated carbon as the parent element, with expanded natural graphite powder and metal-organic framework as secondary elements. In the composite, polyvinylpyrrolidone is the binder. The design, development, and performance study of the cooling system operated with activated carbon-ethanol as well as the composite adsorbent-ethanol has been examined. For experimental purposes, a two-bed adsorption system has been designed, operating with solar energy and a chilling capacity of 600 W. The performance of the system using the suggested working pair has been experimentally evaluated. It is found that coefficient of performance of the system is 0.54 at a desorption temperature 88°C. It has been observed that the COP of the system increases by 20.69% compared to the adsorption system that utilizes activated carbon-ethanol. The introduction of the composite adsorbent-adsorbate operating pair could greatly enhance the performance of adsorption cooling systems.