Development and comparison of advanced cascading cycles coupling a solid/gas thermochemical process and a liquid/gas absorption process

Currently marketed double-effect absorption machines attain coefficients of performance (COP) of the order of 1.2 and, therefore, do not enable standard vapour compression air-conditioning systems to compete. The improvement of the COP requires increasing the high driving temperature level of the system in order to make possible additional stages and further refrigeration effects. But at high temperatures, working couples currently used in absorption systems (H2O/LiBr, NH3/H2O) pose corrosion problems for exchangers or decomposition of the working fluid. The implementation at these high temperatures of a solid/gas thermochemical reaction system enables bypassing these restrictions. The coupling of a chemical reaction process thermally cascaded with a liquid/gas absorption process enables leading to triple-effect machines, indeed quadruple effect, the COP of which are from 30% to 60% higher than commercialised double-effect absorption chillers. Numerous coupling configurations are presented in this paper. A method of evaluation of the COP of the global machine is also developed. A comparison of these different configurations is carried out through value criteria characterising the quality of the obtained coupling. In this way, a first selection of combinations of interest can be performed. As part of a Franco–German cooperation, a triple-effect machine based on this approach is currently being realised. This new concept of coupling must lead to a new generation of thermal machines which will be capable in the near future of competing with vapor compression machines by the complementary use of the potentialities appropriate to each of the sorption processes.