Energy and exergy comparison of a cascade air conditioning system using different cooling strategies

A cascade air conditioning system consisting of a compression and an absorption chiller working in a parallel arrangement has been proposed. This system is powered up by a micro-gas turbine. Different cooling strategies are studied in order to recognize the best configuration. The system components have been modeled and analyzed through the energy and exergy approaches. The performance parameters of the systems and the second law efficiency have been calculated in different operating conditions. Water consumption of the systems has also been investigated, considering water as a source of exergy. The results revealed that a system with water-cooled chillers has the highest second law efficiency and water consumption. On the other hand, the water consumption of a system with an air-cooled absorption and a water-cooled compression chiller is about 50% less than that of the system with two water-cooled chillers while its second law efficiency is only about 10% less.     

Application of waste heat powered absorption refrigeration system to the LNG recovery process

The recovery process of the liquefied natural gas requires low temperature cooling, which is typically provided by the vapor compression refrigeration systems. The usage of an absorption refrigeration system powered by waste heat from the electric power generating gas turbine could provide the necessary cooling at reduced overall energy consumption. In this study, a potential replacement of propane chillers with absorption refrigeration systems was theoretically analyzed. From the analysis, it was found that recovering waste heat from a 9 megawatts (MW) electricity generation process could provide 5.2 MW waste heat produced additional cooling to the LNG plant and save 1.9 MW of electricity consumption. Application of the integrated cooling, heating, and power is an excellent energy saving option for the oil and gas industry.     

New absorption chiller and control strategy for the solar assisted cooling system at the German federal environment agency

Typically the cooling capacity of absorption chillers is controlled by adjusting the driving hot water temperature according to the load. Meanwhile the cooling water temperature is controlled to a constant set value. In order to increase the solar cooling fraction and/or to decrease the operating costs of solar assisted cooling systems (SAC-systems) a new control strategy has been developed which controls hot and cooling water temperature simultaneously. Hereby the specific cost of cold – generated from solar or conventional heat – can be reduced. The basic concept of the strategy is explained and results are shown for the SAC-system at the Federal Environment Agency in Dessau, Germany. Here a recently developed absorption chiller is now used instead of a former adsorption chiller. With the new absorption chiller and the control strategy the seasonal energy efficiency ratio SEER is above 0.75, electric efficiency is 35% higher and water consumption is reduced by 70%.     

蒸发冷却冷水机组经济配置方案分析

通过对榆林某工程将采用蒸发冷却冷水机组与机械制冷冷水机组结合供冷的系统为基础,分别对蒸发冷却冷水机组与机械制冷冷水机组三种不同结合形式的水系统进行分析研究;通过理论分析不同结合形式在焓湿图上空气处理过程的不同、运行时间各不相同等出发,对三种不同形式的水系统进行初步概预算,得出该工程蒸发冷却技术与机械制冷技术在空调系统中的经济配置方案.     

Design and experimental study of a silica gel-water adsorption chiller with modular adsorbers

A silica gel-water adsorption chiller driven by low-grade heat is developed. System configuration without any vacuum valves includes two sorption chambers, a 4-valve hot/cooling water coupled circuit and a 4-valve chilled water circuit. Each sorption chamber is composed of one adsorber, one condenser and one evaporator. The design of this chiller, especially the design of modular adsorber, is suitable for low-cost industrial production. Efficient and reliable heat and mass recovery processes are also adopted. This chiller is tested under different conditions and it features the periodic variations of temperatures and cooling power. Through the experimental study, the optimal cooling time, mass recovery time and heat recovery time are 720 s, 40 s and 24 s, respectively. Besides, the obtained cooling power, COP and SCP are 42.8 kW, 0.51 and 125.0 W kg⁻¹, respectively, under typical conditions of 86/30/11 °C hot water inlet/cooling water inlet/chilled water outlet temperatures, respectively.     

