Simulation studies of refrigeration cycles: A review

Presently out of the total energy consumption, a large share of energy is being used by refrigeration and air conditioning equipments. The present study is based on literature review on the refrigeration systems, currently used refrigerant-absorbent pairs and also on different sources of energy. The basis of this study is to know about the user friendly softwares used for the simulation techniques and also on the scope of different alternative forms of energy as a source to generator. The effects of operating temperature, effectiveness of heat exchangers and choice of working fluid on the systems were studied. It is evident from the studies that the cycle performance (COP) improves with increasing generator and evaporator temperatures, but reduces with increasing the absorber and condenser temperatures. The use of heat exchangers improves the overall performance of the system, especially solution heat exchanger (SHE). It is also evident that solar energy obtained in the range of about 100 degrees C is having good potential to supply sufficient energy to the generator for absorption-refrigeration cycles. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.