JPH0765817B2 - Adsorption refrigerator and its operating method - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an adsorption refrigerator and a method of operating the adsorption refrigerator. More specifically, in order to improve refrigeration efficiency, it is possible to preheat the inside of an adsorption tower immediately before entering a desorption process. And an efficient operation method thereof.

(Prior Art) An adsorption refrigerator utilizing the refrigerant adsorption / desorption action of a solid adsorbent is generally equipped with two adsorption towers in parallel containing fixed adsorbents such as silica gel, zeolite, activated carbon and activated alumina. A system is constructed so that the heat medium for heating the adsorbent and the cooling water are alternately supplied to both adsorption towers, and the adsorption / desorption process is repeated to continuously obtain the refrigeration output.

And recently, various improvements have been made to improve the refrigeration efficiency.One of them is to supply the hot water remaining in the adsorption tower immediately after the desorption step to the other adsorption tower immediately after the adsorption step and to perform a new desorption step. Prior to this, the present inventor has previously disclosed a method of preheating the solid adsorbent to improve the desorption efficiency, thereby improving the overall refrigeration efficiency (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-58966).
(See the official gazette).

When the desorption efficiency is improved with such a method, the adsorption efficiency is correspondingly improved, and the overall refrigeration efficiency is improved.
During this time, the improvement of the desorption efficiency and the improvement of the adsorption efficiency are not necessarily in a direct proportional relationship. That is, if the desorption efficiency is improved but it is too effective, not all of them can be adsorbed within a predetermined time, or the desorption is shorter than the adsorption with the improvement of the desorption efficiency. In some cases, the improvement of the desorption efficiency does not always reflect the improvement of the refrigeration efficiency as it is because the time is over.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) Therefore, an operating method is conceivable in which the operation time of the desorption process is reduced and the time of the adsorption process per unit time is increased in response to the improvement of the desorption efficiency. According to the method, as is clear from the time chart of FIG. 7, even if the desorption process is completed in one adsorption tower, the adsorption process still continues in the other adsorption tower. Therefore, in the case of preheating the adsorption tower immediately before the desorption step to improve the desorption efficiency, it becomes impossible by the means so far to directly supply the residual hot water from one adsorption tower to the other adsorption tower.

In view of such an actual situation, the present invention temporarily stores the residual hot water with the completion of the desorption process of one of the adsorption towers even if both the adsorption and desorption processes are not completed at the same time, and the other adsorption towers. Is supplied to the adsorption tower immediately before moving to the desorption step, which enables constant preheating immediately before the desorption step,
It is an object of the present invention to further improve the refrigeration efficiency by operating such an adsorption type refrigerator while shortening the time of the desorption process as described above.

(Means for Solving the Problem) That is, the feature of the adsorption refrigerator according to the present invention which meets the above-mentioned object is that the adsorption tower including the solid adsorbent and the heat transfer tube
In the adsorption type refrigerating machine, which is used as a base, is connected to the condenser and the evaporator so that the body of each adsorption tower can circulate the refrigerant, and the adsorption tower is operated by switching the adsorption / desorption process. The tank is arranged in the piping for the cooling water of the refrigerator or the heating medium for heating, and the valve is attached to the piping in the vicinity of the location.

Here, the tank has a capacity that is substantially equal to the amount of warm water remaining in the adsorption tower immediately after the desorption process and in the pipes located before and after it, and the tank connects the adsorption towers. Connected to the pipe.

In addition, as a feature when operating the adsorption refrigerator,
The operation time of the desorption process is shortened by a predetermined time from the operation time of the adsorption process, and as a result, the operation time of the adsorption process per unit time is increased, and further, the hot water held by the adsorption tower at the end of desorption is The purpose is to use the hot water stored in the tank to preheat the adsorption tower, which is stored in the tank and then switched from adsorption to desorption.

(Operation) When the adsorption refrigerating machine as described above is operated by the method of the present invention, first, as described above, even if the desorption process is completed in one adsorption tower, the adsorption process is continued in the other adsorption tower. Occurs.

Therefore, in one of the adsorption towers, when the desorption process is completed, the heating heat medium remains as hot water in the adsorption tower and in the pipes before and after the desorption process, but the residual hot water is cooled by inflow with the start of the adsorption process. It is extruded by water, introduced into a tank characterizing the present invention by an appropriate valve operation, and temporarily stored therein.

Then, when the adsorption process is completed in the other adsorption tower, the valve is appropriately operated to introduce the hot water from the tank to the adsorption tower to preheat the solid adsorbent.
After this, the adsorption tower moves to the desorption step, but the desorption of the refrigerant at this time becomes efficient due to the preheating.

