A detailed investigation of novel air-coupled absorbers for use in a diesel engine exhaust-driven ammonia-water absorption system operating in extreme ambient conditions was conducted. Electrically driven vapor-compression systems are under scrutiny due to the environmental impact of synthetic refrigerants and the exacerbation of electric utility loads during peak demand periods. One alternative to vapor-compression systems is the absorption heat pump that uses environmentally benign working fluids and can be driven by a variety of heat sources, including waste heat and solar thermal processes. Direct air coupling of the absorber and condenser instead of indirect hydronic coupling can reduce absorption system size, complexity, and inefficiency, but materials compatibility issues with ammonia-water and the poor heat transfer properties of air present challenges. Heat and mass transfer modeling was used to predict the performance of round-tube corrugated-fin and compact tube-array absorbers designed for a 2.64-kW absorption chiller operated in high ambient temperature (51.7°C) conditions. A single-pressure ammonia-water test facility was constructed and used in conjunction with a temperature- and humidity-controlled air-handling unit to evaluate the absorbers at design and off-design operating conditions. Absorber performance was recorded over a range of air temperatures (35-54.4°C), air flow rates (0.38-0.74 m3 s-1), inlet solution temperatures (92-102°C), concentrated solution flow rates (0.006-0.010 kg s-1), and concentrated solution concentrations (38-46%). At design conditions, round-tube corrugated-fin absorbers of 394 and 551 Fins Per Meter (FPM) demonstrated comparable performance (Q394-FPM,exp = 4.521±0.271 kW; Q551-FPM,exp = 4.680±0.260 kW), and measured heat transfer rates were 0.7-1.9% AAD higher than those predicted through modeling. The measured heat transfer rate in the prototype tube-array absorber was significantly lower than the values predicted at design conditions (Qprot,exp = 2.22±0.24 kW; Qprot,mod = 4.33 kW). Maldistribution of the two-phase flow in the tube array is the probable cause of the disparity between the prototype absorber data and model predictions. Results from this investigation can be used to guide the development of air-coupled heat and mass exchangers for compact absorption heat pumps.

Absorption Heat Pumps (AHP) have been developed since the late 19th century. They enable to produce cooling and heating directly from a heat source, unlike Compression Heat Pumps that require mechanical work. In the context of scarcity of resources and global warming, the company Helioclim develops solar air conditioning using an Absorption Heat Pump. The heat is gathered at rooftop solar concentrators and powers an ammonia-water AHP. The present study proposes an EES model of Helioclim’s AHP allowing assessing its performances under various operating conditions. Another aspect developed is the Modelling of the whole system (from solar energy to the economic assessment) in order to find the best parameters to propose to a potential client. Regarding EES model, three existing EES examples of AHP have been used. Those models, ranging from the simple single-stage ammonia AHP to a more complex GAX-cycle, did not correspond exactly to the features of Helioclim’s cycle. Therefore, a new model has been built: the position of the GAX and its connections to the other heat exchangers have been adapted and a recirculation in the generator has been proposed in order to correspond to Helioclim’s design. The model obtained is then used to assess the improvement of the performances with the GAX. It is also compared to the available experimental data. In the present study, a software program representing the whole solar air conditioning system is also developed, integrating the previous EES model. The software program considers the solar energy gathered by the collectors and deduces the energy transmitted to the heat pump. The EES model is then used to assess the performances of the heat pump in the operating conditions, allowing determining the produced cooling and heating. An economic and energy synthesis is produced, summarizing effectively the parameters and economic advantages of the installation. This software program allows sizing an installation for a client much more quickly than before.

Solar assisted single-stage absorption heat pump (AHP) was used to supply energy to a floor-heating system by using the exergy methods. An existing duplex-house,in Ankara, with a heating load of 25.5 kW was analysed. Heating loads of the spaces in the building were calculated and a floor heating panel was modelled for each space leading to the capacity of the AHP before it was designed. Solar energy was delivered to the evaporator and high temperature heat input delivered to the genarator are met by auxiliary units operating with natural gas.The solar energy gained by flat-plate collectors was circulated through AHP.The anaysis performed according to the storage tank temperature reference value if the water temperature leaving the storage tank exceeds a predetermined value it is directly circulated through the floor heating system. Exergue analysis were carried out with Mathcad program. Exergy analysis showed that irreversibility have an impact on absorption system performance.This study indicated which components in the system need to be improved thermally.A design procedure has been applied to a water-lithium-bromide absorption heat pump cycle and an optimisation procedure that consists of determinig the enthalpy, entropy ,exergy, temperature, mass flow rate in each component and coeficient of performance and exergetic coefficient of performance has been performed and tabulated.

