ME 441 Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Lab

Notes on the Triple Fluid Vapor Absorption and Vapor Compression Systems

1. Triple Fluid Vapor Absorption System

Triple Fluid Vapor Absorption System (TFVAS) is a pumpless vapor absorption system as against a
conventional vapor absorption system that typically includes a mechanical pump. These systems offer
several advantages over conventional systems such as: (a) high reliability and quiet operation due to
absence of moving parts, (b) little maintenance and (c) requires low grade thermal energy input. The
major disadvantage of a TFVAS is their COP tends to be low.

Several pumpless systems using both water-lithium bromide and ammonia-water have been developed
over the last many decades. However, among these the most popular and widely used system is the one
known as Platen-Munters system or TFVAS. It uses ammonia as refrigerant and water as absorbent and
hydrogen as an inert carrier gas. Unlike conventional systems, the total pressure is constant throughout
the system, thus eliminating the need for mechanical pump or compressor. To allow the refrigerant
(ammonia) to evaporate at low temperatures in the evaporator, a third inert gas (hydrogen) is
introduced into the evaporator-absorber of the system. Even though the total pressure is constant
throughout the system, the partial pressure of ammonia in evaporator is much smaller than the total
pressure due to the presence of hydrogen (recall Dalton's law, also called Dalton's law of partial
pressures, states that in a mixture of non-reacting gases, the total pressure exerted is equal to the sum
of the partial pressures of the individual gases).

Heat supplied at the generator/desorber generates ammonia vapor from the strong solution (in
refrigerant) circulated from the absorber. The vapor generated moves up through the bubble pump due
to buoyancy. As the vapor moves up it carries the weak solution (in refrigerant) to the top of the bubble
pump. At the top, the weak solution and ammonia vapors are separated. The ammonia vapor flows into
the condenser, where it condenses by rejecting heat to the heat sink. Condensation takes place at high
temperature as ammonia pressure is equal to the total pressure. In order to prevent entry of hydrogen
gas into the condenser a liquid seal is typically used. The condensed liquid flows into the evaporator and
as it enters the evaporator its pressure is reduced to its partial pressure at evaporator temperature due
to the presence of hydrogen gas in the evaporator. Due to the reduction in pressure, the ammonia
evaporates (not boiling!) by taking heat from the refrigerated space. The ammonia vapor diffuses into
the hydrogen gas and the cooler mixture flows down to the absorber. In the absorber, the ammonia
vapor is absorbed by the weak solution coming from the bubble pump. Exothermic heat released (heat
of absorption) is rejected to the heat sink while the temperature of the hydrogen gas increases. This
causes hydrogen gas to flow back into the evaporator due to buoyancy. Counter-flow heat exchanger
between the strong and weak solution streams provides net heat recovery from the out-going (from the
generator) weak-solution stream to the incoming (to the generator) strong-solution stream.
2. Vapor Compression System

Vapor compression refrigeration systems (VCRS) are the most commonly used among all refrigeration
systems. In these systems, refrigeration is achieved as the refrigerant evaporates at low temperatures.
The input to the system is in the form of mechanical energy required to run the compressor. Standard
single stage, saturated vapor compression system consists of four processes: (a) isentropic compression,
(b) isobaric heat rejection in condenser, (c) isenthalpic expansion of saturated liquid in expansion device
and (d) isobaric heat extraction in the evaporator. In comparison with Carnot cycle, standard vapor
compression cycle introduces two irreversibilities: 1) Irreversibility due to non-isothermal heat rejection
and (2) irreversibility due to isenthalpic throttling. Due to these irreversibilities, the cooling effect
reduces and work input increases, thus reducing the system COP.

