Energy 36 (2011) 94e98

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Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Simulation research on an EAX (Evaporator-Absorber-Exchange) absorption

refrigeration cycle
D.L. Hong, G.M. Chen*, L.M. Tang, Y.J. He
Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou 310027, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: There are some heat sources whose temperature is much higher than the limited generation temperature
Received 7 June 2010 of conventional single effect absorption refrigeration cycle but lower than that of conventional double
Received in revised form effect absorption refrigeration cycle. These heat sources can not be utilized efficiently by prior cycles. To
1 November 2010
make efficient use of these heat sources, this paper proposed an EAX (Evaporator-Absorber-Exchange)
Accepted 3 November 2010
absorption refrigeration cycle. The proposed cycle can make use of the condensing heat of the vapor
Available online 16 December 2010
separated from high temperature generator to make additional refrigeration. Therefore, the COP (Coef-
ficient of Performance) of the proposed cycle is much higher than that of the conventional single effect
Keywords:
COP
cycle. Simulation results show that the COP of the EAX cycle can be 40% higher than that of the
Simulation conventional single effect cycle at some simulated conditions.
EAX Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Absorption refrigeration

1. Introduction
With economic development, more and more refrigerators are
used all over the world. Because conventional vapor compression
refrigerators have been causing many environmental problems
[1,2], absorption refrigeration machine which is friendly to envi-
ronment has been paid more and more attentions [3e7]. After the
invention of the absorption refrigeration cycle, many advanced
cycles were proposed to make efficient use of the heat source at
different grades. Two stage absorption refrigeration cycle was
proposed to make efficient use of the heat at low temperature [8].
Double effect absorption refrigeration cycle, triple effect absorption
refrigeration cycle and Generator-Absorber-Exchange (GAX)
absorption refrigeration cycle were proposed to make efficient use
of high grade heat [9e11]. Actually, the temperature difference
between the heat sources used to drive conventional single effect
cycle and that used to drive conventional double effect cycle is very
large [12]. To make efficient use of the heat sources at this grade,
Erickson [13], Inoue [14] and Zheng [15] proposed several config-
urations of one and half effect absorption refrigeration cycles by
combining single effect cycle and two stage cycle. The heat added to
the combined cycle is used to drive one sub cycle; part of the heat
rejected by this sub cycle is used to drive another sub cycle to
generate additional cooling capacity. The COP of the one and half
* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ86 571 8795 1680.
E-mail address: gmchen@zju.edu.cn (G.M. Chen).
effect cycle is much higher than that of the conventional single
effect cycle. This paper proposed a novel EAX absorption refriger-
ation cycle which can make use of the heat at this grade, the
configuration of EAX cycle is also simpler than that of conventional
one and half effect absorption refrigeration cycle.
2. Cycle description
The proposed cycle is shown in Fig. 1. H2O/LiBr solution is used
as working fluid in this study. The working principle of the cycle is
described as follows.
The vapor separated from GH (high temperature generator) (1)
flows to GL (low temperature generator) and is condensed into
saturated liquid water there. The liquid water (2) passes through v1
(3) and is throttled to condensing pressure. This stream and the
vapor separated from GL (29) are condensed into saturated liquid in
condenser. The liquid water (5) passes through V2 and is throttled
to an appropriate intermediate pressure (6). Part of the liquid water
evaporates into vapor in EAXE (Evaporator-absorber-exchanger
evaporator), the cooling capacity supplied by EAXE is used to
balance the heat rejected by EAXA. Then this stream (7) flows to
LGS (liquidegas separator) and is separated into liquid phase and
vapor phase there. The vapor (30) flows to A2 and is absorbed there.
The liquid water out from LGS (8) is throttled to evaporating
pressure (9) by V3, and then this stream completely evaporates into
vapor in E (evaporator). Part of the vapor out from E (11) flows to A1
and is absorbed there. The solution cycle between GH and A1 is the
same as that of the conventional single effect cycle. The strong

0360-5442/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.energy.2010.11.003
 D.L. Hong et al. / Energy 36 (2011) 94e98 95

