4/4/2023 Refrigeration and Air

Conditioning Lab
Lab Experiment # 9

Performance Study of Vapor Absorption

Refrigeration Cycle
Submitted By:
Umar Siab Khan (Group B-4)
Roll No. # 042

Submitted To:
Engr. Ammar Ahmad

Pakistan Institute of Engineering And Applied Sciences

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 Table of Contents
9.1 Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... 5
9.2 Learning objectives ........................................................................................................................ 5
9.3 List Of Equipment .......................................................................................................................... 5
9.5 Theory ............................................................................................................................................ 6
9.5.1 Simple Vapor Absorption System .......................................................................................... 7
9.5.2 Characteristics of Refrigerant-Absorbent Combination ......................................................... 8
9.5.3 Pumpless Vapor Absorption System ...................................................................................... 9
9.5.4 Fundamental Principle of Pumpless Vapor Absorption System ........................................... 10
9.6 Experimental Setup ..................................................................................................................... 12
9.6.1 Apparatus Flow Diagram ...................................................................................................... 12
9.7 Experimental Procedure ............................................................................................................... 14
9.8 Precautionary Measures ............................................................................................................... 15
9.9 Observations & Calculations........................................................................................................ 15
9.10 Graphs .......................................................................................................................................... 16
9.11 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 17
9.11.1 Pros ........................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
9.11.2 Cons .......................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
9.11.3 Applications .......................................................................................................................... 18
9.11.4 Causes Of Errors ................................................................................................................... 18
9.12 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................... 18
9.13 References .....................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

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 List of Figures

Figure 1: Power vs Condenser Outlet Temperature ...........................................................................................16

Figure 2: Power vs Evaporater Inlet Temperature .............................................................................................16

Figure 3: Power vs COP.........................................................................................................................................17

List of Tables
Table 1 : Temperature table ..................................................................................................................................15

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 9.1 Abstract
This lab experiment aimed to understand the working of the vapor absorption system and its components,
and to evaluate its performance under different heat loads. The vapor absorption system is an alternative
to the vapor compression system, which operates without a compressor or pump and utilizes heat or solar
energy. The experimental setup consisted of a bubble pump, generator, absorber, evaporator, and
condenser, where ammonia served as the refrigerant and water as the absorber. The performance of the
system was measured by recording the temperature and pressure of the generator, absorber, condenser,
and evaporator, and calculating the coefficient of performance (COP) for different heat loads. The results
showed that the COP of the system increased with increasing heating load. The bubble pump was heated
by heat instead of a compressor or pump, and its impact on the condenser output temperature and
refrigerator inlet temperature was investigated. Graphs were used to represent the temperature and heater
load at the condenser outlet and the temperature and heater load at the refrigerator intake. The temperature
at the refrigerator inlet and condenser outlet both increased with the heater load. Finally, the vapor
absorption cycle was compared to the vapor compression cycle, and it was discovered that the vapor
absorption cycle has higher energy efficiency and is more environmentally friendly since it can operate
on low-quality heat energy. Overall, the experiment provided insights into the working of the vapor
absorption system and its components, and the results obtained can be utilized to optimize its design for
specific applications.

9.2 Learning objectives

 To revise the basic theory of vapor absorption system.
 To understand the operation of basic components of vapor absorption system.
 To determine the performance of vapor compression system with different heat loads.

9.3 List Of Equipment

 TH-3133 Refrigeration Trainer (Absorption Type)
 Absorber
 Generator
 Evaporator
 Condenser
 Expansion Device

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  Bubble Pump

9.4 Introduction
Without the need of a compressor or pump, a pump less vapor absorption refrigeration system operated
on a single pressure. Platen and Minters devised the single-pressure pump-less refrigeration cycle in 1928,
which used ammonia as the refrigerant and water as the absorbent. With ammonia-water-hydrogen as
working fluids, the cycle comprises of a bubble pump, generator, absorber, evaporator, and condenser.
In the vapor absorption cycle, a process of suction and compression is carried out by two different devices
called absorbers and generators. Thus, the absorber and generator replace the compressor in the vapor
absorption cycle. The absorber enables the refrigerant to flow by absorbing from the absorber to the
generator.
Heat or solar energy can be used to operate the vapor absorption cycle. It differs from the vapor
compression cycle because of this. The exergy efficiency of the vapor absorption cycle is higher than the
vapor compression cycle because it can work with low-quality heat energy. Depending on the heating
source, it could be more ecologically beneficial.

9.5 Theory
Vapor absorption refrigeration system is a system that uses thermal energy to replace the function
of compressor in vapor compression refrigeration system. The fundamental principle of vapor
absorption was discovered by Michael Faraday in 1824 and Ferdinand Carre, a French scientist
received United States patent for absorption based refrigeration system in 1860.

