Energy efficient sorption processes and systems
First Claim
1. Novel energy efficient multi-stage regeneration processes, for regenerating liquid desiccant (LD), using rotating contacting disks assembly to provide intimate contact between LD and vapour/gas to enhance the interfacial area between them for increased heat and/or mass transfer, without problems of carryover of liquid in to the vapour/gas stream or flooding, having the provision to efficiently heat and/or cool the liquid while cooling and dehumidifying the air using a Hybrid Cooling System (HCS).
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Abstract
The present invention relates to novel energy efficient sorption processes and systems for cooling, dehumidifying and heating using multistage liquid desiccant regenerators, or hybrid cooling systems or adsorption cooling systems involving appropriate combinations of rotating contacting devises, adsorption modules with heat transfer passages in thermal contact with the adsorption module wall and switchable heat pipes. The sorption processes of this invention help in flexible designing of compact cooling, dehumidifing, heating systems easy operability. The adsorption module of this invention leads to lower cycle times as low as 5 minutes; makes it possible to achieve high system Coefficient of Performance (COP) up to 0.9 due to reduced thermal mass; offers high specific cooling power in the range of 50 to 750 W/kg of AC; is easy to manufacture and operates at low costs. The refrigeration cum heating system of this invention with heat pipe in thermal contact with the adsorption modules increase the heat transfer rates without increasing the thermal mass leading to increase of COP and the single or multistage pressure equalisation increases the internal regeneration of heat thereby increasing the COP, reducing the cycle time resulting in increased specific cooling power (SCP), reducing the required quantity of adsorbent/refrigerant making the module compact and cost effective.
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Citations
116 Claims
- 1. Novel energy efficient multi-stage regeneration processes, for regenerating liquid desiccant (LD), using rotating contacting disks assembly to provide intimate contact between LD and vapour/gas to enhance the interfacial area between them for increased heat and/or mass transfer, without problems of carryover of liquid in to the vapour/gas stream or flooding, having the provision to efficiently heat and/or cool the liquid while cooling and dehumidifying the air using a Hybrid Cooling System (HCS).
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14. An energy efficient multi-stage regeneration process (EEMSRP) for regenerating liquid desiccant (LD) comprising:
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HTR operating at highest pressure in the system boiling the weak LD absorbing heat from an external source, having insulation on exposed surface to avoid heat loss from LD to surroundings and giving off vapour to next relatively low temperature ITR, in which the latent heat of vapour generated in HTR is used to boil the LD. ITR operating at a particular pressure heated using the vapour generated in the ITR/HTR operating at next higher-pressure level wherein the vapour generated in the ITR is passed on to the next ITR/LTR operating at next lower pressure level. A LTR, operating at atmospheric pressure, incorporating large surface density contacting device, having provision to heat the LD, with vapour generated in immediate higher temperature HTR/ITR condensing in the passages, in thermal contact with a container such as a the containing the LTR Optional arrangement such as a hood with chimney to aid the flow of ambient air through LTR to pickup the moisture from LD. A device to rotate/oscillate the contacting discs assembly in the LTR Optional heat exchangers HTRHE, ITRHE and LTRHE used to recycle heat to enhance the energy efficiency of the process Pressure reducing devices such as throttle valve Liquid desiccant pump(s) wherein the number of stages in the system for regeneration is (2+n) where n is the number of ITR'"'"'s in the process. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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16. Novel contacting device providing intimate contact between fluids to enhance the interfacial area between them comprising:
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assembly of contacting discs shaft for mounting the contacting discs for increased heat and/or mass transfer device for rotating/oscillating the contacting discs assembly trough to hold fluids in which the disc assembly is partially or fully submerged passages in thermal contact with a trough optional device to induce vapour/gas flow optional enclosure with arrangement to guide the flow of vapour/gas. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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28. A trough of any material, shape and size to match the assembly of 16.
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36. A hybrid cooling system, in which air temperature and humidity are simultaneously controlled, comprising;
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An absorber/Indoor Contacting Device (ICD), for dehumidifying air by bringing it in contact with-the LD while being cooled by evaporating refrigerant in the integrated evaporator A regenerator/Out Door Contacting Device (OCD) for regenerating LD by bringing it in contact with air, while LD being heated by condensing refrigerant in the integrated condenser A refrigerant compressor, to compress the refrigerant vapour coming from absorber/ICD after absorbing heat from LD and to send the high pressure refrigerant vapour to regenerator/OCD for delivering heat to the LD A throttling device, for throttling liquid refrigerant moving from regenerator/OCD to absorber/ICD Optional liquid-liquid heat exchanger, to recycle heat from the hot regenerated strong LD flowing from the regenerator/OCD into the weak LD pumped out of the absorber/ICD Two optional LD pumps to pump the LD, one from the absorber/ICD to regenerator/OCD and the other from the regenerator/OCD to absorber/ICD Optional refrigerant liquid to vapour heat exchanger to sub cool the liquid refrigerant coming out of the condenser using the cooling effect of refrigerant vapour coming out of the evaporator Optional Spiral Contacting Device (SCD) incorporated by the absorber/ICD and regenerator/OCD Optional external refrigerant evaporator/LD cooler instead of integrated evaporator with absorber/ICD Optional external refrigerant condenser/LD heater instead of integrated condenser with regenerator/OCD Optional device to circulate the indoor air through the absorber/ICD and outdoor air through regenerator/OCD and Optional duct mounting of absorber/ICD and regenerator/OCD. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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42. A contacting disc assembly absorber/ICD and regenerator/OCD as claimed in 39 is rotated at low rpm in the LD, preferably at around 3 to 5 rpm or oscillated to an angle greater than 30°
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69. An adsorption module comprising:
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a. a main containment vessel b. plurality of passages of cross sections that are in thermal contact or integrated into the wall of the containment vessel c. adsorbent filled in the containment vessel - View Dependent Claims (70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 114)
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86. Switchable heat pipes comprising.
evaporator condenser optional squeezable tube optional pincher and means to actuate pincher and/or to displace condenser.
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100. A refrigeration cum heating system working on an adsorption refrigeration cycle comprising:
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plurality of adsorption modules wherein a plurality of “
passages”
are in thermal contact with the walls of the containment vessels, so that containment vessel wall acts as fin“
passages”
, in thermal contact with the walls of the containment vessel wall act as heat pipes, used for transferring the heat to/from the moduleheat recovery tank/heat sink, wherein heat release from the module during the adsorption phase is collected to provide optional hot utility evaporator condenser means for actuating or isolating heat pipes and heat source such as solar energy, waste heat sources, direct fuel firing. - View Dependent Claims (101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 115)
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Specification