The following article was published in ASHRAE Journal, April, 2002.

© Copyright 2002 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-

Conditioning Engineers, Inc. It is presented for educational purposes only. This article may not be copied and/or distributed electronically or in
paper form without permission of ASHRAE.

New Developments
In Gas Cooling
By William Ryan, Ph.D., P.E., Member ASHRAE

T here is no secret to the price volatility in the energy industry today.

Dramatic increases in electric prices follow high summer-cooling
ogy popular in the 1960s, but not widely
seen since that time — gas air condition-
ers. Totally unlike large lithium bromide
demand periods. High gas prices track high winter-heating demand.♦ absorption chillers, these small capacity,
Attempts to control high summer electric prices with price caps have packaged, air-cooled ammonia-water
absorption gas air conditioners are de-
led to power shortages as wholesale spot prices soar beyond the price
signed for residential or light commer-
caps and suppliers decline to provide power. cial uses. Widely used in the 1960s, these
systems fell by the wayside due to their
low efficiencies. Since that time, the tech-
On the gas side, the wildly high prices strong moves to help rebalance this load nology has evolved to nearly double the
during the heating season of 2000–2001 by promoting ground-source heat pumps, efficiency of these systems. In today’s
immediately crashed as summer weather a technology that can efficiently provide deregulating energy industry, market
set in and demand evaporated. sufficient heating capacity in more north- forces are converging to bring these tech-
As a nation, we have a large invest- ern climates. However, the ground loops nologies back into the market.
ment in energy delivery systems that are needed for these systems have made them
far out of balance. Our electric delivery extraordinarily expensive to install, on A Quick Primer
system is oversized to cover peak sum- the order of $2,000 or more per ton de- Most of today’s HVAC experts are un-
mer needs. The gas delivery system is pending on system size. familiar with ammonia water air-condi-
sized to meet peak winter loads. Gas cooling also can be useful by mov- tioning systems. So, what is this old/
The electric industry has understood ing some of the most volatile summer new gizmo?
this problem. It responded by promoting load — cooling — from the overloaded An ammonia water absorption system
electric resistance heating in the 1960s, electric system to the underused gas sys- works like any absorption chiller except
which remains popular for some commer- tem. In the 1990s, this led to a growing that ammonia is the refrigerant and wa-
cial applications. More recently, electric popularity of large gas-fired lithium bro- ter is the absorbent. Ammonia is boiled
air-to-air heat pumps have made signifi- mide/water absorption or engine chill- out of water by heat from a gas-fired
cant market inroads in the South. ers. However, these systems have been burner and condensed in an outdoor air
However, in the northern areas of the predominantly used in large commercial coil. The liquid ammonia is then evapo-
United States the system is most out of buildings with central chiller systems. rated at low pressure, producing cooling,
balance, with high heating loads in the Fully 70% of all commercial floor space and reabsorbed into the water.
winter, and summer peak cooling loads is in buildings of less than 100,000 ft2 Wait a minute — ammonia refrigerant
as high as those in the south, but of shorter (9290 m2). Smaller buildings and homes — isn’t ammonia dangerous? Actually,
duration. Unfortunately, short duration tend to use packaged AC systems. Unless
About the Author
does not help. The electric system must some solution can be found for this large
William Ryan, Ph.D., P.E., is senior researcher
be sized to supply power for those brief segment of the market, balancing the en- at the Energy Resources Center/Midwest
periods of peak demand. ergy delivery system will be difficult. CHP Applications Center, University of Illinois at
The electric industry has made some One approach is to revive a technol- Chicago.

ASHRAE Journal|April 2002 23

ammonia makes a great refrigerant. With 2.5 times the heat of Restrictor
vaporization of fluorocarbons, ammonia is highly effective,

Rectifier
Analyzer
has no ozone depletion potential, and no significant global GAX/SCA
warming potential. If released, ammonia is swept out of the

RHE
atmosphere by rainfall, and is environmentally benign. In fact,

TEV
Condenser
ammoniated water is the basis for most modern fertilizers.

