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Absorption refrigerators are operated with heat energy. A commercially viable system for a gas absorption refrigerator, was invented in 1922 by Platen and Munters and exploited by Electrolux in Sweden and Servel in the USA. Its characteristic features are the use of ammonia as a refrigerant, water as absorbent and an inert gas (hydrogen) in a closed coil of steel tubing. It can be operated from an electric heater, a gas flame (LPG or natural gas) or a kerosene burner
Most descriptions in literature of the Platen-Munters system treat only the basics, are sometimes inaccurate and/or written by someone without practical experience. It is believed that a fuller description of the state of art of this technology might be of interest for students and practitioners. The author has seen postgraduate students treating e.g. evaporation and diffusion of ammonia in an atmosphere of hydrogen or the transport capacity of bubble pumps, which were in themselves ingenious but without any application to this technology.
The technology will be treated in chapters linked to this page and published at intervals.
The Swedish inventors Baltzar von Platen and Carl Munters in 1922 developed a cooling unit driven only by heat energy from an electric heater, a gas flame, etc.The unit is hermetically closed, with no moving parts and was marketed by Electrolux in Sweden and Servel in the USA. The cycle is not so easy to understand if tackled head on, so we shall take it in stages. First let us look at the
normal vapor compression cycle, then the Carr¨¦ absorption refrigeration process with a mechanical liquid pump and then the Platen - Munters process. There are growing complications between these, so it is a good idea to follow the reasoning from here on. |
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