This diploma work aims to evaluate the functional connection of the cogeneration unit with an internal combustion engine and an absorption heat pump to increase the heating effect of the cogeneration. The aim of this work is to design a functional system and evaluate it from the technical - economic terms. In the introduction of the theoretical work the applied cogeneration technologies used in combined heat and power production are presented. Then there is described the principle of heat pumps, their basic components and theoretical comparison of compression and absorption heat pumps. In the practical part of this work is for a specific application in the area Technická 2 proposed merger of the cogeneration unit with an internal combustion engine and an absorption heat pump, while detailed design parameters used in absorption heat circulation are set. At the end of this paper there are designed various heat exchangers of applied absorption heat pump. The final part of the work is devoted to technical - economic assessment of applied design. In this assestment three different types of heat pumps are compared: Absorption heat pump with working solution H2O-LiBR, absorption heat pump with working fluids NH3-H2O and compressor heat pump.

In Uppsala CHP Plant, there are six pressure reducing valves to reduce the pressure from 15 to 3 bars, before six absorption heat pumps. During the process the energy is conserved but losses occur in form of exergy. The aim of this thesis is to reduce the losses of exergy. This can be done by letting turbines replace the pressure reducing valves. In this thesis an investigation has been done of the conditions today, the conditions after the change from pressure reducing valves to turbines and a comparison of three different types of turbine solutions. The three examined solutions are one turbine, several helical screw expanders and several small turbines in parallel with asynchronous generators. The six absorption heat pumps have been divided into two groups; one group of four and one group of two absorption heat pumps. An investigation of locations and space in nearby switchgears has been done for each group. Contacts with retailers of the examined turbine solutions have been taken to gather technical specifications. These technical specifications have been used to simulate the electricity production and the economical yield of each type of examined solution. The investigation shows that the best solution is the solution with several small turbines with asynchronous generators. It has lower investment cost (15 [MSEK]) and the best yield. The proposed solutions will have an installed capacity of 2.65 [MW] to a cost of 5 601 [SEK/kW]. The electric energy production will be 15.7 [GWh/year]. An investment is recommended to a future electric energy price around 400 [SEK/MWh]. Before an investment it is recommended to investigate how to optimize the regulation of the new system with absorptions heat pumps and turbines.

Ce travail porte sur l’étude d’un nouveau type de thermo-transformateur à absorption-démixtion (TTAD) utilisant un mélange présentant une lacune de miscibilité à basse température. Dans ce cycle, l’opération de séparation, est effectuée par décantation gravitaire par simple refroidissement du mélange. La séparation est ainsi énergétiquement gratuite et permet d’atteindre des rendements thermiques plus élevés que ceux des pompes à chaleur à absorption classiques dans lesquelles la séparation s’effectue par distillation.Afin de trouver des mélanges de travail pour atteindre un saut thermique de 50°C, un outil de simulation numérique a été développé pour évaluer les performances des TTAD en fonction des conditions opératoires (rapport d’alimentation et nombre d’étages de la colonne de rectification inverse) et des caractéristiques des composés du mélange de travail (Cp, Lv, paramètres caractéristiques des équilibres liquide-liquide et liquide-vapeur). L’optimisation des conditions opératoires a ainsi permis d’obtenir un saut thermique maximal de 12,4°C pour le mélange n-heptane / DMF pris comme référence. En faisant varier les propriétés des composés autour de celles de ce mélange de référence, un saut maximum de 32°C a été calculé pour un mélange fictif. L’étude de 17 mélanges réels a permis atteindre 21°C de saut thermique. Une liste d’autres mélanges à étudier a été établie. A l’aide d’une unité pilote d’une puissance de 4kW, des mesures expérimentales des performances du cycle modifié de TTAD pour le mélange n-heptane / DMF ont été réalisées et démontré la faisabilité de ce cycle même si le saut thermique de 11°C atteint au maximum est inférieur à celui calculé par simulation / This work is a study of a new type of Absorption-Demixing Heat Transformer (ADHT), using a mixture exhibiting a miscibility gap at low temperature. In this cycle, the separation step is performed by settling obtained after cooling the mixture. The separation is then energetically free and enables to reach thermal yields higher than those obtained for classical absorption heat transformers where separation is done by distillation.In order to find suitable working mixtures to reach temperature lift of 50°C, a numerical simulation tool was developed to calculate ADHT performances. This tool enabled to calculate thermal yield and thermal lift for different values of operating parameters (molar feed ratio, number of stages of rectification column) and different properties of working mixtures (Cp, Lv, parameters characterizing liquid-liquid and liquid-vapour equilibria). The best operating conditions allowed reaching a 12,4°C thermal lift for the n-heptane / DMF mixture takes as a reference mixture. By varying the mixture properties around the values of the reference mixture properties, a maximal thermal lift of 32°C was reached for an imaginary mixture. 17 real mixtures were also studied and enabled to reach a 21°C temperature lift. A list of other working mixtures that should be suitable was established. A 4 kW ADHT pilot unit was designed and built. The technical feasibility of this cycle was then experimentally demonstrated with this unit. A maximum temperature lift of 11°C was measured with the n-heptane / DMF mixture that is lower than the values calculated by simulation

