Environment and energy problems over the world have motivated researchers to develop energy systems more sustainable, having as one of the possible alternative the use of solar energy as source for cooling systems. Adsorption refrigeration systems are regarded as environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional vapour compression refrigeration systems, since they can use refrigerants that do not contribute to ozone layer depletion and global warming. In this paper a performance comparison between a solar continuous adsorption cooling system without mass recovery process and solar continuous adsorption cooling system with mass recovery process is carried out. Silica-Gel as adsorbent and water as refrigerant are selected. The results show that the adsorption refrigeration machine driven by solar energy can operate effectively during four months and is able to produce cold continuously along the 24 hours of the day. The importance of the mass recovery is proved in this study by increasing the coefficient of performance and the cooling capacity produced. For the same cooling capacity produced, the required number of solar collectors with mass recovery system is lower than the required number of solar collectors in the case of the refrigeration unit without mass recovery. For the same cooling capacity the system with mass recovery process allowed lower generation temperature.
Optimization and performance of a small scale adsorption cooling system fully powered by solar energy for hot arid areas
