View article

With the four components of a chemical heat pump (two solid-gas reactors, an evaporator and a condenser), a cycle of the double-effect type can be applied to continuous refrigeration. The performance of this process is analysed, allowing the infinite sink temperature and the couples of reactive salts to be used, which depend on the production temperature envisaged, to be selected. The results are presented in a diagram from which may be determined the required source temperature (as a function of the refrigeration temperature), the machine's coefficient of performance, its exergetic efficiency and the equilibrium drop, i.e. the power level that can be reached. This process is compared to the double-effect cycle developed on solid adsorption machines. The useful domain of these machines lies between + 10°C and − 70°C for COPs varying from 0.4 to 0.8.