Adsorbent Bed Modeling to Investigate the Particle Diameter Effect for Different Adsorber Conditions

The adsorbent particle diameter has a great influence on the performance of adsorption chillers since it directly affects the inter particle and intra particle mass transfer resistances. The chiller performance variation with particle diameter is dependent on various parameters، yet this study investigates the effects of most important ones such as fin height، fin spacing and thermal fluid heating and cooling temperatures on the optimum value of particle diameter which corresponds to the optimum value for the specific cooling power of the system. A plate fin-tube heat exchanger is employed and the fin spaces are filled with SWS-1L. The three dimensional heat and mass transfer equations of adsorbent bed are solved simultaneously with the heat transfer equations of thermal fluid، metal tube، fins and the chamber. The results show that the cycle time and the specific cooling power have an optimum value for a specified particle diameter. This diameter increases with an increase in fin height and a decrease in fin spacing. Moreover it has been found that the optimum particle diameter increases with an increase in heating and cooling temperatures of the thermal fluid.