Stacked adsorption module with aluminium composite foil: Simulation and experimental evaluation of a novel concept

Adsorption chillers, heat pumps and heat upgraders are important technologies for the valorisation of waste heat and the decarbonisation of heating and cooling. However, available solutions lack compactness and high costs. A novel concept of an adsorption module with water as refrigerant is based on polymer-aluminium-polymer composite foils as integrated vacuum encapsulation and heat exchanger surface. Inspired by classical plate heat exchanger the concept allows for the usage of low-cost materials, a simplified manufacturing procedure and easy scalability. Stability-critical vacuum feedthroughs of heat exchanger tubes are inherently avoided by reducing the vacuum part to so-called adsorption cells. An innovative copper fibre TiAPSO-34 composite is employed as adsorbent layer allowing for high adsorption dynamics. In this contribution we present preliminary results of the manufacturing procedure and experimental results. For the design process the method of effective thermal resistance has been employed. Alongside results of a transient FEM simulation of heat and mass transfer processes provides insights into internal mechanisms and optimization potential.