A detailed analysis of entropy production and improvement of the thermodynamic cycle of an adsorption refrigerating plant

A thermodynamic analysis of an adsorption refrigerating plant with closed loops for a working substance and auxiliary liquid heat carrier has been carried out in application to the adsorption pair “water-CaCl₂ impregnated into the pores of a silica gel.” Using the obtained periodic solutions of the system of energy-balance equations for the heat carrier and the sorbent layer, the most thermodynamically effective modes of operation of the refrigerating plant have been determined as functions of governing parameters. The entropy production in various modules of the plant is calculated, and the main sources of entropy generation are revealed. This made it possible to suggest an improved scheme of an adsorption refrigerating cycle with regenerative heat exchangers connected at the inlet and outlet from the adsorbers. The possibility of a considerable increase in the coefficient of thermodynamic efficiency in such a system has been justified. __________ Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 79, No. 4, pp. 146–152, July–August, 2006.