General thermodynamic performance of irreversible absorption heat pump

Abstract The absorption heat pump (AHP) was studied with thermodynamics. A four reservoirs model of absorption heat pump was established considering the heat resistance, heat leak and the internal irreversibility. The reasonable working regions, the performance effects of irreversibility, heat leak and the correlation of four components were studied. When studying the effects of internal irreversibility, two internal irreversibility parameters ( I he for generator–absorber assembly and I re for evaporator–condenser assembly) were introduced to distinguish the different effects. When studying the heat transfer relations of four components, a universal relationship between the main parameters were deduced. The results which have more realized meaning show that, the reduction of the friction, heat loss, and internal dissipations of the evaporator–condenser assembly are more important than its reduction of generator–absorber assembly, and lessening the heat leak of generator are more important than its reduction of other components to improve the AHP performance.