Evaporator
Ammonia is only dangerous in large quantities or if released Chilled

Burner
Absorber
Water
indoors. To avoid this, these systems are located entirely out-
doors. Limited to 5–8 tons (18 –28 kW) of capacity per unit,
the total ammonia charge is small. Even if released at one time, Generator Water Pump
this small charge quickly disperses.
Ammonia/water has advantages over the more common
lithium bromide/water absorbers. Solution Pump
• Ammonia is a high-pressure refrigerant, meaning that it Weak Solution Ammonia Vapor
can be directly air cooled in a compact coil. No cooling tower Two-Phase Solution Ammonia Liquid
is required. Strong Solution Chilled Water
• There is no salt to crystallize in an ammonia water system. Figure 1: The generator-absorber heat exchange (GAX) cycle.
• The system is under positive pressure, making compo-
nents more compact and eliminating the need for air jor advantage in diffi-
purge systems. cult retrofit situations or
• Located entirely outdoors, these systems need no vent in high cooling demand
line or mechanical room space. applications).
In comparison to conventional vapor compression air-con- • Clean architectural
ditioning systems, ammonia water air conditioners: roofs (no rooftop units).
• Have very few moving parts and a reputation for long life • A zonable system
(some units from the 1960s are still in operation). using individually con-
• Require only single-phase power even at the 5 ton (18 trollable fan coils (a
kW) size. major plus in larger
• Require less than 300 W/ton of power for pumps and fans, high-end homes).
liberating electric services for other uses. This compares well • Lower delivered air
to 1.2 kW/ton for a 10 EER electric AC package in the 5 ton temperatures than most
(18 kW) range. residential systems (bet- Figure 2: Early GAX unit circa 1995.
ter dehumidification).
New Systems, New Possibilities • Controllable chilled water temperature delivery to con-
But what about installing these systems? Depending on the trol dehumidification as needed.
opportunity, that may be the most interesting aspect of these • Using multiple gas air conditioners in one chilled water
gas air conditioners. The system provides chilled water/glycol loop allows full AC redundancy (an advantage in medical,
solution to the building. By adding an optional gas boiler to computer service, or other high reliability applications).
the AC package, hot or chilled glycol/water can be provided to • Reducing peak electric loads reduces the required capac-
handle cooling and heating needs. ity of backup generators (another high reliability application
Gas air conditioners are and will likely remain significantly advantage).
more expensive than electric AC packages. With new higher • Units can be located more remotely from the building (a
levels of efficiency, these units can provide operating cost quieter yard for high-end homes).
savings in areas of the United States that have seen precipitous • Brings the advantages of central system “diversity” to
electric rate increases in recent years, such as California. How- smaller applications. One 5 ton (18 kW) unit can often re-
ever, most residential and light commercial air-conditioning place three 2-ton (7 kW) standard electric DX units in a zoned
customers have not been concerned enough about operating application.
cost to try a new technology. These are only some of the advantages. The inherent flex-
To interest customers and justify the added cost of gas air ibility of water/glycol delivery opens up new vistas for the
conditioning, we need to exploit the advantages of “all-water” designer. Although small electric water chillers have long been
(actually glycol-water) systems into new customer benefits or available, they are as expensive as gas AC systems, and have
features. Using fan coils for delivery, features will include: no operating cost advantages.
• Replacing duct-work with small chilled water lines (a ma- Finally, one concern that has always limited chilled water

24 April 2002|ASHRAE Journal

 Gas Cooling

Today’s Products

Figure 3: The left photo shows a high-efficiency gas air conditioner (chiller/heater model). The gas air-conditioning
system in the center photo uses 5-ton (18 kW) units in three 25-ton (88 kW) modular configurations. The right photo shows
a new chiller-heater link system.

systems in the United States is the higher cost of piping installa- Entering the Market
tion versus ductwork installation. Fortunately, the evolution of
new, flexible plastic piping systems, which have revolutionized
the in-floor heating system market, may have a major role here.

New Technical Developments

If this is all so great, why haven’t we seen these systems
widely applied? Aside from the lack of familiarity by design-
ers, ammonia-water absorption systems have traditionally been
low in efficiency, requiring as much as 125,000 Btu/h (36 638
W) of gas to fire a 5 ton (18 kW) system. New units requiring as
little as 85,000 Btu/h (24 913 W) (32% less) are now coming to
the market. So what is the secret? Figure 4: A new gas air conditioner is shown at left. This
Ammonia/water has a quirk that doesn’t exist in lithium higher efficiency unit shown at right is entering field dem-
bromide absorption systems. When the water reabsorbs the onstrations.
ammonia, it releases heat. But unlike bromide systems, this
heat is partly released at a high temperature. This high tem- heat exchangers, originally developed for aerospace applica-
perature heat can actually be recycled to replace some of the tions, for the absorber and the evaporator components.
gas firing and reduce fuel input. Unlike previous gas air conditioners, this unit uses a ther-
Sounds simple? It wasn’t. This process has been in develop- mostatic expansion valve and multi-speed condenser fans to
ment, by the Department of Energy and the Gas Research Insti- improve controllability and to decrease start-up time
tute, for more than 15 years, and is still being improved. But
this technology, referred to as generator-absorber heat exchange Soon to Arrive
(GAX), has been proven and has entered the market A third GAX gas air conditioner is under development by a
team of manufacturers.3 This system features another aggres-
New Products sive approach to high-efficiency GAX operation. Commercial
Today’s Products
Products introduction is planned for Spring 2003.
Ammonia water air conditioners have been continuously
available since 1964. One manufacturer1 recently has converted Future Developments
entirely to the GAX cycle. Ammonia absorption systems present a range of possible
future applications beyond air conditioning. One develop-
Entering the Market ment firm4 is working on advanced ammonia water concepts,
A high-efficiency GAX system, with development roots at with cost share assistance from the Department of Energy and
Ohio State University and Battelle Laboratories, is being in- others. These systems feature even higher efficiency cycles,
troduced to the market by another manufacturer.2 and new applications.
The core of this product line is to replace the conventional • One new heat pump is for light commercial space condi-
shell-and-tube heat exchange technology used in previous tioning. This 8-ton (28 kW) chiller/heat pump has achieved a
gas air conditioners with more compact nickel-brazed plate gas cooling COP of 0.87 when air-cooled, and 1.1 when wa-

