Research PaperNo Access

Experimental Analysis of H₂O–LiBr Absorption Refrigeration System Using Al₂O₃ Nanoparticles

Department of Mechanical Engineering, C.S. Patel Institute of Technology, Charusat University, Changa, Anand, Gujarat, India

E-mail Address: jagdish_s_talpada@yahoo.co.in

Search for more papers by this author

and

P. V. Ramana

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Technology, Vasad, Anand, Gujarat, India

E-mail Address: pvr261@gmail.com

Search for more papers by this author

https://doi.org/10.1142/S2010132520500108Cited by:8 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to study the effect of nanoparticles on Coefficient of Performance (COP) and thermal load of main components (generator, condenser, evaporator and absorber) of absorption refrigeration system using H₂O–LiBr. Al₂O₃ nanoparticles have been added into the H₂O–LiBr solution to make the binary nanofluid, and Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) has been used as a stabilizer. Experimentation part involves the preparation of nanofluid and tests on H₂O–LiBr and H₂O–LiBr with 0.05% Al₂O₃. The effect of nanoparticles on COP and thermal load of components has been studied by varying the operating temperatures (generator, condenser and absorber temperature) and volume fraction of nanoparticles. The results show that COP and thermal loads of system with nanoparticles at different operating temperatures are following the same trend as base fluid system. The COP of system with nanoparticles at each operating temperature is higher than base fluid system. The heat supplied to generator with nanoparticles is less than without nanoparticles while heat rejected in condenser and absorber with nanoparticles is higher than without nanoparticles at each operating temperature. The heat exchanged in evaporator with nanoparticles is also higher than that without nanoparticles at each operating temperature. We also obtained maximum COP with 0.2% volume fraction of nanoparticles.

Keywords:

