Theoretical analysis of an integrated

thermoelectric-absorption cooling system

R. Boukhanouf (corresponding author) and A. Supasuteekul
School of the Built Environment
University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
E-mail: Rabah.boukhanouf@nottingham.ac.uk

Abstract This paper presents the mathematical analysis of a single stage absorption cycle using heat
rejected from thermoelectric modules to drive the cycle. The absorption cycle uses LiBr/H2O solution as
the working pair with thermoelectric modules sandwiched between the generator and absorber. The
results of the analysis show that thermoelectric modules would provide the heat required to drive the
absorption cycle and the overall coefficient of performance (COP) of the integrated system could be
higher than unity.

Keywords absorption; thermoelectric; cooling; COP; LiBr

Nomenclature
a Seebeck coefficient of TE module (V/K)
h Specific enthalpy (kJ/kg)
.
m Mass flow rate (kg/s)
I Electrical current into the TE module (A)
Kt TE module thermal conductance (W/K)
N Number of thermoelectric module
R Electrical resistance of the TE module ()
P. Electric power supplied to the TE module (W)
Q Power (W)
T Temperature (C)
TM Average temperature (C), (TH + TC)/2
V Voltage applied to TE module (V)
X Solution concentration (%)
Z Figure of merit of the TE module (K1)
COP Coefficient of performance

Subscripts
A Absorber
C Condenser
E Evaporator
G Generator
H Hot junction
L Cold junction
ABS Absorption refrigeration system
NET TE/absorption cooling system
TEC Thermoelectric cooling system

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 Theoretical analysis of an integrated thermoelectric-absorption cooling system 53

1. Introduction

Recently, there has been increased interest in using thermoelectric (TE) for cooling
and heating applications in the aerospace, medical, electronics and telecommunica-
tion sectors [1, 2, and 3]. In refrigeration and heat pump applications, TE systems
present a distinct advantage in that they do not have moving parts or CFC-based
refrigerant to transfer heat, and emit no noise or vibration. In addition, TE can be
installed in any orientation and are ideal for applications where size and weight are
concerned. Furthermore, growing international concern about global warming and
ozone depletion has encouraged more research and development of energy efficient
and environmental friendly refrigeration and air-conditioning systems to be under-
taken [4 and 5]. However, use of TE in domestic refrigeration and air-conditioning
systems has not made the anticipated progress. This is mainly due to the high cost
of the TE manufacturing process and low COP of typically 0.1 to 0.4 when oper-
ated in a cooling mode. This has restrained the application of a TE cooling system
to specific applications such as low cooling capacity of electronic components.
Despite the low COP of TE cooling systems compared to conventional vapour
compression units, efforts have been made to develop thermoelectric air-condition-
ers and refrigerators for domestic application to exploit the advantages associated
with solid-state energy conversion technology [6]. Currently, the highest cooling
capacity for a TE air-conditioner available in the market is about 730 W and is mar-
keted by EIC Solutions Inc. [7] and a prototype thermoelectric 250 litre refrigera-
tor is under study by Hydrocool Pty Ltd [8]. Other research work on the application
of thermoelectric investigated the use of TE to assist conventional working cycles
to improve performance. Vian et al. [9] have demonstrated a dehumidifier prototype
based on the thermoelectric cooling technology with a COP comparable to that
offered by vapour-compression devices. Similarly, Gordon et al. [10] have presented
the study of a miniature chiller, called electro-adsorption chiller, which combines
adsorption and thermoelectric cooling devices. The overall COP of the system was
reported to be higher than in conventional adsorption chillers and the system can
offer significantly lower temperatures at high a COP. However, the performance is
limited by poor heat transfer in solid sorption beds.
In this work, the investigation is focused on using heat generated from TE modules
to drive a single effect absorption cycle in small scale cooling systems. By com-
bining the two systems, not only heat that would normally be rejected to the envi-
ronment from the TE cooling system would serve as a heat source to drive the
absorption cycle, but also recover a considerable amount of low grade heat rejected
from the absorber and condenser. In the conventional absorption system, a good heat
transfer rate in the generator section is usually difficult to achieve, as heat must be
supplied at near the boiling temperature of the refrigerant-absorbent pair, which is
in turn fixed by the operating pressure in the generator. Using TE to supply heat to
the generator will eliminate this constraint, allowing accurate temperature control of
the working pair as low as 0.01C [11], fast thermal response to changes in operat-
ing pressure, and reduction of the effect of the thermodynamic irreversibility in the
absorption cycle. Two main absorbent/absorbate working pairs were considered in

