Application

Absorption systems fit well into cooling, heating, and power (CHP) schemes. When used with a Cogeneration plant, they can take waste heat from these engine and exhaust systems and use it as power, while producing useful cooling for space conditioning.

Absorption chillers can change a building’s thermal and electric profile by shifting cooling from an electric load to a thermal load. This shift can be very important for facilities with time-of-day electrical tariffs, high cooling season rates, and high-demand charges.

Some facilities with high-demand charges find it economical to install hybrid chiller plants with both electrical centrifugal and absorption chillers.

Building energy managers can take advantage of fuel diversity by using absorption chillers when electricity rates and demand charges are high and switching to electric centrifugal chillers when rates and charges are low.

Ideal locations for absorption chillers are facilities with high thermal loads such as hospitals, data centres, shopping centres, low gas costs, high peak electrical demand costs, waste heat sources and operations with more than 1500 hours per year or more of air conditioning loads. These facilities may include commercial buildings with access to steam, industrial processes, commercial buildings with natural gas access and institutional buildings.