蒸发冷却＋空气源热泵复合冷（热）水机组夏季能耗分析

蒸发冷却＋空气源热泵复合冷（热）水机组由蒸发冷却段和机械制冷段组成,蒸发冷却段是蒸发冷却式冷水机组,机械制冷段是直接蒸发冷却器（DEC）与空气源热泵冷（热）水机组的联用。本文首先对DEC＋空气源热泵冷（热）水机组的夏季能耗进行分析,并与传统的单独运行空气源热泵冷（热）水机组的情况进行对比;另外从压一焓图和温一熵图角度分析空气源热泵冷（热）水机组联用DEC后能效比提高的机制;然后以西安地区为例对蒸发冷却＋空气源热泵复合冷（热）水机组进行夏季能耗分析,推导出单独利用蒸发冷却技术就能制取18℃左右高温冷水的气候条件。为蒸发冷却制取冷水技术在中等湿度地区甚至高湿度地区的应用提供理论依据。     

Absorption chiller crystallization control strategies for integrated cooling heating and power systems

The concept of an air-cooled absorption chiller system is attractive because the cooling tower and the associated installation and maintenance issues can be avoided. However, crystallization of the LiBr–H₂O solution then becomes the main challenge in the operation of the chiller, since the air-cooled absorber tends to operate at a higher temperature and concentration level than the water-cooled absorber due to the relative heat transfer characteristics of the coolant. This leads to crystallization of the working fluid. The paper focuses on the crystallization issues and control strategies in LiBr–H₂O air-cooled absorption chillers. As a result a novel application opportunity is proposed for the integration of absorption chillers into cooling, heating and power (CHP) systems. This new methodology allows for air cooler operation while avoiding crystallization.     

Experimental investigation of silica gel–water adsorption chillers with and without a passive heat recovery scheme

We experimentally show that for the same heat exchanger inventory allocation, a four-bed adsorption chiller delivers a 12% higher ultimate cooling capacity than its two-bed counterpart. In addition it delivers a significantly improved quality of instantaneous cooling than a two-bed chiller at the same cooling capacity. The COP-enhancing feature of a passive heat recovery scheme that does not involve additional pumping action or valves is experimentally proven. It improves the COPs of a two-bed chiller and a four-bed chiller by as much as 38 and 25%, respectively, without any effect on their cooling capacities. The highest COPs achieved with a two-bed and four-bed chillers are 0.46±0.02 and 0.45±0.02, respectively. These are measured at a hot-water inlet temperature of 85 °C, cooling-water inlet temperature of 29.4 °C and chilled-water inlet temperature of 12.2 °C.     

提高蒸汽型溴化锂吸收式制冷机制冷性能的管理方法

根据对冷水站蒸汽型溴化锂吸收式制冷机的长期管理,提出了在气密性、溴化锂溶液、冷剂水、冷水及冷却水的水质、运行、设备等方面进行优化管理的方法,它不仅保证了制冷机组的长期稳定运行,而且提高了制冷机组的制冷性能。     

空调冷源的环境性能比较

根据国际标准化组织的生命周期评价标准,建立了空调冷源的能量生命周期清单模型,提出了环境影响评价方法.对常见的空调冷源(离心机组、螺杆机组、风冷热泵、天然气直燃机、柴油直燃机、蒸汽双效嗅化锂机组)进行了生命周期清单分析和环境影响评价,并利用权重三角形解释了权重对综合评价结果的影响.综合评价结果表明:电力结构对离心机组的环境性能影响较大,但对天然气直燃机影响较小.因此天然气直燃机和离心机组的环境性能比较应考虑电力结构的影响,在我国1999年的电力结构下,天然气直燃机的环境性能优于离心机组,在我国2010年的电力结构下,两者的环境性能相当,在美国1999年的电力结构下,天然气直燃机的环境性能比离心机组差.     

液化天然气(LNG)冷能用于斯特林发动机和燃气轮机的联合系统研究

利用LNG冷能具有较好的节能潜力和经济效益,通过流程的创新设计,提出了一种将LNG冷能用于燃气轮机和斯特林发动机的联合系统。基于热力学第一、第二定律,对联合系统进行热力学分析,结果表明:在环境温度35℃条件下,联合系统的输出功率为5715.48kW,热效率为31.62%,效率为43.65%;相比燃气轮机系统和直接冷却进气系统,联合系统的输出功率分别提高了7.84%和0.78%,热效率分别提高了3.16%和1.18%,效率分别提高了4.23%和1.63%。联合系统在不同环境温度下,可将燃气轮机的进气温度降低10℃左右,系统的输出功率和效率随着进气温度的降低均有所提高。     