Therefore, the desorption process works well even if the operating time is shortened by the operating method according to the present invention, while the adsorption process improves the refrigeration efficiency of the entire refrigerator because the operating interval is shortened even if the operating time remains the same. It will be.

(Example) Hereinafter, one example of the adsorption refrigerator according to the present invention will be described together with a method for operating the adsorption refrigerator according to the present invention.

1 to 6 are schematic diagrams showing an example of an adsorption refrigerator according to the present invention.

In addition, the flow path through which the heat medium or the refrigerant flows is a solid line,
The residual hot water is shown by the broken line.

In these figures, (11) and (11) 'are in vacuum vessels (12) and (12)' from a low-grade heat source such as a solar collector or factory waste heat, with or without a heat exchanger. The fin tubes (1) and (13) 'for alternately passing the supplied hot water and the cooling water generated by a cooling water generator such as a cooling tower are built in the fin tubes (1
3), (13) 'two fins are filled with a solid adsorbent (S) such as silica gel, zeolite, activated carbon, activated alumina, etc. (14) is both adsorption columns (11), ( 1
1) ′ body (12), (12) ′ with valve (V _R3 ),
A condenser (17) connected through ducts (16) and (16) 'provided with (V _R4 ) is a body (14a) of the condenser (14).
An evaporator connected to the bottom of the via a pipe (10) having a trap shape, the casing (17a) of the evaporator (17)
And the vacuum containers (12) and (12) 'of the first and second adsorption towers (11) and (11)' are valves (V _R1 ) and (V _R2 ) on the way.
Are connected to each other by ducts (20), (20) 'provided with a valve, and a predetermined amount of a refrigerant such as water enclosed in the vacuum vessels (12), (12)' is cooled by the valves (V _R1 ), (V _R2 ),
With the opening and closing of (V _R3 ) and (V _R4 ), it is possible to circulate between them.

The condenser (14) is a body (14a) in which a finned heat transfer tube (21) such as a cross fin tube or an erotic fin tube is housed. The condenser (14) is constantly supplied into the heat transfer tube (21). The cooling water to be supplied to the adsorption towers (11), (1
Refrigerant vapor discharged from the solid adsorbent (S) in 1) ′ is condensed and liquefied and stored in the bottom of the body (14a).
It is designed to be supplied to the evaporator (17) through 8).

On the other hand, the evaporator (17) has a horizontally long casing (17a).
The heat transfer pipe (22) for passing the heat medium on the utilization side is inserted into the inside thereof, and the refrigerant liquid introduced from the condenser (14) is transferred to an evaporation tray (not shown) provided in the lower part of the heat transfer pipe (22). It is stored and evaporated and vaporized on the surface of the heat transfer tube (22), and the latent heat of evaporation is taken from the heat medium on the use side to cool it.

Further, (27) is a tank which is a feature of the present invention, and has valves (V ₁₄ ), (V ₁₅ ), (V ₁₅ V ₁₆ ) is located through.

In the figure, (V ₁ ), (V ₂ ), (V ₃ ), ... (V ₁₃ ) are the heat transfer tubes (13), (13) ′ of the adsorption towers (11), (11 ′), the condenser ( 14) The heat transfer pipe (21), the cooling water inlet (23), the cooling water outlet (24), the heat source side heat medium inlet (25) and the heat source side heat medium outlet (26) is there.

These valves (V ₁ ), (V ₂ ), (V ₃ ), ... (V ₁₃ ), valves (V ₁₄ ), (V ₁₅ ), (V ₁₆ ), and the refrigerant circulation path were provided. The valves (V _R1 ), (V _R2 ), (V
_{All of R3} ) and ( _VR4 ) are designed to open and close in sequence based on commands from control means (not shown).

Next, the method of the present invention will be described based on the adsorption refrigerator having the above-mentioned configuration.

First, FIG. 7 shows a time chart of the adsorption refrigerator shown in FIGS. 1 to 6. In the figure, the numbers representing the states correspond to the states in FIGS. 1 to 6, respectively. In addition, semi-preparation of process switching, desorption is desorption process,
Suction represents each adsorption process.

Each state ~ is operated for a predetermined period of time as appropriate. For example, in the example of the figure, 0.5 minutes, 3 minutes,
0.5 minutes is 1.5 minutes, is 0.5 minutes, is 3 minutes.

Therefore, FIG. 1 is a preparatory stage when the first adsorption tower switches from the adsorption step to the desorption step, while the second adsorption tower switches from the adsorption step to the adsorption tower.