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 54 R. Boukhanouf and A. Supasuteekul

this work: LiBr/H2O and H2O/NH3 and the former working pair was chosen for its
good thermodynamic and cycle performance properties.

2. Description of the system

A schematic diagram of the integrated thermoelectric-absorption cycle is shown in
Fig. 1. The thermoelectric module, used as a heat source to drive the absorption
cycle, is sandwiched between the generator and absorber cylinder end plates. Power
supply to TE modules appears as heat at the TE/generator interface.
The single stage adsorption cycle is made of four main components: a generator,
a condenser, an evaporator and an absorber. As shown in Fig. 1, The TE module is
used to heat the LiBr/water working pair mixture in the generator causing water
vapour to flow at high pressure to the condenser while the strong concentration LiBr
solution is returned to the absorber via the pressure regulator valve. In the condenser,
the water vapour is cooled and condensed to its liquid state. The liquid refrigerant
is then throttled through an expansion valve and enters a low pressure evaporator
where it evaporates by absorbing heat from the surroundings. After that, low pres-
sure water vapour is mixed in the absorber with the high concentration solution
returning from the generator hence releasing large amounts of heat in the process.
The TE module is then used to absorb this heat and transfer it to the hot side which
is part integrated with the generator. The diluted solution in the absorber is then
pumped to the generator for regeneration and maintaining its concentration poten-
tial, thus completing the cycle. In addition, in order to improve the performance of

1
7

Generator Condenser
8

2
6 9
TE module
Solution
Heat
Exchanger 10 4

Absorber Evaporator

5 3

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of TE/absorption cooling system.

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 Theoretical analysis of an integrated thermoelectric-absorption cooling system 55

Heat rejected (Hot side)

Ceramic plates
(Electrical insulator)

Copper tab
P N P N P N P N (Electrical conductor)

Negative Positive
() (+)

P-type N-type
semiconductor semiconductor

Heat obsorbed (Cold side)

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of thermoelectric module.

the system a solution heat exchanger was used to recover heat from the solution
returning the generator to the absorber.
The thermoelectric module is composed of a large number of solid state thermo-
elements made of n-type and p-type bismuth telluride semiconductor materials. In
a typical TE module, the thermo-elements are connected electrically in series and
thermally aligned in parallel between two ceramics plates, as shown in Fig. 2. By
applying a DC Voltage from an electric supply source, electric current flows through
the TE causing heat to be transferred from one end of the n-p junction to the oppo-
site junction, creating a static heat pump operating according to Peltiers effect prin-
ciple. A single-stage high temperature TE can operate at temperature differences of
up to 70C and transfer heat at a rate of 125 W [12]. Higher temperature differences
(up to 130C) can also be achieved using multistage cascaded modules. For this
application, high temperature TE modules with a maximum temperature difference
T of 89C and a hot junction temperature of 125C [12] were selected as suitable
and which are commercially available from a number of manufacturers.

3. Theoretical analysis
3.1 Absorption refrigeration cycle
A mathematical model was developed to determine the performance of the absorp-
tion cycle using equations of energy and mass conservation for each component
composing the cycle. The thermodynamic properties of LiBr/water working pair
used in the model were determined using equations as derived in ASHRAE [13] and
Irvine [14]. The model was based on the following assumptions:

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 56 R. Boukhanouf and A. Supasuteekul

The system operates under steady state conditions.

