From Protected Concept to Validated Prototype: TRL Assessment of a Utility-Model Protected Compact LiBr–H2O Evaporator–Absorber Subsystem with Exploratory Neural Network Analysis

This manuscript presents a patent-based engineering case study of a compact LiBr–H2O evaporator–absorber unit, tracing its progression from conceptual embodiment to laboratory validation through contextualized technology-readiness assessment and bounded data-driven analysis. The study reconstructs three successive prototypes, applies the international Technology Readiness Level (TRL) framework together with the Mexican TRL guideline, and includes an exploratory artificial neural network (ANN) analysis of the validated Prototype III. The results show a maturation pathway: Prototype I corresponded to conceptual embodiment, Prototype II provided proof-of-concept evidence through observable cooling, and Prototype III was a protected, instrumented, and experimentally validated laboratory prototype, conservatively assigned to TRL 4 as the highest level supported by the evidence. The auxiliary ANN gave only a limited approximation of the thermal response (mean test R2 = 0.41, dispersion ±0.32), consistent with a single-run laboratory-scale dataset rather than robust predictive modeling. Overall, the study integrates prototype trajectory, intellectual-property protection, TRL assessment, and bounded analysis into a rigorous evaluation of a protected pre-commercial thermal subsystem. Beyond this device, the framework offers inventors, designers, and research groups a transferable reference, letting them build on a documented pathway rather than restarting from the lowest readiness levels and identifying the evidence needed for each TRL transition.