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A master's thesis from Aalborg University
Book cover


Development of an Absorption Chiller Utilizing Waste Heat from an Indirect Methanol Fuel Cell System

Translated title

Udvikling af en absorptions køler der udnytter restvarmen fra et indirekte methanol brændselscellesystem

Authors

;

Term

4. term

Publication year

2013

Submitted on

Pages

142

Abstract

Dette speciale udviklede en absorptionskøler, der udnytter spildvarme fra en indirekte methanol-brændselscelle (en teknologi, der omdanner methanol til elektricitet og afgiver varme som biprodukt). Undersøgelsen viste, at en enkelttrins vand/lithiumbromid-absorptionskøler var mest egnet til formålet; her bruges vand som kølemiddel og lithiumbromid-salt som absorbent. For at finde den billigste løsning blev kølerens konfiguration optimeret med en black-box computermodel i EES, dvs. en model der søger de bedste indstillinger uden at beskrive alle interne detaljer. Det resulterende system forventes at opnå en ydelse på 0,86. De fysiske komponenter blev efterfølgende dimensioneret ved at minimere materialeforbruget ved hjælp af individuelle komponentmodeller. Der blev også udviklet et luftkølet koncept, og det vurderes, at køleren kan fremstilles for under den maksimale anlægsudgift på 3700 €.

This thesis developed an absorption chiller that uses waste heat from an indirect methanol fuel cell (a device that converts methanol into electricity and releases heat as a by-product). The study found that a single-effect water/lithium bromide chiller was the most suitable option; it uses water as the refrigerant and lithium bromide salt as the absorbent. To minimize cost, the chiller configuration was optimized with a black-box computer model in EES, meaning the best settings were identified without modeling all internal details. The resulting system is estimated to achieve a performance level of 0.86. The physical components were then sized by minimizing material cost using individual component models. An air-cooled concept was also developed, and the work indicates the chiller can be built for less than the maximum capital expense of €3700.

[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]