THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF COMPRESSION/ABSORPTION REFRIGERATION SYSTEM

Energy supplied to refrigeration and HVAC systems are taking a predominant weight in the total energy consumptions of thedeveloped and in developing countries. The almost total dependence of these technologies from electricity causes summer peaksand supply difficulties.There are worldwide R&D aimed at identifying both thermally activated refrigeration technologies with high efficiency and newworking fluids “environmental-friendly”. This paper focus on a compression/absorption refrigeration system (C-ARS) that usesammonia-water as working pairs. The system is similar to a traditional absorption heat pump with a mechanical compressionbetween the evaporator and the absorber pressure. This particular heat pump is activated by thermal and electric energy andensures more flexibility and high potentiality to increase the global energy performance, for example interacting with acogenerator. Furthermore it allows to optimize the mix of energy vectors, electricity and thermal energy, subjected to high dailyand annual variability to reduce the operating costs. Finally this kind of absorption refrigerator can overcome some typicaldisadvantages of the traditional absorption heat pump, such as the restricted pressure and temperature lift.A thermodynamic model has been developed to analyse C-ARS’s energy performance in different operating conditions.