Date of Award
5-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Mechanical and Civil Engineering
First Advisor
Darshan G. Pahinkar
Second Advisor
Hamidreza Najafi
Third Advisor
Linxia Gu
Fourth Advisor
Pengfei Dong
Abstract
Addressing global environmental concerns requires a shift to eco-friendly energy sources, particularly in cooling applications where traditional vapor-compression systems rely on harmful refrigerants and electricity. Thermally-driven cooling systems, like adsorption heat pumps, offer promise with their environmentally friendly refrigerants such as water and use of low-temperature heat sources, including solar energy or waste industrial heat. This dissertation undertakes a comprehensive investigation into the development and optimization of compact adsorption heat pumps, aiming to address the efficiency and environmental challenges inherent in conventional cooling systems.
This research begins by introducing a novel insertion coating technique for fabricating MIL-101 (Cr) adsorbent layers within fused silica microchannels, a breakthrough method that overcomes the limitations associated with mass and heat transfer in traditional adsorbent beds. While uniform coating thicknesses were achieved throughout the fused silica microchannels, this research effort highlights the need for a more scalable and rapid adsorbent coating technique. The dissertation work then investigates a quick and hassle-free resin curing method for making porous MIL-101 (Cr) adsorbent-coated layers. By using an acid-base reaction to control void size, this innovative approach allows rapid and efficient production of adsorbent structures with adjustable porosity. Experimental findings confirm the capability of this technique to produce high-performance adsorbent coatings suitable for use in adsorption heat pumps. The research concludes by fabricating a compact adsorbent bed using additive manufacturing techniques and resin curing and then testing it for water adsorption when exposed to cyclic heating and cooling to mimic a thermally-driven heat pump and analyzing the performance using computations and experiments.
Recommended Citation
Ege, Faraz, "Fabrication and Performance Demonstration of Compact Adsorption Heat Pump" (2024). Theses and Dissertations. 1437.
https://repository.fit.edu/etd/1437