Experimental and Exergy Analysis of Ammonia/Water Absorption System Using Ethylene Glycol [C2H4(OH)2] in the Evaporator

The ever increasing demand for electricity has forced us to turn our attention towards using absorption refrigeration systems for cooling applications. The technology of Hermetic compressors used in compression systems to raise the pressure requires a lot of power input to work. Absorption systems can work at the same level but using much lesser energy input without harming the environment. Ethylene Glycol is a Latent heat storage substance which is installed in the Evaporator in the prototype of an Ammonia/Water absorption system to study its transient effects on temperature. During unexpected shutdown of the system, temperature inside the Evaporator begins to rise at a very fast rate due to heat generation and infiltration. In this paper, it is proved experimentally that Ethylene Glycol reduces this rate significantly thereby protecting the quality of the products stored inside. Exergy analysis of each component used in the prototype has been performed to give general Irreversibility equations and to find the Dimensionless Exergy loss of each component. An equation is derived for the Ethylene Glycol enabled Evaporator which reveals that the Exergy destruction of the Evaporator has increased and optimization is required.