97194

DEVELOPMENT OF A MAN-PORTABLE
MICROCLIMATE ADSORPTION COOLING DEVICE

Lawrence R. Gnryll
Mainstream Engineering Corporation
200 Yellow Place
Rockledge, Florida 32955
(407) 631-3550 FAX: (407) 631-3552

William C. Balderson
Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division
17320 Dahlgren Road
Dahlgren, Virginia 22448-5100
(540) 653-3312 FAX: (540) 653-8747

several drawbacks for use in long-duration chemical warfare

A 8STRACT
This paper describes the development of a passive
microclimate adsorption cooling device for the Marine. The
system is designed to provide cooling to the individual by
chilling water that is being pumped through a liquid cooling
garment. The entire system is mounted on a portable backpack
frame. The system uses the evaporation and subsequent
adsorption of water on a desiccant bed to chill the circulating
water being pumped through the garment. Extensive screening
and testing of numerous desiccants was performed, which
resulted in the selection of calcium oxide as the adsorbent for the
vaporized water. A bench-top breadboard system was
constructed and tested, with demonstrated cooling rates of up to
200 W for periods in excess of six hours. Further development
work involved the performance testing of three different
demonstration prototype designs that are fixed to a military
backpack frame. These three demonstration prototypes were
analyzed for maximizing cooling performance at the lowest
possible mass. Finally, second-generation prototypes using the
optimum optimum designs were fabricated and tested.
scenarios. Systems that combust a fuel for power are noisy, emit
toxic fumes, and require frequent re-supply of fuel. Systems that
use batteries for power are heavy for long-duration scenarios, and
require constant re-supply of batteries in the field. Tethered
systems have the obvious drawback of limited mobility.
Since the cooling requirement for this application is not
continuous and is needed for 4-6 hours, an adsorption cooling
system offers attractive features. Therefore, the cooling system
selected was an adsorption-based system that evaporates water
from an evaporator/chiller and adsorbs this water vapor on an
adsorbent bed where heat rejection takes place. The evaporation
of water cools a separate circuit of water that is pumped through
a liquid cooling garment. A battery-powered pump is the only
moving part to the system. The entire system is configured on a
backpack frame, eliminating the need for a tethered system. The
ultimate design goal for this system is to provide 300 W of
cooling for six hours, however, 200 W for four hours was
acceptable. After this cooling period, the adsorbent bed could be
removed and recharged (if regenerable) or disposed of (if not
regenerable).

INTRODUCTION ADSORBENT MATERIAL EVALUATlONlSELECTlON

Traditionally, man-portable cooling technologies used for the
individual have used a phase-change material (PCM) which melts
to provide a constant-temperature heat sink for absorption of
body heat. Although this approach works quite well, the weight
penalty of this technology becomes prohibitive for cooling times
greater than 1-2 hours, and is unacceptable for long-duration
chemical warfare applications, where chemical warfare suits are
worn.
Altematively, an active refrigeration system could be used for
individual cooling. For this type of active refrigeration, vapor-
compression technology is suitable. This technology uses a
refrigeration-type compressor to provide cooling; the compressor
could be powered by combustion of fuel, batteries, or tethered
external power. Although these systems work well, they have
The ideal adsorbent would have a high adsorption capacity,
have a low vapor pressure (to increase the driving force for
transport of water vapor), have suitable materials compatibility,
not present any handling, toxicity, or environmental concerns,
and be inexpensive. Regenerable and non-regenerable adsorbents
were considered.
Regenerable Adsorbent Evaluation
A search of the open technical literature was performed to
identify and evaluate various regenerable adsorbent materials
using the criteria listed above. These adsorbents must also be
regenerable with a reasonable desorption temperature. This
evaluation resulted in the preliminary selection of four adsorbent

