A car air-conditioning system based on an absorption refrigeration cycle using energy from exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine

G Vicatos; J Gryzagoridis; S Wang

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Cape Town

ABSTRACT

Energy from the exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine is used to power an absorption refrigeration system to air-condition an ordinary passenger car. The theoretical design is verified by a unit that is tested under both laboratory and road-test conditions. For the latter, the unit is installed in a Nissan 1400 truck and the results indicate a successful prototype and encouraging prospects for future development.

Keywords: car air-conditioning, absorption refrigeration, renewable energy

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References

Epstein G.J. and Manwell S.P. (1992) Environmental Trade-offs Between CFCs and Alternative Refrigerants, ASHRAE Journal.         [ Links ]

Greene A.B. and Lucas G.G. (1969) The Testing of Internal Combustion Engines, The English Universities Press.         [ Links ]

King G.R. (1977) Modern Refrigeration Practice, McGraw-Hill, Inc.         [ Links ]

Lorentzen G. and Pettersen J. (1993) A New, Efficient and Environmentally Benign System for Car air-conditioning, International Journal Refrigeration, 16, 1.         [ Links ]

Vicatos G. (1995) Heat and mass transfer characteristics: Design and optimisation of absorption refrigeration machines, PhD thesis, University of Cape Town South Africa.         [ Links ]

Wang S. (1997) Motor vehicle Air-conditioning utilising the exhaust gas to power an absorption refrigeration cycle, MSc thesis, University of Cape Town South Africa.         [ Links ]

Received 7 March 2008
Revised 2 September 2008