Performance evaluation of compressor assisted multi-effect absorption refrigeration cycles for power and cooling using evacuated tube collectors

Abstract

To improve the thermal energy utilisation performance of an absorption cycle, compressor-assisted single, double and triple effect absorption refrigeration cycles for power and cooling using thermal energy from evacuated tube collector was proposed in this study. The power generated by the cycles is used to power the compression required to enhance the performance of the cycles. For prcom = 1.5 (base case), the simulation results show that the net power output decreased by 88%, while the cooling output increased slightly by 5.2% for the single effect cycle. The effective energy efficiency decreased from 14% to 13% and the effective exergy efficiency increased from 61% to 66% respectively. A further analysis of multi-effect cycles showed that the system can be operated at low temperatures, with the desorber temperature of double effect cycle decreasing by 32% while the desorber temperature for triple effect cycle decreases by 23% for a compression ratio of 1.5.