10th National Conference on Technological Trends (NCTT09) 6-7 Nov 2009
THEORETICAL DESIGN OF AN AUTOMOBILE
ADSORPTION AIR CONDITIONER
Viji V
M-Tech
Department of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
vijivcet@gmail.com
Abstract— Combined cooling, heating and
power systems, including various technologies,
provide an alternative for the world to meet and
solve energy-related problems, such as energy
shortages, energy supply security, emission
control, the economy and conservation of
energy. This paper is aimed to develop
anautomobile air conditioner based on the
adsorption principle which utilizes only the
exhaust heat of the vehicle. The system
incorporates one adsorbent bed and utilizes an
adsorbant-refrigerant working pair to provide
chilled water for conditioning the air in the
small space equivalent to the cab of vehicle.
This paper discusses the theoretical design of a
test set up to carry out the performance and
feasibility studies of an adsorption air
conditioner. A heater designed for the
application serve the heating source, simulating
the hot exhaust gas environment.
Keywords – adsorption, adsorbantl, air conditioner
1. INTRODUCTION
Vapor adsorption by a solid adsorbent was first
discovered by Faraday in 1848. Solid/vapor adsorption
systems were first commercialized in the 1920s and hold
great promise for overcoming the limitation of the engine
driven vapor compression and the liquid/vapor absorption
systems. The basic solid/vapor adsorption cycle utilized in
the period from 1920 to 1940 was simple but inefficient.
With the advent of the mechanical compressor and the
application of the CFC’s which are much more efficient,
further investigations of the adsorption cycles were at a
standstill until the mid 1970s. After the oil crisis during
College of Engineering Trivandrum
N. Asok Kumar
Department of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
asoknak@cet.ac.in
the 1970s, new development of this research work were
resumed with the aim of a rational use of energy, which
was to use either solar energy or waste heat to drive
refrigerators, air conditioners and heat pumps. The main
argument in favor are that sorption systems are quiet, long
lasting, easy to maintain and environmentally benign.
The expanding population and the crisis of
energy have brought serious problems for the world
environment. The electric driven vapor compression
refrigeration system have been faced with challenges as
CFCs and HCFCs are not suitable for sustainable
development. The commonly used substitute of
refrigerant R134a is also facing the problem of green
house effect. Natural refrigerants such as water,
ammonia, methanol, etc. are the promising candidates for
future refrigeration and air conditioning applications. The
use of waste heat and solar energy for refrigeration and air
conditioning purposes has been accepted by people;
accordingly various adsorption systems have been
developed for different applications.
Water can be used as a refrigerant which is quite
attractive for the environmental protection as it possess
neither ozone depletion nor a global warming potential.
Adsorption refrigeration cycle powered by solar energy or
waste heat exhausted from engines has been successfully
used for ice making or cold production. For examples, a
carbon - methanol solar ice maker, Zeolite - water solar
cold storage system, activated carbon - ammonia solar
refrigerator for vaccine cooling and silica gel–water
adsorption refrigeration cycle driven by exhaust heat of
near ambient temperature have been reported[2,3,6,8,10].
151
 The exhaust heat energy utilization in solid
adsorption refrigeration is possibly the best system for the
refrigeration purpose. It is a well known fact that a
significant amount of energy released in the cylinder is
wasted through exhaust gas [2]. If a system can be
designed that uses the thermal energy from the exhaust of
an engine to run its air conditioning system, it could very
well be the next big thing in the fuel saving innovative
technologies. This is the principle of the adsorption air
conditioner powered by exhaust gas.
In this work, with the ultimate objective of conducting
gases. The engine oil is used for this purpose because the
fire point of most of the engine oil is around 2800C. Its
thermal conductivity is higher. So it can handle large
amount of heat. Its specific heat is very high.
Cold water circuit: The cold water is collected in a tank
from the source and is passed through the adsorption
chamber during adsorption phase. The cold water circuit
may be a closed or open circuit.
Components for the refrigerant passage

actual experiments to evaluate the feasibility of Condenser: The condenser is used for condensing the

automobile adsorption air conditioning systems utilizing refrigerant. Thus the refrigerant is converted from vapor

the hot exhaust gases, a theoretical design is presented for state to the liquid state.

