Thermodynamic analysis of simplified dual-pressure ammonia-water absorption power cycle

A simplified dual-pressure ammonia-water absorption power cycle (DPAPC-a) using low grade energy resources is presented and analyzed. This cycle uses turbine exhaust heat to distill the basic solution for desorption. The structure of the cycle is simple which comprises evaporator, turbine, regenerator (desorber), absorber, pump and throttle valves for both diluted solution and vapor. And it is of high efficiency, because the working medium has large temperature difference in evaporation and small temperature difference in absorptive condensation, which can match the sensible exothermal heat resource and the cooling water simultaneously. Orthogonal calculation was made to investigate the influence of the working concentration, the basic concentration and the circulation multiple on the cycle performance, with 85–110 °C heat resource and 20–32°C cooling water. An optimum scheme was given in the condition of 110 °C sensitive heat resource and 20 °C cooling water, with the working concentration of 0.6, basic concentration of 0.385, and circulation multiple of 5. The thermal efficiency and the power recovery efficiency are 8.06 % and 6.66%, respectively. The power recovery efficiency of the DPAPC-a is 28.8% higher than that of the steam Rankine cycle (SRC) and 12.7% higher than that of ORC (R134a) under the optimized situation.