Thermal analysis and modeling study of an activated carbon solar adsorption icemaker: Dhahran case study

• Performance of a solar methanol–carbon refrigerator is investigated by thermodynamic modeling.
• Performance in winter is better than in summer under climate conditions of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
• Daily ice production per m2 of collector area can be more than 5 kg in winter and less than 3 kg in summer.
• Corresponding minimum and maximum SCOP is 0.077 and 0.17 in hot and cold days, respectively.

Intermittent adsorption refrigeration systems are suitable for producing ice in remote areas. EES and MATLAB computer programs are exploited to analyze the thermodynamic cycle and to model the system under Dhahran climate conditions, respectively. The results show that the system performance in winter is better than in summer under the climate conditions for the city of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. For example, the system produces below 3 kg in the hot days and more than 5 kg of ice per square meter of solar collector in the cold days with solar coefficient of performance (SCOP) that varies between 0.077 and 0.17, respectively.