Nomenclature Subscripts
A absorber
COP coefficient of performance C condenser
Cp specific heat capacity, kJ/(kg  C) EAX Evaporator-Absorber-Exchange cycle
h specific enthalpy, kJ/kg evap evaporator
m mass flow rate, kg/s gh high temperature generator
Q heat transfer rate, W i,j,k,l state points
r latent heat, kJ/kg in inlet
t temperature,  C op other paper
x fraction kg/kg out outlet
Sin single effect cycle
Greek symbol tp this paper
h relative increasing ratio, %
V efficiency of solution heat exchanger
u relative error

absorbent solution out from GL (25) passes through SHX (solution
heat exchanger) 2 and SHX 3 in turn. The solution from SHX 3 (27)
is depressurized to evaporating pressure (28) and then flows to
EAXA (Evaporator-absorber-exchanger absorber) to absorb the
vapor from evaporator. The solution out from EAXA (19) is pumped
to intermediate pressure (20), then flows to A2 through SHX 3.
After absorbing the vapor from LGS, the weak absorbent solution
(22) is pumped to condensing pressure (23) by P2 and then flows to
GL through SHX 2. The cycle is finished.
It can be seen that the condensing heat of the vapor at high
pressure is added to GL to generate additional refrigerant vapor,
which makes the COP of the proposed cycle be higher than that of
the conventional single effect cycle.
Conventional parallel flow double effect cycle is simulated to
evaluate the performance of the proposed cycle in this paper. The
diagram of the parallel flow double effect cycle is shown in Fig. 2.
3. Mathematical model
A procedure is written to evaluate the performance of the
proposed cycle. The assumptions are as follows:
(1) The system runs in a steady state.
(2) Pressure drops along the pipe lines are neglected.
(3) The condensing temperature and the temperatures of the
solution out from A1 and A2 are equal, they are assumed to be
40  C in this paper.
(4) The refrigerant outlet state from the condenser is saturated
liquid and the outlet state from the evaporator is saturated vapor.
(5) The refrigerant out from GL is saturated liquid.
(6) The solutions out from generators and absorbers are saturated
solutions.
(7) The solution pump power input is neglected.

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of EAX absorption refrigeration cycle.

96 D.L. Hong et al. / Energy 36 (2011) 94e98

m5 ¼ m6 (12)

EAXE

m6 h6 þ Q EAXE ¼ m7 h7 (13)

m6 ¼ m7 (14)
Liquidegas separator

m7 ¼ m8 þ m30 (15)

m7 h7 ¼ m8 h8 þ m30 h30 (16)

Valve 3

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of conventional parallel flow double effect cycle. m8 h8 ¼ m9 h9 (17)

m8 ¼ m9 (18)
(8) A temperature difference of 10  C is assumed at the cold ends
Evaporator
of the SHX 1 and SHX 2.
(9) A temperature difference of 5  C is assumed between the m9 h9 þ Q evap ¼ m10 h10 (19)
refrigerant and solution at the outlet of EA.
(10) A temperature difference of 5  C is assumed at the cold end of
SHX 3. m9 ¼ m10 (20)
(11) A temperature difference of 10  C is assumed between the Absorber 1
solution out from GL and the liquid water into V1.
(12) A temperature difference of 10  C is assumed between the m11 h11 þ m17 h17 ¼ m12 h12 þ Q A1 (21)
solution out from GH and heat source into GH.
m11 x11 þ m17 x17 ¼ m12 x12 (22)
This cycle consists of several simple components. Each compo-
nent can be treated as a control volume with inlet and outlet fluid, m11 þ m17 ¼ m12 (23)
heat transfer and work interactions. The basic models for all of the
components include mass balance equations, energy balance Pump 3
equations and LiBr mass balance equations. The balance equations
of each component are shown respectively as follows, m12 h12 þ WP3 ¼ m13 h13 (24)
High temperature generator
m12 ¼ m13 (25)
m14 h14 þ Q gh ¼ m1 h1 þ m15 h15 (1) Solution heat exchanger 1

m14 ¼ m1 þ m15 (2) m13 h13 þ m15 h15 ¼ m14 h14 þ m16 h16 (26)

m14 x14 ¼ m1 x1 þ m15 x15 (3) m13 ¼ m14 (27)

Low temperature generator
m15 ¼ m16 (28)
m1 h1 þ m24 h24 ¼ m2 h2 þ m25 h25 þ m29 h29 (4)
Valve 4

m1 x1 þ m24 x24 ¼ m2 x2 þ m25 x25 þ m29 x29 (5) m16 h16 ¼ m17 h17 (29)

m1 ¼ m2 (6) m16 ¼ m17 (30)

