At the heart of zerocool is a process that converts heat energy into cold. Climatefriendly. Efficient. Economical.
In adsorption systems, cold is generated through the binding and release of water vapor to and from a solid surface (sorbent). The process takes place under vacuum and requires NO mechanical moving parts .
Efficiency, sustainability and durability in an innovative system. Compression-free, without synthetic refrigerants and with very low power consumption, it works almost free of charge in combination with solar thermal energy. A future-proof solution!
Watch the step-by-step adsorption and desorption cycle in action, revealing how heat is used for sustainable cooling.
Adsorption cooling was discovered as early as the 19th century.
At the 1878 World's Fair in Paris, Augustin Mouchot presented a system that used a huge silver parabolic reflector to concentrate solar energy and thus turned water into a block of ice.
As the working pair the process uses pure, environmentally friendly water as a sorbate - no synthetic refrigerant or ozone killer - and silica gel as a sorbent.
Silica gel has millions of fine pores and therefore an extremely large inner surface. This absorbs water vapor and can release it again.
The adsorption chiller essentially consists of two heat exchangers inside a vacuum chamber:
The system alternates between two main phases: Cooling and Regeneration. In practice, two vacuum units are used phase-shifted. Alternately one adsorbs while the other regenerates. This provides efficient, virtually uninterrupted refrigeration and continuous cooling.
During evaporation, the water extracts heat from the evaporator heat exchanger (1), which cools it. So the water flowing through the pipes of the heat exchanger is also cooled and can be used to cool cpu/gpu and technical equipment.
The water vapor passes directly into the adsorber (2) at very high speed. There it is adsorbed by the silica gel. During this process, heat is released in the silica gel. This heat is dissipated to the outside. The silica gel absorbs water vapor until it becomes saturated.
For the silica gel to adsorb water vapor again, it must be dried again. This process, known as desorption, is achieved by applying targeted heat - waste heat and from solar collectors. The adsorber heat exchanger (2) now acts as a desorber and is heated.
At the same time, the released water vapor flows back to the evaporator (1), which now functions as a condenser. On its cooled surface, the vapor condenses back to liquid water. Once the silica gel is fully regenerated, the system is ready for the next cooling cycle.
The heat generated during adsorption and condensation at a medium temperature level (e.g. 30°C) is dissipated through the separate recooling system. The sum of these processes removes heat from the cooled systems.
Adsorption cooling processes thermal energy through three distinct loops, all heat and cold energy streams are buffered or stored in thermal storage units to ensure uninterrupted supply:
Heat is extracted from the return line of the rack liquid-cooling circuit and the fluid is reheated to its operating temperature. In this way, the CPU/GPU or IT load (rack-level load) is cooled entirely by its own waste heat—without additional equipment or external cooling systems.
Heat is extracted from the return line of the rack liquid-cooling circuit and the fluid is reheated to its operating temperature. In this way, the CPU/GPU or IT load (rack-level load) is cooled entirely by its own waste heat—without additional equipment or external cooling systems.
A third loop at medium temperature balances the first two loops and is not available for direct use.
Zerocool’s architecture is modular by design. Each component contributes to the overall thermal strategy—working together to adapt cooling performance to site conditions and seasonal shifts.
Solar collectors & Cold District Heating Network provide sustainable energy to fully drive the cooling process.
Our hybrid storage setup combines pcm and concrete to store and release thermal energy as needed
