Summary The parameters that should be considered at the design stage of a combined heat and power

(CHP) project have been determined for situations when absorption refrigeration is to be used. Single
and double stage chillers are considered together with system features such as hot water, steam or heat
recovery driven, in terms of the hot temperature heat source from the CHP plant. Finally the chiller effi-
ciency, plant size and the electric consumption of cooling towers and condenser water pumps are
analysed to achieve an energy efficient system design.

Absorption chillers applied to CHP systems

R Tozer† MSc CEng MCIBSE and R James‡ BSc MEng PhD CEng FIMechE MCIBSE FInstR
&dag er; Waterman Gore, Mechanical & Electrical Consulting Engineers, Bastille Court, 2 Paris Garden, London SE18ND, UK
&Dag er; School of Engineering Systems and Design, South Bank University, London, UK

List of symbols Absorption chillers driven by hot water and steam were mar-
keted seriously in the 60s until the energy efficiency issues
a Thermodynamic ratios ruled this technology out for most of the world in the 1970s.
A Difference The exception was Japan, which due to a gas expansion poli-
cop Coefficient of performance cy, bought the absorption technology and developed two
c Specific heat capacity (kj kg-1K-l) stage and direct fired units, to become world leaders in this
j Cycle work (kJ kg-i) technology. A reflection of this was that in 1984, about 900
MW of absorption cooling capacity was sold in Japan, with
lt Specific enthalpy (kJ kg’K’) machine size ranging from 140 to 1400 kW of cooling capaci-
HDRHeat dissipation ratio
no Mass flow rate (kg s-1) ty, employing lithium bromide/water technology(2). The
absorption market in North America is rapidly growing, from
Q Heat (kW) $17 million in 1989 to $61 million in 1992. The market for
S Entropy (kJ kg’K-’) cogeneration equipment to the year 2000 has been estimated
T Absolute temperature(K) at $30 billion by Frost and Sullivan, a major market research
firm~3~.
Suffixes
a Absorber The structure of electricity costs, with high maximum
c Condenser demand and availability charges, prioritising primary energy
cc Cooling cycle consumption with respect to final energy consumption, polit-
ical commitments and financial help, together with environ-
comp Compressor mental issues such as the ozone depletion potential (ODP),
cond Condensate
dc Driving cycle global warming potential (GWP) and acid emissions have
motivated designers to reconsider the absorption refrigeration
e Evaporator options available on the market. These are the single and
eg Exhaust gases double stage direct fired absorption chillers either with
ei Exhaust gases into chiller heaters4 which fire on natural gas, propane, kerosene or oil or
eo Exhaust gases out of chiller fired by other means as used for CHP projects. These include
fg Refers to change of phase at constant pressure the single stage hot water or steam fired chiller, the double
g Generator stage steam fired chiller and the double stage heat recovery
hw Hot water supply chiller. This last group of chillers, that is not directly gas
jw Jacket water fired, is used on CHP projects and is the one whose design
p Pump aspects are considered in relation to the overall CHP plant.
s Solution
st Steam
2 Ideal absorption cycles
1S Single stage
2S Double stage
In order to set the criteria for selection and operation of
1 Introduction absorption chillers, it is necessary to understand the theoreti-
cal principles of the ideal cycles. This aids the understanding
of the way real systems operate.
The absorption principle of refrigeration was amply demon-
strated by Faraday in his expcriment with the bent glass tube The single-stage absorption chiller schematic is shown in
charged with ammonia and silver chloride in 1824. The affin- Figure 1 and the ideal cycled is represented in Figure 2.
ity of some vapours, such as ammonia for water, or water for
lithium bromide, is the basis of absorption designs. These The only correct way to represent absorption cycles such as
were first applied in industry by Nicolle who patented his ice that shown in Figure 1 on the T - S diagram is to represent
making machine in 1861. The units operated on ammonia the cycle with a single closed line as in Figure 2. Detailed
and were first used for freezing meat for shipping from information on the ideal assumptions claimed for such a rep-
Sydney, Australia to Europe and had very low cops « 0.2)’>. resentation are outside the scope of this present work.

