A review of solar absorption refrigeration technology research

Against the backdrop of global energy transition, solar absorption refrigeration faces both opportunities and challenges. Currently, single-effect and double-effect systems using water-lithium bromide as the working pair dominate, but they suffer from issues such as crystallization, corrosion, and low energy efficiency. New working pairs like ionic liquids are limited by high viscosity and cost. The technology has a small application scale, with market penetration below 3%, investment costs more than three times those of electric refrigeration, payback periods exceeding nine years, and research primarily focused on regions with high solar irradiance.Vacuum tubes are suitable for medium- and low-temperature single-effect configurations, while troughs are better suited for high-temperature double-effect setups.Due to significant fluctuations in radiation and time-consuming thermal storage, it is recommended to accelerate the engineering validation of new working fluids, develop absorption-compression hybrid cycles, promote multi-grade energy coupling, and conduct field studies across different climate zones.