Renewable Energy 23 (2001) 93–101

www.elsevier.nl/locate/renene

Solar/waste heat driven two-stage adsorption

chiller: the prototype
B.B. Saha *, A. Akisawa, T. Kashiwagi
Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology,
2-24-16 Naka-machi, Koganei-shi, Tokyo 184-8588, Japan

Received 20 October 1999; accepted 2 May 2000

Abstract

Nowadays, adsorption heat pumps receive considerable attention as they are energy savers
and environmentally benign. In this study silica gel–water is taken as the adsorbent refrigerant
pair. To exploit solar/waste heat of temperatures below 70°C, staged regeneration is necessary.
A new two-stage non-regenerative adsorption chiller design and experimental prototype is
proposed. Experimental temperature profiles of heat transfer fluid inlets and outlets are
presented. The two-stage cycle can be operated effectively with 55°C solar/waste heat in com-
bination with a 30°C coolant temperature. In this paper the physical adsorption of silica gel,
working principle and features of a two-stage chiller are described.  2000 Elsevier Science
Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

The severity of the ozone layer destruction problem, due partly to CFCs and
HCFCs, has been calling for rapid developments in freon-free air conditioning tech-
nologies. With regard to energy use, global warming prevention requires a thorough
revision of energy utilization practices towards greater efficiency. From this perspec-
tive, interest in adsorption systems has been increased as they do not use ozone
depleting substances as refrigerants nor do they need electricity or fossil fuels as
driving sources. Several heat-pumping and refrigeration applications have been stud-
ied using various adsorbent and adsorbate pairs. Some representative examples are

* Corresponding author. Tel. and fax: +81-42-388-7076.

E-mail address: bidyut@cc.tuat.ac.jp (B.B. Saha).

0960-1481/01/$ - see front matter  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 6 0 - 1 4 8 1 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 1 0 7 - 5
94 B.B. Saha et al. / Renewable Energy 23 (2001) 93–101

given in Table 1. Most of the cycles mentioned in Table 1 require medium and/or
high temperature heat sources to act as the driving sources. However, silica gel–
water and active carbon–methanol adsorption cycles have a distinct advantage over
other systems in their ability to be driven by heat of relatively low, near-ambient
temperatures, so that waste heat below 100°C can be recovered, which is highly
desirable. In this study, silica gel–water has been chosen as the adsorbent–refrigerant
pair because the regeneration temperature of silica gel is lower than that of active
carbon; and water has a large latent heat of vaporization.
In order to utilize near environment temperature solar heat/waste heat sources
between 50 and 70°C with a cooling source of 30°C, a new two-stage, four-bed,
non-regenerative adsorption cycle is introduced and its features are described.

2. Physical adsorption of silica gel

Silica gel is a partially dehydrated form of polymeric colloidal silicic acid [13].
The chemical composition may be expressed as SiO2×nH2O. The adsorption desorp-
tion equation for silica gel can be expressed as

Table 1
Developments in adsorption heat pump systems (typical achievements)

Adsorbent/refrigerant System type Source Remarks

Activated Regenerative system Jones and 4 bed system

carbon/ammonia Christophilos [1]
Activated Intermittent system Pons and Guilleminot Solar driven ice maker
carbon/methanol [2]
Calcium Intermittent adsorption Lai et al. [3] Chemical heat pump
chloride/methanol system
Complex Intermittent adsorption Beijer and Horsman Promising uses: vehicles and
compounds/salts system [4] residential air conditioning
Activated Regenerative system Miles and Shelton [5] Thermal wave system;
carbon/ammonia Tregeneration is very high
Monolithic Intermittent adsorption R.E. Critoph [6] Power density: 1 kW/kg of
carbon/ammonia system carbon
Silica gel/water Intermittent adsorption Saha et al. [7] and Waste heat driven cycle; heat
system, single stage Boelman et al. [8] of ads, Qst=2800 kJ/kg
Silica gel/water Intermittent adsorption Saha et al. [9] Waste heat driven cycle;
system, three stage Tregeneration is very low
Zeolite/ammonia Intermittent system Critoph and Turner Tregeneration is very high
[10]
Zeolite/water Cascaded adsorption Douss and Meunier Application: heating; Heat of
system [11] adsorption Qst=3700 kJ/kg
Zeolite Intermittent adsorption Guilleminot et al. [12] Composites: (a) 65%
composites/water system zeolite+35% metallic foam
and (b) 70% zeolite+30%
natural expanded graphite
 B.B. Saha et al. / Renewable Energy 23 (2001) 93–101 95

