Calibration of a simulation tool for fixed-bed adsorption household refrigerators and determination of optimal design parameters.

Abstract

A simulation tool for fixed-bed adsorption household refrigerators, consisting of an evaporator, two adsorption chambers and a condenser, is introduced. The objectives are to calibrate the simulation tool and to identify an optimal adsorber depth. The fixed-bed adsorbers are cooled by ambient air. The desorption is carried out by hot water flowing through pipes located within the bed. Water is used as refrigerant and silica gel as adsorbent. One measurement is used to set initial and boundary conditions for the simulation and to adapt the simulation to the measurement results. The simulation results are compared to those of the measurement and they highly comply with each other. An essential parameter is the refrigeration compartment temperature which can be simulated with a maximum difference of 1 K. Thus, this simulation tool is the basis to determine an optimal adsorber depth.