ASHRAE Journal|April 2002 25

 Soon to Arrive Future Developments

Figure 6: The left photo shows a 260-ton (914 kW) waste-heat-fired absorption
refrigeration unit that provides –25°C (–13°F) chilling at an oil refinery. The
Figure 5: Five-ton (18 kW) gas ammonia water air conditioner, shown at right, is designed for microturbine
air conditioner in development. waste heat operation.

ter-cooled. This is the highest performance ever documented gas prices plummeted as summer came on, dropping to less
for an ammonia water absorption system. The heat-pumping than 20% of those seen the previous winter. Gas AC allows this
COP is 1.45. This unit has completed testing in a semi-pack- market dynamic to be exploited.
aged configuration and is being repackaged for field testing.
• A range of designs has been developed with capacities Summary
from 10 to 300 tons (35 kW to 1055 kW), and evaporator After a long absence from the mainstream, new gas air-con-
temperatures from 0°C to –50°C (32°F to –58°F) for industrial ditioning products are once again being prepared for the mar-
refrigeration. These designs are adaptable to either waste heat- ket. These systems will never be as inexpensive as mass-pro-
firing or direct gas-firing. The waste heat can be from engines, duced electrical air-conditioning systems and are not expected
turbines, fuel cells, or other exhaust streams. to move into the mass market in the near future. However, gas
• A new gas-fired heat pump is for service water applica- AC allows the HVAC designer new freedom in challenging
tions. This appliance produces +60°C (+140°F) hot water at design situations, and can provide significant customer ben-
better than 130% efficiency and co-produces useful chilling. efits in specific situations.
Heating capacities range from 200,000 to 3 million Btu/h (58
600 to 879 000 W), with corresponding cooling capacities from Acknowledgments
8 to 100 tons (28 to 350 kW). The unit is scheduled to be field The author would like to thank Rick Halbig of Robur/Servel,
demonstrated this summer. Ron Soka of Cooling Technologies, Uwe Rockenfeller of Rocky
• A waste heat-powered inlet air cooler has been developed Research, and Don Erickson of Energy Concepts for their con-
for microturbine applications. This appliance prevents the tributions to this article.
warm-ambient degradation that microturbines otherwise ex-
perience, while co-producing additional chilling plus service Bibliography
water heating. 1. For more information on Robur/Servel equipment, visit
The performance of all of the previous applications is en- www.robur.com.
2. For more information on Cooling Technologies, visit
hanced with new heat and mass exchange components. www.coolingtechnologies.com.
Finally, using waste heat from microturbine applications to 3. For more information on Ambian® Climate Technologies, contact
produce space cooling directly is an attractive future technol- Rocky Research at 702-293-0851.
ogy. The microturbine would be relieved of the electric air- 4. For more information on Energy Concepts, visit www.energy-
conditioning load and free to serve other, more continuous, concepts.com.
electric loads.
Photo Credits
Gas Prices Figure 1: Cooling Technologies.
One question on everyone’s mind after the unusually high Figure 2: Gas Research Institute
Figure 3: Robur Corporation.
gas prices in the winter of 2000-2001 is why using another gas
Figure 4: Cooling Technologies.
technology is desirable. The continuing trend is for the de- Figure 5: Ambian® Climate Technologies.
mand for natural gas to hit rock bottom in summer. Even after Figure 6: Left photo, Energy Concepts. Right photo, Cooling Tech-
the high prices of the 2000-2001 heating season, wholesale nologies.

26 April 2002|ASHRAE Journal