Waste-Heat Driven Miniature Absorption Refrigeration System Using Ionic-Liquid as a Working Fluid

Author(s):  
Yoon Jo Kim ◽  
Sarah Kim ◽  
Yogendra K. Joshi ◽  
Andrei G. Fedorov ◽  
Paul A. Kohl

An ionic-liquid (IL) is a salt in a liquid state usually with an organic cation and inorganic anion. ILs provide an alternative to the normally toxic working fluids in absorption systems, such as the ammonia/water system. They also eliminate the problems of poor temperature match, crystallization and metal-compatibility problems of the water/LiBr system. In the present study, an IL is explored the working fluid of a miniature absorption refrigeration system so as to utilize waste-heat within the system for low-cost, high-power electronics cooling. To determine performance benchmarks for the refrigerant/IL (e.g. [bmim][PF6]) pairs, system-level simulations have been carried out. An NRTL model was built and used to predict the solubility of the mixture as well as the mixture properties such as enthalpy and entropy. The properties of the refrigerants were determined using REFPROP 6.0. Saturation temperatures at the evaporator and condenser were 25°C and 50°C, respectively. Chip power was fixed at 100 W with the operating temperature set at 85°C. R32 gave the highest operating efficiency with the maximum coefficient of performance (COP) of ca. 0.55 while R134a and R152a showed comparable performance with the maximum COP of ca. 0.4 at the desorber outlet temperature of 80°C. When waste-heat is available for the system operation, R134a and R152a COPs were comparable or better than that of R32.

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Kim ◽  
Yoon Jo Kim ◽  
Yogendra K. Joshi ◽  
Andrei G. Fedorov ◽  
Paul A. Kohl

The ionic liquid butylmethylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (bmim)(PF6) and five different hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants were investigated as the working fluid pairs for a waste-heat driven absorption heat pump system for possible applications in electronics thermal management. A significant amount of the energy consumed in large electronic systems is used for cooling, resulting in low grade waste heat, which can be used to drive an absorption refrigeration system if a suitable working fluids can be identified. The Redlich–Kwong-type equation of state was used to model the thermodynamic conditions and the binary mixture properties at the corresponding states. The effects of desorber and absorber temperatures, waste-heat quality, and system design on the heat pump performance were investigated. Supporting experiments using R134a/(bmim)(PF6) as the working fluid pair were performed. Desorber and absorber outlet temperatures were varied by adjusting the desorber supply power and the coolant temperature at the evaporator inlet, respectively. For an evaporator temperature of 41 °C, which is relevant to electronics cooling applications, the maximum cooling-to-total-energy input was 0.35 with the evaporator cooling capability of 36 W and the desorber outlet temperature in the range of 50 to 110 °C.


Author(s):  
Fang Wei ◽  
Houcheng Zhang ◽  
Lanmei Wu ◽  
Guoxing Lin

An irreversible solar powered absorption refrigeration system is put forward, in which finite-rate heat transfer with the convection mode from the solar collector to the absorption refrigerator and the radiation-convection heat loss from the solar collector to the ambient, the internal irreversibility inside the working fluid are taken into account. On the basis of thermodynamic analysis and log mean temperature difference (LMTD) methods, the expression between the overall coefficient of performance (COP) of the solar powered absorption refrigeration system and the operating temperature of the solar collector is derived. The influences of heat loss of the solar collector, the irreversibility inside the working fluid, the isobaric temperature ratio, the ratio of heat-transfer coefficients on the optimal performance characteristic of the solar powered absorption refrigeration system are revealed. The results obtained in the present paper are helpful to the optimal parameter design of actual solar powered absorption refrigerators.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (01) ◽  
pp. 2050006
Author(s):  
Boris Huirem ◽  
Pradeepta Kumar Sahoo

A thermodynamic steady-state model for a single-effect lithium bromide–water (LiBr-H2O)-based vapor absorption refrigeration system of 17.5[Formula: see text]kW capacities has been presented using the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The mass, energy and exergy balance equations in each component of the vapor absorption cycle have been fitted into a computer program to carry out the calculation using the thermo-physical properties of the working fluid. The performance parameters such as coefficient of performance (COP), exergy coefficient of performance (ECOP), total exergy destruction (TED), etc. have been evaluated considering different temperatures in generator and evaporator, different LiBr concentrations in the weak and strong LiBr-H2O solution and different solution heat exchanger effectiveness. The model evaluated the optimum performance parameters like COP, ECOP, TED, etc. of the vapor absorption system by using Design Expert-12 software for an application like on-farm cooling or transit storage of fruits and vegetables.


1971 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-176
Author(s):  
M. E. Lackey

The thermal energy requirements for air conditioning by compressive and absorption methods were determined for light-water, thermal-breeder, and fast-breeder reactors. The energy required to produce a ton-hour of refrigeration varied from 5100 Btu to 13,100 Btu by absorption and from 5600 to 8800 Btu by compression. The amount of waste heat dissipated to the environment at the reactor site as a consequence of producing a ton-hour of air conditioning ranged from an increase of 21,000 Btu for the electric-motor-driven refrigeration system to a decrease of 6000 Btu for the absorption refrigeration system.


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