With the growth of energy consumption and the optimization of industrial processes worldwide, new energy sources have been explored and investigated. Waste heat is a potential source for the generation of electricity and heat. This heat can be reused at different stages of industrial processes by using absorption heat pumps, which transfer thermal energy from a location with a lower thermal potential to a location with a higher thermal potential. This research work is basically focused on the evaluation of different absorption heat pumps implemented in the SAKO Brno incineration plant. To carry out this purpose, a bibliographic review of this technology has been carried out worldwide, then the mass and energy balance in the compressor is presented, from which the waste heat to be recovered with the pump will be obtained. Using the EES software, the mass and energy balance of the selected pumps is performed, then the amount of heat and electrical energy generated by the plant when implementing each of the pumps is shown, and finally the economic analysis is presented The design and implementation of a heat exchanger in the system is also included as an essential part of improving operation. The best option arises from the highest operational efficiency at the lowest possible cost.

Exploitation of waste heat could achieve economic and environmental benefits, while at the same time increase energy efficiency in process sites. Diverse commercialised technologies exist to recover useful energy from waste heat. In addition, there are multiple on-site and offsite end-uses of recovered energy. The challenge is to find the optimal mix of technologies and end-uses of recovered energy taking into account the quantity and quality of waste heat sources, interactions with interconnected systems and constraints on capital investment. Explicit models for waste heat recovery technologies that are easily embedded within appropriate process synthesis frameworks are proposed in this work. A novel screening tool is also proposed to guide selection of technology options. The screening tool considers the deviation of the actual performance from the ideal performance of technologies, where the actual performance takes into account irreversibilities due to finite temperature heat transfer. Results from applying the screening tool show that better temperature matching between heat sources and technologies reduces the energy quality degradation during the conversion process. A ranking criterion is also proposed to evaluate end-uses of recovered energy. Applying the ranking criterion shows the use to which energy recovered from waste heat is put determines the economics and potential to reduce CO2 emissions when waste heat recovery is integrated in process sites. This thesis also proposes a novel methodological framework based on graphical and optimization techniques to integrate waste heat recovery into existing process sites. The graphical techniques are shown to provide useful insights into the features of a good solution and assess the potential in industrial waste heat prior to detailed design. The optimization model allows systematic selection and combination of waste heat source streams, selection of technology options, technology working fluids, and exploitation of interactions with interconnected systems. The optimization problem is formulated as a Mixed Integer Linear Program, solved using the branch-and-bound algorithm. The objective is to maximize the economic potential considering capital investment, maintenance costs and operating costs of the selected waste heat recovery technologies. The methodology is applied to industrial case studies. Results indicate that combining waste heat recovery options yield additional increases in efficiency, reductions in CO2 emissions and costs. The case study also demonstrates that significant benefits from waste heat utilization can be achieved when interactions with interconnected systems are considered simultaneously. The thesis shows that the methodology has potential to identify, screen, select and combine waste heat recovery options for process sites. Results suggest that recovery of waste heat can improve the energy security of process sites and global energy security through the conservation of fuel and reduction in CO2 emissions and costs. The methodological framework can inform integration of waste heat recovery in the process industries and formulation of public policies on industrial waste heat utilization.

Goal of this thesis is to introduce technology of absorption heat pumps in various modifications. Technical design draft is created for chosen modification (single stage unit water-LiBr) and based on given parameters calculated in computing software EES (engineering equation solver) and process is explained step-by-step. Following part of thesis contains reference design draft of heat plant and this design is used to demonstrate several different options of applying absorption heat pump including version capable of providing also cooling. Those options are compared with each other from technological and economical stand point.

This thesis deals with the issue of sorption heat pumps. The theoretical part is devoted to a detailed description of the function of adsorption and absorption heat pumps. For a better understanding of the adsorption cycle is computed theoretical thermal cycle and the heating factor of zeolite adsorption heat pump are computed. The practical part is focused on the design absorption heat pump that works in conjunction with a natural gas boiler. The pump is designed for cooling flue gas condensing boiler and the possible use of thermal energy from other low-temperature source. The thesis contains a thermal calculations, engineering design and structural design of the heat pump.