Optimal design of an absorption chilled water storage air conditioning system driven by waste heat

In order to meet both economic and energy requirements, this study has proposed an optimal design to minimize the sum of the initial and operation energy costs for a 1200 refrigeration ton chiller and 12 water storage tanks in an absorption chilled water storage air conditioning system. Various power consumption calculation methods for the main devices are included to predict the performance of this equipment under different operating conditions. In addition, the performance curves of the water storage tank under the storage and discharge modes are calculated using Fluent software. The article uses five control strategies for a cooling tower along with three hot water inlet temperatures of a generator to simulate the optimal design of a system. The results show that the least power (10,336 kWh) is consumed when the cooling tower’s outlet temperature is 32°C and the generator’s inlet hot water temperature is 105°C.     

中小型空调系统冷却水流量控制的新方法

针对只有一台冷水机组且机组采用单台压缩机的中小型空调提出了一种基于空调系统总能耗的冷却水流量控制的新方法;并对一实际空调系统使用该方法后的节能效果进行分析,结果表明采用这种控制方法后,空调系统冷却水泵和冷水机组总电功率相对于定流量系统下降了2．92％到9．40％不等,且负荷越小节能效果越明显。     

Performance comparison of solar autonomous and assisted absorption systems in Spain

Solar-powered air conditioning systems can reduce electricity consumption and peak demand. The objective of this work was to develop and validate a TRNSYS model of the solar air conditioning installation at the Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche. The model was then used to study the operation of the facility as an autonomous system and as a solar-assisted system (with backup) under different climatic conditions in Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao and Seville). The autonomous system was able to maintain the comfort temperature between 60.8% (Sevilla) and 78.3% (Madrid) of the hours for the studied period. Working with a backup compression chiller, the cooling provided by the absorption chiller ranged from 52.8% of the total cooling demand in Bilbao to 75.3% in Madrid. The high initial cost and the high associated electricity consumption explain why the binomial solar thermal collector–absorption machine has failed to break into the market so far.     

System options for cooling of buildings making use of district heating heat

Issues stemming from district heating utilization during summer periods and the conversion of low-temperature heat into cold in adsorption chillers have been investigated in this paper. Due to the high vulnerability of adsorption chillers to ambient conditions, in the case of relatively low ambient temperatures, adsorption-based air-conditioning systems would be characterized by excessive cooling power. Moreover, adsorption chillers are also characterized by high investment costs and big time constants, and the vulnerabilities found in their regulatory processes have yet to be sufficiently investigated. The authors recommend the application of hybrid air-conditioning systems, consisting of adsorption and compressor chillers. The adsorption chiller works as a base while the compressor chiller contributes missing cooling power, working as a regulation unit. Sixteen configurations of the hybrid air-conditioning system have been analysed. It has been shown that 100 kW cooling power hybrid air-conditioning system, with respect to its configuration, enables the utilization of 0.5 to 0.9 TJ of low-temperature heat per year, while simultaneously providing comfortable air-conditioning. The authors have concluded that the adsorption share in the analysed hybrid system should not exceed 50%.     

Cooling machine with integrated cold storage

The use of thermal solar energy systems in combination with thermal driven sorption chillers for climatisation gains increasing influence. For solar assisted cooling a backup system is necessary for times when no solar energy is available. Absorption chillers driven by a combination of thermal collectors and conventional furnaces, which supply the driving heat in times of no insolation, suffer from an abrupt drop of the system efficiency (COP) during the operation change. This drop in COP can be avoided by installing a combined heat buffer and storage feature. Various possibilities of heat storage features are compared. An experimental setup of a high-efficient absorption chiller which facilitates the supply of a constant load of coldness at constantly high COP in spite of periodically available driving heat is presented.     

