Simulation and performance analysis of an ammonia-water absorption heat pump based on the generator-absorber heat exchange (GAX) cycle

摘要

A computer simulation has been conducted to investigate the performance of an absorption heat pump, based on the Generator-Absorber Heat Exchange (GAX) cycle employing ammonia-water as the working fluid pair. The particular feature of this cycle is the ability to recover heat from the absorber and employ it to partially heat the generator, thus improving the COP. In the present study, a detailed simulation has been conducted of one of the preferred configurations for the cycle. A modular computer code for flexible simulation of absorption systems (ABSIM) was employed. Performance parameters, including COP and capacity, were investigated as functions of different operating parameters over a wide range of conditions in both the cooling and heating mode. The effect of the ambient temperature, the rectifier performance, the flowrate in the GAX heat transfer loop and the refrigerant flow control were investigated. COP's on the order of 1.0 for cooling and 2.0 for heating have been calculated.