Investigation on the combined Rankine-absorption power and refrigeration cycles using the parametric analysis and genetic algorithm

This study investigates the combined Rankine power and the absorption cooling cycles. The working fluid used in this cycle is the binary liquid mixture of water and ammonia. It produces both refrigeration and power simultaneously via a single heat source. Parametric analysis has been adopted to evaluate the thermodynamic parameters effects on the operation of the combined cycle where the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) is utilized. The obtained results show that environmental temperatures, heat source, refrigeration, inlet pressure, and temperature, and the density of the ammonia-water dilution have major effects on the exergy efficiency, the refrigeration output, and the net power of the system. In order to obtain the maximum exergy and thermal efficiencies, the optimization of the combined cycle has been performed via the genetic algorithm.