Theoretical analysis of ammonia-water absorption cycles for refrigeration and space conditioning systems

This paper presents an investigation of an ammonia-water absorption cycle for solar refrigeration, airconditioning and heat pump operations at higher heat supply temperatures. The system consists of a solar driven generator, rectifier, condenser, evaporator, absorber and heat exchangers for preheating and subcooling within the system. A steady state thermodynamic cycle analysis based on mass and heat balances along with the state equations for the thermodynamic properties of the ammonia-water mixture has been carried out. A numerical computer simulation of the system with input component temperatures, refrigerant concentration/mass flow rate and effectiveness of the heat exchangers has been made to evaluate the relative heat transfer rates (i.e. coefficients of performance) and the mass flow rates for the cooling/heating modes. It is found that unlike the low generator temperature behaviour the coefficients of performance for both cooling and heating modes are reduced at higher generator temperatures. However, an increase of condenser temperature for each mode of operation improves the performance of the systems at higher generator temperatures. A choice for keeping the absorber temperature equal to/lower than that of the condenser is also predicted at lower/higher generator temperatures, respectively. In general the results are more pronounced for the refrigeration mode than for the heat pump mode and are least effective for the airconditioning mode.     

Experimental investigations of a small-scale solar-assisted absorption cooling system

The present study deals with a small-scale solar-assisted absorption cooling system having a cooling capacity of 3.52 kW and was investigated experimentally under the climatic conditions of Taxila, Pakistan. Initially, a mathematical model was developed for LiBr/H₂O vapor absorption system alongside flat-plate solar thermal collectors to achieve the required operating temperature range of 75°C. Following this, a parametric analysis of the whole system was performed, including various design and climate parameters, such as the working temperatures of the generator, evaporator, condenser, absorber, mass flow rate, and coefficient of performance (COP) of the system. An experimental setup was coupled with solar collectors and instruments to get hot water using solar energy and measurements of main parameters for real-time performance assessment. From the results obtained, it was revealed that the maximum average COP of the system achieved was 0.70, and the maximum outlet temperature from solar thermal collectors was 75°C. A sensitivity analysis was performed to validate the potential of the absorption machine in the seasonal cooling demand. An economic valuation was accomplished based on the current cost of conventional cooling systems. It was established that the solar cooling system is economical only when shared with domestic water heating.     

基于太阳辐射值的喷射制冷系统动态性能分析

为了了解气象参数对喷射制冷系统性能的影响,选取HCFC-134a作为制冷剂,基于EES软件建立了太阳能喷射制冷系统动态性能仿真程序,模拟研究了太阳辐射值对系统性能的影响。研究表明:一定运行工况下,随着太阳辐射量的增加,系统COP呈现先升高后下降的趋势;发生热量和发生温度均呈现递增趋势;制冷量则呈现先增加,当太阳辐射到达一定值时,系统的制冷量则基本不变的趋势。系统在相同蒸发温度和冷凝温度下运行时,存在一个最佳发生热量工作区,在该最佳发生热量区,系统COP最大,出冷量也最多。     

Effect of component pressure drops in two-fluid pumpless continuous vapour absorption refrigerator

Miniaturisation of the vapour absorption refrigerator requires replacement of the solution pump by a heat operated bubble pump and air cooled condenser and absorber. The replacement necessitates the selection of working media restricted to vacuum operation, and the air cooling poses the problem of high pressure drops in the refrigerator. Thermodynamic analysis of the absorption refrigerator with such a suitable working medium is performed considering the pressure drops in the system as parameters. The analysis shows that the effect of the evaporator to absorber pressure drop on the system performance is more significant than that of the generator to condenser pressure drop, and it becomes more predominant at the low generator temperature normally encountered in solar operated systems.     

Numerical simulation of underground seasonal cold energy storage for a 10 MW solar thermal power plant in north-western China using TRNSYS

This paper aims to explore an efficient, cost-effective, and water-saving seasonal cold energy storage technique based on borehole heat exchangers to cool the condenser water in a 10 MW solar thermal power plant. The proposed seasonal cooling mechanism is designed for the areas under typical weather conditions to utilize the low ambient temperature during the winter season and to store cold energy. The main objective of this paper is to utilize the storage unit in the peak summer months to cool the condenser water and to replace the dry cooling system. Using the simulation platform transient system simulation program (TRNSYS), the borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) system model has been developed and the dynamic capacity of the system in the charging and discharging mode of cold energy for one-year operation is studied. The typical meteorological year (TMY) data of Dunhuang, Gansu province, in north-western China, is utilized to determine the lowest ambient temperature and operation time of the system to store cold energy. The proposed seasonal cooling system is capable of enhancing the efficiency of a solar thermal power plant up to 1.54% and 2.74% in comparison with the water-cooled condenser system and air-cooled condenser system respectively. The techno-economic assessment of the proposed technique also supports its integration with the condenser unit in the solar thermal power plant. This technique has also a great potential to save the water in desert areas.     

