The research work on adsorption refrigeration in Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) started in 1993, various adsorption refrigeration cycles have been investigated, such as continuous heat recovery cycle, mass recovery cycle, thermal wave cycle, convective thermal wave cycle, cascade multi effect cycle, hybrid heating and cooling cycle etc. Several prototype adsorption refrigeration systems have been developed and tested, typical examples are continuous heat regenerative adsorption ice maker using spiral plate adsorbers, adsorption heat pump using novel heat exchanger as adsorbers, solar powered adsorption ice maker, solar powered hybrid system of water heater and adsorption refrigerator, waste heat driven air conditioning system for automobiles. Reasonable experimental results have been obtained, it was found that with a heat source temperature of 100℃, the refrigerator can obtain specific refrigeration power for 5.2kg-ice/day per kg activated carbon in one adsorber, the heat pump can reach a specific cooling power for more than 150W/kg-adsorbent with a COP close to 0.5, the adsorption solar ice maker yields 5-7kg-ice per day per square meter solar collector, the hybrid solar water heater and ice maker is capable of heating 60kg water up to about 90℃ and meanwhile yields ice making about 5kg per day with a 2-msolar collector. The adsorption mechanisms of adsorption refrigeration pairs and also the thermo-physical properties have been also studied in SJTU, which are very helpful for adsorption refrigeration researches. This paper shows the various aspects researched in SJTU.

A new hybrid system of solar powered water heater and adsorption ice maker has been proposed. The working principle of the combined cycles of solar refrigeration and heating is described, heoretical simulation to the thermodynamic processes has been made. Experiments have been performed in a eveloped prototype hybrid system; it is verified that the hybrid system is capable of heating 60kg water to about 908C as 2 well as producing ice at 10kg per day with a 2-m solar collector.

An innovative exhausted-heat-powered solid adsorption air conditioning system with zeolite-water as working pair is designed for providing air-conditioning for the driver's cab of a diesel locomotive. Only one adsorber is used in the system and a cold storage water tank is attached to provide cooling during generation process to ensure the continuous cooling output. Experiments on the laboratory prototype have been carried out and a mean cooling power output of about 3.3kW is obtained when the condensing temperature and the evaporating temperature are 40℃ and 7℃ respectively. The influences of some operating conditions on the system performance are analyzed by simulation and experiments. The results of the performance testing of the prototype installed in a diesel locomotive are also discussed as well. An average cooling power of 4.1kW is got under typical summer condition. It is proved that such a system is quite competitive even if a little bit heavier.