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materials: magnesium sulfate, sodium carbonate, sodium Water from this reservoir is pumped through the
orthophosphate, and lithium chloride. evaporator/chiller heat exchanger, where the circulating water is
Preliminary adsorption cooling tests were performed with each cooled by evaporation of a separate circuit of water extemal to
of the four adsorbents along with molecular sieves for the circulating water. The circulating water was pumped at 16
comparison. In these tests, 250 g of anhydrous adsorbent was gaI/hour through 16 horizontal parallel tubes in the chiller, each
placed in one 500 ml sample cylinder while 250 g of water was 18 inches long. The evaporatodchiller was designed to hold 6
placed in a second 500 mi sample cylinder. The two cylinders pounds of water, which corresponds to 300 W of cooling for 6
were connected by tubing with appropriate valves to pull hours. This water vapor was then adsorbed in the adsorption
independent vacuums on each cylinder. After evacuation of each beds. The system was fully instrumented to measure
cylinder, the valve separating the two cylinders were opened and temperatures, pressures, water flow rates, and heat load supplied
the temperature of the water and adsorbent were measured versus to the system. Figure 1 i:s a schematic of the bench-scale
time. If the rate water adsorption is high, the water cylinder prototype.
should cool significantly and the adsorbent cylinder should heat
significantly. Thus, a relative comparison of each of the
candidate adsorbents was made. Of the four candidate
adsorbents tested, lithium chloride and magnesium sulfate
outperformed sodium carbonate and sodium orthophosphate in
this test. Molecular sieves and silica gel were also investigated
for comparison. Lithium chloride and magnesium sulfate also
outperformed molecular sieves in this test. Thus, the candidate
adsorbents were further down-selected to magnesium sulfate and
lithium chloride.

Yon-Regenerable Adsorbent Evaluation

Inorganic materials that adsorb and react with water were
considered. The most suitable of these reacting materials was
calcium oxide (lime) which exothermally reacts with water to
form calcium hydroxide according to the reaction below.

CaO + H 2 0 + Ca(OH)2 AHm = -880 k l k g CaO

91.9 2.4
The product of the reaction, calcium hydroxide, does 129.9 2.0
decompose back to the oxide but at temperatures between 800°C CaO 219.9 1.o
and 1000°C. Thus, while the reverse reaction is possible, it is not
feasible for regeneration and would be one-time use throw-away
adsorbents.
There are many advantages to using calcium oxide as the A second series of experimlents were performed to ascertain the
adsorbent. The use of a non-regenerable adsorbent eliminates the effects of several variables on system performance. The variables
need for a complex regeneration station, which would be chosen for these experiments include:
complex from both an engineering design and logistics point of
view. Its exothermic reaction with water results in an elevated Circulating water flow rate: levels of 4 gallhr or 20 gal/hr;
bed temperature, which will make rejection of heat to the ambient
air more efficient since the heat rejection temperature difference 0 Initial water weight (or height) in evaporator: levels of 4 Ib
is increased over other desiccant materials. The product of the or 9 lb;
reaction, calcium hydroxide, is used in mortar, plasters, cements, Surfactant in the evapomtor water:
agriculture (to "sweeten" acidic soil), as a water softener, as a soil
stabilizer, and as a food additive. Therefore, environmentally- Desiccant mesh size
acceptable disposable is feasible. It is also inexpensive. Its Desiccant packing: in screen-tubes or poured directly in
theoretical adsorptive capacity for water, however, is only 32 desiccant container.
wt?/o. This results in a calcium oxide requirement of 18.75 Ibs.
for a cooling requirement of 300 W for six hours (evaporation of
6 Ibs. of water). From these experiments it was determined that optimum
performance resulted from:
BENCHSCALE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
A bench-scale prototype system was designed to evaluate the high circulating water flow rates;
performance of the various adsorbent materials and to select the 0 thin evaporator water levels;
best-performing adsorbent for future use. The apparatus was
configured to provide a constant heat load to a water reservoir. no surfactant in the evaporator water;