By comparing TS diagram of a Carnot cycle and vapor compression cycle, it is easy to show that
refrigerant or cooling effect is reduced when the isentropic expansion process of Carnot cycle is
replaced by isenthalpic process of vapor compression cycle (VCS). This is often referred as throttling loss.
Similarly, one can also show that the loss in refrigeration effect increases as the evaporator temperature
decreases and/or condenser temperature increases. The consequence of this is a requirement of higher
refrigerant mass flow rate in a practical design. The heat rejection (at the condenser) also increases in
the case of vapor compression cycle compared to Carnot cycle due to replacement of isothermal heat
rejection process of Carnot cycle by isobaric heat rejection in the standard VCS. Since the heat rejection
increases and refrigeration effect reduces when the Carnot cycle is modified to standard VCS, the net-
work input increases for the VCS compared to Carnot cycle. It should be noted that superheat loss
increases only the work input to the compressor and it does not affect the refrigeration effect. Whereas
the process of throttling is inherently irreversible and it increases the work input and also reduces the
refrigeration effect. COP of the standard VCS decreases with decreasing evaporator temperature (this
trend can be visualized by considering Carnot cycle COP definition Tevap/(Tcond-Tevap) by holding
condenser temperature constant and varying the evaporator temperature. Performance trends of an
actual VCS behave in a similar manner to a Carnot cycle). It should be noted that as the condenser
temperature increases, COP reduces.
 ME441 – Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Lab
Notes on Cooling Towers (Reference: ASHRAE 2008)
Cooling towers are often used to dissipate heat from refrigeration, air-conditioning, and
industrial process systems. A cooling tower cools water by a combination of heat and mass
transfer. Water to be cooled is distributed in the tower by spray nozzles, splash bars, or film-
type fill, which exposes a very large water surface area to atmospheric air. Atmospheric air is
circulated by fans, convective currents, natural wind currents or induction effect from sprays. A
port of the water absorbs heat to change from a liquid to a vapor at constant pressure. This
heat of vaporization at atmospheric pressure is transferred from the water remaining in the
liquid state into the airstream.
Figure 1 shows the temperature relationship between
water and air as they pass through a counterflow cooling
tower. The curves indicate the drop in water temperature
(A to B) and the rise in the air wet-bulb temperature (C to
D) in their respective passages through the tower. The
range (temperature difference A minus B) is determined by
the head load and water flow rate, not by the size or
capability of the cooling tower. The difference between the
leaving water and entering air wet-bulb temperature (B
minus C) in Figure 1 is the approach to the wet-bulb or
simply the approach of the cooling tower. The approach is a
function of cooling tower capability, and a larger cooling
tower produces a closer approach (colder leaving water) for Figure 1 Temperature relationship between water and air
a given heat load, flow rate, and entering air condition. in a typical counterflow cooling tower
Thermal performance of a cooling tower depends
principally on the entering air wet-bulb temperature. The
entering air dry-bulb temperature and relative humidity,
taken independently, have an insignificant effect on
thermal performance of mechanical-draft cooling towers,
but do affect the rate of water evaporation in the cooling
tower. A psychrometric analysis of the air passing through
a cooling illustrates this effect (Figure 2). Air enters at the
ambient condition (point A), absorbs heat and mass
(moisture) from the water, and exits at point B in a
saturated condition (at very light heat loads, the
discharge air may not be fully saturated). The amount of
heat transferred from the water to the air is proportional Figure 2Psychrometric analysis of air passing through
cooling tower
to the difference in enthalpy of the air between the
entering and leaving conditions (hB – hA). Because lines of
constant enthalpy correspond almost exactly to lines of constant wet-bulb temperature, the
change in enthalpy of the air may be determined by the change in wet-bulb temperature of the
air.
Air heating (vector AB in Figure 2) may be separated into component AC, which represents the
sensible heat absorbed by the air as the water is cooled, and component CB represents the
latent heat portion. If the entering air condition is changed to point D at the same wet-bulb
temperature but at a higher dry-bulb temperature, the total heat transfer (vector DB) remains
the same, but the sensible and latent heat contributions change dramatically. DE represents
sensible cooling while EB represents latent heating as water gives up heat and mass to the air.
Thus, for the same water-cooling load, the ratio of latent to sensible heat transfer can vary
significantly.
The ratio of latent to sensible heat is important in analyzing water usage of a cooling water.
Mass transfer (evaporation) is proportional to the change in specific humidity. The evaporation
rate at typical design conditions is approximately 1% of the water flow rate for each 7 C of
water temperature range; however, the average evaporation rate over the operating season is
less than the design rate because the sensible component of total heat transfer increases as
entering air temperature decreases. In addition to water loss from evaporation, losses also
occur because of liquid carryover into the discharge air-stream and blowdown to maintain
acceptable water quality.