Development of Advanced amd Customized Absorption Chillers From Indian Industry

Abstract

Indian absorption industry started customizing chillers first based on material or electrical requirements, like chillers for hazardous areas or using materials such as titanium, cupronickel, stainless steel, cladded plates etc. However, as knowledge about chiller technology has improved, many cycle variations have been designed and fabricated to suit customer requirements. This is commercially possible due to lower technical manpower costs in India. Such efforts have resulted in over 20 % market share of absorption chillers in spite of unfavorable fuel prices (higher gas and oil prices than electricity cost). This paper describes some of the cycles used for different applications based on customers' requirement such as double absorbers, various types of single double-effect chillers, twin hot water machines, and absorption heat pumps. Double absorbers used in India are of two types: Horizontal double absorbers and vertical double absorbers. The cycle COP of such chillers can exceed 1.46.