1647
 small desiccant mesh size;
packing desiccant CaO in screen-tubes.
Some points to note regarding the experiments are:
The effect of desiccant particle size on cooling rate was
noticeable when decreasing from an average diameter of
about 7.9 mm to 4.6 mm, and decreasing further from 4.6
mm to 1.8 mm. However, further decreases in the particle
size from 1.8 mm produced a negligible effect on the
cooling performance and heat transfer coefficients.
The temperature of the bed correlates highly with the
cooling rate. The experiments generally exhibited a peak
cooling rate up to 350 watts as the desiccant bed rapidly
increased in temperature. This peak cooling corresponds
directly to a cooling of the evaporator and chiller water,
followed by a steady rise. It is surmised that the decrease in
cooling rate after this commonly-measured cooling peak is a
result of the desiccant bed approaching saturation, thus a
drop in overall absorption kinetics.
200-350 watts cooling was achieved for short periods of
time.
The average four-hour cooling rates ranged from a low of 33
W to a high of 84 W. A verification experiment using the
optimum conditions resulted in an average four-hour
cooling rate of 101 W.
In order to investigate the role of the absorption bed kinetics
on the evaporative cooling process, an experiment which
replaced the absorbent material, CaO, with a condenser was
performed. The condenser was comprised of the same desiccant
containers, immersed in a dry ice-acetone bath, filled with copper
slugs or screens to provide a large condensation surface area.
Some observations regarding these experiments are:
instantaneous cooling rates up to 800 watts were measured;
sustained, 4 hour cooling rates of 289 watts were measured;
= step change increases in cooling rates correspond directly
with addition of more dry ice to the bath, or, a lowering of
the condenser temperature and an increase in condenser
efficiency;
evaporator and circulating water temperatures were
maintained at 70°F or less for 2.4 hours with average
cooling rates of 210 watts.
These observations translate to a limitation in the adsorption
process (or condensation process in the case of the dry ice
experiments) that resides in the adsorption bed, and not the
evaporation process. That is, water can be evaporated as quickly
as it can be adsorbed (or condensed). The experiments typically
ended with 15-26 wt.% H20 on CaO, less than the theoretical
saturation value of 32 wt.%. Note that performing an experiment
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with enough CaO so that 'saturation' (i.e., 32 wt.% H20) is not
reached, or not even approached, would provide a more valid test
of the full capability of the absorption cooling system.
In order to validate this adsorption bed limitation, the size of
the adsorption beds were enlarged from a length of 9 inches (total
intemal volume of 310 in3 to a length of 24.5 inches (total
3'
intemal volume of 850 in ). This increased the amount of
calcium oxide from approximately 8 Ibs. to approximately 21 Ibs.
From the results of the experiments several trends can be
identified:
1. The total weight of CaO adsorbent has a significant
influence on the cooling rate and duration of cooling. The
larger bed experiment resulted in an increased cooling rate,
from 101 W to 196 W for the four-hour period.
2. The magnitude and duration of the cooling rate is a strong
function of the amount of CaO used.
3. There appears to be a short "induction period" for the onset
adsorption (and cooling) on the CaO bed of about 30-45
minutes, at which time the temperature of the bed and the
amount of cooling steadily increase. At about 45 minutes,
the bed goes through a maximum temperature,
corresponding to a maximum amount of cooling, followed
by a period of fairly sustained cooling.
Additional experiments were performed with physical
adsorbents (molecular sieves, silica gel) and mixed beds of
physical adsorbents or magnesium sulfate with CaO. Neither of
the experiments with physical adsorbents or mixed bed
adsorbents resulted in cooling rates equal to that of CaO.
FIRST GENERATION PROTOTYPES
The next phase of the program imvolved the design,
fabrication, and testing of the first-generation full-scale
prototypes. The performance criteria was to provide 200 W of
