Experimental investigation of mass recovery adsorption refrigeration cycle

The study investigates the performance of silica gel–water adsorption refrigeration cycle with mass recovery process by experimental prototype machine. In an adsorption refrigeration cycle, the pressures in adsorber and desorber are different. The mass recovery cycle utilizes the pressure difference to enhance the refrigerant mass circulation. Moreover, novel cycle was proposed for improvement of cooling output. In our previous study, simulation analysis shows that mass recovery cycle has the advantage over conventional single-stage. Experiments with prototype machine were conducted to investigate the performance improvement of mass recovery cycle in the present paper. Specific cooling power (SCP) and coefficient of performance (COP) were calculated with experimental data to analyze the influences of operating conditions. The proposed cycle was compared with the single-stage cycle in terms of SCP and COP. The results show that SCP of mass recovery cycle is superior to that of conventional cycle and mass recovery cycle is effective with low temperature heat source.