In the figure, the heat source side heat medium flowing from the inlet (25) is returned to the outlet (26) by the valve (V ₃ ), and the supply to the second adsorption tower (11) ′ is stopped. Along with this, in the heat transfer pipe (13) 'of the second adsorption tower (11)' and the pipes located in front of and behind it, the heat medium on the heat source side, which has been supplied so far, remains as hot water, but on the other hand, the inlet ( Since the cooling water from 23) flows into the heat transfer tube (13) 'to cool the solid adsorbent (S), the residual hot water is pushed out and passes through the valve (V ₁ ) to the first adsorption tower (11). To the heat transfer tube (13), where the solid adsorbent (S) is heated to preheat the first adsorption tower (11) before the desorption process.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, valves (V ₁ ), (V ₂ ), (V ₃ ), (as shown in FIG. 2 are selected until the hot water flows out from the heat transfer pipe (13) of the first adsorption tower (11). V ₇ ), (V ₈ ), (V
₁₁ ), (V _R2 ), and (V _R3 ) are switched all at once, the heat source side heat medium is supplied to the heat transfer tube (13) of the first adsorption tower (11) via the valve (V ₂ ). , The solid adsorbent (S) is heated and desorbed, while the cooling water is supplied to the heat transfer pipe (13) 'of the second adsorption tower (11)', and then the outlet (2) is opened by the valve (V ₈ ).
While going to 4), it is also supplied to the heat transfer tube (21) of the evaporator (14) through another piping route as in FIG.

As a result, the refrigerant vapor heated and desorbed in the first adsorption tower (11) enters the condenser (14) through the valve (V _R3 ) and is cooled by the cooling water flowing in the heat transfer tube (21). It is liquefied, stored in the bottom of the body (14a), and sent to the evaporator (17) through the pipe (18) due to a pressure difference or the like.

Further, during this period, in the second adsorption tower (11) ', the solid adsorbent (S) is cooled and adsorbs the refrigerant vapor, so that the refrigerant liquid in the evaporator (17) is on the surface of the heat transfer tube (22). In order to cool the user-side heat medium that evaporates vigorously from the user-side heat medium flowing in the heat transfer tube (22) by cooling it, it is common to supply the user-side heat medium to the fan coil unit installed in the air conditioning target area. Air conditioning system temperature conditions (eg, cooling water inlet temperature 30 ° C,
It is possible to satisfy the use side heat medium inlet temperature of 12 ° C and the outlet temperature of 7 ° C.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a case where the adsorption column in the desorption step, which is a feature of the method of the present invention, that is, in the present case, only the first adsorption column (11) is switched from the desorption step to the adsorption step.

First, the valves (V ₂ ), (V ₃ ), (V ₅ ), (V ₇ ),
When (V ₁₂ ), (V ₁₃ ), (V ₁₄ ), (V ₁₆ ), and (V _R3 ) are switched all at once, the supply of the heat medium on the heat source side to the first adsorption tower (11) is stopped. At the same time, the cooling water also flows into the first adsorption tower (11) by opening the valve (V ₅ ). In the heat transfer tube (13) of the first adsorption tower (11) and in the pipes before and after it, the heat source side heating medium is used as residual hot water as in the case of the second adsorption tower (11) 'in FIG. When it exists,
It is pushed out by the inflowing cooling water as described above, and is forced to flow into the tank (27) as the valves (V ₁₆ ) and (V ₁₄ ) are opened.

In the meantime, in the second adsorption tower (11) ', the adsorption process continues, but the supply of cooling water to the condenser (14) is stopped.

And said tank (27) as in Figure 4 when the residual hot water flows all into the valve (V _14), as well as stored in the tank hot water close the (V ₁₆₎ (27), valves (V ₁₁₎ By opening, the cooling water flowing out from the first adsorption tower (11) is directed to the outlet (24).

As a result, cooling water flows in the heat transfer tube (12) of the first adsorption tower (11) in the same manner as in the second adsorption tower (11) ', and at the same time, if the valve (V _R1 ) is opened, Adsorption tower (1
The 1) and the evaporator (17) communicate with each other, and the adsorption operation by the first adsorption tower (11) starts.

That is, the adsorption process is operated by the two adsorption towers (11) and (11) ′, and at this time, the cooling water is naturally supplied to the condenser (14) at the third stage. It is stopped following the state shown in the figure.

Next, FIG. 5 shows a preparatory stage when the second adsorption tower (11) 'shifts from the adsorption step to the desorption step.

