Talk:Absorption refrigerator

Dew Point vs Boiling Point

There is a reference to Dew point in the single absorption area. Is this supposed to be Boiling Point? I don't have enough background to know, but it seems off. (But I just may not understand the concept clear enough) Mpking (talk) 15:43, 24 February 2017 (UTC)

Heat sources

Many heat sources can be used, not just solar. I propose changing, once more, "i.e. solar" (that is, solar) to "e.g., solar" (for example, solar) in the lead para. --Old Moonraker 07:19, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Done. Old Moonraker 09:41, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

The most common modern domestic absorption fridge is fuelled by gas in Australia.Polypipe Wrangler (talk) 11:46, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Clarity

The description of the principles, processes, and apparatuses used in absorption refrigerators is very convoluted. There is also insufficient description of the physical laws involved with no equations and only a rudimentary schematic for an absorption refrigerator that is next to impossible to decipher. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Conceptuweasel (talk • contribs) 19:25, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

These sentences, copied here, are in need of simplification.

Instead, it is based on evaporation, carrying heat, in the form of fast-moving (hot) molecules from one material to another material that preferentially absorbs hot molecules. The most familiar example is human sweating. The water from sweat evaporates and is "absorbed" into cool dry air, carrying away heat in fast-moving water molecules. However, absorptive refrigerators differ in that they regenerate their coolants in a closed cycle, while people drink water recycled outside their bodies.

Could be restated thus:

Instead, it is based on evaporation. An example of evaporation is thus: when water evaporates, it changes from liquid to gas/vapor. Water molecules in vapor move faster than water molecules in liquid; that is, they have more kinetic energy. Heat is another word for kinetic energy. These newly vaporized water molecules got their increase of kinetic energy by absorbing heat from their environment. This is how human skin is cooled from the evaporation of sweat: heat is siphoned off the body as sweat turns from liquid to gas.

Note: as the writer above noted, there's much clarity needed elsewhere. Here, at least, could be a way of improving one little section. Having never edited a page, I do not have the temerity to do so now!Francis Smith (talk) 05:50, 18 November 2007 (UTC)Francis Smith

The explanations are not just unclear, they are also wrong. Specifically the phrase:

The basic thermodynamic process is not a conventional thermodynamic cooling process based on Charles' Law. Instead, it is based on evaporation, carrying heat, in the form of faster-moving (hotter) molecules from one material to another material that preferentially absorbs hot molecules.

is nonsense. For one thing the conventional fridge does not operate based on Charles' Law either. The physics of the normal fridge and absoption cooling is more or less identical, they are both based on a reverse Carnot cycle where it is convenient to have the working liquid go from liquid to gas and back. The absorption fridge has no compressor, and in fact can be made to have no moving parts, but otherwise is very similar to the normal one. Kotika98 (talk) 17:32, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Agreed 100%. This article is a complete disaster. The descriptions are impossible to follow, in many cases don't seem to be correct, and sometimes even appear to break basic physical laws. Could someone who actually understands the subject please try to make some sense of it • TheBendster (talk) 20 December 2009, 12:07 (UTC)

Agreed with all the above on the "complete disaster" status of the article. I have completely rewritten and, in the process, simplified and shortened, the "Process" section. Andy (talk) 12:03, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Further edits to the rest of the article - it now reads like semi-acceptable English and, hopefully, manages to explain the concept to newcomer. Andy (talk) 13:00, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

The article needs to be improved in the area of 'no moving parts', because if the liquid is moving around, then the readers need to understand what is the driver that allows the liquid to be moved around without moving parts. KorgBoy (talk) 00:35, 18 February 2024 (UTC)

Other applications

This system is also used with power plants, and other heat generating industry, the cooled liquid produced can then be used in various applications, for example it is pumped to residents to replace Air condition. (Larkuur (talk) 16:06, 29 December 2007 (UTC)).