179
Downloaded from bse.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CINCINNATI on March 11, 2015
 cally be achieved for a single stage unit. Also to maximise the
COP, both the evaporator and absorber temperatures will have
to be close. This is similar to a vapour compression cycle
where the cop of the Carnot ideal cycle improves as the hot
and cold source temperatures converge.
A high generator temperature will not have any effect on the
ideal cycle other than elevating the condenser temperature. In
a real system the COP will decrease although a smaller chiller
could sometimes be selected due to increased temperature dif-
ferences in the generator and condenser.
For the following formulae developed the relationship of
evaporator and absorber absolute temperatures have been
chosen to represent the thermodynamic ratio a. The single-
stage cop is given by

The heat dissipated by a high-temperature cycle condenser

can be used to drive a generator of a low temperature cycle,
and thus for the double-stage absorption chiller:

The double-stage absorption chiller schematic can be seen in

Figure 3 and the ideal cycle($,’) is represented in Figure 4
Similarly, for further stages using the condenser heat to drive
the generator of a lower-temperature cycle:
Triple-stage cop:
Figure 1 Schematic of single-stage absorption chiller

N-stage cop:
, ... , . ,.

Superficial examination of the above indicates that the maxi-

mum ideal cop is equal to the number of stages N and that to
improve any of these ideal cycles the difference between the
evaporator and absorber temperatures (or generator and con-
denser temperatures) has to decrease.
Other ideal multistage cycles have been developed using the
absorber heat from high temperature cycles to drive genera-
tors of lower temperature cycles. These have the same perfor-
mance as the cycles previously described and equations 4 to 7
also apply. Many combinations are possible but not commer-
cially available(’,).
’

3 Real absorption cycles

Figure 2 Single-stage, idealised absorption cycle on the
temperature-entropy diagram
3.1 Absorption cycles on PIX diagrams
However information is available(’-6) and a summary is given In practice the pressure-temperature-concentration chart
in Appendix 1. (PTX) is widely used for representing absorption cycles work-
The work of the two sub-cycles Fdc and Fcc are equal and ing with the LiBr/water binary mixture. These charts have
therefore the four process temperatures cannot be arbitrarily the advantage of representing refrigerant and solution paths
chosen but are related by: and specially the crystallisation sector. Figures 5 and 6 repre-
sent a single and the paraflow double stage cycles on the PYX
diagrams:
The ideal cop (reversible cycle) is a function of the thermody- Absorption technology is rapidly developing and when deal-
namic ratio defined as: ing with real cycles it is suggested that these should be dis-
cussed in detail with the manufacturers at the initial design
stage. Important topics to be considered are:
And the ideal cop is defined as: --

Adequate chiller selection (single/double stage, series

1/11/paranow, heat source) _

If the temperature ratios are considered it is clear that the -

Chilled and condenser water temperatures, flow rates and
limiting value of unity is the maximum cop that can theoreti- volumes

180 Downloaded from bse.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CINCINNATI on March 11, 2015

 Figure 3 Schematic of double-
stage paraflow absorption chiller

-
Hot water supply (temperature, control, simultaneous
with chilled water)
-

Cooling (condenser) water, cooling tower by-pass

-

Crystallisation prevention involving consideration of the

dilution cycle, non-condensable gas purging, avoiding
low condenser water temperatures.
-

Purging system
-
Performance (part loads, varying condenser and chilled
water temperatures)
-

Scope of supply: control valves, lagging (hot and cold

surfaces), antivibration mounts
-
Control system (pneumatic, electronic, microprocessor)
and BEMS interface and strategy.
Figure 4 Double-stage, idealised absorption cycle on the -

Factory location, delivery, shipping, vessel codes, test

temperature-entropy diagram certificates

Figure 5 Single-stage real cycle

on the prx diagram

Downloaded from bse.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CINCINNATI on March 11, 2015 181


