Abstract
The increasing energy costs and environmental awareness call for a shift towards some interesting energy alternatives preferably the use of renewable energy. The present study investigates the impact of varying cooling capacity and other operating parameters in a single-effect absorption refrigeration system, using the concept of energy and exergy as a building heating/cooling alternative. The solar heat is used as an input to the generator of absorption refrigeration system. The results obtained from investigation revealed that variation in cooling capacity influences coefficient of performance (COP), exergy loss in different components as well as exergy efficiency. The values of COPcooling and COPheating lies in the range of 0.71-0.89 and 1.71-1.89 respectively for variations in cooling capacities ranging from 1 TR to 20 TR at maximum generator temperature of 80oC. However, exergy efficiency of the system lies in the range of 0.32-0.41 for same variation in cooling capacities. It has also been established that an increase in evaporator temperature and at maximum cooling capacity both COPcooling and COPheating shows an increasing trend. The exergy efficiency also shows maximum value at the highest cooling capacity at a particular evaporator temperature which further with an increase in evaporator temperature shows a decreasing trend. The irreversibility behavior in all the components i.e., solution heat exchanger, absorber, generator, evaporator and condenser shows an expected trend with the variation in cooling capacity. Hence, use of the above mentioned system as a heating and/or cooling alternative for buildings is suggested.
Highlights
The refrigeration systems are indispensible across the globe for various domestic and industrial applications like storage of food, beverages, pharmaceuticals etc. and ensure thermal comfort inside the built environment [1,2,3]
Engineering Equation Solver (EES) [32] software has been used to develop a program for carrying out energy and exergy analysis of a single-effect ammonia water vapor absorption refrigeration system
The behavior of COPcooling can be explained on the fact that at maximum generator temperature and an increase in cooling capacity, the temperature of refrigerant flowing through the generator increases which leads to an increase in the generation as well as transfer rate of the refrigerant vapors and improves coefficient of performance (COP) of the system
Summary
The refrigeration systems are indispensible across the globe for various domestic and industrial applications like storage of food, beverages, pharmaceuticals etc. and ensure thermal comfort inside the built environment [1,2,3]. The low temperature energy source based refrigeration and air conditioning system was evaluated and the results obtained indicate acceptable performance with respect to design and operating parameters [16 - 19].The second law analysis to locate losses meant for the optimization in different types of absorption refrigeration systems revealed that certain components need modifications for improving performance of the system [20 - 23].An experimental investigation of design and operation of a thermo-gravity pump (thermally activated pump) in a novel single stage LiBr–H2O vapor absorption system to reduce energy costs of mechanical pumps was carried out [24]. Based on shortcomings in the reviewed literature, present analysis evaluates the influence of various operating parameters using the concept of energy and exergy in a single-effect ammonia-water absorption system for building air conditioning system.
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