Transcritical CO2 refrigerator and sub‐critical R134a refrigerator: A comparison of the experimental results

This paper describes experiments comparing a commercial available R134a refrigeration plant subjected to a cold store and a prototype R744 (carbon dioxide) system working as a classical ‘split‐systems’ to cool air in residential applications in a transcritical cycle. Both plants are able to develope a refrigeration power equal to 3000 W. The R744 system utilizes aluminium heat exchangers, a semi‐hermetic compressor, a back‐pressure valve and a thermostatic expansion valve. The R134a refrigeration plant operates using a semi‐hermetic reciprocating compressor, an air condenser followed by a liquid receiver, a manifold with two expansion valves, a thermostatic one and a manual one mounted in parallel, and an air cooling evaporator inside the cold store. System performances are compared for two evaporation temperatures varying the temperature of the external air running over the gas‐cooler and over the condenser. The refrigeration load in the cold store is simulated by means of some electrical resistances, whereas the air evaporator of the R744 plant is placed in a very large ambient. The results of the comparison are discussed in terms of temperature of the refrigerants at the compressor discharge line, of refrigerants mass flow rate and of coefficient of performance (COP). The performances measured in terms of COPs show a decrease with respect to the R134a plant working at the same external and internal conditions. Further improvements regarding the components of the cycle are necessary to use in a large‐scale ‘split‐systems’ working with the carbon dioxide. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical modeling of a zeolite/water adsorption cooling system with non-constant condensing pressure

A new transient two-dimensional model with non-constant condensing pressure for a zeolite/water adsorption cooling cycle is proposed in this paper. This numerical model focuses on the heat and mass transfer behaviors in the adsorber and is solved by the control volume method. Due to the heat transfer limitation in the condenser, the simulated pressure during the isobaric generation phase of the cycle is not constant and will decrease with time. Compared with the model for constant condensing pressure, the cycle duration and cycled adsorbate for the base case are increased. Furthermore, the effect of mass flow rate of condenser cooling water on system performance is also investigated. It is found that both COP and SCP increase with an increase in the mass flow rate of cooling water in the condenser.     

Design and parametric investigation of an ejector in an air-conditioning system

This paper discusses the behavior of ammonia (R-717) through an ejector, operating in an air-conditioning system with a low temperature thermal source. For the detailed calculation of the proposed system a method has been developed, which employs analytical functions describing the thermodynamic properties of the ammonia. The proposed cycle has been compared with the Carnot cycle working at the same temperature levels. The influence of three major parameters: generator, condenser and evaporator temperature, on ejector efficiency and coefficient of performance is discussed. Also the maximum value of COP was estimated by correlation of the three temperatures for constant superheated temperature (100°C). The design conditions were generator temperature (76.11–79.57°C), condenser temperature (34–42°C) and evaporator temperature (4–12°C).     

An experimental investigation into a solar assisted desiccant-evaporative air-conditioning system

In this experimental investigation a solar assisted open adsorption cooling system has been designed and tested under the local weather conditions of Basrah, Iraq. Data were obtained from June to September, inclusive, 1984. Tests were carried out hourly with a directly supply of hot air from a corrugated absorber solar air heater for regeneration. Also, tests were conducted at a constant regeneration temperature of 70°C using auxiliary heat. Adsorption was carried out by a rotary disk of silica gel. Three mass flow rates of process air were employed without recirculation. The performance of the solar air heater was obtained for both seasons, and the instantaneous efficiency was evaluated experimentally and analytically with results compared. Daily and seasonal coefficients of performance were obtained for the cooling system for the mass flow rates employed. A maximum seasonal average value of 2.8 was obtained for a mass flow rate of 0.075 kg/s. The system performance improved with higher regeneration temperature, higher process air mass flow rate and dry weather. It was possible to generate a cool supply of air at satisfactory conditions using solar energy only for all clear days under the local weather conditions.     

