DOE EERE Research Reports

Thermally Activated Heat Pumps & Chillers: Absorption Heat Pumps, Engine Driven Heat Pumps, and Desiccant Dehumidifiers

Thermally activated, or heat actuated, heat pumps and chillers employ heat energy to produce heating or cooling in refrigeration cycles. The energy can be in the form of heat from a thermal source such as cooling water or exhaust gases from an engine driven electric generaor. Thermally activated heat pumps may alternatively use a natural gas burner to produce the required heat energy. Engine driven heat pumps use fossil fuels in conventional reciprocating engines, or in Stirling, Brayton, or Rankine engines to drive a refrigerant compressor. Desiccant dehumidifiers can use natural gas burners or recovered generator engine heat to regenerate the desiccant used to dry the air.

Links to Project Areas: Absorption Heat Pumps Water-Cooled Chiller and Heat Pump Technologies double-effect water/lithium bromide triple-effect advanced water/lithium bromide cycles multi-stage alternative fluid cycles Air-Cooled Chiller and Heat Pump Technologies single-stage ammonia/water cycles single-stage organic fluid cycles generator/absorber heat exchange (GAX) cycles multi-stage ammonia/water cycles Working Fluids: Properties, Additives, and Alternatives Research Absorption Cycle Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis Technology Performance Evaluations and Progress Overviews Engine Driven Heat Pumps Internal Combustion Engine Technologies Free-Piston Stirling Engine (FPSE) Driven Technologies Stirling/Rankine System (Linear Inertia Compressor) Diaphragm-Coupled FPSE/Compressor System Magnetically-Coupled FPSE/Compressor System FPSE System Modeling, Simulation and Analysis Steam/Rankine Driven Systems Brayton/Rankine Systems System Performance Evaluations and Progress Overviews Desiccant Space Conditioning Systems Integrated Desiccant-Compression Ventilation System Development Technology Performance and IAQ Evaluations Other Novel Cycles and Systems Miscellaneous Publications
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