-
Internal pumps (life, change-over, replacements, electric
supply)
4 Combined heat and power (cop)
A gas utility(9) is promoting the use of absorption refrigera-
tion. It has described a CHP system of British Gas North
Western as a site with a parallel need for electricity, office
space heating and computer suite cooling. The cooling for the
computer suite is provided by a combination of electric and
absorption chiller units. An overall efficiency for the CHP sys-
tem of 90% and a payback period of four years is claimed.
One of the major advantages of absorption chillers is the great
flexibility that they offer. To run the refrigeration cycle the
only major requirement is heat, which can be supplied in var-
ious forms according to the power plant. Double-stage units
offer an attractive higher cop and the ability to consume
higher temperature heat than the single stage absorption
units. Absorption chillers can be used with CHP systems as
shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Use of absorption chillers with CUP systems
4.1 Single-stage chillers
Although single stage absorption chillers can be fired on low
pressure steam, the most common application is to use the
engine jacket cooling water. Hot water temperatures are avail-
able between 70°C to 140°C but although the heat energy
available will depend on the flow and temperature rise of hot
water, the supply and return temperatures themselves have a
significant influence on the size of the absorption chiller.
Low hot water temperatures require the use of very large
chillers, when compared to selections with higher hot water
182 Downloaded from bse.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CINCINNATI on March 11, 2015
0
Figure 6 Double-stage real cycle
(parailow) on the PTX diagram
temperatures. If Figure 5 is referred to, it can be seen that the
cycle has to work with lower concentrations to allow lower
generator temperatures. As the weak solution concentration is
practically determined by the cooling medium of the
absorber, the difference of both solution concentrations is fur-
ther reduced from the usual design value of 6%, the difference
between 64% and 58%. This in turn means that a larger circu-
lation of solution between the generator and absorber is
required for the same amount of refrigerant (water), which
requires the use of larger chillers. For this very reason the hot
water temperature difference between inlet and outlet is small
at low temperatures, i.e. 5K at 80°C, and larger at higher tem-
peratures, i.e. 17.5K at 130’C. Using these values an average
temperature difference can be expressed in terms of the inlet
hot water temperature as:
This temperature relationship is specific to single stage
absorption chillers and will not necessarily coincide with
those of the engine jacket water.
The amount of available cooling Qe is given by equation 12
. which is derived as follows:
4.2 Double-stage steam-dri1)81Z chillers .
Many cogeneration systems involve the use of steam at
approximately 8-15 bar, i.e. hospitals and industrial applica-
.
tions, which is very suitable for steam driven double stage
absorption units that are designed for steam at 8 bar. A typical
cycle is represented in Figure 6.
These have the further advantage of higher efficiencies due to
the use of a steam condensate cooler employed to preheat the
refrigerant solution in the low-temperature stage of the
absorption unit (Figure 3). The amount of available cooling is
determined in terms of the available latent and sensible heat:
’
4.2 Hot-gas driven double-stage chillers
In the case of gas turbines and reciprocating engines, the hot
gas exhaust can be used directly with hot-gas driven double-
stage absorption units. A typical exhaust gas temperature is
500°C for these plants, but a range of temperatures between
280-800°C (T,) can be used with these hot gas driven absorp-
tion chillers. This has been the advantage of not requiring
heat exchangers, condensate pumps or other steam related
equipment and is mostly used in conjunction with gas tur-
bines. The exit gas temperatures from the absorption chiller
generator range between 180-200°C (T ), which determines
the lower limit of heat available from the exhaust gases.
The amount of available cooling is determined in terms of the
heat contained in the exhaust gases at the inlet and outlet of
the absorber chiller generator:
4.3 Two-phase driven double-stage chillers
A unique, two-phase, double stage absorption unit has been
developed(3) that operates simultaneously on two different
sources of energy; exhaust heat is captured and drives the
high temperature (first-stage) generator while engine jacket