Optimization of water-cooled chiller system with load-based speed control

This study investigates the energy performance of chiller and cooling tower systems integrated with variable condenser water flow and optimal speed control for tower fans and condenser water pumps. Thermodynamic-behaviour chiller and cooling tower models were developed to assess how different control methods of cooling towers and condenser water pumps influence the trade-off between the chiller power, pump power, fan power and water consumption under various operating conditions. Load-based speed control is introduced for the tower fans and condenser water pumps to achieve optimum system performance. With regard to an example chiller system serving an office building, the optimal control coupled with variable condenser water flow could reduce the annual system electricity use by 5.3% and operating cost by 4.9% relative to the equivalent system using constant speed fans and pumps with a fixed set point for cooling water temperature control.     

A solar ejector cooling system using refrigerant R134a in the Athens area

This paper describes the performance of an ejector cooling system driven by solar energy and R134a as working fluid. The system operating in conjunction with intermediate temperature solar collector in Athens, is predicted along the 5 months (May–September). The operation of the system and the related thermodynamics are simulated by suitable computer codes and the required local climatologically data are determined by statistical processing over a considerable number of years. It was fount that the COP of ejector cooling system varied from 0.035 to 0.199 when the operation conditions were: generator temperature (82–92 °C), condenser temperature (32–40 °C) and evaporator temperature (−10–0 °C). For solar cooling application the COP of overall system varied from 0.014 to 0.101 with the same operation conditions and total solar radiation (536–838 W/m²) in July.     

An investigation of the solar powered absorption refrigeration system with advanced energy storage technology

This paper presented a new solar powered absorption refrigeration (SPAR) system with advanced energy storage technology. The advanced energy storage technology referred to the Variable Mass Energy Transformation and Storage (VMETS) technology. The VMETS technology helped to balance the inconsistency between the solar radiation and the air conditioning (AC) load. The aqueous lithium bromide (H₂O-LiBr) was used as the working fluid in the system. The energy collected from the solar radiation was first transformed into the chemical potential of the working fluid and stored in the system. Then the chemical potential was transformed into thermal energy by absorption refrigeration when AC was demanded. In the paper, the working principle and the flow of the SPAR system were explained and the dynamic models for numerical simulation were developed. The numerical simulation results can be used to investigate the behavior of the system, including the temperature and concentration of the working fluid, the mass and energy in the storage tanks, the heat loads of heat exchanger devices and so on. An example was given in the paper. In the example, the system was used in a subtropical city like Shanghai in China and its operating conditions were set as a typical summer day: the outdoor temperature varied between 29.5 °C and 38 °C, the maximum AC load was 15.1 kW and the total AC capacity was 166.1 kW h (598.0 MJ). The simulation results indicated that the coefficient of performance (COP) of the system was 0.7525 or 0.7555 when the condenser was cooled by cooling air or by cooling water respectively and the storage density (SD) was about 368.5 MJ/m³. As a result, the required solar collection area was 66 m² (cooling air) or 62 m² (cooling water) respectively. The study paves the road for system design and operation control in the future.     

Residential solar air conditioning: Energy and exergy analyses of an ammonia–water absorption cooling system

Large scale heat-driven absorption cooling systems are available in the marketplace for industrial applications but the concept of a solar driven absorption chiller for air-conditioning applications is relatively new. Absorption chillers have a lower efficiency than compression refrigeration systems, when used for small scale applications and this restrains the absorption cooling system from air conditioning applications in residential buildings. The potential of a solar driven ammonia–water absorption chiller for residential air conditioning application is discussed and analyzed in this paper. A thermodynamic model has been developed based on a 10 kW air cooled ammonia–water absorption chiller driven by solar thermal energy. Both energy and exergy analyses have been conducted to evaluate the performance of this residential scale cooling system. The analyses uncovered that the absorber is where the most exergy loss occurs (63%) followed by the generator (13%) and the condenser (11%). Furthermore, the exergy loss of the condenser and absorber greatly increase with temperature, the generator less so, and the exergy loss in the evaporator is the least sensitive to increasing temperature.     

Numerical investigation of a two-stage air-cooled absorption refrigeration system for solar cooling: Cycle analysis and absorption cooling performances

Two-stage air-cooled ammonia–water absorption refrigeration system could make good use of low-grade solar thermal energy to produce cooling effect. The system simulation results show that thermal COP is 0.34 and electrical COP is 26 under a typical summer condition with 85 °C hot water supplied from solar collector. System performances under variable working conditions are also analyzed. Circular finned tube bundles are selected to build the air-cooled equipment. The condenser should be arranged in the front to get an optimum system performance. The mathematical model of the two-stage air-cooled absorber considering simultaneous heat and mass transfer processes is developed. Low pressure absorber should be arranged in front of middle pressure absorber to minimize the absorption length. Configuration of the air-cooled equipment is suggested for a 5 kW cooling capacity system. Temperature and concentration profiles along the finned tube length show that mass transfer resistance mainly exists in liquid phase while heat transfer resistance mainly exists in cooling air side. The impacts on system refrigeration capacities related to absorption behaviors under variable working conditions are also investigated. Both cycle analysis and absorption performances show that two-stage air-cooled ammonia–water absorption chiller is technically feasible in practical solar cooling applications.     

