Adsorbent Bed Climate Control for Low-Battery EV Heating and Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Climate control systems in electric vehicles are inefficient, placing a significant demand on the vehicle's battery and reducing the driving range due to high energy consumption, especially when using resistive heaters for heating and vapor compression cycles for cooling.
Innovation Solution
An adsorptive thermal system using an adsorbent bed with materials like zeolites, MOFs, and carbon nanotubes, configured in a hermetically sealed stack with cross-flow channels, which operates on an adsorption cycle to provide efficient cooling and heating with minimal battery power input, allowing for high COP and extended vehicle range.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a vapor compression cycle with an electric motor-driven compressor is used for climate control in electric vehicles, then cooling functionality is achieved, but battery power consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical vapor compression system with an adsorption-based thermal system. Instead of using an electric motor-driven compressor to circulate refrigerant, the system uses adsorbent materials (zeolites, MOFs, activated carbon) that naturally absorb and release refrigerant vapor through adsorption and desorption cycles, eliminating the need for mechanical compression and significantly reducing energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes phase transitions of the refrigerant (evaporation, condensation) combined with adsorption/desorption processes. The refrigerant evaporates in the evaporator to provide cooling, then the vapor is adsorbed by the adsorbent material in the adsorbent bed, creating a passive cooling cycle that doesn't require continuous mechanical work input.
2Temperature
If resistive heaters are used for heating in electric vehicles, then heating functionality is achieved, but battery power consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system captures and stores thermal energy during the refrigerant condensation phase and adsorption process, then releases this stored thermal energy during desorption to provide heating. This phase-change thermal storage approach replaces resistive heating, providing heating functionality with minimal additional energy input beyond what is already required for the cooling cycle.
Solution Approach 2:
The system converts the thermal energy that would otherwise be wasted during refrigerant condensation and adsorption into useful heating energy. By capturing the exothermic heat released during these processes and storing it in the adsorbent bed, the system provides free heating during desorption, turning what could be considered thermal losses into a beneficial heating source.
3Loss of energy
If the adsorbent layer thickness is increased to improve thermal energy storage capacity, then COP increases, but thermal resistance increases reducing heat transfer efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a conventional thick-layer adsorbent configuration to a three-dimensional hierarchical porous structure. By creating a multi-scale porous network with macropores, mesopores, and micropores, the system achieves high thermal energy storage capacity within a thin layer, as the vertical and lateral pore structures provide both storage volume and heat transfer pathways without increasing overall layer thickness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs a hierarchical porous adsorbent structure with interconnected pores at multiple scales. The macropores facilitate heat transfer and mass transport, while mesopores and micropores provide high surface area for adsorption and thermal energy storage. This porous architecture allows the thin layer to simultaneously achieve high storage capacity and low thermal resistance.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system achieves a high coefficient of performance (COP) of up to 16.7 for heating and cooling, significantly reducing battery power consumption and extending the electric vehicle's driving range by storing thermal energy efficiently during charging.
Implementation Method 1
The absorbent material can be configured to adsorb and desorb a fluid comprising water
Implementation Method 2
The absorbent material can be configured to adsorb and desorb a fluid comprising water
Implementation Method 3
The system achieves a high coefficient of performance (COP) of up to 16.7 for heating and cooling, significantly reducing battery power consumption and extending the electric vehicle's driving range by storing thermal energy efficiently during charging
Data Source
AI summary
An adsorption system can be used as part of a climate control system in a vehicle or in any other space requiring heating or cooling. An adsorbent bed can include a plurality of plates, a layer including an adsorbent material adjacent to a portion of at least one plate; and a plurality of passages between the plates.