methanol – activated carbon pair

Expansion Device: It is used for liberating the energy of
2. COMPONENTS OF THE SYSTEM the refrigerant liquid. This component helps the

Components for the oil passage refrigerant to acquire the energy from lower temperature

Adsorber chamber: It contains the adsorbent for adsorbing region.

the refrigerant. It is heated by the hot oil from the heater

for releasing the refrigerant during desorption period. The Evaporator: It is the place where the actual heat transfer

adsorbent is silica gel and the refrigerant is water. The takes place from lower temperature region to higher

adsorption chamber is heated by circulating the hot oil temperature region. In this region the refrigerant receives

through it for certain time. During this period, the heat and converted into the gaseous phase.

refrigerant is released from the adsorbant (desorption) and

slowly raising the pressure inside the chamber and finally
it goes to the condenser, thereby decreasing the pressure
inside the chamber.

This allows the flow of refrigerant vapor from the

evaporator to the adsorption chamber and the refrigerant
gets adsorbed by the adsorbant. In order to facilitate the
adsorption, the adsorption chamber is cooled by
circulating cold water for certain time. After completing
the adsorption process the chamber is again heated by the
hot oil and the cycle consisting of adsorption and
desorption processes continues. Hence the refrigerating
Fig 1.Schematic diagram of the experimental set up
effect is intermittent. This can be made continuous by
using multi adsorption chambers.

Heat transfer fluid heater: A heater is used to heat the oil

to a temperature level so as to simulate the heated exhaust

College of Engineering Trivandrum 152

 The amount of activated carbon
3. DESIGN OF THE COMPONENTS
mads = mr ÷ (MFmax - MFmin)
Adsorption chamber design =0.756÷ (0.49-0)
= 1.5kg
The amount of adsorbant required to adsorb and desorb
Where MFmax is the maximum dynamic adsorption
the methanol at a feasible rate and the amount of
capacity of activated carbon and MFmin is the minimum
refrigerant required to run the desired cycle are the two
dynamic adsorption capacity.
important design criteria for the adsorber. The amount of
refrigerant required to run the desired cycle is based on
The selected diameter of the adsorber shell is 4 inches.
the enthalpy of evaporation of the methanol.
After subtracting the volume of the tubes the volume left
in the adsorber shell to accommodate 1.5kg of activated
In the case of a typical passenger car, for a 20 minute
carbon is as follows.
commute, during the initial 10 min surge cooling interval
about 50 kW-min of cooling is required from high
Volume of adsorber shell = (п/4) ×D2×L= 2.43×10-3m3
temperature to a comfortable temperature and after that
16.7 kW-min is required to maintain the comfort[2]. The
Volume of tubes = 10× (п/4) ×d2×L
total refrigeration required to surge cool the cabin and
= 3.80 ×10-3m3
maintain comfort is 66.7 kW-min. thus the adsorber
output must be 66.7 kW-min ÷ 20 min = 3.33 kW.
Net volume available = 2.43×10-3m3_- 3.80 ×10-4 m3
= 2.046 ×10-3m3
The heat pump operates during the latter half of the surge
cooling interval, after the initial 5 min delayto heat the
Refrigerant flow rate = Qcool ÷ ∆hevap
exhaust system. Therefore the adsorption heat pump
=3300 ÷872000
produces 5 min x 3.33 kW = 16.7 kW-min of cooling
= 0.00382kg /s
during the 10 min after starting a cold engine. So enough
Heater selection
refrigerant must be stored to make up the difference
Rate of mass of oil = 0.03Kg/s
between demand (50 kW-min) and supply ( 16.7 kW-min)
Heat required = m cp ∆T
during the 10 min surge cooling interval. Therefore the
=0.03 ×1.92 × (473)
amount of refrigerant to be stored is
= 30 kW
= 50kW-min - 16.7 kW-min
For approximation the heater selected is of capacity
= 33.3 kW-min
100 kW
= 2000kJ
The amount of methanol in the reservoir mr, reservoir Condenser and Evaporator
= Qcool, reservoir /∆hevap
The required cooling load = 3.33 kW
= (2000) /872
=2.29kg The enthalpy of evaporation of methanol
= 1100 kJ/kg
The amount of methanol that must be expelled from the
adsorber = Qcool × ∆t heating ÷ ∆h evap The required amount of refrigerant = 3.81mL/s

= 3300 × 200÷ (872×103) The condenser has to take the evaporator load and
= 0.756 kg adsorber heating load.