water circulates through a separate hot water heat exchanger
connected to the low temperature (second-stage) generator.
This solution is commercially available and is desirable when
a single chilling plant is required. Nevertheless, for large
installations, it has been found that cheaper options are possi-
ble if a double stage hot gas driven unit is used for the exhaust
heat and a separate single stage hot water driven unit is used
for the jacket water. Equations 12 and 14 can be used with a
conservative margin for chiller losses to estimate available
cooling.
z
5 Applications
5.1I Heat dissipation ratio (HDR)
HDR is the ratio of absorber and condenser heat dissipated in
the cooling tower with respect to the evaporator heat (cooling
load). Not only should the absorption chiller be considered
but the energy consumption of significant ancillary plant
Downloaded from bse.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CINCINNATI on March 11, 2015
such as cooling tower fans and cooling water (absorber and
condenser) pumps should also be considered. Appendix 2
gives details of the heat dissipation ratio (HDR), which corre-
sponds to the ratio of cooling tower heat with respect to the
evaporator cooling load. Typical values of HDR of 2.5, I.9 and
1.25 correspond to single stage absorption, double stage
absorption and mechanical compression chillers (i.e. centrifu-
gal, screw and reciprocating) respectively. This indicates that
single stage absorption chillers are in addition to the lower
COP, penalised by a larger HDR on initial and operating costs,
i.e. cooling tower, condenser pumps and pipework.
HDR is useful as a means for checking the data supplied by
manufacturers. There has to be a correlation between the HDR
calculated directly from condenser and chilled water tempera-
tures and flow rates with respect to the HDR calculated in
terms of the cop. Appendix 3 can be referred to for more
details.
5.2 Cooling water flaw rate
A series of absorption chiller selections was carried out for a
range of design parameters(10). Figure 7 represents the varia-
tion of cop of a 1400 kW (400 TR) single-stage absorption
unit for two hot water temperatures in terms of the cooling
water flow rate expressed as a function of the temperature rise
across the absorber/condenser. These figures also indicate the
relative size of the cooling water pumps and cooling tower
fans in terms of their electric power, detailed in Appendix 4.
If the size of the cooling towers and condenser water pumps is
assumed to vary linearly with the power consumed by each
one, Figure 7 indicates both capital costs and operating costs
of the pumps and cooling tower in terms of the cop variation.
It should be noticed that relatively high capital investments
and electric operating costs are required to achieve a relatively
small cop improvement, this additional electric power is sup-
plied by the cop plant. The cooling water temperature differ-
ence is equal to the cooling water temperature leaving the
condenser minus the temperature of the water entering the
absorber. The cop variation with the change of cooling water
flow rate is due to the evaporator to absorber and condenser
to generator temperature ratio variation.
5 3 Absorption optimisation criteria with cHp
Figure 8 indicates the most common absorption chillers used
in cogeneration applications(&dquo;).
Figure 7 Chiller cop and electric
power consumption versus cooling
water flow rate
183
These types of units are indicated in terms of the temperature
of the heat source and include:
-
Single-stage, hot water fired
-
Double-stage, steam fired
-
Double-stage, hot gas fired.
The heat source temperatures refer to supply hot water tem-
peratures for the single stage chillers, equivalent steam satura-
tion temperatures for the double stage steam chillers, and
supply exhaust gas temperature for double stage heat recovery
chillers.
The same cooling capacity of 1400 kW was assumed for all
cases, the total capacity cost of absorption chillers, cooling
water pumps (2 no.), and cooling towers is indicated together
with the heat and electric energy required by the plant. The
objective of this figure is to indicate the variation of the para-
meters relative to the absorption unit when these are consid-
ered within the context of a cogeneration design with absorp-
tion cooling. Refer to Appendix 5 for details. Figure 8 gives
details of:
-
Plant costs (absorption chiller, two condenser
pumps and cooling tower)
-
Heat power consumed by the absorption chiller
-
Electric power consumed by absorption chiller,
denser pumps and cooling tower fans.
5.4 Optimisation criteria far single-stage chillers
Although Figure 8 refers to hot water temperatures, a slightly
