1.

-Thermodynamic Analysis of the Absorption

Cooling Cycle

A. Description of Typical Cycle

In the absorption cooling cycle, as in the more

familiar compression cycle, the useful cooling effect
is obtained by boiling a refrigerant material in a heat
exchanger or evaporator. The heat re-quired for this
is obtained from the fluid, usually air or water, which
is to be chilled. The operation of the absorption cycle
is often misunderstood, however, because chethical
processes are substi-tuted for the purely mechanical
processes of the compression cycle. In air
conditioning, the evaporator must operate in the
35°-50°F range for adequate humidity reduction, to Fig. I.—Basic Absorption Cooling Cycle
reduce the volume of air circulated and prevent
frosting of exchanger surfaces. This and other
operating condition restrictions make of paramount absorb heat from the air to be cooled. The vaporized
importance the selection of -liquids for use in the refrigerant passes to the absorber, where it dis-
cycles. The absorption cycle uses two fluid streams in solves in cool absorbent solution which has come to
a totally enclosed system. One is the refrigerant, the absorber from the generator outlet. The cool
which provides the cooling effect; the other is the solution, now rich in refrigerant, is pumped back to
absorbent, which conveys the refrigerant through the generator to continue the process. No work is
part of the cycle. The major components of the done on the system by external mechanical forces
system (Fig. f) are a generator, condenser; evap- when solution is returned to the generator by gravity
orator, absorber, and liquid-liquid heat exchanger. instead of pump, and energy can enter or leave the
The refrigerant passes through all units; the ab- system only by flow of heat. Furthermore, in the
sorbent is confined to movement through the absorption process the ref rig-erant material is
generator, heat exchanger, and absorber. In liquefied and vaporized twice dur-ing the cycle, as
operation, a mixture of absorbent and ref rig-erant is compared with once in mechanical compression. The
heated in the generator to boil off most or all of the additional vaporization and con-densation are
refrigerant, which rises as vapor to the condenser. necessary to substitute chemical.
The generator and condenser op-erate at relatively
high pressure, so the condensing temperature of the
refrigerant is sufficiently high to permit rejecting the
latent heat to outside air or cooling water. The liquid
refrigerant is throt-tled to lower pressure so it will
boil at relatively low temperature in the evaporator
and thus
5 difference between the condenser arid evaporator.
The effect of absorber and generator temperatures
The thermal efficiency or coefficient of per f or-
on the coefficient of performance is shown in Fig.
mance (C.O.P.) of such a cycle may be defined as
the ratio of the cooling effect to the energy input to
secure this effect, that is, refrigeration by evap-
orator to heat input to generator :

G.O.P. = 91/94 [Equation I ]

For a mechanical compression refrigeration cycle,

operating reversibly between T, and T,, the C.O.P.
would be:

C.O.P. = 91/ (92 — Q,) = TO/ L — T1) = Q1/W

[Equation 2] where W is the work required in
compression. In this case the coefficient of
performance is the ratio of the refrigeration effect
to the work done on the refrigerant. A comparison
of Equations 1 and 2 shows that the heat absorbed
in the generator of an absorption cycle is analogous
to the work done by the compressor in a
mechanical refrigeration cycle. If it is assumed that
the cycle in Fig. 2 is revers-ible, then from a heat
balance (first law of ther-modynamics) :

Qi-F44=92±9.

[Equation 3]

In a reversible cycle, the net entropy change is zero,

therefore :

41/T, + Q4/T4 = 92/12 + Q3/T3 [Equation 4]

If the evaporator and condenser are considered

components of a reversible Carnot cycle :

42/12 = 41/T, [Equation 5] and for the generator

and absorber : Q4/14 — 93/13 [Equation 6]

Solving for 91 /94 from Equations 3-6: C.O.P. = 4i/94

= 1, (14 — T3)/ T4 (T2 — T, ) [Equation 7]

Equation 7 shows that the coefficient of per-

formance increases with increase in the ratio of
absolute temperature of the evaporator to absolute
temperature of the generator. It is desirable to have
a large temperature difference between the
generator and absorber, and a small temperature