Study on LiBr-H<sub>2</sub>O Absorption Refrigeration System with Integral Storage

Abstract

The absorption thermal energy storage (TES) system stores the energy in the form of potential energy of solution and is a promising technology for efficient energy transformation process. The performance of the absorption refrigeration system with integral storage for cooling applications using LiBr-H2O as working pair under the condition without crystallization was analyzed on the basis of the first law of thermodynamics. Simulation was employed to determine the coefficient of performance (COP) and energy storage density (ESD) of the absorption TES system under different conditions such as the absorption temperature and storage temperature. The results show that the COP of the system is 0.7453 and ESD is 169.853 MJ/m3 under typical operation conditions in summer. A low absorption temperature yields both a higher COP and ESD. The solution heat exchanger could improve the COP of the system while has no effect on ESD. Results also showed that system has a good advantage when compared to other storage methods since it is do no need thermal insulation. The absorption TES may be considered as one of the promising thermal energy storage methods.