Valve 1 EAXA

m2 h2 ¼ m3 h3 (7) m18 h18 þ m28 h28 ¼ m19 h19 þ Q EAXA (31)

m2 ¼ m3 (8) m18 x18 þ m28 x28 ¼ m19 x19 (32)

Condenser
m18 þ m28 ¼ m19 (33)
m4 h4 ¼ m5 h5 þ Q con (9)
Pump 1
m4 ¼ m5 (10)
m19 h19 þ WP1 ¼ m20 h20 (34)
Valve 2

m5 h5 ¼ m6 h6 (11) m19 ¼ m20 (35)

 D.L. Hong et al. / Energy 36 (2011) 94e98 97

Solution heat exchanger 3 Table 1

The validation of the model in this paper.

Cycles TE ( C) TC ( C) TA ( C) TG ( C) V COPtp COPop u(%)

m20 h20 þ m26 h26 ¼ m21 h21 þ m27 h27 (36)
Single 5 40 40 95 0.8 0.76 0.77[15], <1.3
effect 0.76[18]
m20 ¼ m21 (37) Double 5 40 40 160 0.8 1.29 1.30 [15,18] <0.8
effect

m26 ¼ m27 (38)

4. Results and discussion
Absorber 2
Fig. 3 shows the effect of the temperature of heat source on COP
m30 h30 þ m21 h21 ¼ m22 h22 þ Q A2 (39) and h when evaporation temperature is 5  C. When the tempera-
ture of heat source is higher than 110  C, for single effect cycle, the
m30 x30 þ m21 x21 ¼ m22 x22 (40) temperature difference between the solution exit from generator
and heat source must increase as the temperature of heat source
increases to avoid crystallizing. Then the COP of the conventional
m30 þ m21 ¼ m22 (41)
single effect cycle will keep constant if the temperature of heat
source is higher than 110  C. It can be seen that when the
Pump 2 temperature of the heat source is lower than 127.5  C, the COP of all
cycles are the same, because EAX cycle and double effect cycle will
m22 h22 þ WP2 ¼ m23 h23 (42) work as a single effect cycle to get a maximum COP. When the
temperature of heat source is higher than 127.5  C but lower than
m22 ¼ m23 (43) 150  C, the COP of EAX cycle is highest among that of all cycles. It
also can be found that h increases as the temperature of heat source
Solution heat exchanger 2
increases, because COPEAX increases but COPsin keeps constant as
m23 h23 þ m25 h25 ¼ m24 h24 þ m26 h26 (44) the temperature of heat source increases. When the temperature of
heat source reaches to 130  C, the value of h is about 20%. When the
temperature of heat source reaches to 145  C, the value of h is
m23 ¼ m24 (45)
higher than 40%. When the temperature of the heat source reaches
to 150  C, the COP of the double effect cycle is higher than that of
m25 ¼ m26 (46) the other two cycles.
Valve 5 Fig. 4 shows the effect of evaporation temperature on COP and h
when the temperature of heat source is 130  C. It is obvious that
m27 h27 ¼ m28 h28 (47) COP of all cycles increase as evaporation temperature increases. It
can be seen that when evaporation temperature is higher than 4  C
m27 ¼ m28 (48) but lower than 12  C, the COP of EAX cycle is the highest COP among
that of all cycles. It also can be found that h increases as evaporation
It is obvious that temperature increases. When evaporation temperature reaches to
5  C, the value of h is about 20%. When the evaporation temperature
m10 ¼ m11 þ m18 (49)
reaches to 11  C, the value of h is higher than 40%.
In this paper it is assumed that the COP of the proposed cycle is
Q EAXE ¼ Q EAXA (50) higher than that of conventional single effect cycle only if EA can
In this paper, COP is adopted for the cycle performance evalu- work. To absorb the vapor from evaporator using solution from GL,
ation. It is defined as cooling capacity output divided by heat input, the solution should be cooled to a low temperature, which makes
given by the pressure of A2 be low. Then the temperature of heat source can
not be too low. Actually, the COP of the proposed cycle can be
COP ¼ Q evap =Q gh (51)

By combining the prior equations, COP can be expressed as

COP ¼ m9 ðh10  h5 þ h5  h8 Þ=ðm1 h1 þ m15 h15  m14 h14 Þ (52)

Relative increasing ratio is used to compare the performance of
EAX cycle with that of the conventional single effect cycle, which is
given as

h ¼ ðCOPEAX  COPsin Þ=COPsin  100% (53)

The properties of pure water are calculated by REFPROP 8.0 [16].

