Part 7. Refrigeration Equipment | Chapter 4.
Combination Absorption-centrifugal System
load in proportion to the instantaneous load, while the
steam pressure regulator maintains a steam flow balance
between the centrifugal and absorption machines and
consequently a minimum system steam rate.
ENGINEERING PROCEDURE
Selecting the equipment for a combination system is
a matter of achieving the required performance with the
minimum owning and operating costs. Equipment
selecting is essentially a trial-and-error process. The
following method is recommended to provide a
satisfactory system.
PERFORMANCE
The required performance consists of load or
tonnage, chilled water temperature and quantity or rise
(F). The load or tonnage is determined by using normal
methods. Chilled water rises of 15-20 F is suggested for
minimum system steam rate and pressure drop thru the
chillers. Chilled water temperature selection should not
be arbitrary, but should be as high as design permits.
Recommended condenser water quantities are
approximately 3 gpm per ton for the centrifugal and 3.5
gpm per ton for the absorption machine.
TURBINE STEAM RATE
Determine the expected single stage turbine steam
rate and exhaust steam quality for the specified inlet
steam conditions (pressure and superheat) and 13 psig
back pressure. (This allows 1 psi pressure loss for the
steam piping between the turbine exhaust and the
absorption machine inlet, assuming the absorption
machine and turbine are close-coupled.)
Base the determination of steam rate upon an
assumed one-third-system load on the centrifugal and a
two-thirds system load on the high temperature side a
leaving water temperature may be determined. From
Chart 11 an approximate brake horsepower per ton of
refrigeration may be assumed for the centrifugal.
The required turbine performance is abstained from
the turbine supplier and includes the following:
1. Curves relation speed, horsepower and steam
consumption from full to minimum load of the
centrifugal.
2. Curves relating turbine exhaust steam quality to
turbine horsepower, speed or steam
consumption.
3. There are no turbine performance characteristics
which are typical of all turbines. Chart 12 shows
the performance of two typical back pressure
turbines for centrifugal refrigeration machine
duty.
DISTRIBITION OF DESIGN CAPACITY AND MIMUMUM
SYSTEM STEAM RATE
Calculate the centrifugal machine proportion of the
system design load. This is determined from the formula: