Iranian Journal of Mechanical Engineering Transactions of ISME

Iranian Journal of Mechanical Engineering Transactions of ISME

Modeling and simulation of an ammonia-water absorption refrigeration system with investigation of the low pressure effects on system performance

Authors
Faraz Moradi 1
Mahmood Chahartaghi 2
1 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering/ Shahrood University of Technology
2 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology
Abstract
In this paper, modeling of ammonia-water absorption refrigeration system has been carried out by EES software with mass and energy balances in all system components. Then, a computer program has been developed to examine the system's performance by coupling the MATLAB and EES softwares. The effect of low pressure on performance and operating parameters of the system under two different conditions are investigated. These conditions include operation at a constant generator temperature and operation at optimum obtained values for generator temperature proportional to low pressure variations. The investigated parameters are concentration of weak and strong solutions, mass flow rates of weak solution and refrigerant, enthalpy variations at different points of the system, generator temperature, thermal loads of all components, coefficient of performance and absorption cycle efficiency. Also, the variations of saturation quality at inlet-outlet the evaporator and inlet the absorber are considered in terms of low pressure. The optimal value of low pressure is determined by focusing on the performance of system and refrigerant saturation quality at mentioned points. As obtained results, coefficient of performance, optimal value of low pressure and generator temperature are evaluated equal to 0.473, 2.28 bar and 139.3 °C, respectively at temperatures of 35, 35 and -15 ° C for absorber, condenser and evaporator, and also it was shown that in determining the optimal value of the parameters, it is necessary to consider the refrigerant saturation quality at mentioned points as well as performance investigation as essential constraints of simulation and optimization process.
Keywords
Absorption refrigeration system
Ammonia-water
Low pressure
Refrigerant saturation quality
COP
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Iranian Journal of Mechanical Engineering Transactions of ISME
Volume 21, Issue 2 - Serial Number 55
Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer
Spring 2019
Pages 178-199

  • Receive Date 24 December 2018
  • Revise Date 05 March 2019
  • Accept Date 20 October 2019