Investigation of a Ammonia-Water Absorption Chiller Performance

An experimental prototype of a single stage ammonia-water absorption chiller was designed, built and tested. The thermodynamic models of the components, based on the First and Second Laws, have been assembled so as to quantify the simultaneous heat and mass transfer processes occurring within the exchangers. Calculated results were compared with experimental data. The results show that the cooling effect of experimental prototype was found between 1900 and 2200 W with the COP between 0.37 and 0.40. It is concluded that internal losses are dominated by heat and mass transfer dissipation, the cooling capacity is also limited by the condenser or absorber mass transfer performance. The contribution of the components to internal entropy production is analyzed. It shows that heat losses from the generator have a strong effect on the system performance.