Effect of insulation on the energy and exergy performances in Diffusion Absorption Refrigeration (DAR) systems

• The effect of insulation on the energy and exergy performances in DAR systems was investigated.
• The energy losses rejected to ambient from rectifier and condenser, the energy gains by evaporator were calculated.
• The insulation of solution heat exchanger and of a part of rectifier in DAR systems increased the energy performance by 26%.
• The insulation of solution heat exchanger and of a part of rectifier in DAR systems increased the exergy performance by 21%.

In this study, the effect of insulation on the energy and exergy performances of DAR systems was investigated. A DAR system with the insulated generator-bubble pump (DAR1) was compared with a DAR system having the insulated generator-bubble pump, solution heat exchanger and partial-insulated rectifier (DAR2) experimentally and both components of the DAR1 and the DAR2 systems were insulated by rock wool. In the analyses, the energy losses rejected to ambient from rectifier and condenser, the energy gain (heat gain) by evaporator and also energy performance and exergy performance were calculated. While energy and exergy performances of DAR1 system were determined as 0.35 and 0.095, respectively, the performance values of DAR2 system were calculated as 0.44 and 0.115. As a consequence, the insulation of solution heat exchanger and the insulation of a part of rectifier in the DAR system increased the energy performance by 26% and the exergy performance by 21%.