PhD Thesis - Energy Systems Research Unit - University of Strathclyde

efrigerant, which in this case is water.Fig 3.3 - Internal and external flows inside an absorption chillerConsidering the thermodynamic process as starting from the evaporator and movingin a clockwise rotation, the operation of the chiller is as follows: After having absorbed thermal energy from the surrounding environment throughthe chilled water circuit (Points 17-18), the refrigerant exiting the evaporator ingas form (Point 10) is absorbed by a solvent (a liquid which has a high affinitywith the refrigerant) inside the absorber. The solution which then consists of the solvent and the refrigerant is passedthrough a pump (Points 1-2) to raise the pressure of the solution to the highsystem pressure present inside the condenser-generator setup. On exiting the pump and after passing through the heat recovery heat exchanger(Point 3), the solution is heated up inside the generator by absorbing heat from theexternal hot water circuit (Points 11-12). The difference in boiling temperaturedistils the refrigerant from the solution.104