Power consumption of circulation pumps is negligible.
The generator and condenser operate at equal high pressure.
The evaporator and absorber operate at equal low pressure.
The expansion valves operation follows isentropic process.
The computer model was used to compute the mass balance at each components
boundary interface using equations 1 and 2.
m 5 = m 10 + m 4 (1)
m 5 X5 = m 10 X10 + m 4 (2)
The energy balance equations were also developed for each component of the cycle
and in which heat input and output to the cycle were computed by solving the
following equations 3 to 6:
Q E = m 4 (h4 h3 ) (3)
Q A = m 10 h10 + m 4 h4 m 5 h5 (4)
Q G = m 1h1 + m 8 h8 m 7 h7 (5)
Q C = m 1 (h1 h2 ) (6)
Since the work supplied through the pump is assumed to be negligible, the COP of
the single-effect absorption refrigeration system can be expressed as:
Q
COPABS = E (7)
QG

3.2 Thermoelectric system

The basics of TE cooling can be found in many text books and published papers
[15]. In this analysis the external irreversibilities were neglected and only internal
effects (i.e., Ohmic and Peltier effects) that characterise the TE module material were
considered. Hence the heat source and heat sink temperatures are considered to
be equal to the hot and cold junction temperatures respectively. The governing
equations of the TEC module cooling power and the COP can be expressed as
follows [16, 17]:
1 2
QL = aITL I R Kt (TH TL ) (8)
2
where I is the current that flows through the TE module when a voltage, V, is applied
at its terminals and is given by:
V a (TH TL )
I=
R
and a is an important physical property for the TE module known as figure of merit,
Z, which is defined as:

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 Theoretical analysis of an integrated thermoelectric-absorption cooling system 57

a2
Z=
Kt R
.
The power supplied to the TE module needed to generate the cooling power QL
and overcome Ohmic losses associated with the TE materials can also be computed
from:
P = aI (TH TL ) + I 2 R (9)
Finally, the COP of TE when operated in cooling mode can be written as:
1
aITL I 2 R Kt (TH TL )
Q L 2
COPTEC = = (10)
P aI (TH TL ) + I 2 R

3.3 The integrated TE-absorption cooling system

The overall COP of the integrated TE-absorption system can be expressed as a
function of the individual performances of the absorption cycle and thermoelectric
module by considering overall energy inputs and outputs to the system. The energy
input to the system is represented by the power, P,. supplied to the TE module
and the cooling power absorbed in the evaporator, QE whereas energy outputs are
represented by the heat rejected in the condenser and absorber and not recovered by
the TE module. By applying the first law of thermodynamics to the integrated
system, the total power supplied to the generator to drive the absorption cycle is
given by:
Q G = P + Q L (11)
The overall COP of the system can be defined as the cooling power obtained in the
evaporator divided by the total electric power input to the TE module, and can be
written as follows:

Q E
COPNET = (12)
P
Hence substituting equation 7, 10 and 11 into equation 12, the COP of the TE-
absorption cooling system can be re-written as follows:
COPNET = COPABS (1 + COPTEC ) (13)
Equation 13 shows that the COP of the integrated TE-absorption system, COPNET,
is strongly dependent on individual performances of the absorption cycle and the
TE module. The mathematical analysis of performance of the integrated cooling
system was evaluated under a range of operating conditions for the generator,
absorber, condenser and evaporator. The generator and absorber temperature was
varied from 90 to 100C and from 25 to 47C respectively, resulting in a maximum
temperature difference across the TE module of 75C. The control input parameters
and data used in the analysis are presented in Table 1.

