Publication: Análisis de procesos en sistemas de absorción por membrana
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2016-10
Defense date
2016-10-14
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Abstract
Los sistemas de refrigeración por absorción se presentan como una alternativa a los tradicionales ciclos de compresión mecánica, ya que permiten sustituir el compresor mecánico por un compresor termoquímico, resultando ser más económicos y ecológicos. Esto es debido a que la energía que se utiliza para mover el refrigerante desde el evaporador hasta el condensador en los sistemas de compresión mecánica es energía eléctrica, mientras que el calor consumido por la máquina de absorción (empleado para separar el vapor del refrigerante y la disolución en el generador) puede proceder de fuentes renovables o tener un origen residual. Por tanto, a parte del ahorro económico que supone la reducción del consumo de electricidad, también se ven reducidas las emisiones de CO2 a la atmósfera. Además, el uso de fluidos totalmente inocuos para el medio ambiente afianza el carácter ecológico de los equipos de absorción. Sin embargo, estos sistemas, y en especial el absorbedor, presentan el inconveniente de ser demasiado voluminosos para ser empleados en aplicaciones a pequeña escala.
En este trabajo, se lleva a cabo el estudio de una configuración novedosa, el microabsorbedor de membrana, que se postula como una posible solución a este problema. Con vistas a una futura implementación experimental en la instalación que se dispone en la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, la cual se describe detalladamente en este escrito, se ha elaborado mediante la simulación por ordenador una primera batería de ensayos que permiten predecir los resultados que se obtendrían e identificar las condiciones de operación más favorables para conseguir el funcionamiento más eficiente de este dispositivo.
Por último, también de forma teórica, se estudia el impacto que tendría sobre un ciclo de refrigeración por absorción la integración de un absorbedor de idéntica geometría que el que se dispone en la instalación experimental, analizando de esta forma la viabilidad de esta tecnología aún en desarrollo en una aplicación real y no exclusivamente de forma aislada.
Absorption refrigerators arise as an alternative to the traditional mechanical refrigeration technology, as they allow for replacing the mechanical compressor by a thermochemical one, proving to be more economic and ecologic. These characteristics are achieved because the energy used to move the coolant from the evaporator to the condenser in mechanical refrigerators is electrical energy, whereas the heat consumed by an absorption machine (employed to separate the coolant vapour from the solution in the generator) can come from renewable sources or have a residual origin. Thus, apart from the economic savings that suppose the reduction in the electricity consumption, CO2 emissions to the atmosphere are also attenuated. In addition, using completely innocuous working fluids reinforces the ecological character of absorption machines. However, these systems and in particular the absorber have the inconvenient of resulting too bulky for their implementation in small scale applications. In this paper, it has been carried out the study of a new configuration, membrane-based absorbers, which is proposed as a possible solution to this problem. With a view to the future implementation in the experimental installation existing in the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, described in detail in this work, it has been elaborated an initial battery of results by computer simulation. These results can help the researchers to predict the behaviour of this device under different working conditions and try to identify those which make the absorber work in the most efficient manner. Finally, also following a theoretical procedure, it has been studied the impact that the integration of an absorber with the same geometry as the one available at the experimental installation would have on a refrigeration absorption cycle. By doing so, it is analysed the feasibility of this technology, still under development, in a real application and not exclusively in an isolated way.
Absorption refrigerators arise as an alternative to the traditional mechanical refrigeration technology, as they allow for replacing the mechanical compressor by a thermochemical one, proving to be more economic and ecologic. These characteristics are achieved because the energy used to move the coolant from the evaporator to the condenser in mechanical refrigerators is electrical energy, whereas the heat consumed by an absorption machine (employed to separate the coolant vapour from the solution in the generator) can come from renewable sources or have a residual origin. Thus, apart from the economic savings that suppose the reduction in the electricity consumption, CO2 emissions to the atmosphere are also attenuated. In addition, using completely innocuous working fluids reinforces the ecological character of absorption machines. However, these systems and in particular the absorber have the inconvenient of resulting too bulky for their implementation in small scale applications. In this paper, it has been carried out the study of a new configuration, membrane-based absorbers, which is proposed as a possible solution to this problem. With a view to the future implementation in the experimental installation existing in the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, described in detail in this work, it has been elaborated an initial battery of results by computer simulation. These results can help the researchers to predict the behaviour of this device under different working conditions and try to identify those which make the absorber work in the most efficient manner. Finally, also following a theoretical procedure, it has been studied the impact that the integration of an absorber with the same geometry as the one available at the experimental installation would have on a refrigeration absorption cycle. By doing so, it is analysed the feasibility of this technology, still under development, in a real application and not exclusively in an isolated way.
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Keywords
Sistemas de refrigeración, Modelo matemático, Simulación