Fuzzy logic approach in the analysis of heat transfer in a porous sorbent bed of the adsorption chiller

Thermal conductivity in the boundary layer of heat exchange surface is the crucial parameter of adsorption process efficiency which occurs in the adsorption bed. In order to improve heat transfer conditions in the adsorption chiller, novel constructions of adsorption beds are currently investigated. The porous structure of the sorbent layer causes low thermal conductivity in the adsorption bed. One of the methods to improve heat transfer conditions is a modification of porous media bed structure with glue which is characterized with higher thermal conductivity. The optimum parameters of sorbents and glues to build the novel coated construction, in terms of improving the chiller Coefficient of Performance (COP) were defined in (Grabowska et al. 2018a). The paper implements fuzzy logic approach for predicting thermal conductivity of modified porous media layers. The developed model allows determination of the sorbent layer thermal conductivity based on various input parameters: arithmetic average of particle distribution d, density ρ and thermal diffusivity k. The data from empirical research was used to build up the model by fuzzy logic methods.