Int. J.

of Thermal & Environmental Engineering

Volume 3, No. 2 (2011) 87-93

Design and Fabrication of Auto Air Conditioner Generator Utilizing

Exhaust Waste Energy from a Diesel Engine

Khaled AlQdaha,*, Sameh Alsaqoora, Assem Al-Jarrahb

a
Faculty of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Department, Tafila Technical University, 66110, Tafila , Jordan
b
Faculty of Engineering, Engineering Chemical Industries Department, Tafila Technical University, Tafila , Jordan

Abstract
In this investigation; analysis and design of an automobile air conditioner was made by utilizing the available diesel
engine exhaust waste energy to provide the required heat for the generator. Because automotive air conditioning is one
of the most equipment that heavily uses CFC compounds, and the leakage of CFCs from such air conditioners affect the
environment, the absorption cycle was found to be an ideal option. Cooling load for the automobile has been estimated
and found to be within acceptable ranges which are about 1.37 TR. The reported results show that the COP values
directly proportional with increasing generator and evaporator temperatures. Measured COP values of the proposed
model varied between 0.85 and 1.04.
The generator was designed and fabricated for optimal performance and could be rapidly transfer to the industrial
applications, The system was found to be applicable and ready to produce the required conditioning effect without any
additional load to the engine The proposed system decreases vehicle operating costs and environmental pollution caused
by the heating system as well as causing a lower global warming. Simple experiments were carried out to examine the
performance of the generator heat shown the benefit of exhaust gases as an alternative heating source.

Keywords: Generator ; Absorber ; COP; Waste Energy; Cooling Load; Aqua- ammonia

Much of an internal combustion engine’s heat from

1. Introduction combustion is discarded out of the exhaust or carried away
via the engine cooling water. All this wasted energy could be
useful. The common automobile, truck or bus air conditioner
Carbon dioxide coming out of every car's tailpipe is a uses shaft work of the engine to turn a mechanical
greenhouse gas. The ultimate effects are unknown, but it is a compressor. Operating the mechanical compressor increases
strong possibility that, eventually, there will be dramatic the load on the engine and therefore increases fuel
climate changes that affect everyone on the planet – global consumption, emissions and engine operating temperature.
warming to be exact. For this reason, there are growing Nowadays all the scientists and car manufacturers in the
efforts to reduce the green house gases. Automobile air world search to solve two main problems in vehicles. The first
conditioning currently is performed by vapor compression problem is fuel economy and reduces the losses and the
refrigeration systems, but the refrigerants in vapor second problem is environment pollution. The most available
compression refrigeration systems are mainly HCFCs and studies that conducted the auto air conditioners using waste
HFCs, which are not environmentally friendly, and the energy as thermally driven are Robert. and Frosch, [1].
compressor uses a significant portion of the engine power. Investigated the automotive air conditioner utilizing the solar
According to the statistic information, 65-70% of the and motor waste heat. Binghadi and Agarwal [2]. proposed a
combustion energy of the fuel consumed is taken away by the use of lithium bromide Li.Br –Zn Br as a working fluid using
radiators and exhaust gases. If the waste heat can be a computer aided analysis of the thermal system. Frank et al
recovered, it is enough to satisfy the input power need for air- [3]. Designed a heat generating apparatus and system for an
conditioning. The waste heat from exhaust gases constitutes a automobile to use for an absorption air conditioning system
large percentage of the total waste heat. including temperature control.

