Absorption process of a falling film on a tubular absorber: An experimental and numerical study

This paper describes an experimental and theoretical analysis of the combined heat and mass transfer processes that take place in the absorber of vapor absorption cooling systems. The effect of the main operating variables such as solution inlet temperature, solution flow rate, coolant inlet temperature, coolant flow rate and absorber vapor pressure on the performance of absorber is experimentally investigated. A mathematical model that takes account of the geometrical details of the solution and coolant flow is developed following the traditional heat exchanger analysis to obtain additional information on the performance of the absorber. The governing equations are solved analytically using Laplace Transformation technique. The variations of the concentration of solution and the temperature of the coolant and solution after each horizontal tube are analyzed. There is satisfactory agreement between the predictions of the analytical model and the experimental results. The serpentine arrangement of the coolant flow in the absorber tubes results in a temperature and concentration variation of the solution mainly along the height of the absorber. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.