The absorption refrigeration system, like vapor compression system contains condenser, expansion
device and evaporator but the difference exists in the mechanism of vapor compression from low
temperature-low pressure state to high temperature-high pressure state.

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 Figure 9- 1 : A simple schematic diagram of vapor absorption system

The vapor compression system simply uses mechanical compressor for this purpose while absorption
system execute compression process in three stages,

(i) Absorption of low temperature-low pressure refrigerant vapors into an absorbent while
constant removal of heat released by vapors.
(ii) Elevating the pressure of refrigerant-vapor liquid mixture using pump.

(iii) Releasing of refrigerant vapors from the mixture using heat.

The whole process is shown through a schematic diagram in fig. It is now clear that Vapor
absorption system uses heat energy for compression process and vapor compression system uses
mechanical work for vapor compression therefore vapor absorption cycle is also called heat operated
cycle and vapor compression cycle is also called work operated cycle. Absorption system become
favorable where conventional fuels are economical or where excessive amount of waste heat or solar
thermal energy is available.

9.5.1 Simple Vapor Absorption System

As discussed previously that the vapor absorption system, like vapor compression system contains
condenser, expansion valve and evaporator but the compression process is carried out by a
combination of three components called absorber, solution pump, generator and throttling valve.
These four components form what we generally call as a thermal compressor. A simple vapor
absorption system is shown in following fig.

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 Figure 9- 2: A simple vapor absorption system

Low temperature, low pressure refrigerant leaving the expansion device, after absorbing latent heat
in evaporator, transforms into saturated vapor. Theses saturated vapors are than routed to absorber
where they are absorbed by absorbent liquid. Most common and widely used combination of
refrigerant-absorbent mixture is LiBr-H2O combination. In this combination aqueous solution of
Lithium Bromide serves as absorbent and water serves as refrigerant. The other combination include
NH3-H2O i.e. Ammonia Water system or also called Aqua Ammonia system in which NH3 serves as
refrigerant and H2O serves as refrigerant. LiBr-H2O based system are most widely used system in
commercial and industrial air-condition systems and NH3-H2O based systems are mostly used when
temperature requirement are below 00C.

While the refrigerant vapors are absorbed in the absorbing liquid, they release latent heat of
vaporization. The release of latent heat tends to increase the temperature of absorber, it is therefore
necessary to continuously remove the heat from absorber as the rise in temperature will have adverse
effect on absorption process.
The refrigerant-vapor mixture in absorber is called strong solution as it has higher concentration of
refrigerant. This strong solution is the passed through the pump so it is delivered to generator at
elevated pressure. Generator is a sort of boiler that uses heat energy to boil the vapor-absorbent
mixture. At the generator conditions the high temperature and high pressure refrigerant than boils
and transforms into vapor. These vapors than enter into generator and cycle continues.

9.5.2 Characteristics of Refrigerant-Absorbent Combination

The desirable properties of refrigerant-absorbent mixtures for VARS are:

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 i. The refrigerant should exhibit high solubility with solution in the absorber. This is to say that
it should exhibit negative deviation from Raoult’s law at absorber.
ii. There should be large difference in the boiling points of refrigerant and absorbent (greater than
200oC), so that only refrigerant is boiled-off in the generator. This ensures that only pure
refrigerant circulates through refrigerant circuit (condenser-expansion valve-evaporator)
leading to isothermal heat transfer in evaporator and condenser
iii. The refrigerant-absorbent mixture should have high thermal conductivity and low viscosity for
high performance.
iv. It should not undergo crystallization or solidification inside the system.

v. The mixture should be safe, chemically stable, non-corrosive, and inexpensive and should be
available easily.

9.5.3 Pumpless Vapor Absorption System

Conventional absorption refrigeration systems use a mechanical pump for pumping the solution from
absorber pressure to generator pressure. However, there are also absorption refrigeration systems
that do not require a mechanical pump.
These systems offer several advantages over conventional systems such as:

(i) High reliability due to absence of moving parts

(ii) Very little maintenance

(iii) Systems require only low grade thermal energy.

(iv) Silent operation

Due to the above advantages the pump-less systems find applications such as refrigerators for remote
and rural areas, portable refrigerators, refrigerators for luxury hotel rooms etc.

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 Triple Fluid Vapour Absorption Refrigeration
System (TFVARS). This system was developed by Platen and Munters of Sweden in 1930s. It uses
ammonia as refrigerant and water as absorbent and hydrogen as an inert gas. Unlike conventional
systems, the total pressure is constant throughout the Platen-Munters system, thus eliminating the

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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. Thus, 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.