The properties of H2OeLiBr solution are given by reference [17].
Table 1 shows the validation of the model used in this paper; it
can be found that the results in this work are perfectly consistent
with those in the literatures, u is relative error, it is defined as


u ¼ COPtp  COPop COPop  100% (54) Fig. 3. The effect of the temperature of heat source on COP.
98 D.L. Hong et al. / Energy 36 (2011) 94e98
Fig. 4. The effect of evaporation temperature on COP and h.
higher than that of conventional single effect cycle even EA can not
work. Under these working conditions, the cooling capacity made
by refrigerant from GL can be used to subcool the liquid water
separated from GH. This can improve the cooling capacity per unit
mass of refrigerant passing through evaporator. Then the COP of
proposed cycle may be higher than that of conventional single
effect cycle. Therefore, the pressure of the A2 can be higher, which
makes the needed temperature of the heat source can be much
lower. At the latter case, it can be found from equation (52) that the
additional cooling capacity per unit mass of refrigerant is equal to
(h5eh8). To get a higher relative increasing ratio, the ratio of
(h5eh8) over cooling capacity per unit mass of refrigerant should be
higher. As we know, cooling capacity per unit mass of refrigerant of
conventional single effect cycle increases as latent heat of refrig-
erant increases. In addition, (h5eh8) increases as average Cp of the
saturated liquid refrigerant when its temperature decreases to t8
from t5 increases. Therefore, h increases as the value of (Cp/r)
increases. The evaporation temperature is also an important
parameter. If the system can make refrigeration at lower temper-
ature, then the liquid from condenser may be able to be subcooled
to a lower temperature. The refrigerant used in this paper is water,
whose (Cp/r) is very small, while the system using it as refrigerant
can not make refrigeration at a temperature lower than 0  C, so h is
very low and is neglected in the latter case in this paper. If refrig-
erant is one of substance whose (Cp/r) is much larger than that of
water and the system using it as refrigerant can make refrigeration
at very low temperature, then h can be high even in the latter case.
The substance of this type can be ammonia, carbon dioxide and so
on. Under these working conditions, the temperature of heat source
needed to make proposed cycle work well can be much closer to
the limited temperature of heat source used to drive conventional
single effect cycle. Compared to conventional one and half effect
absorption refrigeration cycle, this is a great advantage of the
proposed cycle.
5. Summary
(1) This paper proposed an EAX refrigeration cycle. This cycle can
make using of the condensing heat of the vapor separated from
high temperature generator to make additional cooling
capacity. Therefore, the COP of the proposed cycle is much
higher than that of the conventional single effect cycle.
(2) If evaporation temperature is 5  C, condensing temperature,
the temperatures of the solution out from A1 and A2 are 40  C;
EAX cycle has the highest COP among that of three cycles when
temperature of heat source is higher than 127.5  C but lower
than 150  C. In addition, h increases as the temperature of heat
source increases, when the temperature of heat source reaches
to 145  C, the value of h is higher than 40%.
(3) If temperature of heat source is 130  C, condensing tempera-
ture, the temperatures of the solution out from A1 and A2 are
40  C. EAX cycle has the highest COP among that of three cycles
when evaporation temperature is higher than 4  C but lower
than 12  C. In addition, h increases as evaporation temperature
increases, when the evaporation temperature reaches to 11  C,
the value of h is higher than 40%.
(4) If the refrigerant is the substance such as ammonia, carbon
dioxide and so on, whose (Cp/r) is much larger than that of
water, the temperature of heat source needed to make
proposed cycle work well can be much closer to the limited
temperature of heat source used to drive conventional single
effect cycle. Compared to conventional one and half effect
absorption refrigeration cycle, this is a great advantage of the
proposed cycle.
Acknowledgements
The major program of the National Natural Science Foundation
of China, under contract No. 50890184 and National Basic Research
Program of China, Project No. 2010CB227304, financially support
this work.
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