The condenser load = 3300 + 5120.16kW

The required amount of adsorbent is calculated as follows. = 8420.16 kW

College of Engineering Trivandrum 153


So condenser for 200mL is selected and
(5/16) inch diameter is selected for the construction
(п/4) ×d2×l = 200×10-6
(п/4) ×0.007942×l=200×10-6
Length = 4m
If multi-adsorption chamber is used to make the cooling
continuous, the load on the evaporator is reduced
accordingly. For a 3 adsorption chamber unit, as the
evaporator is loaded only (1/3) of the condenser, a tube
length of 2m is selected for construction.
4. DESCRIPTION OF THE SYSTEM
The experiment consists of two phases. Adsorption phase
and desorption phase. In the desorption phase the
refrigerant is desorbed from the adsorption chamber and
in the adsorption phase the refrigerant is adsorbed in the
adsorption chamber. The heater is used for heating the oil.
The hot oil is passed to the adsorber chamber during
desorption phase. Due to the heat of the oil the refrigerant
(methanol) is liberated from the adsorption chamber and it
goes to the condenser where condensation takes place.
Then the refrigerant is passed to the evaporator through
the expansion device. In the evaporator the refrigeration
effect is done. The refrigerant vapor then goes to the
adsorption chamber and get adsorbed in the adsorption
chamber. If the cycle is repeated after 6 minutes, the
adsorption phase is 3 minutes while the desorption phase
is 3 minutes. During the desorption phase the adsorption
chamber r is cooled by means of the coolanat.
RESULTS
The adsorption chamber dimensions
Length =0.3m
Diameter =10.8cm
Length of the tube =4.13m
Diameter of the tube =12.7 × 10-3 m
College of Engineering Trivandrum
Condenser dimensions
Selected diameter = (5/16) inch
Length = L= 4 m
Evaporator Dimensions
Length = 2 m
Selected diameter = (5/16) inch
Heater
Heater is of capacity = 100 W
6. REFERENCES
[1] Research and development of consolidated adsorbent
for adsorption systems-S.G.Wang, R.Z.wang, X.R. Li
[2] Automotive adsorption air conditioner powered by
exhaust heat. Part 1: conceptual and embodiment
design - M.A.Lambert and B.J.Jones, (2005)
[3] Automotive adsorption air conditioner powered by
exhaust heat. Part 2: detailed design and analysis M.A.
Lambert and B. J. Jones, (2006)
[4] Research on a combined adsorption heating and
cooling system – R.Z. Wang, Y.X. Xu , J.Y. Wu, M.
Li, H.B. Shou Applied Thermal Engineering 22
(2002) 603–617
[5] Adsorption refrigeration—An efficient way to make
good use of waste heat and solar energy - R.Z. Wang,
R.G. Oliveira , Progress in Energy and Combustion
Science 32 (2006) 424–458\
[6] Design and performance of a solar-powered air-
conditioning system in a green building X.Q. Zhao,
R.Z. Wang, J.Y. Wu, Y.J. Dai, Q. Ma, Applied
Energy 85 (2008) 297–311
[7] Technology development in the solar adsorption
refrigeration systems K. Sumathy, K.H. Yeung, Li
Yong, Progress in Energy and Combustion Science 29
(2003) 301–327.
[8] Rapid cycling solar/biomass powered adsorption
refrigeration system - Dr. R.E. Critoph, Renewable
Energy 16 (1999) 673-678.
[9] A combined double-way chemisorption refrigeration
cycle based on adsorption and resorption processes-
T.X. Li, R.Z. Wang, R.G. Oliveira, J.K. Kiplagat,
L.W. Wang, International Journal Of Refrigeration,
2009, pp.47-57
[10] Practical experiments on an adsorption air conditioner
powered by exhausted heat from a diesel locomotive -
Y.Z. Lu, R.Z. Wang, S.Jianzhou, Y.X.Xu, J.Y.Wu,
Applied Thermal Engineering 24 (2004) 1051–1059
154