Adsorption cooling
The Illustrated Guide to Renewable Technologies BG 1/2008, By Kevin Pennycook, published by BSRIA in March 2008, states: ‘Adsorption chillers, like absorption chillers, are driven by an external heat source; however they have the advantage that the required input temperature is between 60oC and 95oC. This means that relatively low cost flat-plate solar collectors can be used to provide the heat source to drive the refrigerant process. An adsorption chiller consists of a pressure vessel divided into four chambers. These are the evaporator (lower chamber), the generator/receiver (second and third chambers) and the condenser (top chamber). The generator and receiver are linked by valves which automatically open depending on the pressure differences within the chiller. Adsorption chillers use water as the cooling medium and silica gel as the adsorbent. At low pressures, water vapourises at low temperatures. Silica gel can bond large amounts of water without loss, reversibly (and without increasing in volume), releasing the water again when heat is applied.’
--BSRIA
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