| The efficiency, as represented by the Coefficient of Performance (COP), of adsorption heat pumps must be increased in order for such devices to compete with the ubiquitous mechanical vapor compression heat pumps. To increase the COP, an adsorption heat pump design needs to improve heat transfer within the adsorption beds. Metal gauze was bonded to the heating medium to distribute heat throughout an adsorption bed and increase the COP.; The metal gauze minimized the COP dependency on the adsorbent thermal conductivity. An ideal pin size was 0.1 mm. The ideal volume ratio of pin fins to adsorbent material was 20%. Time variation simulations had quick rise to the maximum and then a steady decrease in COP. Finally, a comparative simulation indicated that activated carbon achieved a higher COP than Zeolite 13X. The metal gauze design allows exploration of adsorbents with low thermal conductivity, but high adsorptive capacity. |
