Energy efficiency is one of the most important topics nowadays. It is strictly related to energy demand, energy policy, environmental pollution, and economic issues. Energy efficiency can be increased and operating costs reduced by using waste heat from other processes. One of the possibilities is to use sorption chillers to produce chilled water and desalinated water. Low-temperature waste heat is not easy to utilize because of the low energy potential. Using adsorption chillers in low-temperature conditions allows utilizing waste heat and producing useful products in many regions of the world. The paper presents the results of an experimental study carried out on a three-bed adsorption chiller with desalination function, using silica gel and water as a working pair. The laboratory test stand included one evaporator, one condenser, and three separate tanks for water, desalinated water, and brine, respectively. The test stands scheme and description were presented. All results were obtained during several test hours with stable temperature conditions in the range of 57–85 °C for the heating water. It is found that the Coefficient of Performance (COP) increased from 0.20 to 0.58 when the heating water temperature increased from 57 to 85 °C. A similar finding is reported for Specific Cooling Power (SCP), which increased from 27 to 160 W/kg as the heating water temperature increased from 57 to 85 °C. It can be concluded that the heating water temperature strongly impacts the performance of the adsorption chiller.
The paper presents the results of numerical computations performed for the furnace chamber waterwalls of a supercritical boiler with a steam output of 2400 × 103 kg/h. A model of distributed parameters is proposed for the waterwall operation simulation. It is based on the solution of equations describing the mass, momentum and energy conservation laws. The aim of the calculations was to determine the distribution of enthalpy, mass flow and fluid pressure in tubes. The balance equations can be brought to a form where on the left-hand side space derivatives, and on the right-hand side – time derivatives are obtained. The time derivatives on the right-hand side were replaced with backward difference quotients. This system of ordinary differential equations was solved using the Runge-Kutta method. The calculation also takes account of the variable thermal load of the chamber along its height. This thermal load distribution is known from the calculations of the heat exchange in the combustion chamber. The calculations were carried out with the zone method.