First, the valve (V _R2 ) is closed to prevent the adsorption and transfer of the refrigerant by the second adsorption tower (11) ', while the valve (V ₁₂ ),
(V ₁₃ ) is opened to supply cooling water to the condenser (14), and the cooling water that has passed through the first adsorption tower (11) is valved (V ₁₆ ).
Lead into the tank (27).

In FIG. 3 described above, the hot water stored in the tank (27) is pushed out by the cooling water flowing into the tank (27) through the valve (V ₁₅ ), and the hot water in the second adsorption tower (11) ′ is transferred. The solid adsorbent (S) is preheated by being driven into the heat pipe (13) 'and the pipes before and after it.

During this period, the adsorption process is continuing in the first adsorption tower (11).

Next, when all the hot water in the tank (27) is discharged,
As shown in the figure, the valves (V ₁₄ ), (V ₁₅ ), and (V ₁₆ ) are all closed and the tank (27) is closed, and the valve (V ₁₁ ) is opened to pass through the first adsorption tower (11). Cooling water outlet (2
Discharge from 4).

On the other hand, the second adsorption tower (1
The heat source side heat medium is supplied to 1) ′ by closing the valve (V ₃ ) and opening the valve (V ₆ ) to perform desorption operation.

As a result, adsorption is performed in the first adsorption tower (11) and desorption operation is performed in the second adsorption tower (11) ', but a description thereof is omitted here.

Needless to say, the adsorption refrigerating machine according to the present invention can be operated by the method of the present invention even when the adsorption and desorption process is not switched at the same time as shown in FIG. .

In the above embodiment, two adsorption towers were used and connected to the condenser and the evaporator in parallel so that the refrigerant could be circulated.
The method of the present invention can also be applied by arranging the tanks in parallel and arranging the tanks in the same manner, and performing the adsorption / desorption operation in order to obtain continuous refrigerating output.

(Advantages of the Invention) An adsorption refrigerator according to the present invention has two or more adsorption towers as described above, and a tank is arranged together with a valve in a pipe connecting the adsorption towers. The hot water remaining when the desorption process is completed in one adsorption tower is temporarily stored in the tank and then can be supplied to the other adsorption tower after a certain period of time. Even if there is a difference in the process switching time between the adsorption towers due to the shortened operating method of the present invention, it is possible to preheat the adsorbent by always supplying hot water to the adsorption tower before the desorption step.

That is, the desorption efficiency is improved at any time, which enables the desorption operation to be shortened and the operation time per unit time of the adsorption process to be increased accordingly, thereby greatly improving the refrigeration efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 6 are schematic diagrams showing an example of an adsorption refrigerator according to the present invention to which the method of the present invention can be applied, and FIG. 7 is a time chart showing an example of an operating method of the adsorption refrigerator according to the present invention. Is. (11), (11) '... Adsorption tower, (12), (12)' ... Body (vacuum container), (13), (13) '... Heat transfer tube, (14) ... Condenser, (17) ... Evaporator, (27) ... Tank, (V ₁₄ ), (V
₁₅ ), (V ₁₆ ) ... valve, (S) ... solid adsorbent.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masao Matsushita 13-8-1108 Matsuya-cho, Neyagawa-shi, Osaka (72) Inventor Atsushi Morikawa 2 Ochiyama Ochiyama, Yawata-shi, Kyoto C-15-402 (72) Invention Koji Yoshihara 6-9 Yawata Musashishiba, Yawata City, Kyoto Prefecture (56) References JP-A-64-58966 (JP, A) JP-A-58-184467 (JP, A)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An adsorption tower having two or more solid adsorbents and a heat transfer tube incorporated therein is used, and the body of each adsorption tower is connected to a condenser and an evaporator so that a refrigerant can circulate, and the adsorption tower is adsorbed. , In an adsorption refrigerator operated by switching the desorption process, a heat transfer pipe of the adsorption tower immediately after the desorption process and a tank of approximately the same volume as the amount of hot water remaining in the pipe are arranged in the pipe connecting the adsorption towers. At the same time, a valve is attached to a pipe adjacent to the location where the hot water remaining in the adsorption tower can be stored. 2. Using the adsorption refrigerator according to claim 1,
A method for operating an adsorption refrigerating machine, which comprises operating the desorption process in a predetermined shortened time as compared with the adsorption process in any adsorption tower when switching between the adsorption and desorption processes. 3. The adsorption refrigerating machine according to claim 1, wherein hot water held by the adsorption tower at the end of desorption is stored in a tank, and then stored in the tank for preheating of the adsorption tower at which adsorption is switched to desorption. A method for operating an adsorption refrigerator, which uses warm water that has been set aside.