SiO2⫻nH2O(s)⫽SiO2⫻(n⫺1)H20(s)⫹H2O(g) (1)
where s and g denote respectively, solid phase and vapor phase. The adsorptive
action of silica gel for vapors is a purely physical effect. When the particles become
saturated, they do not suffer any change in size or shape, and even when completely
saturated the particles seem to be perfectly dry.
The adsorptive property of silica gel arises from its tremendous porosity; it has
been estimated that 1 m3 gel contains pores having a surface of about 2.8×107 m2.
The dimensions of the pores are sub-microscopic (20–200 Å). Silica gel adsorbs
vapor from a gas mixture until the pores of the gel are filled. The amount of condens-
able vapor adsorbed in silica gel at any temperature increases as the partial pressure
of the vapor in the surrounding gas approaches the partial pressure of vapor, which
would exist if the gas were saturated at the gel temperature. Silica gel at 27°C in
contact with air saturated at this temperature can adsorb up to 0.4 kg of water per
kg of gel [14]. When vapor is adsorbed in silica gel, the heat liberated is equivalent
to the latent heat of evaporation of the adsorbed liquid plus the additional heat of
wetting. The sum of the latent heat plus the heat of wetting is the heat of adsorption.
During adsorption, the vapor latent heat is transformed into sensible heat, which is
dissipated into the adsorbent, the metal of the adsorbent container and the surround-
ing atmosphere. Hence, there is a need for cooling the adsorbent if an excessive
temperature rise of the gel is to be avoided. The amount of heat required to regenerate
silica gel varies with the design of the equipment. In addition to supplying the heat
necessary to release adsorbed refrigerant from the gel (heat of adsorption), heat must
be added to raise the temperatures of the adsorbent bed and adsorber and also to
overcome radiation losses. The action of silica gel is practically instantaneous under
dynamic adsorption conditions, the length of the adsorption period may be arbitrarily
established. If automatic operation is desired, the cycle time may be only a few
minutes; as there is a trade off between time duration and cooling capacity. For
example, during the first 5 minutes gel particles are close to saturation point in a
commercial adsorption chiller [15] resulting in optimal cooling capacity. Following
this period cooling capacity drops.

3. Working principle of the advanced two-stage adsorption cycle

The adsorption system can be compared to that of a conventional air conditioner

or refrigerator, with the electric powered mechanical compressor replaced by a ther-
mally driven adsorption compressor. The ability to be driven by heat, which is used
for desorption, makes adsorption cycles attractive for electric energy savers. Also,
since fixed adsorbent beds are usually employed, these cycles can be operational
without moving parts other than magnetic valves. This results in low vibration, mech-
anically simple, high reliability and very long life time. The aforementioned charac-
teristics make them well suited for space applications. The uses of fixed beds also
results in intermittent cycle operation, with adsorbent beds changing between adsorp-
tion and desorption stages. Hence, if a constant flow of vapor from the evaporator
96 B.B. Saha et al. / Renewable Energy 23 (2001) 93–101

is required, two or more adsorbent beds must be operated out of phase as described
in the following paragraph.
As can be seen from the conceptual Dühring diagram of Fig. 1, the conventional
(single stage) silica gel–water cycle will not be operational with a 50°C driving heat
source if the cooling source is at 30°C or higher, which would likely be the case of
an air-cooled cooling tower in summer, in Tokyo. For practical utilization of these
temperatures to adsorption chiller operation, an advanced (two-stage) cycle is
designed. As can be seen from Fig. 1, these cycles allow to reduce ⌬Tregen of the
adsorbent (Tdes⫺Tcond) by dividing the evaporating temperature lift (Tcond⫺Teva) into
two smaller lifts. Refrigerant (water vapor) pressure thus rises into two progressive
steps from evaporation to condensation level. In order to attain this objective, the
introduction of two additional sorption elements is necessary, as shown in Fig. 2.
An advanced, two-stage cycle comprises of six heat exchangers, namely, a condenser,
an evaporator and two pairs of sorption elements. In the cycle, valves 1, 3, 5 are
open to allow refrigerant flow between heat exchangers. The sorption elements 1
and 4 (HX1 and HX4 in Fig. 2) are heated by hot water while the sorption elements
2 and 3 (HX2 and HX3 in Fig. 2) are cooled by cooling water. The silica gel in
each sorption element is fixed inside the container, i.e. packed around the finned
heat transfer tubes which cannot be rotated or moved. Hence an uninterrupted supply
of cooling energy requires operating as a pseudo-continuous cycle, where adsorption
and desorption occur concomitantly and sorption elements repeatedly switch between
adsorption and desorption modes. The thermophysical properties of silica gel used
in this experimental chiller are shown in Table 2.
Refrigerant (water), evaporates inside the evaporator, picking up evaporation heat
from the chilled water, is adsorbed by adsorber 2 via valve 3. Sorption element 3

Fig. 1. Conceptual Dühring diagram for both the conventional and two-stage cycles.
 B.B. Saha et al. / Renewable Energy 23 (2001) 93–101 97

Fig. 2. Schematic of the two-stage adsorption chiller.