cooling for four hours. The desired circulating water temperature
was 70°F. Three prototypes, of different designs, were fabricated
to allow for evaluation and optimization of size, weight, and
performance. The evaporatodchiller, o d o f f valve, and
adsorption bed were connected using KF flanges and clamps.
Evaporator/Chiller Desians
Three different design concepts for the evaporator/chiller
component were developed. The first design concept used 4" OD
stainless steel tube (0.035" wall thickness), 18" long with 20
circulating water tubes placed near the bottom of the evaporator.
This design concept is very similar to the concept of the bench-
scale prototype. The second design concept has a cross-sectional
shape of a quarter-moon, with 6" OD stainless steel tube (0.049"
wall thickness) on the bottom and 12" OD stainless steel tube
(0.060" wall thickness) on the top, 18 " long, and 20 circulating
water tubes placed near the bottom of the evaporator. The third
design concept is a rectangular evaporator, 18" long, 6" wide,
and 2" tall, with 20 circulating water tubes in the direction of the
18" dimension. To provide structural strengththe inside of the
evaporator had structural supports.
Control Valve Selection
The valve connecting the adsorbent bed to the COMPONENT,
evaporator/chiller is a vacuum gate valve with KF type fittings
and Viton seals manufactured by VAT Incorporated. The valve
body is aluminum, making it lightweight (1.0 Ibs). The valve has Standard Components (Ibs.)
an operating pressure range down to bar with a leak rate
less than bar/sec. Component Weight Component Weight
Adsorbent Bed Desians Pump 0.7 On/Off Valve 1.3
Based on the results of the bench-scale testing, we estimated Battery 2.1 Vacuum Valve 0.5
that approximately 17 Ibs. of adsorbent would be required to Backpack Frame 3.3 Other 1.7
provide 200 W of cooling for 4 hours while maintaining the supports 2.5 Total Weight 12.10
circulating water at approximately 70'F. The adsorption bed
designs had a cylindrical configuration, the diameter of which is EvaporatorlChillers (Ibs.)
determined by the amount of calcium oxide packed. We
designed three bed sizes, with CaO weights of 17 Ibs., 12 Ibs., Cylindrical Quarter- Rectangular
and 8 Ibs. The 17 Ib. design is configured from 8" OD stainless Moon
steel tubing, the 12 Ib. design is configured from 7" OD stainless Vessel Hardware 4.15 4.60 5.25
steel tubing, and the 8 Ib. design is configured from 6" OD Standard Water 2.60 2.60 2.60
stainless steel tubing. The beds have a flanged opening (with o- Base Water 2.38 1.32 3.32
ring gaskets) for easy filling and removal of adsorbent. There is a Total Weight 9.13 8.52 9.65
screened-in vapor path of approximately 1" diameter vertically
through the bed to provide a vapor path through the bed and to Adsorbent Beds (Ibs.)
minimize the vapor diffusion length.
Small Medium Large
Pump and Battety Selection Bed Hardware 7.80 7.90 8.65
The size of the pump necessary to circulate the water was Flange Clamp 0.75 0.75 0.75
determined by the total pressure drop through the circulating Calcium Oxide 8.00 12.00 17.00
water loop. The pressure drop through the liquid-cooled garment Total Weight 16.55 20.65 26.40
is the predominant pressure drop at 11.7 psi at a water flow rate
of 20 GPH. he pressure losses through the evaporator/chiller and Total System Weight Matrix (Ibs.)
tubing are negligible when compared to the pressure drop
through the garment. An integral motor gear pump (Micropump Cylindricail Quarter- Rectangular
Corp.) was selected. The pump head, constructed from Teflon Moon
and Delrin, is extremely lightweight and is directly coupled to a Small Bed 37.8 37.2 38.3
magnetic-drive DC motor. This integrated motor gear pump has Medium Bed 41.9 41.3 42.4
previously been used in military microclimate cooling Large Bed 47.6 47.0 48.2
applications. At 15 psi pressure difference, the DC motor
consumes a 2.5 amp current from a 12-volt power supply. A
lithium battery (SAFT America Corp.) supplied the electrical The variable which had the greatest effect on performance
power to the motor. The battery has a duration of 3 hours for the was the adsorbent bed type, with the large bed providing
power requirement of the pump. The battery is nonrechargeable. optimum results.

