There is a need for heat operated refrigeration systems in areas of the world which have a warm climate and also have no firm electricity supply. Research is underway on carbon - ammonia refrigerators driven by the heat of steam condensing in a thermosyphon heat pipe. The heat source can be...

The performance of a solar sorption refrigerator is studied experimentally for three configurations of its collector cover: with single glazing, with double glazing and with single glazing plus transparent insulation. The collector consists of fifteen stainless steel tubes having a selective...

A small solid adsorption solar refrigerator has been built and preliminary testing is underway. The collector is 1.4 m2 in area and contains 17 kg of active carbon. It uses transparent insulation to reduce collector heat losses. The cold box is remote from the collector, being linked to it by a...

Composite adsorbents, comprising activated carbon and expanded natural graphite, have been developed, and their thermal conductivity, permeability and adsorption performance were tested. The thermal conductivity varied with the ratio of activated carbon to expanded natural graphite. Thermal...

We describe a polygeneration system that can run on neat plant oils, such as Jatropha and Pongamia, or standard diesel fuel. A prototype has been constructed using a compression ignition engine of 9.9 kW shaft output. It consumes 3 L/h of fuel and will produce 40 kg/h of ice by means of an...

A prototype Compound Parabolic Concentrating (CPC) solar energy collector for a sorption refrigerator is presented. It consists of two CPC reflectors, two absorbers and a single glazing cover. The absorber is made with seamless steel tube covered in a selective surface (absorptance: 0.95) and...