Thermally-driven heat pumps for industry

Turn waste heat into cooling and process heat with almost no electricity.

Teller is a redesigned absorption machine. Jet impingement on plates replaces the falling film on tubes, which removes the three problems that have held absorption technology back: crystallisation and corrosion, high build cost, and a cooling floor of +5 °C.

Submit your process for analysis How it works →
81 COPe
81 watt of heat transfer per watt of electricity achieved in early testing1
< 0 °C
Cooling below freezing, which lithium bromide cannot reach
No LiBr
Ionic liquids instead, so there is no crystallisation and no corrosion
TU Berlin
Invented, built and tested there. Patent 17001/TUB
01

Heat is the largest running cost

In most industrial processes, heat management makes up the majority of operating costs:

  • Heating a process stream to enable a reaction
  • Cooling infrastructure to dissipate excess heat
  • Heating residences and offices
  • Chilling for product preservation

Heat exchangers recover part of this energy, and heat pumps deliver three to five times their electrical input. Even so, thermal demand dominates the bill, and large amounts of waste heat are still rejected to the environment. Rising energy prices, market volatility and new regulation are adding to that pressure.

02

Absorption works. The hardware has held it back.

Absorption machines are a proven technology. They are driven by heat, either waste heat or a small heat input, and deliver larger quantities of cooling or useful heat. Their electricity use is under 2% of the thermal output. Installations continue to grow, most notably in district heating in China. But conventional machines come with three drawbacks:

  1. Crystallisation and corrosion

    Lithium-bromide machines can crystallise and corrode. This has put real installations permanently out of service.

  2. Complex, expensive builds

    The internal geometry is designed around one specific capacity, so units are costly to build and do not scale easily.

  3. A cold floor at +5 °C

    Water freezes, so ice water, blast chilling and sub-zero process cooling are out of reach.

Operators today have to run continuously within tight temperature bands, pay for bespoke designs, and fight corrosion with expensive materials and maintenance before they see any of the efficiency gains.

03

The technology

Teller replaces the conventional falling film on tubes with jet impingement onto plates. The jets make the liquid film turbulent, which speeds up the absorption and desorption of the surrounding vapour. The plates are also simpler to make than tube bundles.

The turbulent film can carry viscous ionic liquids in place of lithium bromide. Ionic liquids do not crystallise or corrode, and they keep working below 0 °C.

Left: solution dripped onto a horizontal tube forms a thin smooth film. Right: jets of solution impinge on vertical plates, forming a turbulent film that absorbs vapour faster.
Left: a conventional design, with the solution dripped onto tubes. Right: the Teller design, with the solution jetted onto plates. The film is turbulent, so vapour transfer is faster.
Conventional (LiBr, tubes)Teller (ionic liquid, plates)
CrystallisationA risk, so operators need tight controlNone
CorrosionNeeds expensive materials and maintenanceNone
BuildBespoke geometry for each capacityModular plates, suited to mass production
Lowest cooling temperatureabout +5 °CBelow 0 °C
Electricity inputUnder 2% of outputCOPe 81 in early testing1
04

What it does for a process

Any site with a waste heat stream can now use absorption without its traditional drawbacks. Heat and cold are moved between ambient air and process streams, which cuts electricity use and fuel burning. In a well-matched process, gains add up at every stage:

  • Less waste heat. Rejected heat becomes the driving energy.
  • Lifted process streams. Selected streams are raised to useful temperatures.
  • Chilling at the same time. Cooling comes out of the same cycle, including below 0 °C.
  • Fewer cooling towers. In many applications they can be reduced or removed.
  • Ambient heat as an input. Sub-zero operation lets ambient heat feed the process.

Typical candidates include chemical and process plants, food and beverage, cold storage, and any site that pays to reject heat while also paying to chill.

05

Team

  • Rafael Miranda Chief Executive Officer
  • Duncan Cornes Chief Technology Officer

The plate and jet-impingement design was invented, built and tested at Technische Universität Berlin (Patent 17001/TUB).

06

Have us analyse your process

We are looking for specific industrial applications to develop the technology for. Every installation is configured differently, depending on which stages connect to which process streams. Send us your process data and we will work out the potential savings for your site at no cost.

  1. Send your process data

    A P&ID, with flow rates and temperatures for the relevant streams.

  2. We model your process

    We find where heat and cold can be moved, and estimate the savings.

  3. Sponsored pilot

    Applications with the largest savings and market potential are offered a sponsored pilot project.

Email info@tellerheat.com

The email opens with a short template. Attach your P&ID directly.