9.5.4 Fundamental Principle of Pumpless Vapor Absorption System

Although many companies have variations of the basic system, the principle of operation remains
the same. When the burner is lighted or heater is turned on and its head applied to the generator at
1 in Fig below, ammonia vapor is released from the solution. This hot vapor passes upward
through the percolator tube at 2. As the hot ammonia vapor rises through this tube, it carries the
solution to the upper level of the separator at 3.Most of the liquid solution settles in the bottom of
the separator and flows into the absorber. The hot ammonia vapor, being light, rises to the top of
the tube, marked 4, into the condenser. The hot ammonia vapor then condenses into a liquid. Then
ammonia is now in pure state and it flows by gravity into the evaporator.

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 Figure 9- 3 : Pumpless vapor absorption system

Because a liquid will always seek its own level, the liquid ammonia flows through the liquid
ammonia tube and spills into the evaporator. There it forms in large shallow pools on a series of
horizontal baffle plates. The hydrogen gas that is being fed to the evaporator in large quantities
permits the liquid ammonia to evaporate at a low pressure and at a low temperature (Dalton’s
principle). During this process of evaporation, the ammonia absorbs heat from the food compartment
of the refrigerator and causes the water in the ice cube containers to freeze. The more hydrogen and
less ammonia, the lower the temperature. The evaporated ammonia mixes with the hydrogen gas.

Meanwhile, a weak solution of ammonia and water, is flowing by gravity from the separator, at 3,
down to the top of the absorber. Here it meets the mixture of hydrogen gas and ammonia vapor
coming from the evaporator. The weak and fairly cool solution absorbs the ammonia vapor. The
hydrogen gas is left free since hydrogen will not mix the water. Because the hydrogen is also very
light, it now rises to the top of the absorber and returns to the evaporator. Being air cooled, the
absorber has fins. The cooling of the weak solution helps it to reabsorb the ammonia gas out of the

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mixture of ammonia vapor and hydrogen gas.

As the weak water solution reabsorbs the ammonia vapor, considerable heat is liberated. The aircooled
fins remove this heat to permit refrigeration to continue. The ammonia liquid and water mixture flows
back to the generator, where it again starts its cycle.

9.6 Experimental Setup

Figure 9- 4 : Pumpless vapor absorption system apparatus

The apparatus is TH-3133 Refrigeration Trainer (Absorption Type) a welded assembly. There are
no moving parts to wear-out or get out of adjustment. Since the total pressure throughout the cycle
is about 400 psi (2864 kPa) at a room (ambient) temperature of 100°F (38°C), construction must be
rugged to insure a long life. To produce a temperature of 0°F (-18°C) in the evaporator, the ammonia
must boil at 15.7 psi (211.8 kPa). This means the hydrogen must make up the reminder of the
pressure (384.3 psi). The nomenclature of instrumentation of the apparatus is given in following
table.

9.6.1 Apparatus Flow Diagram

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The heat is supplied by a burner which is fitted underneath the central tube (A) and when the unit
operates on electricity the heat is supplied by a heating element inserted in the pocket (B).The unit
charge consists of a quantity of ammonia, water and hydrogen at a sufficient pressure to condense
ammonia at the room temperature for which the unit is designed. When heat is supplied to the boiler
system, bubbles of ammonia gas are produced which rise and carry with them quantities of weak
ammonia solution through the siphon pump (C). This weak solution passes into the tube (D), whilst
the ammonia vapor passes into the vapor pipe (E) and on to the water separator. Here any water
vapor is condensed and runs back into the boiler system leaving the dry ammonia vapor to pass to
the condenser. Air circulating over the fins of the condenser removes heat from the ammonia vapor
to cause it to condense to liquid ammonia in which state it flows into the evaporator. The evaporator
is supplied with hydrogen. The hydrogen passes across the surface of the ammonia and lowers the
ammonia vapor pressure sufficiently to allow the liquid ammonia to evaporate.

The evaporation of the ammonia extracts heat from the food storage space, as described above,
thereby lowering the temperature inside the refrigerator. The mixture of ammonia and hydrogen
vapor passes from the evaporator to the absorber. Entering the upper portion of the absorber is a
continuous trickle of weak ammonia solution fed by gravity from the tube (D). This weak solution,
flowing down through the absorber comes into contact with the mixed ammonia and hydrogen gases
which readily absorbs the ammonia from the mixture, leaving the hydrogen free to rise through the
absorber coil and to return to the evaporator. The hydrogen thus circulates continuously between the
absorber and the evaporator.

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 Figure 9- 5 : Apparatus flow diagram

The strong ammonia solution produced in the absorber flows down to the absorber vessel and thence
to the boiler system, thus completing the full cycle of operation. The liquid circulation of the unit is
purely gravitational. Heat is generated in the absorber by the process of absorption. This heat must
be dissipated into the surrounding air. Heat must also be dissipated from the condenser in order to
cool the ammonia vapor sufficiently for it to liquefy. Free air circulation is therefore necessary over
the absorber and condenser. The whole unit operates by the heat applied to the boiler system and it
is of paramount importance that this heat is kept within the necessary limits and is properly applied.

