Experimental study of single bed prototype adsorption refrigeration unit using waste heat energy

Adsorption refrigeration has more potential to become an attractive technology due to use of low-grade thermal energy and environmentally friendly refrigerants. Ammonia-activated charcoal pair based prototype of single bed adsorption cooling system was presented and tested. The most extreme measure of adsorption capacity of ammonia was found to be 0.22 kg/kg of activated charcoal, in shell and tube type adsorption bed respectively. This experimentation indicates that the cooling limit ranges from of 46.38 to 50.67 W, and thus the results show that it achieves a COP of 0.0971 during a 62-minute total working cycle time under the condition of the temperature of hot fluid 120 °C, cooling fluid provided at the temperature of 30 °C, adsorption bed temperature of 40 °C and working pressure range up to 16 bar. The results have been represented by graphical relations. This unit of adsorption cooling is environment-friendly and has zero ozone depletion potential. The result indicated that the adsorption refrigeration system works effectively and is a better alternative to replacement for traditional refrigeration systems and the concept of a waste heat driven adsorption cooling system can be applied in the small cold storages.