more economic chiller can be selected if these units
ven on steam at approximately 0.8 bar.
On the basis of hot water, the first decision is whether pres-
surised hot water is to be considered for temperatures above
100°C. If it is decided to work below 100°C, it is recommend-
ed to design hot water temperatures near to 100°C. Although
Figure 8 refers only to the supply hot water temperature, the
chiller selection depends more on the leaving hot water tem-
perature. Therefore both supply and return hot water temper-
atures should be as high as possible. In other words, 93/88°C
is a better selection that 96/85°C due to a higher return tem-
perature of 88°C. As the difference of supply and return hot
water temperatures tend to zero, the chiller selection will also
184
Downloaded from bse.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CINCINNATI on March 11, 2015
tend to the alternative use of steam at the equivalent tempera-
ture.
If a pressurised hot water system is to be used, above 100°C,
from an efficiency point of view the optimum selection is at
115°C as indicated in Figure 8. At higher hot water tempera-
tures it is possible to select a smaller, more economic machine
despite a lower cop. This has the further disadvantage of
operating the generator at higher temperatures in the pres-
ence of LiBr/water solution, which can accelerate corrosion
processes. Both the design and materials of the generator
tubes should be considered in terms of higher temperatures if
the chiller life is not to be reduced.
If the hot water is supplied at a relatively high temperature
say 130°C and returns at a temperature below the optimum
115°C, the use of a mixing valve and pump is strongly recom-
mended to mix the supply hot water temperature to 115°C. It
will enable the absorption chiller to have maximum efficiency
and the sizing of it should not be affected as the return tem-
perature remains the same with this mixing arrangement. An
option is to increase the jacket water flow rates that would
lower the outlet temperatures and another option is to use
water
parallel flow through the jacket and hot gas recovery coils as
this would increase the flow rate, maintain the same pressure
drop and reduce the outlet temperature with an increase of
recovered heat.
con-
5.S Optimisatimi criteria for double-stage steam fired chillers
The best selection is at 8 bar, although chillers can be selected
to work at 9 bar sometimes to reduce the size of the chiller. If
the choice is between using steam for a single or double stage
chiller, overall cogeneration economics should be consid-
are dri- ered(&dquo;). For ideal cycles the overall thermodynamic perfor-
mance of both options is identical<12>.
5.6 Optimisation criteria for double-stage hotga5 driven chillers
This unit operates on hot gas exhaust fumes from engines or
turbines, which have much higher temperatures (i.e. 500°C)
than those of the absorption chiller generator (i.e. 160°C).
Therefore the selection of absorption chillers is independent
of the hot gas temperatures. It is very important to check the
hot gas temperature difference and mass flow rate to ensure
enough available heat can be supplied to the absorption
chiller in terms of the required cooling load.
Figure 8 Plant costs and
heat/electriral energy’ consumption
6 Selection criteria for absorption chillers with CHOP
criteria to optimise the absorption
Having established the
chiller selection once the unit has been determined, it now
remains to determine the criteria for selecting the type of
absorption chiller. The principal features are summarised in
Table 2.
Table 2 Features of &OElig;P absorption chillers
If the initial cost is the highest priority, the single stage
option is the most adequate, as long as enough heat energy is
available. The decision to use pressurised hot water
(HW> 100°C) or not is also related to the CHP jacket condi-
tions.
If a higher coP is required or if a limited amount of heat ener-
gy is available in terms of the cooling load, double stage units
will be required. The option of steam or hot gas fired will
depend on whether a steam installation is required for other
purposes and the difference of steam plant costs when com-
pared with the incremental price of a hot gas fired absorption
chiller.
6 Conclusions
Following the critical review relating to CHP systems and
absorption chillers, information has been correlated in a use-
ful manner. This covers single and double stage chillers with
system features such as hot water, steam and combustion
products heat recovery. The combined CHP and absorption
plant is shown to have a number of advantages, the optimisa-
