Analysis and simulation of modified ammonia/water absorption cycle for power and cooling applications

Abstract

Combined production of power and cooling can improve energy utilization efficiency significantly. In this paper, a new ammonia/water combined absorption power and cooling cycle is proposed for simultaneous generation of power and cooling. This cycle is a combination of absorption refrigeration and Kalina power cycles. The performance of the cycle was evaluated by using several performance-indicating parameters such as overall thermal efficiency, effective first law efficiency and power/cooling ratio. The influence of key operating parameters-generator, sink and evaporator temperatures on the cycle performance-was investigated. The proposed combined absorption cycle has an energy consumption that is lower by around 12% than that when using the separate cycles (regenerative ORC and single-effect ammonia/water absorption refrigeration cycle) at the base-case conditions considered ©The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.