Title: Investigation of energy availability for vapour absorption refrigeration system from engine exhaust

Authors: A. Balasubramanian; J. Venkatesan; G. Nagarajan; B. Gautham

Addresses: Mechanical Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai, 602117, India ' Mechanical Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai, 602117, India ' Mechanical Engineering, CEG Campus, Anna University, Chennai, 600025, India ' Mechanical Engineering, Kings Engineering College, Chennai, 602117, India

Abstract: Today, automobiles use the technology of vapour compression system to run the air conditioning system that is required to cool the passengers and keep them in an optimal temperature range. However the rising fuel cost and the load limit on the combustion engines prove to be disadvantages. Thermal efficiency of internal combustion (IC) engine is about 30-40% and exhaust gases carry a significant amount of heat as waste. If the heat carried away by the exhaust gases is trapped and converted into usable energy, the overall efficiency of an engine can be improved. The present work is aimed at recovering the waste heat which is used for running the automotive air conditioner working on vapour absorption refrigeration (VAR) system replacing the vapour compression system. The generator of VAR is made to work on heat carried away by engine exhaust which will improve the overall efficiency of the IC engine.

Keywords: waste heat; generator; VAR; vapour absorption refrigeration; triple fluid; exhaust gas.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.2018.094833

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 2018 Vol.25 No.3/4, pp.498 - 507

Received: 29 Sep 2017
Accepted: 24 Oct 2017

Published online: 24 Sep 2018 *

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