Thermodynamic performance and comparison of solar assisted double effect absorption cooling system with LiCl-H2O and LiBr-H2O working fluid

Abstract

This paper represents the detailed thermodynamic study to compare the performance of solar assisted double effect LiBr-H2O and LiCl-H2O vapour absorption refrigeration systems (VARS) coupled with several solar collectors. A 100 kW absorption cooling system is analysed at evaporator temperature 5 °C and two condensation temperatures 30 °C and 40 °C integrated with evacuated tube collector (ETC) and parabolic trough collector (PTC) connected with storage tank to operate the absorption system. In this study, minimum heat source temperature required to operate the system is evaluated for both solar-assisted cooling systems. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is performed to find out most critical parameters for minimum heat source temperature. The influence of heat source temperature on thermodynamic and economic aspects of systems is depicted. It is found that LiCl-H2O VARS depicted enhanced thermodynamic and economic performance compared to LiBr-H2O system. Furthermore, it is found that required mean specific collecting area for LiCl-H2O pair is close to 1.25 m2/kW, which is relatively low value. From the comparison assessment, it is found that ETC based system is favorable from economic perspectives and PTC based system is recommended from thermodynamic performance perspectives.