Dynamics of adsorptive heat conversion systems: Review of basics and recent advances

The dynamics of adsorption heat conversion (AHC) systems is of crucial importance because it determines the AHC specific power, size, and cost. This paper addresses a survey of the basics and recent advances in the adsorption dynamics in various AHC beds to outline the current state of the art and future progress in this field. A survey of closed-form and numerical solutions reported in the literature for isothermal and non-isothermal adsorption systems is presented. New experimental methods based on reproducing the real driving force for AHC cycles are shown to be adequate to AHC dynamic study. A Large Temperature Jump (LTJ) method is now the most informative and fruitful approach for analyzing the AHC dynamics. Four LTJ-versions have been proposed and installed in many research labs all over the world. Old qualitative and new quantitative approaches to distinguish between various resistances in AHC systems are surveyed and analyzed. Further development of these methods could make them powerful tools for the practical optimization of adsorption dynamics in real AHC units. •The dynamics of adsorption heat conversion (AHC) systems is of crucial importance.•This ms addresses a survey of the basics and recent advances in the AHC dynamics.•New experimental methods for AHC dynamic study are presented and discussed.•A Large Temperature Jump method is the most fruitful approach for AHC dynamic study.