tion of which depends on requirements; single stage if the
main design criteria is initial cost and double stage if higher
absorption cooling efliciencies are a requirement.
References
1 Higham D W The absorption systems of Eugene Dominique Nicolle
(1823 -1909) innovator and engineer extraordinary Proc. Inst. Reftig. 77
40-47(1980-81)
2 Perez Blanco H and Radermacher R Absorption: an updateASHRAE
J. 28(11) 25-26 (November 1986)
3 Fallek M Absorption chillers for cogeneration applications ASHRAE
92(1B) 141-148 (1986)
Trans.
4 Tozer R M and James R W Absorption refrigeration, large scale direct fired
chillers Technical memorandum 132 (London: South Bank University
Institute of Environmental Engineering) (Jan 1992)
5 Eber N Recent developments in the thermodynamics of absorption
refrigeration Sartryek ur Kylteknisk Tidskrift 2 (Stockholm) (April 1969)
6 Tozer R M and James R W Thermodynamics of absorption refrigera-
tion Technical memorandum 137 (London: South Bank University
Institute of Environmental Engineering) (Aug 1992)
7 Ziegler F and Alefeld G Coefficient of performance of multistage
absorption cycles Int. J.Refrig. 10(5) 285-296 (1987)
Downloaded from bse.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CINCINNATI on March 11, 2015
8 Alefeld G Double effect, triple effect and quadruple effect absorption
machines Proc. 16th Int. Cong. Refrig., Paris, 1983 vol. 2 pp951-956
9 Combined heat and power, the way to lower your energy costs in Gas in
Industry and Commerce (British Gas)
10 Tozer R M Absorption refrigeration (principles, cycles and applica-
tions to cogeneration), Proc. Cogeneration 92, Madrid (28-30 October
1992)
11 Hufford P E Absorption chillers maximise cogeneration value
ASHRAE Trans. NY-91-2-3 428-433 (1991)
12 Tozer R and James R A review of absorption refrigeration applications
Proc. GIBSE Nat. Conf., Brighton vol 1, pp 155-160 (1994)
13 Tozer R M and James R W Thermodynamics of absorption refrigera-
tion (ideal cycles) Proc. ASME Int. Absorption Heat Pump Conference 94,
Louisiana, New Orleans (January 1994)
14 Felli M Absorption refrigeration thermodynamics ASHRAE Trans.
IA 89189-204 No 2748 (1983)
15 Wilkinson W H What are the performance limits for double-effect
ASHRAE Trans. part 2 NT 87-29-3 2429-2441 (1987)
absorption cycles
16 Kumar P and Devotta S Study of an absorption refrigeration system
for simultaneous cooling and heating ASHRAE Trans. 96(2) 291-298
No. 3415 (1990)
17 Gommed K and Grossman G Performance analysis of staged absorp-
tion heat pumps, water LiBr systems ASHRAE Trans. 96(1) 1590-1597
Paper No. AT-90-30-6 (1990)
18 Arh S and Gaspersic B Development and comparison of different
advanced absorption cycles Int. J. Refrig. 13(1) 41-50 (1990)
Appendix 1: Thennodynamics of absorption refrigeration
To analyse absorption cycles, it is necessary to review driving
cycles in conjunction with cooling cycles and therefore a
summary of these cycles is given as follows.<12>
AI.l Driving cycles
The ideal driving cycle is the Carnot cycle which consists of
two isothermal and two isentropic transformations. Heat is
consumed at a high temperature, part of this heat is released
at a lower temperature and net work is obtained. For a gas the
following reversible processes take place: an isothermal
expansion, an adiabatic expansion, an isothermal compres-
sion and an adiabatic compression.
A1.2 Coolingcycles (mechanical compression
This is also known as the reverse Carnot cycle, the cycle is
anticlockwise on the T-S diagram and requires net work to
transport heat from a low temperature source to a high tem-
perature sink. The reversible processes that take place in the
reverse Carnot cycle for vapour are: an isentropic compres-
sion (compressor), an isothermal heat rejection (condenser),
an isentropic expansion (expansion engine) and an isothermal
heat addition (evaporator).
A1.3 Absorption iycles
The ideal absorption cycle is a combination of a Carnot dri-
ving cycle and a reverse Carnot cooling cycle. As multi-stage
absorption cycles based on these principles have not been
widespread, a brief summary of work by Eber<5) and Tozer
and James<6>13> is presented. Work by Felli(14), Wilkinson~),
Kumar and Devota(16) and Gommed and Grossman(17) is also
available on absorption thermodynamics.
AI.4 Single stage thernwdynarrtic analysis
The schematic of the unit can be seen in Figure 9. The refrig-
erant is water and the solute is LiBr and other systems utilise
NH3 as a refrigerant dissolved in water. From Figure 1 it can
be seen that the generator, absorber and heat
exchanger are
the components that carry out the function of a compressor.
185
 Figure 9 Heat dissipation ratio
versus coefiicient of performance

