Tri-adsorption cooling system driven by waste heat from automobile with Programmable Logic Controller (PLC): A waste-to-energy experimental setup

Abstract

A tri-adsorbent beds cooling system with activated carbon-methanol as working pair was designed and devised successfully. The adsorption system is driven by exhaust waste heat from automobile. A programmable logic controller (PLC) type CJ2M-CPU31 was applied to control the heating-cooling processes of these adsorbers - powered by exhaust heat emitted from a Proton Iswara -VVT 1.3 liter car engine. The mode of 3-adsorbent beds control was tested successfully with perfect timing of opening and closing of all the valves. The overall control system is excellent parallel with the thermal heat source input in accordance to the complex intermittent cooling-heating schemes and intermittent flows required to achieve continuous cooling. The tri-adsorbent cooling system is found superior than the double bed prototype. Depend on ambient and system operating conditions, the parametric coefficient of performance (COP) range of the tri-adsorbent system is ranging from 0.23 to 0.29 corresponding to cooling power of ~ 1.4 kW. Primary energy saving for this new system is around 10–13%.