Application of an embossed plate heat exchanger to adsorption chiller

• Feasibility of embossed plate HX adsorption chiller was examined for the first time.
• Performance of the plate HX is compared with that of fin-tube type HX.
• A parameter study examined seven important design parameters of the plate HX.
• The optimized values of COP and SCP were 0.5118 and 662.8 W kg−1, respectively.

The present research conducted a parametric study on an embossed plate heat exchanger (plate HX) type adsorption chiller with SWS-1L and water pair, using a numerical method. The plate HX has a relatively high heat transfer capacity and compact size, and this study is a first attempt to apply the plate HX as a new type of adsorption chiller, as an improved alterative to the fin-tube type heat exchanger. A feasibility study was conducted on the base model and the result is comparable to the value for existing fin-tube type adsorption chillers. Furthermore, a parameter study was conducted for seven important design parameters, embossing diameter ratio, embossing height, embossing pitch, bed thickness, plate thickness, heating temperature and heat transfer fluid velocity. The results provided guidelines for the optimal designs of plate HX type adsorption chiller. The optimal values of COP and SCP were 0.5118 and 662.8 W kg−1, respectively.