References

1. L. Cheng and L. Liu , Boiling and two-phase flow phenomena of refrigerant-based nanofluids? Fundamentals, applications and challenges, Int. J. Refrig. 36 (2012) 421–446, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2012.11.010. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
2. V. Nair, P. R. Tailor and A. D. Parekh , Nanorefrigerants: A comprehensive review on its past, present and future, Int. J. Refrig. 67 (2016) 290–307, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2016.01.011. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
3. Y. T. Kang, H. J. Kim and K. Il. Lee , Heat and mass transfer enhancement of binary nanofluids for H₂O/LiBr falling film absorption process, Int. J. Refrig. 31 (2008) 850–856, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2007.10.008. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
4. L. Yang, K. Du, S. Bao and Y. Wu , Investigations of selection of nanofluid applied to the ammonia absorption refrigeration system, Int. J. Refrig. 35 (2012) 2248–2260, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2012.08.003. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
5. T. Chen, J. Kim and H. Cho , Theoretical analysis of the thermal performance of a plate heat exchanger at various chevron angles using lithium bromide solution with nanofluid, Int. J. Refrig. 48 (2014) 233–244, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2014.08.013. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
6. S. Torii and H. Yoshino , Effect of aqueous suspension of graphene-oxide nanoparticles on thermal fluid flow transport in circular tube, Int. J. Air-Conditioning Refrig. 23 (2015) 1550005, https://doi.org/10.1142/S2010132515500054. Link, Web of Science, Google Scholar
7. S. M. You, J. H. Kim and K. H. Kim , Effect of nanoparticles on critical heat flux of water in pool boiling heat transfer effect of nanoparticles on critical heat flux of water in pool boiling heat transfer, Appl. Phys. Lett. 83 (2003) 3374–3376, https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1619206. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
8. J. Choi, U. S. Stephen and J. A. Eastman , Enhancing thermal conductivity of fluids with nanoparticles, ASME Int. Mech. Eng. Congr. Expo. (1995). Google Scholar
9. Y. C. Martínez, Experimental study of thermal conductivity of new mixtures for absorption cycles and the effect of the nanoparticles addition, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universitat Rovira (Virgil, Spain, September, 2013). Dr Thesis (2013). Google Scholar
10. I. M. Mahbubul, S. A. Fadhilah, R. Saidur, K. Y. Leong and M. A. Amalina , Thermophysical properties and heat transfer performance of Al₂O₃/R-134a nanorefrigerants. Int. J. Heat. Mass. Transf. 57 (2013) 100–108, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2012.10.007. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
11. S. A. Fadhilah, R. S. Marhamah and A. H. M. Izzat , Copper oxide nanoparticles for advanced refrigerant thermophysical properties? Mathematical modeling, J. Nanoparticles 2014, Article ID: 890751 (2014) 2–7, https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/890751. Crossref, Google Scholar
12. Y. Cuenca, A. Vernet and M. Valle , Thermal conductivity enhancement of the binary mixture ( ${NH}_{3} + {LiNO}_{3}$ ${NH}_{3} + {LiNO}_{3}$ ) by the addition of CNTs, Int. J. Refrig. 1 (2014) 0–7, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2013.12.013. Google Scholar
13. Y. T. Kang, Y. Kunugi and T. Kashiwagi , Review of advanced absorption cycles: Performance improvement and temperature lift enhancement, Int. J. Refrig. 23 (2000) 388–401. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
14. J. Kim, A. Akisawa, T. Kashiwagi and Y. T. Kang , Numerical design of ammonia bubble absorber applying binary nanofluids and surfactants, Int. J. Refrig. 30 (2007) 1086–1096, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2006.12.011. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
15. J. Ki, J. Koo, H. Hong, Y. T. Kang and H. O. Nh , The effects of nanoparticles on absorption heat and mass transfer performance in NH₃/H₂O binary nanofluids, Int. J. Refrig. 33 (2010) 269–275, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2009.10.004. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
16. J. Kim, J. Y. Jung and Y. T. Kang , The effect of nano-particles on the bubble absorption performance in a binary nanofluid, Int. J. Refrig. 29 (2006) 22–29, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2005.08.006. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
17. J. Kim, J. Young and Y. T. Kang , Absorption performance enhancement by nano-particles and chemical surfactants in binary nanofluids, Int. J. Refrig. 30 (2007) 50–57, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2006.04.006. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
18. V. Mariappan and M. Udayakumar , Thermodynamic analysis of R134a–Dmac vapor absorption refrigeration (Var) system, Int. Conf. Adv. Res. Mech. Aeronaut. Civ., 2013, Pattaya, pp. 59–64. Google Scholar
19. R. Gulati, A. Reddy, V. Khullar, V. Bhalla, H. Tyagi and Y. Zhao et al., International Journal of Environmental Enhancing the efficiency of absorption refrigeration cycle by “seeding” nanoparticles directly in the working fluid, Int. J. Environ. Stud. 70 (2013) 37–41, https://doi.org/10.1080/00207233.2013.798503. Crossref, Google Scholar
20. A. Sözen, E. Özbaş, T. Menlik, M. T. Çakir, M. Gürü and K. Boran , Improving the thermal performance of diffusion absorption refrigeration system with alumina nanofluids: An experimental study, Int. J. Refrig. (2014), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2014.04.018. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
21. Y. Wei, H. Xie, L. Chen and Y. Li , Investigation of thermal conductivity and viscosity of ethylene glycol based ZnO nanofluid, Thermochim. Acta 491 (2009) 92–96. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
22. K. B. Anoop, T. Sundararajan and S. K. Das , Effect of particle size on the convective heat transfer in nanofluid in the developing region, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 52 (2009) 2189–2195. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
23. P. D. Kulkarni, D. K. Das and R. S. Vajjha , Application of nanofluids in heating buildings and reducing pollution, Appl. Energy 89 (2009) 2566–2573. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
24. S. Chakraborty, S. K. Saha, J. C. Pandey and S. Das , Experimental characterization of concentration of nanofluid by ultrasonic technique, Powder Technol. 210 (2011) 304–307. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
25. S. Z. Heris , Experimental investigation of pool boiling characteristics of low-concentrated CuO/ethylene glycol–water nanofluids, Int. Commun. Heat. Mass Transf. 38 (2011) 1470–1473. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
26. M. Kole and T. K. Dey , Thermophysical and pool boiling characteristics of ZnO-ethylene glycol nanofluids, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 62 (2012) 61–70. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
27. S. A. Fazeli, S. M. H. Hashemi, H. Zirakzadeh and M. Ashjaee , Experimental and numerical investigation of heat transfer in a miniature heat sink utilizing silica nanofluid, Superlattice Microstruct 51 (2012) 247–264. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
28. J. Jung, E. Surk, Y. Nam and Y. T. Kang , The study on the critical heat flux and pool boiling heat transfer coefficient of binary nanofluids, Int. J. Refrig. 36 (2013) 1056–1061, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2012.11.021. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
29. F. Asdrubali and S. Grignaffini , Experimental evaluation of the performances of a H₂O–LiBr absorption refrigerator under different service conditions, Int. J. Refrig. 28 (2005) 489–497, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2004.11.006. Crossref, Web of Science, Google Scholar
30. J. Castro, A. Oliva, C. D. Pérez-segarrá, J. Cadafalch, J. Castro, C. D. Pérez-segarra, Evaluation of a Small Capacity, Hot Water Driven, Air-Cooled H₂O–LiBr Absorption Machine Evaluation of a Small Capacity, Hot Water Driven, Air-Cooled H₂O–LiBr Absorption Machine. HAVC & R Research 2015;9669. Google Scholar
31. Eisa and Holland. A Study of the Operating Parameters in a Water-Lithium Bromide Absorption Cooler, Int. J. Refrig. 10 (1986) 137–144. Google Scholar