Experimental study on the performance of double-effect and double-way thermochemical sorption refrigeration cycle

The feasibility and working performance of a double-effect and double-way thermochemical sorption refrigeration cycle was experimentally investigated. In the test unit, three different metal chlorides were used as high temperature, middle temperature and low temperature salts, respectively. Both the evaporation heat of the refrigerant during adsorption refrigeration process and the decomposition reaction heat of the low temperature salt during resorption refrigeration process were combined to provide useful cold. Experimental results showed that the proposed double-effect and double-way thermochemical sorption refrigeration cycle was feasible, and it can produce four useful cooling-effects during one cycle by using only one heat input at high temperature. The experimental COP was over 1.0 at the chilled temperature of 10–15 °C, decomposition temperature of 260 °C, and heat sink temperature of 30 °C. In addition, the cycle characteristics and the effect of working parameters on the double-effect and double-way thermochemical sorption refrigeration system were analyzed and discussed.