Numerical simulation of heat transfer enhancement effect in adsorbent bed on the performance of adsorption system

During the past few decades، growing global concern about environmental problems، caused by widespread use of fossil fuels، attracts more research attention toward adsorption systems technology. However، one of the main problems of these systems is the poor heat transfer rate in adsorbent bed due to its low thermal conductivity. In the present study، extended surfaces and metal piece additives are applied to the adsorbent bed in order to numerically investigate the effect of heat transfer enhancement on the adsorption system performance. Employing metal pieces increases effective thermal conductivity of the bed by at least 100%. Results indicate that decreasing fin space and fin height and adding metal pieces to the adsorbent bed reduce the cycle time which finally improves the system specific cooling power. However، it is worth mentioning that the effect of metal piece additives on the cycle time reduction and specific cooling power improvement decreases at smaller fin spaces. Moreover، results show that the increase of fin height improves the coefficient of performance while decreases the specific cooling power of the system. On the contrary، the reduction of fin space simultaneously increases the coefficient of performance and the specific cooling power of the adsorption system.