Development of a micro-scale heat exchanger based, residential capacity ammonia-water absorption chiller

A standalone absorption chiller based on microchannel heat exchanger technology was developed with a cooling capacity of 7 kW. A review of recent advances in microscale heat and mass exchangers and vapor absorption technology guided this development. Thermodynamic and heat and mass transfer design procedures are discussed. A control system for standalone operation was developed. Experimental evaluation demonstrated the achievement of target cooling capacities. An overall system COP of 0.44, and an ammonia-water cycle COP of 0.51 were achieved. Reasons for differences between model predictions and actual performance are discussed. This development validates scalability and application of microscale heat exchanger technology for absorption heat pumps at residential-scale capacities. In contrast to conventional absorption systems, core heat and mass exchangers require only small portion of overall system volume and weight, which significantly improves the prospects of this technology for small capacity applications.