Second law study of the Einstein refrigeration cycle
After formulating the theory of relativity, Albert Einstein spent several years developing absorption refrigeration cycles. In 1930, he obtained a US patent for a unique single pressure absorption cycle. The single pressure throughout the cycle eliminates the need for the solution pump found in conventional absorption cycles. The Einstein cycle utilizes butane as a refrigerant, ammonia as a pressure equalizing fluid, and water as an absorbing fluid. This cycle is dramatically different in both concept and detail than the better known ammonia-water-hydrogen cycle. Recent studies have shown that the cycle's COP is 0.17, which is relatively low compared to two-pressure cycles. This limits the cycle to refrigeration applications where simplicity, compactness, silent operation, and low cost are the important characteristics. Improved efficiency would open up other potential applications. In this study, a comprehensive second law analysis of the cycle was carried out on each component and process to determine the thermodynamic source of the low efficiency. The results show that the reversible COP for the cycle is 0.58, and that the component with the largest irreversibility is the generator. The entropic average temperatures for the heat flows into and out of the cycle are 353 K for the generator, 266 K for the evaporator, and 315 K for the absorber/condenser. The COP degradations from the ideal due to irreversibilities are 0.12 for the evaporator, 0.11 for the absorber/condenser, and 0.17 for the generator. The generator irreversibility is due to the inherent temperature difference in the internal heat exchange. The results show that there is a large potential for increasing the cycle's efficiency through design changes to raise the low generator temperature and to reduce the large generator irreversibilities.
- Research Organization:
- Georgia Inst. of Tech., Atlanta, GA (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 20026738
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Renewable and advanced energy systems for the 21st Century, Maui, HI (US), 04/11/1999--04/15/1999; Other Information: 1 CD-ROM. Operating system required: Windows i386(tm), i486(tm), Pentium (R) or Pentium Pro, MS Windows 3.1, 95, or NT 3.51, 8 MB RAM; MacIntosh and Power MacIntosh with a 68020 or greater processor, System software version 7.1, 3.5 MB RAM (5 MB for PowerMac) 6 MB available hard-disk space; UNIX; PBD: 1999; Related Information: In: Renewable and advanced energy systems for the 21st century, RAES'99 proceedings, by Hogan, R.; Kim, Y.; Kleis, S.; O'Neal, D.; Tanaka, T. [eds.], [1125] pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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