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Sustainable development policy focuses on reducing the carbon footprint generated by the global industry and energy sector. Replacing conventional energy sources with environmentally friendly ones requires advanced research to increase energy efficiency and reduce the instability and intermittence of renewable sources. Moreover, adsorption chillers are an opportunity to introduce net-zero emission technologies to the refrigeration, air-conditioning, and desalination industries. Adsorption devices could be popularized if a method of effective heat transfer in the volume of the adsorption bed is developed. The innovative concept of introducing fluidized beds into the adsorption system can achieve the most promising results in improving energy efficiency. To confirm the adopted assumption, heat transfer coefficient calculations for the packed and fluidized bed were carried out in this paper based on experimental tests and literature data. The empirical research aims to extend the fundamental knowledge in the implementation of fluidization under low-pressure conditions, characteristic of the adsorption systems' working cycle. Experiments were conducted on a unique test stand equipped with the Intensified Heat Transfer Adsorption Bed (IHTAB) reactor prototype. Five adsorption bed samples were analyzed. The reference sample consisted only of silica gel, and the subsequent ones contained aluminum or carbon nanotubes with 5 and 10% additions. In the case of samples with admixtures, the fluidized state increased the heat transfer coefficient on average from approx. 36.9 W/m2 K to approx. 245.4 W/m2 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an innovative concept of the fluidization of an adsorption bed carried out under low-pressure conditions. Additionally, different bed mixes were used to test the effects of the bed composition on fluidization. Fluidization was caused by the pressure difference and the velocity of the flowing water vapor. These features make the research presented in this article significantly different from other studies known in the literature and constitute the main novelty of the paper. Silica gel with a particle diameter of 200–250 µm (Geldart group B) with aluminum and carbon nanotube additives was fluidized under reduced pressure (10–25 mbar). The pressure difference results in the flow of water vapor and, consequently, induces fluidization. The pressure in the evaporator was approx. 10 mbar, while in the reaction chamber it was approx. 25 mbar. The pressure difference of about 10–15 mbar allows for a flow of water vapor between the evaporator and the reaction chamber. During the tests, the pressures, temperatures and mass were measured. The pressure drop in the bed was closely related to the mass change in the fluidized bed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main disadvantages of conventional fixed-bed adsorption chillers is the low coefficient of performance due to the high voidage of the sorbent beds. The common method, which can help to handle this problem, is modifying the beds' design, including the application of fluidization. An innovative idea, shown in the article, constitutes in the use of the fluidized bed of sorbent, instead of the conventional, fixed-bed, commonly used nowadays in the adsorption chillers. Bed-to-wall heat transfer coefficients for fixed and fluidized beds of adsorbent are determined in the study. Effects of Sorbent particles diameters and velocities of fluidizing gas are discussed in the study. The calculations confirmed that the bed-to-wall heat transfer coefficient in the fluidized bed of adsorbent is much higher than that in a conventional bed. The proposed idea allows significantly reducing the size of a chiller and overcome the main reason for the limited dissemination of the adsorption cooling technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a study of the effect of metal particle and carbon nanotube additives on the thermal diffusivity of a silica-gel-based adsorption bed of an adsorption chiller. The structural properties of silica gel and carbon nanotubes were investigated using the volumetric method of low-pressure nitrogen adsorption. Thermal characteristic tests of the prepared mixtures based on a silica gel with 5 wt% and 15 wt% of aluminum, copper, or carbon nanotubes were carried out. The obtained results show that all the materials used as additives in blends in this study achieved higher thermal diffusivities in comparison with the thermal diffusivity of the parent silica gel. However, the best effect was observed for the mixture with 15 wt% aluminum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]