The pressures ot the dnving and cooling cycle depend on the For the generator and absorber processes 1-2 and 7-8 respec-
binary mixture,i.e. 10 and 0.6 kPa (absolute pressure) for tively the differences of entropy 2*-2 and 7*-7 are propor-
LiBr/lI,O systems and 1600 and 450 kPa respectively for tional to the heat of solution Ah..
HzO/NH3 systems at standard AM conditions. The work of Eber<5) had initially considered the absorption
In order to absorption cycle to two Carnot
correlate the cycle to be two separate cycles that were coupled mechanical-
cycles, a driving cycle and a cooling cycle with an ideal refrig- ly :
erantlsolution is considered. Details of the restraints of the The driving cycle 1-2-3-4-1
refrigerant/solution for it to comply with the requirements of
-

(Carnot cycle)
an ideal cycle are available (5,6,13), The refrigerant/solution can The cooling cycle 5-6-7-8-5
-

(reverse Carnot cycle)

be split into two parts. One of these is the refrigerant that
crosses all the process stages: generator, condenser, absorber
The work balance condition requires the driving cycle work
and evaporator, and is the most important part and therefore Fdc to equal the cooling cycle work F :
the only part considered. The other part consists of solution - - , - -,

that circulates between the generator and absorber. This part

is of minor thermodynamic importance and is a liquid that
only undergoes temperature and pressure changes. Under the
theoretical restraints, complete reversibility and infinitely
large heat exchangers, the heat balance of the cycle will not be
influenced by the circulation of solution. Therefore the solu-
tion was not considered further, except for its influence on
the main refrigerant flow. The entropy differences of the driving and cooling cycles are
defined as:
The processes are as follows. - - -.- --~- - ..

8-1:Isentropic heating of refrigerant in the solution

1-2: Heat introduced into the generator:
Heat of
If equations 22 and 23 are substituted into 24 and 25:
evaporation:

The driving and cooling cycle work is given by:

plus heat of solution:
- -

.... 6-- 6

2-3:Isentropic cooling (constant p) down to saturation tem-

perature T of the generator superheated vapour These are equal:
3-4: Condensation

’
4-5:Isentropic cooling of refrigerant Substituting equations 24 and 25 into 29 gives:
5-6: Evaporation
6-7: Isentropic heating of saturated vapour From this equation the coefficient of performance is derived
as:
7-8 Absorption by the solution of the superheated vapour (of
state 7). Both the heat of solution Ni, and the heat of
evaporation h~ are liberated: This equation that expresses the cop as the product of the
Carnot reverse cooling cycle cop and Carnot driving cycle
efficiency can be found in various published anicles(14,15). If
the temperature equation 26 is substituted into the cop equa-

186
Downloaded from bse.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CINCINNATI on March 11, 2015
tion 31 the following simplified formula is derived in terms of The heat balance of the mechanical compressor cycle indi-
the absolute evaporator and absorber temperatures: cates

