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CFD analysis of adsorption cooling system powered by parabolic trough collector using nanofluid under Tunisia climate

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Abstract

Energy requirements for cooling systems are growing every year, especially in regions with significant solar radiation intensity. This increase causes big electricity consumption and environmental pollution. Hence, using solar energy as a heat source instead electricity for cooling needs is considered as a promising way. In this study, a transient Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation is carried out to investigate the performance of solar Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) powered adsorption refrigeration system using nanofluid under a typical meteorological data of Tozeur, Sahara of Tunisia. The pure oil (Therminol-VP1) and Copper/Therminol-VP1 nanofluid (2% volumetric concentration) are the examined heat transfer fluids (HTF). The model is validated against data reported in the literature suggesting that the CFD approach can accurately predict the examined system. Specific Cooling Power (SCP), thermal system coefficient of performance (COPth) and solar Coefficient of Performance (COPs) were evaluated to assess the system performance. The results indicate that the system using thermal oil (VP1) operates satisfactorily under Tozeur climatic conditions achieving a SCP of 2.7 W/kgz, a COPth around 0.378 and it could produce a daily useful cooling of 1920 kJ, while the COPs could reach 0.06 for 8 kg of Zeolite adsorbent. Furthermore, using a nanofluid of VP1 and nanoparticles of Cu as HTF enhancer increases the system performance by 10.58%.

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Fig. 1

Source: IRENA (2021)

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Abbreviations

A :

Area (m2)

C :

Inertial loss coefficient (m−1)

C r :

Concentration ratio

c p :

Heat capacity (J kg−1 K−1)

d :

Diameter (m)

E :

Energy (kJ)

D so :

Pre-exponent diffusion coefficient (m2 s−1)

e :

Storage tank thickness (m)

F R :

Collector heat removal factor

\(\vec{g}\) :

Gravitational acceleration (m s−2)

h :

Enthalpy (kJ kg−1)

I :

Incident solar radiation (W m−2)

k s :

Coefficient of sorption rate (s−1)

L :

Length (m)

L ev :

The latent heat of vaporization (kJ kg−1)

m :

Mass (kg)

\(\dot{m}\) :

Mass flow rate (kg s−1)

\({\dot{m}}_{ads /des}\) :

Ads/desorption rate (kg s−1)

p, P :

Pressure (Pa)

R :

Universal gas constant (kJ kmol−1 K−1)

S mass :

Mass source term (kg m−3 s−1)

S momentum :

Momentum source term (N m−3)

S energy :

Energy source term (W m−3)

T :

Temperature (K)

t :

Time (s), total

\(t_{cycle}\) :

Cycle time (s)

\(U\) :

Heat loss coefficient (W m−2 K−1)

v :

Velocity magnitude (m s−1)

\(\vec{v}\) :

Overall velocity vector (m s−1)

x :

Water uptake (kg kg−1)

\(\Delta H\) :

Latent heat of adsorption (kJ kg−1)

α :

Permeability (m2)

\(\varepsilon\) :

Porosity (-)

η op :

Optical efficiency (%)

\(\eta_{th}\) :

Instantaneous collector efficiency (%)

ρ :

Density (kg m−3)

µ :

Dynamic viscosity (Pa s)

\(\nabla\) :

Gradient

\(\overline{\overline{\tau }}\) :

Stress tensor (Pa)

a :

Apparent, activation

b :

Bed

ab :

Absorber

ads :

Adsorption

amb :

Ambient

des :

Desorption

cond :

Condenser

day :

Daytime

ev :

Evaporator

eq :

Equilibrium

hr :

Hours

\(i\) :

Inner

in :

Inlet fluid

g :

Gas phase

max :

Maximum

met :

Metal

min :

Minimum

nf :

Nanofluid

\(o\) :

Outer

out :

Outlet fluid

ref :

Refrigeration

s :

Saturation, solar, solid

sr :

Sunrise

ss :

Sunset

st :

Storage tank

w :

Water

z :

Zeolite

Ad-R:

Adsorption refrigeration

COP:

Coefficient of performance

CFD:

Computational fluid dynamics

HTF:

Heat transfer fluid

LDF:

Linear driving force

PTC:

Parabolic trough collector

RMSD:

Root mean square deviation

SCP:

Specific cooling power

UDF:

User defined function

VP1:

Therminol-VP1

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Acknowledgements

The first author would like to acknowledge LEMTA laboratory for the research stay (internship). Likewise, the authors would like to thank Faculty of Sciences, Monastir University for the financial support during internship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’études des Systèmes Thermiques et Énergétiques (LESTE), Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Monastir (ENIM), Université de Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia

    Taysir Mhedheb & Abdallah Mhimid

  2. Laboratoire des Systèmes Électromécaniques (LASEM), Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax (ENIS), Université de Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia

    Skander Jribi

  3. Laboratoire d’Energétique et de Mécanique Théorique et Appliquée (LEMTA), Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Electricité et de Mécanique (ENSEM), Université de Lorraine, Vandœuvre Cedex, France

    Michel Feidt

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All authors contributed equally to the modeling, simulation, results discussion, paper writing and correction. Likewise, they have read and approved the current manuscript version to be published.

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Mhedheb, T., Jribi, S., Feidt, M. et al. CFD analysis of adsorption cooling system powered by parabolic trough collector using nanofluid under Tunisia climate. Int J Interact Des Manuf 17, 1307–1322 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12008-022-01124-4

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