9.7 Experimental Procedure

 Switch on the circuit breaker to turn on the device.
 Turn on the main heater.
 Check all temperatures
 Set the heater power to a specified setting after letting the system operate for a while (until the
temperature in the evaporator tank starts to drop).

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  Allow the device to achieve the correct working temperature, which produces highpressure and
low-pressure vapors, with the cooling impact visible as frost on the evaporator pipes.
 Note the temperature values obtained from the temperature meter attached to the thermocouples
at various points throughout the cycle.
 Set the load heater to a certain level.
 Wait for the readings to settle before taking temperature readings at various locations.
 Repeat the experiment with a different load heater value.

9.8 Precautionary Measures

 Make sure that the system is at steady state before taking the measurements.

 Do not touch the heater as the hot refrigerant can damage your hands.

 Switch on the heater some time before the experiment to ensure steady result.

9.9 Observations & Calculations

Table 1 : Temperature table

Sr. No. Power T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 COP

(Watt) (C) (C) (C) (C) (C) (C) (C) (carnot)
1 0.7 110.4 37.1 -8.8 30.7 39.2 54 30.1 0.297513
2 18.21 112.3 37.6 6.1 31.4 40.1 55 30.6 0.470067
3 22.5 110.3 38.2 15.8 31.8 40.6 55.7 30.9 0.686459
4 25 113 40 20 33 42 56 32 0.734523

Sample Calculation:

Carnot COP at 22.5 watt of load power =

288.8(328.7 − 311.2)
𝐶𝑜𝑝 = = 0.686459
328.7(311.2 − 288.8)

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9.10 Graphs

Power vs Condensor Outlet Temperature Graph

40.5
Condenser outlet temperature(C)

40

39.5

39

38.5

38

37.5

37

36.5
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Heater Power(W)

Figure 1: Power vs Condenser Outlet Temperature

Evaporator Inlet vs Power

25

20
Evaporator Inlet Temperature (C)

15

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
-5

-10

-15
Heater Power(W)

Figure 2: Power vs Evaporater Inlet Temperature

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 Power vs COP
0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5
COP

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Heater Power (W)

Figure 3: Power vs COP

9.11 Discussion
The primary objective of this laboratory experiment was to investigate the vapor absorption system and
its components at different heating powers. Unlike the vapor compression system, which employs a
mechanical compressor or pump, the vapor absorption system uses thermal energy for compression. The
study aimed to compare the performance of the vapor absorption system with that of the vapor
compression system by constructing two graphs depicting the evaporator intake temperature and
compressor outlet temperature against heating power. The results indicated a direct relationship between
heating power and both the evaporator intake and compressor outlet temperatures. The Carnot COP of the
vapor compression system was estimated based on the temperature data obtained, and it was used to
determine the COP of the vapor absorption system. The findings of this experiment provide insight into
the fundamental differences between the two systems and highlight the potential benefits of using the
vapor absorption system, particularly in applications where low-grade heat is available.
The result of this experiment allows us to see that the COP is increased as the load heater power is
increased. This can be justified by seeing that by an increase in power from load heater, the condenser
inlet temperature increases. As a result the area under the P-h diagram for the high pressure line increases
since it becomes further away from the x-axis and DP increases.
Although the lower pressure also increases and even if it does proportionally, the result is still an
increase in value of enthalpy (Dh) for refrigeration which is a simple to understand concept if one is

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familiar with basic refrigeration theory. We may say that there was error in the readings since the system
was not well insulated and also not isolated from the environment. This means that variations in room
temperature would affect the COP of the system.
The results of this experiment conform to the COPs of VAR systems available elsewhere and the COP
value is greater than 1 which means that refrigeration effect produced is greater than the input heat or
power.

9.11.1 Applications
Industrial refrigeration for food and beverage preservation, storage, and transportation.
Cogeneration for utilizing waste heat from power generation and industrial processes to produce both
heat and electricity.
Integration with solar thermal systems for refrigeration, air conditioning, or heating.

9.11.2 Causes of Errors

 Variable environmental conditions
 Human error.
 Steady conditions may not be achieved.
 Temperature reading kept on fluctuating.
 Heater power keeps on fluctuating and had limited range to be used.

9.12 Conclusion
Based on these results we can safely say that the COP of the VARS behaves in a similar way to the VCRS.
Only by looking at the formula for COP we cannot easily establish the relationship between separate
entities but based on knowledge gained from the results of this experiment we can say that the temperature
of the generator and the evaporator should be high for a high value of COP.

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