Patent ID: 7293421

Claim:
A method for cooling a product (P) comprising N ordered adsorption/desorption cycles ( 100 , 200 , 300 , 400 , 500 , 600 ) performed under vacuum, N being an integer greater than 1, each cycle comprising the steps consisting in: extracting heat from a refrigerating fluid in the vapor phase in a condenser ( 101 , 201 , 301 , 401 , 501 , 601 ) at a first pressure (P 2 ) below the critical pressure of said fluid for condensing said refrigerating fluid, introducing said refrigerating fluid in the liquid phase into an evaporator ( 103 , 203 , 303 , 403 , 503 , 603 ) at a second pressure (P 1 ) lower than the first pressure in order to vaporize some of said refrigerating fluid and cool the rest of said refrigerating fluid to a vaporization temperature (T 1 ) of said refrigerating fluid at said second pressure, said vaporization temperature decreasing from one cycle to the next, said first and second pressures being chosen in each cycle so that said vaporization temperature (T 1 ) in one cycle is each time lower than the condensation temperature (T 2 ) of the refrigeration fluid in the next cycle at the first pressure of said next cycle, supplying heat to the liquid fraction of said refrigerating fluid at said second pressure in said evaporator in order to evaporate said refrigerating fluid, adsorbing said refrigerating fluid in the vapor phase in at least one adsorption/desorption chamber ( 120 , 220 , 320 , 421 - 423 , 521 - 523 , 621 - 623 ) connected to said evaporator and containing a zeolite adsorbent (Z) once a quantity of said refrigerating fluid has been adsorbed into said zeolite adsorbent, regenerating said zeolite adsorbent by heating in order to desorb said quantity of refrigerating fluid in the vapor phase, returning said quantity of refrigerating fluid in the vapor phase to said condenser, said method further comprising the steps consisting in: performing N-1 heat exchanges, each performed between the refrigerating fluid in the evaporator ( 103 , 203 , 403 , 503 ) of one cycle and the refrigerating fluid in the condenser ( 201 , 301 , 501 , 601 ) of the next cycle in the order of the cycles in order thus to supply said heat to said evaporator and extract said heat in said condenser, and cooling said product by exchange of heat with the refrigerating fluid at least in the evaporator ( 303 , 603 ) of the last cycle.