Simulação global de um refrigerador solar adsortivo empregando o par carvão ativado-metanol via método dos volumes finitos.

Abstract

A predictive model for an adsorption solar cooling system using the activated carbon-methanol pair and its numerical simulation are presented. That model accounts for instantaneous heat and mass transfers in each one of the machine components along a characteristic average day for each month. The solar-powered icemaker consists of the following basic components: a reactor containing an adsorptive bed coupled to a static solar collector covered by a honeycomb Transparent Insulation Material (TIM), a condenser and an evaporator. An uniform pressure model for the reactor is considered. The bed's radial temperature distribution is determined by means of a one-dimensional numerical method based on a finite-volume technique. The energy equations corresponding to the other components are solved by using the Newton - Raphson method. A computer program in C ++ was elaborated to evaluate the machine's performance, according to meteorological data valid for the hottest six months in Joao Pcssoa (7°8' S, 34°50' WG), whose climate is typically hot and humid. The average thermal efficiency was about 46% and the solar COP was 0.09, during the six month period considered (October-March). During this period it was predicted 5-6 kg/day of ice production per square meter of solar collection surface, for February and December respectively, with solar irradiations ranging from 20 to 23 .MJ/m .