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +96232250326
Fax: +9623 2250002; E-mail: [email protected]
© 2010 International Association for Sharing Knowledge and Sustainability
DOI:10.5383/ijtee.03.02.005

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Alhusein Inayatallah, [4 ]. designed a simple aqua ammonia Qe

absorption system for automobile air conditioning utilizing COP  (2)
the exhaust waste heat from a spark ignition engine. Gui et al Qg
[5].The feasibility of application of a solid-absorption system
using ammonia and chlorides as working pair to automobile
air-conditioning system is investigated. Masadeh, Sh. [6]. Table 1. Summarized the measured heat gained by water
Carried out the analysis and investigation of an automobile which equal to the available heat for the generator
aqua- ammonia air conditioner using the available for the
engine exhaust gases and the desired cooling load from RPM Tin (°C) Tout (° C) Qg (kW) COP
Alhusein and Inayatallah (1994).A complete system was built 900 16 07.5 4.548 1.099384
and the performance of the system was studied based on the
different factors including the temperatures and the exhaust 1200 16 73.8 4.823 1.036616
gases flow rate and the engine power. He suggest that the
system can be manufactured easily and transferred to the 1300 16 77 5.09 0.982236
industry and more commercial size recommended to be 1400 16 80.2 5.357 0.982236
studied. Al-Aqeeli1and Gandhidasan [7]. The feasibility and
design of an air conditioning system for automobiles using the 1500 16 83.9 5.666 0.882421
Open Cycle Absorption System, with LiBr-H2O as the
working fluid. Shah Alam [8] proposed a model for utilizing 1600 16 85 5.758 0.868354
the exhaust waste heat to run automobile air-conditioner In 1800 16 87.1 5.933 0.842706
his work three fluid (Ammonia–Hydrogen and Water) vapor
absorption systems is used for air conditioning of four 2000 16 89 6.092 0.820773
strokes, four cylinders passenger car.

Table 1 represents measured values for waste heat at

2. Objective different temperatures and engine
The main purpose of this investigation is focus lights on
the feasibility to utilize the waste energy from the 4. Results and Discussion
exhaust for a diesel engine and design an suitable size
Based on the data reported figure 2 shows the variation
of automobile air conditioning system based on
of the coefficient of performance with the energy
absorption cycle and to explore the advantages of this
available in the exhaust or heat available in the
system over conventional air-conditioning system using
generator. This energy obtained without additional
vapor compression cycle. In this investigation we will
energy input and from equation the COP inversely
focus on the generator to explore the feasibility of using
proportional with heat generated in the exhaust. The
waste energy to design the generator since this
main components that controlled COP are evaporator
component is the most important component of
and generator heat, in other words exhaust and
absorption system and it is directly influence the
evaporator conditions. So, changing the values of these
performance of the whole system.
two quantities will change the COP.
3. Theoretical Background From the results obtained, it is clear that the system is
feasible to be designed with good reduction in the cost
Based on estimated cooling load calculations, the of operation and fuel consumption.
cooling capacity or heat must be removed from the The same trend for the heat generated can be seen for
evaporator space is 5 kW or (Qe = 4.8 kW), [9-12]. In the exhaust temperature shown in figure 3, the heat in
order to measure the exhaust waste energy to know the the generator proportional directly with the exhaust gas
amount of heat that can be utilize by the generator (Qg). temperature that means low COP has been reported at
Shell and tube heat exchanger has been used. Water higher exhaust gas temperature. the temperature in the
passed through the tube and hot gases from the exhaust refrigerator was increased. At such condition there was
flow in the shell and touch the pipe wall as shown in excessive energy being transferred from the high-
figure1. temperature exhaust gas to the refrigerant, not allowing
The waste heat from the exhaust which can be its condensation in the condenser due to the elevated
transferred to the water and the heat gain by water can sensible heat to be removed
be estimated from the following [13,14] Fig.2. Shows the variation of the exhaust gas
. temperature with the diesel engine speed at different
Qg  m cpT (1) loads. This temperature increases with the engine speed
 and the vehicle load. This means that the higher the
Where Qg is the generator heat (kW) , m is Water engine speed and vehicle load, the higher the amount of
mass flow rate and Cp: specific heat at constant heat provided to the passenger compartment. For the
pressure. To find the coefficient performance of the vehicle loads of 20% and 80%, the maximum exhaust
absorption cycle [15]: gas temperatures were 230 and 280 °C, respectively. It
is seen that this temperature had sufficiently high
values when the engine speed was between 1500 and