Flower-type pulsating heat pipe for a solar collector

Inspired by the sunflower, we report a new structure of a solar collector that integrates a pulsating heat pipe (PHP) into a flat-plate collector. The proposed flower-type PHP solar collector is designed after a sunflower with petals that absorb sunlight and transfer nutrients to the stem after photosynthesis. The evaporator section adopts the shape of a flower to absorb sunlight fully, and the condenser section is rolled into a cylinder and placed in the lower part of the structure. A systematic experimental study is conducted upon start-up, and the performance characteristics, with acetone as the working fluid, are evaluated. We also did a heat loss analysis, which has a deviation of 8%. The effects of the mass flow rate of cooling water, filling ratio, length of the condenser section, and solar intensity are assessed. As the temperature of the heat absorber plate increases, the thermal resistance of the PHP can decrease to a minimum of 0.14°C/W. Under sunny weather conditions, the instantaneous thermal efficiency of the system with a filling ratio of 50% reaches 50%. Besides, we discussed the unstable operation conditions and possible dryout phenomenon that happened inside the PHP.     

Performance of ejector cooling system with thermal pumping effect using R141b and R365mfc

The ejector cooling system (ECS) is suitable for solar cooling application due to its simple design and low cost. An ECS using a multi-function generator (ECS/MFG) as a thermal pumping device without rotating machines for refrigerant circulation has been designed and tested. The experiment of an ECS/MFG operating at full-cycle while using R141b has shown that the COP_o can reach 0.225 and cooling capacity of 0.75 kW at generator temperature 90 °C, condenser temperature 37 °C, and evaporator temperature 8.5 °C. The present study also redesigned the ejector for working fluid R365mfc in order to replace R141b. This study has shown that R365mfc can replace R141b as the working fluid of ECS/MFG at no payoff of system performance as long as the ejector design is optimized.     

夏季工况条件下空调/冷柜一体机性能实验研究

空调冷柜一体机系统是通过中间冷却器将空调与冷柜耦合,可以将空调系统中的部分制冷剂节流至中间冷却器对冷柜系统中的制冷剂进行过冷以提升其系统性能。实验研究了夏季工况条件下冷柜温度、室外环境温度及质量流量比对一体机系统制冷量及COP的影响。实验结果表明:在夏季工况条件下,冷柜系统的制冷量和COP随质量流量比的增大而增大,但质量流量比大于12%后其增速放缓;空调系统制冷量随质量流量比的增大而减小,而其COP随质量流量比的增大而略有增大。综合分析认为夏季工况条件下,质量流量比控制在8%～12%时可以提高空调及冷柜系统COP,同时空调器制冷量衰减也较小。     

An estimation of the performance limits and improvement of dry cooling on trough solar thermal plants

A study is reported of the potential performance of dry cooling on power generation. This is done in the context of a generic trough solar thermal power plant. The commercial power plant analysis code GateCycle is applied for this purpose. This code is used to estimate typical performance of both wet and dry cooling options. Then it is configured to estimate the performance of ideal wet and dry cooling options. The latter are defined as the condenser temperature being at the ambient wet bulb temperature or dry bulb temperature, respectively. Yearly power production of a solar power plant located in Las Vegas is presented for each of the cooling options. To move further toward approaching the possible improvement in dry cooling, the impact of a high-performance heat exchanger surface is evaluated. It is found that higher efficiency generation compared to current dry cooling designs is definitely possible. In fact the performance of these types of systems can approach that of wet cooling system units.     

Experimental studies on an ammonia ejector refrigeration system

An ejector refrigeration system has been designed and developed to operate with a simulated (electric) heat source, which can be realized in practical applications by renewable energy sources like solar energy, geothermal energy, etc., or waste heat. In this paper, an experimental study on an ejector refrigeration system working with ammonia is presented. The influence of the generator, condenser, and evaporator temperatures on the ejector refrigeration system performance is presented. The entrainment ratio and COP of the system increase with increasing generator and evaporator temperatures and decrease with increasing condenser temperature.