Studies on the Characteristics of Absorption Refrigerator Driven by Two Different Heat Sources (1st Report, Hot Water and Steam)

In this report, we investigate the characteristics of an absorption refrigerator driven by two different heat sources, hot water and steam, to make use of waste heat from fuel cell. This type of refrigerator consists of the cyclic combination of the single-effect absorption refrigerator and the double-effect one. For absorption refrigerators, there are many types of cycles which depend on solution circulation and generator combinations. First, the optimum cycle from the viewpoint of recovering waste heat is clarified. Then the simulation model is constructed and the static characteristics are investigated. Furthermore, the effects of low-level heat source on the total COP is clarified. There is a lower limit of temperature of the low-level heat source because the temperature becomes lower than solution temperature. Furthermore, we discuss the temperature control when low-level heat source conditions vary and the flow rate of steam is varied.