No, it has been actually deployed and is commercially sold as heat recovery chiller.
The problem is an much lower efficiency than compression refrigerators, some of which could be regained by tuning the liquids used in the system.
That is not a problem when you're working with waste heat though. (E.g. solar thermal, recovery from solar concentrated, cogeneration, geothermal.)
The other problem is that it has to be perfectly leak checked or it does not work at all, where in compression leakage just reduces efficiency - and there's much less piping that has to be pressure sealed.
COP of maybe 1.3 for best designs is available, compared to say 5 of a top of the line screw chiller, 7 of a rotary chiller and 3 of very good heat pump.
(Maybe COP could be pushed a bit higher with exotic liquids. But the economics of this endeavor are suspect. Current top efficiency liquids are water-ammonia/lithium bromide-water dual loop. It is not safe compared to HFCs.)
It starts making sense when the installation is building sized, because maintenance is cheap compared to an electric chiller.
The problem is an much lower efficiency than compression refrigerators, some of which could be regained by tuning the liquids used in the system. That is not a problem when you're working with waste heat though. (E.g. solar thermal, recovery from solar concentrated, cogeneration, geothermal.) The other problem is that it has to be perfectly leak checked or it does not work at all, where in compression leakage just reduces efficiency - and there's much less piping that has to be pressure sealed.
COP of maybe 1.3 for best designs is available, compared to say 5 of a top of the line screw chiller, 7 of a rotary chiller and 3 of very good heat pump. (Maybe COP could be pushed a bit higher with exotic liquids. But the economics of this endeavor are suspect. Current top efficiency liquids are water-ammonia/lithium bromide-water dual loop. It is not safe compared to HFCs.)
It starts making sense when the installation is building sized, because maintenance is cheap compared to an electric chiller.