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 58 R. Boukhanouf and A. Supasuteekul

Table 1. Design parameters

Absorption system:
Cooling capacity, QE (W) 200
TC (C) 40
TA (C) 35
TE (C) 5
Solution heat exchanger effectiveness, e 0.6
Thermoelectric specifications:
Manufacturer Melcor Corporation
Model HT8-12-40
Dimensions (mm) 40 40 3.3
Number of thermocouples 127
Area/Length of TE element, A/L (cm) 0.171
Imax*(A) 8.3
Qmax*(W) 88
Vmax*(V) 20.5
Tmax*(C) 89

* Specifications for TH = 125C, Qmax rated value at T = 0 C

4. Simulation results and discussion

The steady state operating temperature range in the generator that needs to be main-
tained by the TE was chosen to span the practical range for the single-effect absorp-
tion application and so avoid problems of crystallisation of LiBr. Fig. 3 shows the
performance of the absorption cycle for a generator temperature ranging from 90 to
100C and condenser temperature, TC, and evaporator temperature, TE, maintained
at 40C and 5C, respectively. It can be seen that its coefficient of performance
(COPABS) increases with an increase in generator temperature while decreases
markedly at a high absorber temperature. At lower absorber temperatures, the effect
of the generator temperature on the performance of the cycle is however reduced
and the modelling results show that a maximum COPABS of about 0.82 could be
achieved. Fig. 4 shows the performance of the TEC module for absorber (heat
source) temperatures ranging from 25 to 50C. Unlike the absorption cycle, it can
be seen that the coefficient of performance of the TE module, COPTEC, increases lin-
early with the increasing absorber temperature. However the performance of the TE
module is reduced with the increasing generator (heat sink) temperature as the
amount of obtained cooling load is proportionally affected by temperature gradient
between the absorber and generator, as described by Equation (8). It can be seen that
over the range of the operating absorber temperatures, COPTEC increases from 0.18
for TG = 100C to 0.48 for TG = 90C.
A 3D plot of the overall performance of the integrated TE-absorption cooling
system is shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen that under operating temperatures of the
generator and absorber ranging from 90 to 100C and from 25 to 50C respectively,
the coefficient of performance of the integrated TE-Absorption system, COPNET,
reaches an optimum value. For a specific operating condition, the maximum COPNET

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 Theoretical analysis of an integrated thermoelectric-absorption cooling system 59

0.85

0.8

0.75
100 C
0.7 98 C
96 C
COPABS

0.65
94 C
0.6
92 C
0.55

0.5

0.45 90 C

0.4
25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47
Absorber Temperature (C)

Figure 3. COP of single stage absorption cycle.

0.6
100
98
0.5
96
94
0.4 92
90
COPTEC

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47
Absorber Temperature (C)

Figure 4. COP of TE cooling system.

value can be obtained from Equation (13). For example, for a constant generator
temperature of 90C and absorber temperature of 35C, a maximum COPNET of 1.06
was obtained. The performance of the integrated system is also influenced by the
number of the TE modules employed, as illustrated in Fig. 6. It can be seen that for
a given operating temperature in the condenser, evaporator and absorber, increasing

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 Figure 5. Overall performance of integrated TE/absorption cooling system.
1.1

1.08

1.06

1.04

1.02
COPNET

1 N=3
0.98 N=2

0.96 N=4

0.94

0.92

0.9
90 92 94 96 98 100
Generator Temperature (C)

Figure 6. Effect of number of TE modules on COPNET (TE = 5C, TC = 40C, and

TA = 35C).

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 Theoretical analysis of an integrated thermoelectric-absorption cooling system 61

35

32.5

30
Heat Recovery (%)

27.5

25
N=3
22.5 N=2

20 N=4

17.5

15
90 92 94 96 98 100
Generator Temperature (C)

Figure 7. Effect of number of TE modules on heat recovered from the absorber (TE = 5C,
TC = 40C, and TA = 35C).