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2500 rpm. Furthermore, exhaust gas temperatures at

(°C)
different vehicle loads diverge with the increasing
engine speed.
320
Consequently, the heat generated or energy available in 300

Exhaust Temperature
the exhaust gases variation with the engine speed
explored in figure 3. Directly proportional relation
280
between Qg and engine speed as a result of exhaust gas 260
temperature increasing. Therefore, absorption
refrigeration system may be able to take advantage of
240
the exhaust gas power availability and provide the 220
cooling capacity required for automotive air
conditioning. The heat available in the exhaust gas it is
200
able to evaporate the aqua-ammonia solution to 180
complete this cycle. The waste heat energy available in
800 1800 2800 3800
exhaust gas is directly proportional to the engine speed
and exhaust gas flow rates in addition the exhaust gas
flow temperature which was indicted by figure 4. RPM
Higher COP for the diesel engine using exhaust waste
energy can be achieved at the
From the previous discussion regarding the COP value, Figure 2. The effect of diesel engine speed on the exhaust
it can be seen that this COP depends mainly on the gas temperature
evaporation and regeneration energies. So, changing the
values of these two will change the COP produced.
This indicates that higher regeneration temperatures are 6.5
needed in order to allow the system to work efficiently.
From the results obtained in this work, it is clear that 6
Qg (Kw)

the system is feasible to be designed with good

5.5
reduction in the cost of operation and fuel and power
consumption in addition to low engine emissions. 5

4.5

4
800 1300 1800 2300 2800 3300

RPM

Figure 3. The effect of diesel engine speed on the

exhaust heat generation (Qg)

6.5

6
Figure1. Exhaust gas flow through the heat exchanger
5.5
Qg (kW)

4.5

4
180 230 280 330
Exhaust Tem perature ( °C )

Figure 4. The effect exhaust gas temperature on heat

generation (Qg).

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5. Design and Analysis of The Proposed Model

hi  25.4763 kW / m 2 k 
The generator is used to create the same task of the
compressor in the conventional compression For flow outside the tubes, the equation for normal to
refrigeration cycle. It is located where the heat is the bank of tubes can be used , and the outside film
available from the exhaust gases, and the important coefficient can be calculated [19].
ho * Do
limiting factor the space occupied by generator. The
generator used to evaporate the mixture of ammonia    C (Re)n (Pr)0.36 ( Pr ) 0.25 (9)
kg Prs
that react with water and leaves pure ammonia or
mixture with high ammonia concentration. Where:
The generator is design to have a capacity of 4.6 kW C and n: constant depending on Re.
with temperature around 90 °C and pressure of 19 bar. Kg: thermal conductivity of exhaust gases.
The maximum space available in the automobile that The staggered design of the cross flow heat exchanger
this component can be installed is 50 cm long, 25 cm shown in figure 5 was used for the generator, so we
wide and 15 cm high. used the following procedure[ 16,19]:
Assuming that the overall heat transfer coefficient
through the generator, mass flow rate and specific heat
are constant, and that there is no heat loss to the
atmosphere, the external heat transfer area of the
generator can be calculated.
The external heat transfer area required is calculated
from [16] :
Q
A (3)
ULMTD

To find ΔTLMTD: log mean temp difference

LMTD 
Thi  Tco   Tho  Tci 
ln Thi  Tco  Tho  Tci 
Figure 5. Schematic diagram for staggered design of
 tubes
 
