Simulated results of a non-valve, daily-cycled, solar-powered carbon/methanol refrigerator with a tubular solar collector

A mathematical model (computer program) for simulating non-valve, solar-powered carbon/methanol adsorption refrigeration cycles has been developed and validated before. Some further applications of the program in the investigation of the non-valve solar refrigerator are shown in this paper. The fate of four daily phases of temperature change and methanol migrations inside the tubular solar collector is illustrated by the program. The simulated daily cycle of the non-valve refrigerator is shown in the paper as well. It is found in a non-valve system the methanol concentration in the carbon is not at its minimum value when the collector reaches its peak temperature in the daytime. In addition, the refrigerant (methanol) does not evaporate at a constant temperature during the adsorption/evaporation period. It is noteworthy that all the processes in our simulating cycle agreed very well with those of the experimental cycle tested on the prototype; this means our model/program can simulate the actual cycle of this kind of refrigerator well. So the program has been used to analyse the effect of daily operations and key structure parameters on the refrigerator performance and can be used to further study the system performance.