Demonstration of a hybrid power and refrigeration ammonia-water cycle

This paper reports on the demonstration of a hybrid power generation and refrigeration cycle in a turbine system which employs ammonia-water mixture as the working fluid. The hybrid cycle is the one in which the ammonia-water mixture turbine cycle and the ammonia absorption refrigerator are combined. To demonstrate the performance enhancement of the hybrid cycle, its steady state characteristics were experimentally investigated. The increase of the coefficient of performance (COP) and the performance improvement of the cycle are mainly due to a reduction of the heat of rectification at the ammonia absorption refrigerator. Therefore, the authors especially focused on the COP, the heat source steam consumption rate, and the heat of rectification when the ammonia mass fraction at the rectifier inlet increased. Results showed the COP and heat source steam consumption rate improved about 20% in hybrid operation, compared with normal operation which drives the ammonia absorption refrigerator and the ammonia-water mixture turbine cycle separately.