Drawing

Following comment removed from article for consideration:

{While the clarity of the written article can be improved, the DRAWING attached does not track with the written functional description. It uses somewhat different terms for components, and does not depict how the written components function in a logical fashion. The existing drawing does create confusion and needs to be replaced. jgbwiki}

The drawing here might match the text better --Old Moonraker (talk) 13:14, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

Article content ripped by blog, not other way around

Much of this article has been cribbed nearly word-for-word from this page: http://blog.permacultureglobalreport.com/2008/03/solar-refrigeration-technology.html I would think there are some copyright issues with that... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.71.141.93 (talk) 12:09, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Nope sorry, the content of the wikipedia article predates that blog posting, and the blog post appears to be a direct uncited rip from the article. The second paragraph is identical for Dec 2007 vs that March 2008 blog posting:

Dec 2007 revision: [1]

An absorption refrigerator is similar to a regular compressor refrigerator in that the refrigeration takes place by evaporating a liquid with a very low (sub-zero) boiling point. In both cases, when a liquid evaporates or boils, it takes some heat away with it, and can continue to do so either until the liquid is all boiled, or until everything has become so cold that the sub-zero boiling point has been reached. The difference between the two is how the gas is changed back into a liquid so that it may be used again. A regular refrigerator uses a compressor to increase the pressure on the gas, and then condenses the higher pressure gas back to a liquid by heat exchange with a coolant (usually air). An absorption refrigerator uses a different method that requires no moving parts and is powered only by heat.

DMahalko (talk) 02:48, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Inventor

I'm currently studying at the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology, and I learned from them that Carré is recognized as the inventor of the principle. The Platen-Munters is an advanced design based on this first principle. For reference you can contact Björn Palm, head of refrigeration technology department. ( bjornp@kth.se )--Napishtim (talk) 15:19, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Cleaned up external links

The Bibliography section was basically a collection of external links. So I moved most of it into the existing External Links section. I also moved a link from the References section up into the External Links, and fixed the link. The old Bibliography section included a reference to the movie White Banners -- the movie's main plot revolved around a stolen refrigerator invention, but other than that it didn't seem to have much to do with this page. Finally, the old Bibliography section mentioned a 1925 Swedish publication by von Platen and Munters, but this is already covered in more detail in the History section. netjeff (talk) 22:30, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

Dometic

Moving this link here.

• Dometic USA Absorption refrigerators for recreational vehicles

It's just a corporate site with no useful information about absorption refrigerators (other than they sell them). 72.87.188.254 (talk) 05:45, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

Moved info

I moved most info to Absorption air cooler. This as the -refrigerator article is simply a casing which uses a thermal absoption unit or thus absorption air cooler. Kept parts here which apply to the refrigerator alone KVDP (talk) 12:38, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

Having this article duplicated in its entirety in two places is not an acceptable solution, especially due to the exceptionally low quality of the article at the date it was copied. I have extensively updated this article and added a redirect to the Absorption air cooler article. Andy (talk) 12:38, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Can the heat that's being vented out be used as an additional heat source?

Just a thought. I'd be surprised if this is yet to be done, it would make the device a lot more efficient and reliable. Robo37 (talk) 12:48, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

If you meant recycling of heat for reuse in the same device, that this unfortunately is not easily doable, as from physics we know that hot air flows up, but in this device the heater is bellow condenser (due to the same physics), so we need heat bring down from condenser back to heater. To achieve this we will need additional force to get heat down, e.g. using water pumping, but this will cost money and most possibly make noise which will be unacceptable. The only way how you can usefully use the heat from condenser is to heat your kitchen in winter. ;)
The efficiency of this device only could be improved by better thermal control of boiler to avoid excessive heating of ammonia/water solution and by usage of materials which longer keep heat in boiler. Roberts7 14:19, 1 August 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Roberts7 (talk • contribs)

Developing World

I am sorry that this page now has so little about the previous and continuing value of absorption refrigerators in the developing world, particularly for the storage of medical supplies. A quick reference to a TED talk on a "new" invention doesn't quite cover the ground. Oak (talk) 19:19, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

Adsorption <> Absorption

Adsorption Refrigeration is NOT Absorption Refrigeration. Can someone remove the redirect link? — Preceding unsigned comment added by ExTutor (talk • contribs) 08:38, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Yes, adsorption and absorption aren't the same at all. I don't think that there is such a thing as "adsorption refrigeration". My guess is that the redirect is here for those who mistype or mispell it when searching for this topic. --Jerome Potts (talk) 17:41, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

