吸收式制冷是液体汽化的一种形式，它和蒸气压缩式制冷一样，是利用液态制冷剂在低温低压下汽化以达到制冷的目的。所不同的是：蒸气压缩式制冷是靠消耗机械功（或电能）使热量从低温物体向高温物体转移，而吸收式制冷则是靠消耗热能来完成这种非自发过程的。
Absorption refrigeration is a form of liquid vaporization. Like vapor compression refrigeration, it uses liquid refrigerant vaporization at low temperature and pressure to achieve the purpose of refrigeration. The difference is that vapor compression refrigeration uses mechanical work (or electrical energy) to transfer heat from low-temperature objects to high-temperature objects, while absorption refrigeration uses heat energy to complete this non spontaneous process.