Title: Influence of absorber mass transfer effectiveness on performance of R 134a-DMAC based single, double and half-effect absorption cooling systems

Authors: S. Tharves Mohideen, R. Saravanan, S. Renganarayanan

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Road and Transport Technology, Erode – 638316, India. ' Institute for Energy Studies, Anna University, Chennai – 600 025, India. ' Institute for Energy Studies, Anna University, Chennai – 600 025, India

Abstract: A thermodynamic analysis was performed on half-effect, single-effect and double-effect VARS with R-134a-DMAC as working fluid to study the influence of absorber mass transfer effectiveness (Ea) at various generator and evaporator temperatures on performance parameters namely circulation ratio, Coefficient of performance (Cop) and second law efficiency. The variations in heat quantities of absorber and generator were also studied, using a computer simulation which revealed that the single, double and half effect system can efficiently be applied, where the heat source is available at 80, 130 and 55°C, respectively. Double-effect system yielded maximum percentage increase in Cop, when Ea varied from 0.5 to 1. The thermo-dynamic penalty of half-effect system is its high rate heat rejection at the absorbers.

Keywords: absorption refrigeration systems; single-effect; double-effect; half-effect; absorber effectiveness; mass transfer; R134a-DMAC; thermodynamics; absorption cooling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETP.2008.020743

International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy, 2008 Vol.6 No.5/6, pp.566 - 580

Published online: 13 Oct 2008 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article