A simplified ammonia water absorption cycle without distillation column in small temperature lift applications.

Paper published in poster form during the conference. The water content in the refrigerant may undermine the cooling effect in ammonia water absorption refrigeration systems. A distillation column is normally implemented. The use of distillation column, however, may increase complexity especially in the practical operation. In fact, the distillation column can be eliminated under particular operating conditions. A simplified cycle is proposed, in which the distillation column is replaced by two separators and one heater, the resulting vapor is nearly pure with ammonia mass fraction of 0.998. The heat integration modifications are carried out for boosting the thermal performance, at working condition TCOND=21°C, TEVAP=5°C and TH=80°C, the simulated Coefficient of Performance (COP) is 0.863. The results are also compared with the Generator-Absorber heat eXchange absorption cycle (GAX) and lithium-bromide and water absorption cycle. It is demonstrated that the proposed cycle delivers roughly the same COP, but the simpler configuration makes it attractive under certain working conditions.