Studied Einstein fridges for AC also, small world.
The temperature required is within flat plate collector, my main reason of interest. Unlike LiBr systems which require much higher temperatures. It's simplicity was another factor.

Summery of my study:
Not much work has been done, COP is generally accepted to be much less than 1. If you pay for the heat then not cost effective to use it, thus the lack of interest in the system. Couple studies suggest 1.1+ may be possible. The Einstein fridge cycle can be used for heating!

Realized it was easier to build a steam engine (+ concentrator) to provide the rotational power for a Heat pump. Which can be easily powered by other sources in backup, not requiring cost for an additional system.

My ultimate goal was total system cost for RE Heating/cooling including backup and operation cost.

Keep Googling Einstein refrigerator, Icy ball, propane refrigerators and Kalinda cycle.

Reading about the Einstein fridge is what got me interested in thinking of all the ways it might be useful to operate devices using external magnets without rubber shaft seals. Occasionally a shaft seal would leak on home ammonia refrigerators (modern fridges enclose entire pump/motor in a shell) and leaking ammonia would kill a sleeping family.

Einstein had worked as patent clerk, and knew one good invention could bring in a steady supply of royalties. He was sponsoring German Jewish physicists to come to US from Germany in the 1930's, and needed more money than his Princeton salary and speaking fees.

The seal-less ammonia fridge patent paid for Szilard to come over. I think the Kalinda cycle and icy-ball use 20%/30% water to aid in condensation phase as water absorbs ammonia very strongly. here's a fun link I got from Scott:

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Closed_Loop_Ammonia_Turbine

I have thought of making 2 or 3 "icy balls" that are solar-heated and cycled at even intervals. Air-fan-cooling for the cold-side could be powered by a small solar PV panel. When the sun was out, you'd have solar-heat evaporation of ammonia, and fan-cooling of the condensation side, no grid or fuel-burning needed.

Welcome to yet another Scoop Bug.

I looked at this post awhile ago reading comments and it seemed to be locked for comments [no post comment link]. I went in to check it and it was set correctly. Came back to it and I posted this.

Weird stuff.

I looked into that Icy Ball thing once. Very interesting batch method that could make lots of cold pretty much directly from sunlight.

The illicit methamphetamine labs use Anhydrous Ammonia to process their poison so looking for it in small lots gets lots of interest here in corn country despite the tankers of it they inject into the soil in spring.

Tom

Ignarus can exsisto rememdium. Sardus est forever

iirc they were making 20lbs of ice per cycle with it, which doesn't seem like
much until one considers that the villagers in africa had never seen ice before.

because rock salt has a fairly high melting point, i have considered using the exhaust heat from my trigenerator to drive the system to provide for refrigeration
and a freezer section

with the engine mounted low, and the refrigerator box mounted above it certainly could be made to work and make use of what is often times a waste byproduct.

with the intermittent nature of a cogen/trigen setup a rather large amount of chilling could be accomplished, maybe not enough for domestic airconditioning in
very hot climates, low insulated and large footage homes, but maybe in some climates
small well insulated homes it might be enough, or provide a significant portion of the airconditioning needs?

as for the ammonia, it is a tightly regulated substance, that one is unlikely to be able to just go in a purchase without a license in hvac, it is that way here in washington state.
my business partner got a cylinder of ammonia, but he has a state license which he had to produce to get through the hoops.

the upside is, most systems don't require that much ammonia, might be wiser just to have a certified hvac guy come out and charge the system.

thats what i figure on doing when the time comes.

also i am not crazy about having a homebuilt absorption system in the living space, so i figure to have my bulk refrigeration/freezer out in the engine shed seperate from the house anyway.

seperation of power and living space is very effective in mitagating insurance issues anyway, as well as code issues.
if you don't live in the engine room, and it is not attached to the house, code requirments are not much of an issue.

certainly the 48vdc limit does not apply codewise if you don't habitate with the power room.

"Solar refrigeration system powered by solar energy. Research is going on to locate the collector outside the building and the refrigeration compartment inside. Picture shows the condenser, the liquid reciever and the solar collector. The solar collector powers the refrigerant through the cycle."
By Julius Tangka

http://julius_tangka.webs.com/productsforsale.htm

Interesting

Noticed your from England?

Store ICE from winter to summer to cool home and cool Fridge.
ICE Block is smaller than you may think, size of a bedroom.

http://www.edwardmarcsphil.com/Sedna.html