Absorption Machines for Heating and Cooling in Future Energy Systems

Objectives

The objectives of the project were:

• To study the present industrial and non-industrial applications of absorption technology for heating and cooling
• To list and evaluate ongoing national research programmes concerning absorption technology
• To identify new systems and new cycles utilised since 1990 (Annex 14)
• To identify technical, economical, environmental and political obstacles for introducing absorption technology
• To find ways to overcome the obstacles
• To clarify environmental and political issues that strengthen or weaken absorption technology in relation to competing technologies.

Project manager and participating countries

The project manager (the so-called Operating Agent) was the Royal Institute of Technology, on behalf of Sweden. The participating countries in this project were Canada, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK and USA.

Project results

• Absorption Machines for Heating and Cooling in Future Energy Systems – Workshop the Netherlands
  Order No. HPP-AN24-1; Published December 1997. 348 Pages. Full price € 120 and reduced price € 40.

  This report contains the proceedings of a workshop on absorption machines for heating and cooling in future energy systems held in the Netherlands. It contains country papers as well as case studies on applications.

• Absorption Machines for Heating and Cooling in Future Energy Systems – Workshop Japan
  Order No. HPP-AN24-2; Published March 1999. Full price € 90 and reduced price € 30.

  This report contains papers from eight countries, which participated in the Annex 24 workshop in Tokyo, Japan: China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Sweden, Norway, UK and the Netherlands. The papers cover a variety of presentations ranging from new innovative R&D activities to practical applications of absorption/ adsorption technology.
  The Proceedings are a useful information source for all those involved in the field of energy technology and who are considering alternative heating and cooling technologies instead of conventional HCFC-based system.

• Absorption Machines for Heating and Cooling in Future Energy Systems – Workshop USA, Italy
  Order No. HPP-AN24-3; Published April 2001. 120 Pages. Full price € 90 and reduced price € 30.

  This report contains the proceedings of two working meetings on absorption machines for heating and cooling in future energy systems held in San Francisco, USA and Turin, Italy. These proceedings bring together part of the background material to the findings contained in the final report.

• Absorption Machines for Heating and Cooling in Future Energy Systems – Final report
  Order No. HPP-AN24-4; Published October 2000. Full price € 150 and reduced price € 50.

  This unique report provides an overview of all sorption systems and the necessary tools to determine the current and future economic feasibility and environmental benefits in terms of technology, application and energy generation per country. This information was collated into worldwide conclusions on sorption systems. Further work was recommended regarding the application of sorption technologies to heat recovery systems including CHP.

  Researchers, designers, utilities, end-users and governmental bodies to assess and facilitate the development and application of sorption systems will benefit from the results of this work. The project can count many successes and the results of this collaboration are immediately usable via the workshop proceedings and final report.

 Additional information

• The article Electrical compression cooling versus absorption cooling – a comparison was published in the IEA Heat Pump Centre Newsletter 18/4, December 2000.
• An Excel spreadsheet for calculating the electricity-focused situation was compiled.
• An Excel spreadsheet for calculating the heat-focused situation was compiled.
• February 1999, the project participants compiled a list of companies of absorption and adsorption heat pumps. The list has not been updated since the project has been finalised.
  Please note that inclusion of a company on the list does not imply that the IEA Heat Pump Programme makes any recommendation of the company’s products or services. The List of Manufacturer can be downloaded from the link in the right margin.