AN ANALYTICAL COMPARISON OF ADSORPTION AND VAPOR COMPRESSION AIR-CONDITIONERS FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE APPLICATIONS

This paper shows an analysis of the applicability of an adsorption sys tem for electric vehicle (EV) air conditioning. Adsorption systems are designed and optimized to provide the required cooling for four combi nations of vehicle characteristics and driving cycles. The resulting a dsorption systems are compared with vapor compression air conditioners that can satisfy the cooling load. The objective function is the over all system weight, which includes the cooling system weight and the we ight of the battery necessary to provide energy for air conditioner op eration. The system with the minimum overall weight is considered to b e the best. The results show the optimum values of all the variables, as well as temperatures and amounts adsorbed, for the adsorption and d esorption processes. The results indicate that for the conditions anal yzed in this paper, vapor compression air conditioners are superior to adsorption systems, not only because they are lighter, but also becau se they have a higher COP and are move compact.