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i Peculiar property of some substances to have more

affinity for another substances at some temperature and
pressure conditions while less affinity at other
conditions
i Ferdinand Carre, a Frenchman, invented the absorption
system in 1860
i The absorption cycle is similar in certain respects to the
vapour- compression cycle
i In the absorption system also, refrigeration is produced
by the evaporation of a liquid refrigerant in the
evaporator
i The difference between the two systems lies in the
principle of converting the refrigerant vapour back to
the liquid
 

 
 
 
i0conomically attractive - source of inexpensive heat energy
at a temperature of 100 to 200 oC. Also used where there are
severe limits to the electrical power available.

i The overall energy used is greater than with the

compression cycle, so the COP is lower.

i Heat energy to the generator may be any form of low-grade

energy such as hot oil, natural gas, hot water, steam, Solar
radiation etc.
i NH3±H2O and H2O-LiBr absorption systems are common.
i Major advantage is that liquid is compressed instead of
vapour.
i The COP of actual systems is usually much less than 1.


 
 
 
 

 
 
 

i A refrigeration cycle will operate with the condenser,

expansion valve and evaporator as shown
i From the evaporator, the low pressure vapours are
transformed into high pressure vapour and delivered to
the condenser
i The absorption system first absorbs the low pressure
vapour in an appropriate absorbing liquid
i Since this process is similar to condensation, so heat
must be rejected during the process
i In the next step, the pressure of the liquid is elevated
with a pump
i In the final step, the vapours are again released from the
absorbing liquid by addition of heat
 

 
 
 

i |apour compression ---- work operated cycle ---

compression requires work
i Absorption cycle ----- heat operated cycle --- operating
cost associated with provision of heat,
i Some work in absorption system also, to drive pump,
but amount of work for a given quantity of refrigeration
is minor compared with that needed in vapour-
compression cycle
 

 
 
 
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i The compression operation is now provided by the

assembly in the left-half of the diagram
i Low pressure vapour from the evaporator is absorbed
by the liquid solution in the absorber
i As the refrigerant vapour enters into the solution in the
absorber, the temperature of the solution tend to rise
i To resist the tendency, a cooling coil removes this heat
of solution
i The solution in the absorber is called a strong solution
because it is rich in refrigerant
 

 
 
 
i The pump draws the strong solution from the absorber,
elevates the pressure of the solution, and forces the
strong solution into the generator
i In the generator the addition of heat raises the
temperature, which drives off some of the refrigerant as
a vapour at high pressure and temperature
i Solar energy, waste heat from the process industry,
exhaust gases from automobile, power plants, steel
plants, gas power plants, etc.
i As the refrigerant vapour leaves the solution in the
generator, the solution becomes weak or have a low
concentration of refrigerant
i The weak solution flows back to the absorber through a
throttling valve whose purpose is to ???
i From the generator the refrigerant proceeds through the
condenser, expansion valve and evaporator
 

 
 
 

i The pattern for the flow of heat to and from the four-heat
exchange components in the absorption cycle is as
follows:-
? High temperature heat enters the generator while
low temperature heat from the refrigerated space
enters the evaporator
? The heat rejection from the cycle occurs at the
absorber and condenser at temperatures such that
the heat can be rejected to atmosphere
 

 
 
 


  



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Temperature-pressure concentration diagram for LiBr-water
solutions
i Concentration is the abscissa of the graph and water-vapour
pressure could be considered as the ordinate on the vertical scale
on the right
i The saturation temperature of pure water corresponding to
these vapour pressures is shown as the ordinate on the left
i The chart applies to saturated conditions where the solution
is in equilibrium with water vapour
i If the temperature of pure water is 40 °C, the vapour pressure
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o A LiBr solution with a concentration x of 59 % &
temperature of 80°C also develops a water-vapour pressure of 7.38
kPa
i o If the solution had a concentration x of 54% & temperature
of 70°C the water-vapour pressure would again be 7.38 kPa


 
 
 
 

 
 
 





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