Layout

The layout needs to be fixed, huge blank space due to infobox. Janke | Talk 19:11, 16 June 2012 (UTC)

Labelled photo of a domestic absorption refrigerator

Image File:Absorption_fridge.jpg contains a caption which contradicts the caption included in this article. The image file caption appears to be more accurate - is anyone able to clarify which is correct? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.155.177.222 (talk) 13:46, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

I no gets it

In the intro, we have "An absorption refrigerator changes the gas back into a liquid using a method that needs only heat.", whereas in the following "Principles" section, there is "The refrigerant-laden liquid is heated, causing the refrigerant to evaporate.". So, heat is used for both the evaporation and condensation ? How does this work for the condensation part ? --Jerome Potts (talk) 17:30, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

Also, i'm wondering where all that heat goes: you throw some heat to an apparatus which extracts heat from the client fluid to be refrigerated (ambient air or water), then i suppose that you end up with, let's say, twice as much heat to get rid of? How is that done, especially without any moving parts ? --Jerome Potts (talk) 17:30, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

I'm definitely no expert, but I believe it has to do with changes in pressure--i.e. the pressure of the heated fluid drives the system (without moving parts), as well as (somehow) extracting heat. This also all seems to be done at temperatures to which humans don't normally associate "liquid." I agree that the article could better describe the process. 108.222.214.13 (talk) 02:45, 26 October 2013 (UTC)

Not so complicated. Heating an ammonia-water solution drives off ammonia vapor. The vapor goes through the condenser and loses heat to the surroundings, condensing into liquid ammonia. The liquid ammonia boils, absorbing heat from the refrigerator. The ammonia vapor is absorbed into the water, completing the cycle. If the heat is shut off, the system will stop cooling when the ammonia water is saturated, lacking the energy input needed to drive the ammonia from the water. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.174.87.28 (talk) 13:42, 11 February 2014 (UTC)

Expected Temperature range and cooling ability of Absorption fridges / refrigerators

What is the Expected Temperature range and cooling ability of Absorption refrigerators? Can an Absorption freezer cool products down to -18C?

Refrigeration time of Absorption refrigerators vs Compressor Refrigerator

What is the difference in time it takes an Absorption refrigerator to cool food down, versus an ordinary 110V or 220V mains refrigerator?

In cases where off the Grid refrigeration is required, how does the cooling ability of an Absorption refrigerator compare to an ordinary compressor powered mains refrigerator?

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Single pressure absorption refrigeration: evaporation, not boiling

The explanation given in the section is wrong, it's not about boiling, but evaporation. The boiling point of a liquid doesn't depend on the partial pressure in the atmosphere above the liquid, but on the total pressure. The temperature of the liquid determines the vapor pressure, if it is higher than the partial pressure, the liquid evaporates. If it is lower, the vapor condenses. Prevalence 01:28, 12 January 2017 (UTC)

Possible references

From the external links section, I deleted the link http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/ccms/documents/august_tsd/ac_thermo_august.pdf Air Conditioning Thermodynamics because the California Air Resources Board took it down. But first, I hunted down an archive copy, and it turns out it doesn't really belong in the external links section anyhow. It doesn't add much that is not already in the article. However, I thought I should mention two entries in its reference section, as they may be useful as references for the article:

• “Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach”, Third Edition, WCB/McGraw-Hill, 1998, Yunus A. Cengel and Michael A. Boles
• “Heat-Generated Cooling Opportunities in Vehicles” SAE 2002-01-1969, Valerie H. Johnson https://www.nrel.gov/transportation/assets/pdfs/2002_01_1969.pdf

Condensinguponitself (talk) 18:34, 21 November 2020 (UTC)

Title change?

Could/should the title be changed to “Absorption Refrigeration Cycle” since it’s mostly about the cycle and not the actual fridge? AbrahamWright (talk) 22:37, 21 December 2021 (UTC)

Explosions, fires

Since 1997 three thkusand rv fridfe fires , there us a ckass action kawsuit against dometic — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1700:CDA0:1060:F50B:9C21:283F:94AA (talk) 01:01, 2 February 2022 (UTC)