Parametric analysis on the performance of an experimental ammonia/lithium nitrate absorption cooling system

Abstract

Summary The present study reports the experimental results of a new absorption cooling system utilizing stainless steel plate heat exchangers in all the main components. The system operated with the ammonia‐lithium nitrate working pair. Several parametric analyses were performed in order to investigate the effect of the generation and condensation temperatures, solution mass flow rate, solution volume and expansion valve aperture on the cooling power, evaporation temperatures, and coefficient of performance (COP). Generation temperatures varied from 80°C to 95°C, while condensation temperatures varied between 20°C and 32°C. The system achieved a cooling power of 3.1 kW, cooling temperatures as low as 6°C, and internal coefficients of performance of approximately 0.62. The cooling power increased 20.3% with an increment of the solution mass flow rate from 1 kg/min to 4 kg/min. From the expansion valve analysis, it was found the cooling power varied from 0.28 to 2.29 kW while the COP varied from 0.032 to 0.23 for the corresponding test conditions.

Absorption Refrigeration Systems Based on Ammonia as Refrigerant Using Different Absorbents: Review and Applications

“…Several studies have investigated and analyzed compact heat exchangers as a way to reduce the amount of working fluid, as well as reducing the global size of the system, and therefore costs, by the use of compact components in absorption refrigeration systems to use low-temperature sources for the activation [26,85]. Additionally, due to the increasing performance of the refrigeration systems and reduction in energy consumption, new configurations are possible, such as adding multiple absorbers [77], compact heat exchanger components [26,27,76,88] or including ejectors of the systems [84], or combining sorption and mechanical compression systems [80,89], or integrating different systems to use polygeneration plants [67,90].…”

“…Tables 7 and 8 summarize the studies about absorption chillers using either experimental analysis or numerical and theoretical studies. Analysis of influences on the coefficient of heat transfer of the ARS New correlation was proposed to predict the impact of the settings on the boiling heat transfer coefficient Jiménez-Garcia and Rivera [76] Assessment of the use of plate heat exchanger on an absorption chiller The cooling power of 3 kW was reached with 6 • C of chilled water temperature and COP of 0.62…”

“…The search for systems with better thermal performance, not only of the fluid used, but with the modification of the cycle through the introduction of a component has been done, as shown by Zacarías et al [77] with the addition of several absorbers, or with the use of more compact exchangers [26,27,76,88] or by the integration of ejectors into the system [84], or simply through joining refrigeration systems by vapor compression and absorption [80,89], integration of cycles in the production of electricity and cold [136], and obviously in the use of these ARS in energy polygeneration plants, analyzed and verified technically and financially [67,137].…”

“…Jimínez-García and Rivera [76] carried out an experimental study of new absorption refrigeration equipment that uses stainless steel plate heat exchangers with NH 3 /LiNO 3 mixture working fluids. The objective of the work was to evaluate the equipment experimentally and seek the effect of the input parameters (activation and condensation temperatures, volume and mass flow of the solution, and opening of the expansion valve) on the output variables, such as cooling power, evaporation temperature, and COP.…”

Comparative analysis of a solar‐driven novel salt‐based absorption chiller with the implementation of nanoparticles

“…By the second‐law analysis, Farshi et al have concluded that the NH 3 ‐NaSCN chiller operates on a narrow range of generator temperatures. Jiménez‐García and Rivera have parametrically analyzed the NH 3 ‐LiNO 3 system and experimentally attained 3.1 kW of cooling at 6°C evaporator temperature with a COP of approximately 0.62. Pandya et al have observed that optimized system COPs (SCOPs) for the NH 3 ‐LiNO 3 pair are 11.07%, 6.06%, 9.77%, and 6.96% higher compared with those for the NH 3 ‐NaSCN pair for a flat‐plate collector (FPC), an evacuated‐tube collector, a compound‐parabolic collector, and a parabolic‐trough collector (PTC) coupled with a VARS, respectively.…”