TY - JOUR A1 - Frazzica, Andrea A1 - Palomba, Valeria A1 - Dawoud, Belal A1 - Gullì, Giuseppe A1 - Brancato, Vincenza A1 - Sapienza, Alessio A1 - Vasta, Salvatore A1 - Freni, Angelo A1 - Costa, Fabio A1 - Restuccia, Giovanni T1 - Design, realization and testing of an adsorption refrigerator based on activated carbon/ethanol working pair JF - Applied Energy N2 - In the present paper design, realization and testing of a novel small scale adsorption refrigerator prototype based on activated carbon/ethanol working pair is described. Firstly, experimental activity has been carried out for identification of the best performing activated carbon available on the market, through the evaluation of the achievable thermodynamic performance both under air conditioning and refrigeration conditions. Once identified the best performing activated carbon, the design of the adsorber was developed by experimental dynamic performance analysis, carried out by means of the Gravimetric-Large Temperature Jump (G-LTJ) apparatus available at CNR ITAE lab. Finally, the whole 0.5 kW refrigerator prototype was designed and built. First experimental results both under reference air conditioning and refrigeration cycles have been reported, to check the achievable performance. High Specific Cooling Powers (SCPs), 95 W/kg and 50 W/kg, for air conditioning and refrigeration respectively, were obtained, while the COP ranged between 0.09 and 0.11, thus showing an improvement of the current state of the art. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. KW - Activated carbon KW - ADSORBENTS KW - adsorption KW - Ammonia KW - CARBON KW - CHILLER KW - COOLING SYSTEMS KW - Corrosion KW - DRIVEN KW - Ethanol KW - ETHANOL ADSORPTION KW - PERFORMANCE KW - Refrigeration KW - waste heat Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.04.080 VL - 174 SP - 15 EP - 24 PB - Elsevier ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Frazzica, Andrea A1 - Brancato, Vincenza A1 - Dawoud, Belal T1 - Unified Methodology to Identify the Potential Application of Seasonal Sorption Storage Technology JF - Energies N2 - In this study, the definition of a new methodology for a preliminary evaluation of the working boundary conditions under which a seasonal thermal energy storage (STES) system operates is described. The approach starts by considering the building features as well as the reference heating system in terms of solar thermal collectors’ technology, ambient heat sinks/source, and space heating distribution systems employed. Furthermore, it is based on a deep climatic analysis of the place where the STES needs to be installed, to identify both winter and summer operating conditions. In particular, the STES energy density is evaluated considering different space heating demands covered by the STES (ranging from 10% up to 60%). The obtained results demonstrate that this approach allows for the careful estimation of the achievable STES density, which is varies significantly both with the space heating coverage guaranteed by the STES as well as with the ambient heat source/sink that is employed in the system. This confirms the need for careful preliminary analysis to avoid the overestimation of the STES material volume. The proposed approach was then applied for different climatic conditions (e.g., Germany and Sweden) and the volume of one of the most attractive composite sorbent materials reported in the literature, i.e., multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT)-LiCl, using water as the working fluid, needed for covering the variable space heating demand in a Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) was calculated. In the case of Swedish buildings, it ranges from about 3.5 m3 when 10% of the space heating demand is provided by the STES, up to 11.1 m3 when 30% of the space heating demand is provided by the STES. KW - seasonal thermal storage KW - composite sorbents KW - operating conditions Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/en13051037 VL - 13 IS - 5 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - MPDI CY - Basel ER -