Augmented desalination with cooling integration

Humidification–dehumidification (HDH) desalination works based on a water cycle principle and involves air humidification and condensation (dehumidification). The cooling of humid air with chilled water increases the desalination and results in cold air suitable for air conditioning process. The merits of the proposed HDH desalination and cooling are not analyzed and compared in the literature. Therefore, the performance results of HDH with normal water (current technology) and HDH with chilled water (proposed idea) are compared to highlight the merit of this cycle. The combined cycle for desalination and cooling has been solved thermodynamically with psychrometric properties. The results are validated with a laboratory experimental setup. The examined operational process conditions are hot water inlet temperature, efficiency of humidifier, and vapor absorption refrigerator's (VAR's) evaporator exit temperature. The focused results are desalination, cooling and energy utilization factor (EUF). The comparative study recommends the use of chilled water in the final stage. The two stage desalination with dehumidification by normal water in the first stage and chilled water in combined two stages improves the cycle EUF from 0.18 to 0.33. Out of 300 W of cooling generation, 100 W is used for dehumidification and the remaining 200 W is available for air conditioning process at 15 N⋅m³ h⁻¹ of air.     

Multi-bed regenerative adsorption chiller — improving the utilization of waste heat and reducing the chilled water outlet temperature fluctuation

A multi-bed regenerative adsorption chiller design is proposed. The concept aims to extract the most enthalpy from the low-grade waste heat before it is purged into the drain. It is also able to minimise the chilled water temperature fluctuation so that downstream temperature smoothing device may be downsized or even eliminated in applications where tighter temperature control may be required. The design also avoids a master-and-slave configuration so that materials invested are not under-utilised. Because of the nature of low-grade waste heat utilization, the performance of adsorption chillers is measured in terms of the recovery efficiency, η instead of the conventional COP. For the same waste heat source flowrate and inlet temperature, a four-bed chiller generates 70% more cooling capacity than a typical two-bed chiller. A six-bed chiller in turn generates 40% more than that of a four-bed chiller. Since the beds can be triggered into operation sequentially during start-up, the risk of ice formation in the evaporator during start-up is greatly reduced compared with that of a two-bed chiller.     

A novel experimental investigation of a solar cooling system in Madrid

This paper reports novel experimental results derived through field testing of a part load solar energized cooling system for typical Spanish houses in Madrid during the summer period of 2003. Solar hot water was delivered by means of a 49.9 m² array of flat-plate collectors to drive a single-effect (LiBr/H₂O) absorption chiller of 35 kW nominal cooling capacity. Thermal energy was stored in a 2 m³ stratified hot water storage tank during hours of bright sunshine. Chilled water produced at the evaporator was supplied to a row of fan coil units and the heat of condensation and absorption was rejected by means of a forced draft cooling tower. Instantaneous, daily and period energy flows and energy balance in the installation is presented. System and absorption machine temperature profiles are given for a clear, hot and dry day's operation. Daily and period system efficiencies are given. Peak insolation of 969 W m⁻² (at 12:30 solar time on 08/08/03) produced 5.13 kW of cooling at a solar to cooling conversion efficiency of 11%. Maximum cooling capacity was 7.5 kW. Cooling was provided for 8.67 h and the chiller required a threshold insolation of 711 W m⁻² for start-up and 373 W m⁻² for shut-down. A minimum hot water inlet temperature to the generator of 65 °C was required to commence cold generation, whereas at 81 °C, 6.4 kW of cooling (18.3% of nominal capacity) was produced. The absorption refrigeration machine operated within the generation and absorption temperature ranges of 57–67 and 32–36 °C, respectively. The measured maximum instantaneous, daily average and period average COP were 0.60 (at maximum capacity), 0.42 and 0.34, respectively. Energy flows in the system are represented on a novel area diagram. The results clearly demonstrate that the technology works best in dry and hot climatic conditions where large daily variations in relative humidity and dry bulb temperature prevail. This case study provides benchmark data for the assessment of other similar prototypes and for the validation of mathematical models.     

3套空分设备冷冻水系统联网改造

武钢氧气公司3套空分设备在夏季运行时,由于冷冻机故障停机,分子筛吸附器入口空气温度升高,造成分子筛吸附器出口空气中二氧化碳含量上升。将3套空分设备冷冻水系统连通并新增1台冷冻机,使3套空分设备所有冷冻机互为备用,保证了空分设备的安全运行。简介3套空分设备空气预冷系统运行状况及存在问题,介绍改造方案、实施过程和效果。