A state of the art of required techniques for employing activated carbon in renewable energy powered adsorption applications

This paper reviews, for the first time, the measurement adsorption characteristics techniques to facilitate optimal testing of the validity of adsorbent materials in adsorption applications. Thermo-physical properties, adsorption characteristics and modelling techniques are presented. The characterisation of material thermo-physical properties includes true and bulk densities, specific heat capacity, surface area, pore volume distribution and thermal conductivity. The adsorption characteristics were categorized into adsorption isotherms and kinetics including experimental and theoretical equations. A range of models used in the simulation of adsorption cooling systems is presented and discussed. The paper highlights the conditions for which each measurement technique is most suitable and the limitations of modelling techniques, which is a vital element in the robust assessment of the performance of adsorption cooling units

A state of the art of required techniques for employing activated carbon in renewable energy powered adsorption applications

This paper reviews, for the first time, the measurement adsorption characteristics techniques to facilitate optimal testing of the validity of adsorbent materials in adsorption applications. Thermo-physical properties, adsorption characteristics and modelling techniques are presented. The characterisation of material thermo-physical properties includes true and bulk densities, specific heat capacity, surface area, pore volume distribution and thermal conductivity. The adsorption characteristics were categorized into adsorption isotherms and kinetics including experimental and theoretical equations. A range of models used in the simulation of adsorption cooling systems is presented and discussed. The paper highlights the conditions for which each measurement technique is most suitable and the limitations of modelling techniques, which is a vital element in the robust assessment of the performance of adsorption cooling units.</p

Sustainable cooling research using activated carbon adsorbents and their environmental impact

Conventional vapour compression system is one of the most utilized cycles in refrigeration and air conditioning systems, due to its compact size, the relatively low running cost, the high coefficient of performance and the wide range of the operating temperatures. Nevertheless, the system suffers from the high initial cost and the high-energy consumption. Unlike the vapour compression cycle, adsorption heat pumps have the advantage of utilizing waste heat reducing the energy consumption and the carbon emissions. Activated carbon is a porous adsorbent material that can be efficiently used in low temperature adsorption refrigeration systems. This chapter reviews the recent developments in the compact adsorption cooling systems using activated carbon regarding the enhancement of the material properties, the design of the sustainable adsorption systems and their environmental and cost perspectives

Effect of Local Floor Heating System on Occupants’ Thermal Comfort and Energy Consumption Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

In this article, the influence of splitting a local underfloor air distribution system (UFAD) on indoor thermal comfort for three occupants was studied numerically. A validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was employed in this investigation. The proposed heating system was evaluated and analyzed for different values of air temperature and supply velocity. Providing suitable thermal comfort and saving energy are considered the main evaluation indexes for this study. Three cases, cases 2, 3, and 4, of the proposed local UFAD system were compared with a traditional heating system case, case 1. The supplying air velocity and air temperature in the reference case were 0.5 m/s and 29 °C, while in cases 2, 3, and 4, they were 0.4 m/s and 29 °C, 28 °C, and 27 °C, respectively. The results show that acceptable indoor human thermal comfort and energy demand reduction were achieved by using the splitting UFAD concept