Performance investigation of a freezing system with novel multi-salt sorbent for refrigerated truck

Sorption cooling system for vehicle can reduce the fuel consumption by exhaust heat recovery. Owing to the alleviated hysteresis phenomenon of the multi-salt sorbent, the desorption temperature is decreased and the sorption temperature is increased. A freezing system with multi-salt sorbent of CaCl₂/MnCl₂ is proposed for the refrigerated truck because of the better adaptability of the multi-salt sorbent under extreme conditions, such as low exhaust gas temperature and high ambient temperature. In the system the modularized sorption bed is designed for the direct heat exchange with the engine exhaust gas and the ambient air intermittently. The characteristics of the freezing system under different working conditions are analyzed. The results show that for the optimum cycle with 65-min the maximum refrigeration capacity is higher than 2.4 kW at the heating temperature of 200 °C and the ambient temperature of about 25 °C. Such a result can meet the demand of the light refrigerated truck. The SCP and COP vary less than 10% when the heating temperature ranges from 200 °C to 250 °C, while both parameters are relatively sensitive to the refrigeration temperature. The average SCP is increased by nearly 100% compared with the existing two-stage sorption freezing system for refrigerated truck.