Enlarged Temperature Lift Of Hybrid Compression-Absorption Heat Transformer Via Deep Thermal Coupling

The energy level mismatch between heat sources and industry users has posed a huge barrier for the wide application of local waste heat recovery, which cannot be efficiently addressed by traditional options due to the limited temperature lift. To fill this gap, a hybrid heat transformer is proposed to achieve large temperature lift via deep thermal coupling between compression and absorption sub-cycles. Firstly, simulation shows that 42.1 kW heat output (at 100 ?C) is provided with the costs of 20.0 kW electricity and 67.4 kW waste heat (at 45 ?C), resulting in a COP of 2.15 and a large temperature lift of 55 ?C. Secondly, an experimental prototype was established for performance validation, which stably upgraded the waste heat from 47?51 ?C to 99?102 ?C with an overall COP of 1.81. Further investigation shows that the proposed system is quite flexible with waste heat source temperatures of 30?60 ?C and output temperatures of 90?115 ?C. Such an effective heat transformer with large temperature lift could be promoted for the efficient utilization of low-grade waste heat, and contribute to the industrial decarbonization.