Conceptual development and optimization of the main absorption systems configurations

Absorption cycle is the leading technology among solar thermally driven cooling/heating systems thanks to its high performance and favourable economics. Most studies deal with specific layouts or compare the performance of different systems. However, a clear comparison of the main configurations at the same boundary conditions and modelling approach is still missing, and the search for improved configurations is still an open field. The goal of this article is twofold: searching for the conceptual development in the evolution of the main existing configurations (single, half, double effect and GAX systems) and identifying new configurations to improve system performance. The first goal is accomplished by analysing in detail the design features and variables of all configurations and creating and running design models at the same cooling duty and ambient conditions. The second one is accomplished by optimizing the design of each configuration using the general methodology “HEATSEP”, which is able to take into account every possible internal thermal interaction in each optimization step. Results include a complete conceptual overview of the development of the existing configurations and the proposal of new ones, which show higher than 3% COP gains in comparison with the best corresponding single effect configurations in the literature.