(4) S =2D
Thi= = 543 k and Tho= outlet exhaust temp= 473 k T

LMTD = 182.6 oC S = 1.5 D

L

S = [(0.5 S )2 + SL2 ]0.5

The overall heat transfer coefficient, neglecting the D T

fouling resistance of the tube, is given by the equation If 2(S – D) > (S – D), then
D T
[18]:
Vg 
V ST  (10)
ST  D
1 1 dO do d 1 (5) where:
= * + * ln ( o ) +
U hi di 2k s di ho Vg =velocity of the exhaust gases through the
generator.
V∞= velocity of the exhaust gases entering the
To find (hi) inside heat transfer coefficient from Nusselt generator.
number D =outer diameter of the tube.
h D  Then the following correlation will be used in the
Nu   i i  (6) design [20, 21] :
 k 
 L  pr  0.25
As the flow inside the generator is two-phase flow. The N UD  C (Re) n (pr) 0.36 ( ) (11)
following equation can be used as long as liquid wets prs
the wall [17,20]: A steel tube can be used for the generator material
0.28 0.87
   Di Gx  because the steel does not reacted with the
Nu  0.06 1    Pr 0.4 (7) ammonia solution A schedule 40 steel tube of 1.6
 Pv   1  cm inner diameter and 2.134 cm outer diameter
was used for the generator, then according to this
hi Di size:
Nu  1246.549  (8) S = 4.268 cm, S =3.201 cm, S =3.847 cm
kl T L D

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2(S – D) =3.42625 The recommended shape of the proposed generator as

D
shown in figures 6 and 7.
(S –D)=2.134
T
Which is seemed to be in a good agreement for the model
Since 2(S –D) =3.42625 > (S – D) =2.134, then proposed by [6] for four stroke spark ignition engine.
D T
The properties of ammonia and water mixture and air are
V∞ was measured be 7 m/s. and Vg =14 m/s. available in literature and from [ 23-25]

ST 0.2
C  0.35( )  0.37073 (12) 6. Conclusion
SL
Diesel engines can be considered as a potential energy
sources for absorption refrigeration systems, because of
Pr∞= Prandtls at fluid temperature = 0.703
the energy wasted through the exhaust gas.
Prs= Prandtls at surface temperature = 0.705 the absorption refrigeration system may be able to take
advantage of the exhaust gas power availability and
n = 0.6, C = 0.37073
provide the cooling capacity required for automotive air
Tf = 510 k So we take the properties at T = 510k conditioning.
The waste heat energy available in exhaust gas is
Pr = 0.69
directly proportional to the engine speed and exhaust
From Silva and Costa [22] , the properties for the gas flow rates. The coefficient of performance found to
exhaust gas can be found as : be between 0.85 and 1.045 which has a good

 0.694kg / m 3 
353 353 agreements with data reported in literature. Reducing
g   the fresh air intake and sealing the automobile body can
Tg 508 result in a saving in cooling requirements such as door
 g  1.348 *105  2.68 *108  Tg  sealing and tinting the glass.
Feasibility study should made to decide the unit’s
 g  2.74 *10 5 Ns / m 2  chances to be produced on commercial scales. Also,
applying this project practically in Jordan, because it
k g  8.459  10 3  5.7  10 5  Tg  has many advantages from the pollution and economic
point of view.
k g  0.037915 W / mk 
Vg= 14 m/sec

Where Tg is the exhaust gas temperature

Re  7567.13
Nu= 69.88

ho  124 W / m3 k 
Substituting values in U
ksteel= 42 w/m2k [ 16 ]
Figure 6. Schematic diagram for fluid flow in the
U= 122.139 W/m2k proposed generator
Qg= 4.6 kW
Qg  UAs LMTD
So the Area required As= 0.196 m2 and L=2.932 m

In order to distribute the available length in the

specified space we have a space for tubes of long 8 cm
and outside diameter 2.134 cm to leave space for the
solution to be collected through the other space.
Therefore the number of tubes required is 37.
Figure 7. Schematic diagram for the tubes arrangement in
We need 37 tubes of outside diameter 2.134 cm and the proposed generator From the other side of the generator
inside diameter of 1.6 cm

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