TOPMACS: Thermally OPerated Mobile Air Conditioning Systems

The TOPMACS Project was devoted to the development of mobile air conditioning systems with a reduced impact on the environment, both direct and indirect. The core of the systems is a heat pump based on sorption cooling which is powered by the waste heat recovered from the engine coolant. This paper describes the development, realization and testing of two demonstrator vehicles with such innovative air conditioning systems: o A Passenger cars equipped with a silicagel-water adsorption system o A Heavy truck equipped with a zeolite-water adsorption system The testes demonstrate the potential of such devices to replace conventional vapour compression system.