FUEL CELL WASTE HEAT POWERED ADSORPTION COOLING SYSTEMS

Abstract

In the present paper, the effect of desorption temperature on the performance of adsorption cooling systems driven by waste heat from fuel cells was analyzed. The studied adsorption cooling systems employ activated carbon fiber (ACF) of type A-20–ethanol and RD type silica gel–water as adsorbent–refrigerant pairs. Two different temperature levels of waste heat from polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) are used as the heat source of the adsorption cooling systems. The adsorption cycles consist of one pair of adsorption–desorption heat exchanger, a condenser and an evaporator. System performance in terms of specific cooling capacity (SCC) and coefficient of performance (COP) are determined and compared between the studied two systems. Results show that silica gel–water based adsorption cooling system is preferable for effective utilization of relatively lower temperature heat source. At relatively high temperature heat source, COP of ACF–ethanol based adsorption system shows better performance than that of silica gel–water based adsorption system.