Absorption heat transformer

An absorption heat transformer (AHT) is a device which transfers heat from an intermediate temperature level to a high temperature level by means of an absorption process.

Absorption heat transformers are especially suitable for heat recovery from industrial processes, its main advantage being the capacity to upgrade to a usable level the temperature of waste heat streams using only negligible quantities of electrical energy and no additional primary energy.

[1] It revaluates approximately 50% of the driving heat flow.

The simplest construction, a single effect absorption heat transformer, consists of one condenser, one evaporator, one absorber and one generator.

The difference with absorption heat pump is that the absorber and evaporator now operate at high pressure and the condenser and generator at low pressure.

The most common working pairs are water/lithium bromide (refrigerant = water, absorbent = LiBr) and ammonia/water (refrigerant = ammonia, absorbent = water).

A single absorption heat transformer consists of an absorber, generator, evaporator and condenser.

This process is driven by the heat input at the intermediate temperature level.

The heat at the condenser occurs at low temperature level.