Svstem Weiahts
Table 2 provides system weights of the hardware components
and the nine possible systems.
Performance Experiments
An experimental matrix was performed to examine the effect
of each of the evaporator/chiller and adsorption bed designs on
system performance. The responses that were used in
determining the optimum hardware configuration were: 0
average cooling per total system weight, 0 the average
temperature of the circulating water over the 4-hour operating
period, and 0 the time at which the circulating water temperature
rises above its initial temperature prior to turning the system on
(cross-over temperature). The following information was
obtained from an analysis of the results:
The average cooling power per total system weight was
affected similarly or not at all by the various bed and
evaporator designs.
The evaporator type had a secondary effect on all the
responses, with the reciangular configuration yielding the
highest performance.
The experimental results indicate that the optimum hardware
configuration is the large bed with the rectangular
evaporator.
SECOND GENERATION F'ROTONPES
Concepts to incorporate in the design of the second generation
prototype were developed to increase reliability and performance
while minimizing size and weight.

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1. A shorter evaporatorkhiller design concept was developed
(9 inches long versus the current 18 inches long) with an
increased width. The evaporator consists of 18 tubes, 18
inches long, with 2 passes per tube. The circulating water
inlet and outlet will be on the same side of the
evaporatorkhiller.
2. A vacuum butterfly odoff valve that is smaller and lighter
in weight than the gate valve was selected.
3. A new vacuum valve concept was used. This concept
consists of a seal-off fitting and a vacuum lock (Leybold
Vacuum Products, Inc.). The seal-off fittings consist of a
stainless steel small KF flange with tubulation and an
isolating plug that screws into the internal thread of the
tubulation. To open or close the plug seal, the head of the
vacuum-lock spindle is inserted into the hexagon socket on
the plug. The KF flange connection to the evacuated vessel
is hermetically sealed by the small plug. The vacuum lock
is then removed. Thus, only one vacuum lock is necessary
for many seal-off fittings.
4. New KF clamps have been selected that are fabricated from
glass reinforced plastic. These clamps are lighter and just as
durable as the metal clamps previously used.
5. There will be no flanges on adsorption beds. There will be a
small KF disconnect in the tubing between the bed and
vacuum valve to disconnect and throw away the spent
adsorption bed.
The a weight of the system is 43.9 Ib. The dimensions of
the system are 13.2 inches long, 7.4 inches wide, and 23.7 inches
tall. Fabrication of the second prototype cooling systems was
completed. A verification test of one of the systems was
performed, and the system performed as expected, providing an
average of 150 W of cooling for 4 hours. Figure 2 is a plot of the
circulating water temperatures versus time for the verification
test. Figure 3 is an illustration of the man-portable microclimate
adsorption cooling device.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Mainstream Engineering Corporation acknowledges the United
States Marine Corps, Marine Corps Systems Command, and the
United States Navy, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren
Division, for their support of this project. This work was funded
under contract N6092 1-93-C-A349.

03/4" 03/4"

I C o n t r o i Vaive

0
01/2=
/

Hea

H e aht e
t&
I-
FIGURE 1. SCHEMATIC OF BENCHSCALE PROTOTYPE.
A d s o r p t i o n Beds

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 86 t
n
84
LL
W
82 -
a,
L
3
c. 80
... I
Evaporator Inlet
Evaporator Outlet

m
L
a, 78
a
E 76
a,
I-
74
72
70

68 .*
. . ..
* *

1 I I I I I

0 50 100 150 200

Time (minutes)

FIGURE 2. CIRCULATING WATER TEMPERATURES VERSUS TIME FOR SECOND GENERATION PROTOTYPE.

FIGURE 3. ILLUSTRATION OF MAN-PORTABLE ADSORPTION COOlLlNG DEVICE.

1651