Experimental study on an absorption refrigeration system at low temperatures

The heat-driven auto-cascade absorption refrigeration cycle can be used at low temperatures, and a novel auto-cascade absorption refrigeration system is proposed to gain better performances with a refrigerating temperature as low as −50 °C. The new system uses a mixture of R23 + R32 + R134a/DMF as its working pair and its characteristic study is carried out under different operational conditions. It has successfully obtained a refrigerating temperature of −47.2 °C under the generating temperature of 163 °C. This refrigerating temperature is far lower than that of a traditional absorption refrigeration system with the same working pair, and it is also lower than that of an auto-cascade absorption refrigeration system using R32 + R134a/DMF as its working pair. From the experimental results, it is clearly seen that this new system shows a rapider lowering rate of refrigerating temperature than that of an auto-cascade absorption refrigeration system using R23 + R134a/DMF as its working pair. The results of experimental analyses imply that this new absorption refrigeration system can be used in the deep-freezing as low as −50 °C by utilizing low-potential thermal power. Its potential of industrial application might be greater than that of an auto-cascade absorption refrigeration system using R23 + R134a/DMF as its working pair in the future.