..,

The thermodynamic ratio is the ratio of latent heat capacity The compressor energy is:
with respect to the sum of latent and solution heats and is also - _ , ~ -,

equal to the ratio of the absolute temperatures involved in the

driving and cooling cycles.
and, substituting in equation 43 a formula identical to equa-
tion 42 is obtained.
The cop in terms of the thermodynamic ratio a is:
Mechanical compressor cycle:

A1.5 Double and multi-stage
Multistage absorption cycles are combinations of single stage
cycles where the initial driving cycle produces a low grade
heat which is used to power the subsequent stag66,13). For
units available on the market the low grade heat is obtained
from the condenser but there is also a potential to use heat
from the absorber. See references by Ziegler and Alefe1d(7),
Alefeld(8)., and Arh and Gasperic(18).
A double stage absorption cycle consists of two single stage
cycles. The cooling cycles of both of these are identical and in
real chillers share the same evaporator and absorber. The dri-
ving cycle part is different and one cycle has higher tempera-
tures so that the residual condenser heat can be used to drive
the generator of the lower temperature cycle. The tempera-
ture difference between the high temperature condenser and
low temperature generator is negligible for ideal cycles.
Following the same procedure as in the previous section the
following cop formulae are derived(6,IS):
From this simple relation it can be seen that high cops have
the benefit of lower heat dissipation ratios, therefore of less
cooling water requirement. This is an additional advantage
for the double stage unit with respect to the single stage
absorption cycle. This in turn, means smaller condenser
water pumps, domestic water pumps, condenser water
pipework and cooling towers together with less water loss due
to drift and evaporation and therefore lower chemical require-
ments. Additionally, there will be the benefit of smaller oper-
ating costs apart from those due to higher cops.
Appendix 3: COP - HDR - energy balance
The cop can be derived in terms of the cooling duty and ener-
gy consumption data, i.e. evaporator and generator heat. In
the case of a steam fired chiller the sensible cooling of con-
densate has to be taken into account.
rnn - fl /11 - !1 lr-. !1 ~,. A. B1 IAOt

Double stage: The cop can also be derived in terms of the HDR and the ratio
--- . , ,.,t, of pump to evaporator power derived from the chiller energy
balance:
Multi-stage:
--- -- .. -1 . -1 .. _ -.1 ,«,,

Appendix 2: Heat dissipation ratio

The heat dissipation ratio (HDR) is the ratio of heat dissipated
The HDR can be calculated from the chilled and condenser
from the condenser and absorber with respect to the evapora-
water temperatures and flow rates:
tor load, equation 37. This relation is necessary to analyse the
cooling water requirements for different types of absorption .r - - Go’&dquo;
,...I
. -

and mechanical compression (centrifugal/screw/reciprocat-

The data supplied by manufacturers can be tested with equa-
ing) chillers. tions 48 and 52 for coherence.
Absorption cycle:
A3.1 Example
The data of a 700 TR double-stage steam absorption chiller
Taking into account heat balance: are used as an example.

Data:

Therefore the absorption cycle HDR is defined as:

The mechanical compressor chiller is analysed similarly as

follows.

187
Downloaded from bse.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CINCINNATI on March 11, 2015
Calculating using the above data Pressure differential of systems 100 kPa
Pump efficiency 0.78
Hot water temperature 90°C

The cop difference between 1.205 and 1.181 is only 2% and

can be accounted for by other heat losses not considered.

Appendix 4: Performance variation with cooling water flow

rates

Pressure differential of systems = 100 kPa

Pump efficiency = 0.78
Hot water temperature = 115°C Note$

Total cooling water pressure drop considers the tabulated variation of the
absorber and condenser pressure drop in terms of the flow rate plus a con-
stant pressure drop due to the system pipework and cooling tower.

The cooling tower fan is assumed to vary linearly between the two cooling
towers selected for both extremes tabulated

Appendix 5: CHP absorption chillers

Cooling capacity of absorption chiller = 1400 kW (400 TR)
Chilled water temperatures (return/flow) 12.8/6.7°C
=

Entering condenser water temperature 29.4°C

=

188
Downloaded from bse.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CINCINNATI on March 11, 2015