The Project aim. Within the framework of this project it is planned to develop of a scientific basis for the selection of materials for adsorption cooling systems (ACS) and for adsorption energy storage (AES) using experimental and numerical methods. Based on the obtained results the fully solar driven ACS prototype will be designed and assembled. The performance of the system will be tested under Kazakhstan weather conditions and climatic features.
The project’s influence on progress in this area. The main advantage of the ACS systems is it’s fully functional without electricity supply, which allows the use of this technology in remote regions from electrical networks. Development of a such technology would be very useful for Kazakhstan where the towns and villages are very scattered throughout the country. The source of energy for the ACS operation can be the energy of the sun or waste heat. According to International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR), approximately 15% of all electricity produced worldwide is used for refrigeration and air conditioning [2], which means the huge portion of the energy consumed falls to the share of different cooling systems. Therefore, the transition to the clean sources of energy would solve different problems with air pollution. The natural substances like natural gas, water, methanol, ethanol, carbon dioxide, ammonia, etc. are used as a refrigerant in such systems that makes it cheap, clean and ensures the safe operation. The only drawbacks of ACS are the relatively small coefficient of performance (COP) and large dimensions compared to the conventional compression based cooling systems. Now scientists are working on how to make these systems more compact and increase their efficiency, since the development of this direction is very promising. [1] shows an example of an adsorption refrigeration apparatus operating on solar energy. The authors studied the performance of the simplest ACS with an activated carbon/methanol pair and achieved a temperature in the cooled space from -5.6 ° C to 8.1 ° C, depending on the weather conditions and the intensity of the sun. Such systems/technology could be used in production of medicine/foodstuffs scoreboxes/storehouses. In scopes of this project such system will be developed and tested under Kazakhstani climatic features.
The scientific direction of the project is almost new and developing very slowly in Kazakhstan, therefore there are no specialized laboratories equipped with the necessary equipment for developing new types of adsorbents for cooling/refrigeration and energy storage systems, and for analyzing their adsorption and physical properties. Therefore, this project’s implementation is very important and significant on a national scale.
Scope of Activities. The following activities will be implemented under the Project:
1. Conduction of experiments to obtain adsorption isotherms, adsorption kinetics, thermal characteristics and other geometrical properties like specific surface area, pore volume etc., and post processing of experimental results;
2. Numerical simulation to determine the performance of adsorption cooling system (ACS);
3. Development of a scientific basis for the selection of materials for adsorption cooling systems and adsorption energy storage;
4. Designing and assembling of the ACS prototype;
5. System testing and optimization of working regimes.
