A Sintered Zeolite-coated Bed for Adsorption Air Conditioning Systems

Adsorption air conditioning driven by a low temperature heat source or renewable energy, without any environmental pollution is considered as a green conditioning style for the 21st century. Zeolite is a widely used adsorbent which has good adsorption ability. However, the low thermal conductivity of zeolite grains and the large contact thermal resistance between Zeolite and heat transfer wall limit its heat transfer performance. Therefore, the enhancement of heat transfer of the adsorbent bed is a crucial issue. In this paper, a new-style manufacturing process and performance of sintered zeolite is developed because the heat transfer enhancement is mainly related to the good adhesion between metal and adsorbent. And an experimental device of adsorption air conditioning systems with sintered zeolite-coated bed was built. The performance of heat transfer and adsorption of a lab scale adsorption air condition working with sintered zeolite (13X)-water are presented and discussed. The results indicated that its maximum effective thermal conductivity was increased to 0.564W/(m.K) which was 6 similar to 8 times as zeolite grains and the sintered zeolite layer did not have significantly influence on the adsorption properties of the pure zeolite compared with the traditional beds. Furthermore, to determine the conditions which are available for the most effective heat and mass transfer in the new adsorbent bed, an optimization study has been carried out.