Modelling and simulation of a cold storage room driven by a continuous adsorption refrigerator

Abstract

The present work proposes a continuous solar adsorption refrigerator for a positive cold storage room of 231 m3 used for fruits and vegetables preservation and installed in the south of Tunisia. After the estimation of the storage room cooling load, which is equal to 13 kW, a parametric study, aims to improve, the performance of the chiller is done in order to achieve the storage room need and to estimate the required heat in the refrigerator generator. A theoretical model, based on the thermodynamics of the adsorption process, heat and mass transfer within the porous medium and energy balance in the system components, is developed and a simulation with Matlab/Simulink, is carried out. The model was established and validated with the literature experimental data. A maximum coefficient of performance of 0.52 and cooling load of 22 kW are reached at cycle time of 800 seconds, the inlet temperatures of heating, cooling and chilled water are 85°C, 22°C and 15°C, respectively.