the number of TEC modules has a marginal improvement on the systems overall
performance and COPNET has a linearly decreasing trend as the generator tempera-
ture increases. This is due to increased heat generation by the Joules effect in TEC
modules that needs to be conducted to the hot side (generator) and offsets the benefit
of generating the additional cooling effect as described in Equations (8) to (10).
Likewise, Fig. 7 demonstrates that increasing the number of TEC modules does not
necessarily improve substantially the amount of heat that can be recovered from the
absorber and supplied into the generator. It can be seen that under favourable oper-
ating conditions, increasing the number of TEC modules from 2 to 4 has increased
COPNET by only 5% while the amount of heat rejected in the absorber that can be
recovered is limited to about 30%.
Finally the performance of the integrated system was analysed to determine the
effect of the evaporator and condenser temperatures. Figures 8 and 9 show a similar
trend in that for a constant condenser and evaporator temperature, the overall per-
formance of the system, COPNET, decreases as the generator temperature increases.
Also for a given generator temperature, COPNET increases with increasing evapora-
tor temperature and decreasing condenser temperature.
From the discussed computer modelling results, the optimum design conditions
of the system were taken to occur for an absorber temperature of 35C, a generator
temperature of 90C and using 3 TE modules (N = 3). A full listing of the computer
modelling results of the absorption cycle, TEC modules and the integrated TE-
absorption system is given in Table 2.

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 62 R. Boukhanouf and A. Supasuteekul

1.2

Te = 10 C
1 Te = 5 C

Te = 10 C
0.8
Te = 5 C
COP

0.6

0.4
Te = 10 C
Te = 5 C
0.2

0
90 92 94 96 98 100 COPTEC
Generator Temperature (C) COPabs
COPnet

Figure 8. Effect of generator and evaporator temperature on COPNET (TC = 40C and
TA = 35C).

1.2

Tc = 30 C
1 Tc = 40 C

Tc = 30 C
0.8

Tc = 40 C
COP

0.6

0.4
Tc = 30 C

0.2 Tc = 40 C

0
90 92 94 96 98 100 COPtec
Generator Temperature (C) COPabs
COPnet

Figure 9. Effect of absorber and condenser temperature on COPNET (TE = 5C

and TA = 35C).

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 Theoretical analysis of an integrated thermoelectric-absorption cooling system 63

Table 2. Operating conditions and modelling results of the TE/absorption system

Absorption operating parameters

QE (W) QA (W) QC (W) QG (W)
200 249.355 213.595 262.95

Point on the cycle h (kJ/kg) m (kg/s) P (kPa) T (C) X (%)

1 2669.68 8.53 105 7.33 90 0
2 166.683 8.53 105 7.33 40 0
3 166.683 8.53 105 0.863 40 0
4 2510.37 8.53 105 0.863 5 0
5 85.879 7.77 104 0.863 35 55.698
6 85.879 7.77 104 7.33 35 55.698
7 153.536 7.77 104 7.33 68 55.698
8 223.249 6.919 104 7.33 90 62.567
9 147.247 6.919 104 7.33 49.06 62.567
10 147.247 6.919 104 0.863 49.06 62.567

Thermoelectric operating parameters

a(V/K) R () k (W/K) N () P (W) I (A) V (V) QL (W)
0.0529 1.789 0.665 3 187.168 15.443 12.12 74.91

Overall performance
COPTEC COPABS COPNET
0.4 0.761 1.065

5. Conclusion
A theoretical analysis and a computer model were conducted to optimise the per-
formance of an integrated TE module and a single stage absorption cycle. The effect
on the performance of the integrated system of various operating conditions includ-
ing generator, absorber, condenser, evaporator temperature as well as number of TE
modules was studied. It was found that an improved overall efficiency can be
achieved when integrating the TE and absorption cycle into a single cooling system.
The modelling was carried out first to determine individual performances of TE
modules and absorption cycle and then the integrated system. The modelling results
showed that the optimum number of TE modules required to attain the design heat
capacity for the generator was N = 3 and a maximum of 30% of the heat that would
normally be rejected from the absorber to the environment could be recovered. It
was also found that maximum overall COPNET can be achieved by operating the
generator at the lower end of its operating temperature range with the absorber
being maintained at temperatures lower that 40C. The integrated thermoelectric-
absorption system could achieve a COP higher than unity at an evaporator temper-
ature of 5C and produce a cooling capacity of 200 Watts.

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 64 R. Boukhanouf and A. Supasuteekul

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