A computer simulation has been conducted to investigate the performance of an absorption heat pump based on the generator-absorber heat exchange (GAX) cycle employing ammonia-water as the working fluid pair. The particular feature of this cycle is the ability to recover heat from the absorber and employ it to partially heat the generator, thus improving the coefficient of performance (COP). A detailed simulation has been conducted of one of the preferred configurations for the cycle. A modular computer code for flexible simulation of absorption systems (ABSIM) was employed. Performance parameters, including COP and capacity were investigated as functions of different operating parameters over a wide range of conditions in both the cooling and heating modes. The effect of the ambient temperature, rectifier performance, flow rate in the GAX heat transfer loop, and refrigerant flow control were investigated. COPs on the order of 1.0 for cooling and 2.0 for heating have been calculated.

KEYWORDS: year 1995, calculating, performance, ammonia, water, absorption heat pumps, heat recovery, coefficient of performance, absorption, ambient temperature, heat flow, fluid flow, refrigerants, content, cooling, heating, gas fired