Table 2
Thermophysical properties of silica gel used in the two-stage chiller

Type of Surface Porous Average Heat Thermal Density Volume

gel area volume diameter capacity conductivity (kg/m3) fraction
(kg/m3) (m2/g) (cm3/g) (mm) (kJ/kg·K) (W/m·K) (⫺)

A 650 0.36 0.7 0.92 0.175 2200 0.341

also adsorbs refrigerant from the desorber 4 via valve 5. Desorber 1 is connected to
the condenser via valve 1. The desorbed refrigerant vapor is condensed in the con-
denser at temperature Tcond; cooling water removes the condensation heat Qcond. This
condensed refrigerant comes back to the evaporator via the tube connecting con-
denser and evaporator to complete the cycle. The tube is bent to achieve a pressure
drop resulting in the refrigerant being in liquid phase in the evaporator. The use of
parallel cooling water circuits for the condenser and adsorbers 2 and 3 results in
similar temperature levels at the condenser (Tcond) and those adsorbers (Tads).
When refrigerant concentrations in the adsorbers and desorbers are at or near their
equilibrium level, the flows of hot and cooling water are redirected by switching the
valves so that the desorbers switch into adsorption modes and the adsorbers change
into desorption operations. During a short intermediate process (mode B or mode
D) no adsorption/desorption occurs. This time is needed to preheat the adsorbers and
precool the desorbers. The resulting low-pressure refrigerant is again adsorbed by
98 B.B. Saha et al. / Renewable Energy 23 (2001) 93–101

the adsorbent to continue the process. The time chart of the chiller operation is shown
in Table 3.

4. Two-stage chiller specification

A prototype was built on the roof of our experimental building located at the
Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology to test experimentally the perform-
ance of the advanced, two-stage adsorption chiller. A side-view of the two-stage
chiller prototype is shown in Fig. 3. As can be observed all heat exchangers are
totally covered with metallic enclosures and are thermally insulated to prevent heat
loss to the external environment. Inside the metallic enclosure of each
adsorber/desorber heat exchanger, and in the condenser, there is a small passage for
hot water flowing preventing capillary condensation on the surface of the wall. All
four adsorber/desorber heat exchangers are removable to facilitate replacing any of
the four heat exchangers by one of a higher performance eventually. The rated coo-
ling capacity of the chiller is 1 RT (3.54 kW) and the COP is 0.34. External para-
meters regarding the chiller operation are listed in Table 4.

5. Temperature profiles

Fig. 4 shows experimental temperature profiles of the heat transfer fluid inlets and
outlets obtained for the standard operating conditions listed in Table 4. After only
420 s, the hot water outlet temperature approaches the inlet temperature; from this
point there is practically no more consumption of driving heat. This led us to select
the standard adsorption/desorption cycle time as 420 s. But the cooling water outlet
temperature from the adsorber after 420 s is still 2°C higher than its respective inlet
temperature. The reason for this is the increasing amount of refrigerant requiring
cooling at the end of the adsorption cycle, in contrast to the desorption cycle where
little refrigerant remains to be heated. Cooling water outlet temperature gradually
returns to its inlet at 30°C confirming that condensation takes place satisfactorily in

Table 3
Chiller operation time charta

Cycle Adsorption/ Pre-heating/ Adsorption/ Pre-heating/

desorption cycle pre-cooling cycle desorption cycle pre-cooling cycle
mode A mode B mode C mode D

Time (s) 420 20 420 20

Valve 1,3,5 䊊 × × ×
2,4,6 × × 䊊 ×
HX 1,4 Hw Cw Cw Hw
2,3 Cw Hw Hw Cw

a
V—valve; 䊊—open; ×—closed; Hw—hot water; Cw—cooling water; HX—heat exchanger.
 B.B. Saha et al. / Renewable Energy 23 (2001) 93–101 99

Fig. 3. Photograph of the experimental prototype.

Table 4
Standard operating conditions

Hot water inlet Cooling water inlet Chilled water inlet

Temperature Flow rate (kg/s) Temperature Flow rate Temperature Flow rate (kg/s)
(°C) (°C) (ads+cond) (°C)
(kg/s)

55 1.2 30 1.8 (1.2+0.6) 14 0.17

Cycle time: 440 s
Adsorption/desorption cycle 420 s Pre-heating/precooling cycle 20 s

the condenser. The delivered chilled water temperature, however, continues below
the inlet temperature in the whole cycle, showing that cooling energy production is
steady which is highly desirable. For the standard operating condition, the experi-
mental cooling capacity value is 3.2 kW and the coefficient of performance (COP)
is 0.36.
100 B.B. Saha et al. / Renewable Energy 23 (2001) 93–101

Fig. 4. Experimental heat transfer fluid temperature profiles.

6. Conclusions

There is an increasing need for energy efficiency and so thermally driven sorption
systems in many world regions are essential. Regions with a warm climate and no
steady electricity supply offer most potential. From this perspective, a new advanced
two-stage adsorption chiller design and its features are presented in this paper. The
prototype of the chiller is built to examine experimentally its performance. The main
advantage of the two-stage adsorption chiller is its ability to utilize low temperature
solar/waste heat (40–75°C) as the driving heat source in combination with a coolant
at 30°C. With a 55°C driving source in combination with a heat sink at 30°C, the
COP of the two-stage chiller is 0.36. Flat plate solar collectors in any tropical climate
can effectively produce the required driving source energy of the chiller making it
superior to any other commercially existing cooling technology. From the above
perspectives, the use of unexploited low-temperature solar/waste heat may offer an
attractive possibility for improving energy conservation and efficiency.

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