A zeolite-coated bed for air conditioning adsorption systems: parametric study of heat and mass transfer by dynamic simulation

In this paper the heat and mass transfer properties of a new zeolite-coated adsorbent bed to be employed in sorption air conditioning systems are investigated by a modelling approach. It consists of a dynamic model which allows to calculate the exchanged energies, the cycle time and, thus, the specific power of the bed. The analysis of the model results, has shown that the proposed configuration (in which the heat transfer enhancement is mainly related to the good adhesion between metal and adsorbent) is very interesting if compared with the traditional beds. Furthermore, to determine the conditions which allow to obtain the most effective heat and mass transfer in the new adsorbent bed, an optimisation study has been carried out. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.