International Journal of Refrigeration 26 (2003) 108116 www.elsevier.

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A simple model for falling lm absorption on vertical tubes in the presence of non-absorbables
Marc Medranoa, Mahmoud Bourouisa, Horacio Perez-Blancob, Alberto Coronasa,*
a

Centre of Technological Innovation in Energy Upgrading and Refrigeration (CREVER), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Autovia de Salou, s/n, 43006,Tarragona, Spain b Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 338 A Reber Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA Received 6 July 2001; received in revised form 8 January 2002; accepted 8 February 2002

Abstract Most waterlithium bromide (LiBr) absorption chillers have a purge system to remove non-absorbable gases that cause a reduction in cooling capacity. Generally, the non-absorbables are originated in corrosion/passivation processes inside the machine, but leaks can also be a source of concern. However, since leaks must be corrected immediately to avoid machine deterioration, this study is mostly aimed at the non-absorbables evolved during operation. This paper analyses the eect of inlet non-absorbable air concentration, outlet purge velocity, absorber pressure and cooling water temperature on the falling lm absorption process inside a vertical tube absorber, based on a simple transport coecient model. This model consists of three ordinary dierential equations solved with as method for initial-value problem, and a set of auxiliary equations. The study shows that the eect of non-absorbables can be signicant, and furthermore provides a quantitative framework to aid in purge design. The nominal working conditions in this study were a solution Reynolds number of 100, an absorber pressure of 1.3 kPa, a cooling water temperature of 35  C and an inlet solution concentration of 62% LiBr by weight. The results indicate that a minimum vapour velocity is required to sweep the non-absorbables along the absorber towards the purge, thus preventing reduced absorption uxes. At a cooling water temperature of 35  C, an inlet air concentration of 20% (by mole) resulted in a 61% reduction in mass absorption ux. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Absorption system; Absorber; Falling lm; Verticle tube; Non-absorbable gas; Absorption; Modelling

` le simple de labsorption a ` lm tombant sur des tubes Mode sence de gaz non absorbables verticaux en pre
` me a ` absorption ; Absorbeur ; Film tombant ; Tube vertical ; Gaz non condensable ; Absorption ; Mode lisation Mots cles : Syste

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +34-977-55-9697; fax: +34-977-55-9694. E-mail address: crever@crever.urv.es (A. Coronas). 0140-7007/03/$20.00 # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved. PII: S0140-7007(02)00015-4

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Nomenclature AM C Cv cp D DAB g h H j k kv L m MW P Q R Re Sc T V X Di 2L Mass transfer area (m2) Mass concentration (kg m3) Molar concentration (kmol m3) Specic heat (kJ kg1 K1) Diameter (m) Diusion coecient (m2 s1) Gravitational acceleration (m s2) Convective heat transfer coecient (kW m2 K1) Specic Enthalpy (kJ kg1) Mass absorption ux (kg m2 s1) Convective mass transfer coecient (m1 s1) Convective mass transfer coecient in the vapour phase (kmol m2 s1) Absorber tube length (m) Mass ow rate (kg s1) Molecular weight (kg kmol1) Pressure (kPa) Heat rate (kW) Radius (m) vl/ Reynolds number (l=Dae for cooling water; l=4 for falling lm) Schmidt number, cp/l Temperature ( C) Velocity (m s1) Concentration (weight% LiBr)

y z

Water vapour molar fraction Axial co-ordinate from top (m)

Greek symbols m/pDi, mass ow rate per wetted perimeter (kg m1 s1) D Integral of collision  1=3  d Film thickness  3 2 g l m n r Thermal conductivity (kW m1 K1) Dynamic viscosity (N s m2) Kinematic conductivity (m2 s1) Density (kg m3)

Subscripts and superscripts Abs Absorber ae Cooling water air Air e External eq Equilibrium H2O Water in solution i Internal in Inlet int Interface out Outlet p Wall purge Purge velocity s LiBr solution v Vapour

1. Introduction In the absorption technology of waterlithium bromide (LiBr) systems, it is well known that the presence of non-absorbable gases has a deleterious eect on the absorption process in absorber and, consequently, on the overall performance of the machine. Non-absorbable gases such as air or H2 tends to accumulate at the interphase between the water vapour and the absorbent waterLiBr solution, creating an additional resistance to mass transfer from the bulk of the vapour phase to the bulk of the liquid absorbent. Thus, waterLiBr chillers have commonly an automatic purge system aimed at inducing a vapour ow rich in inerts, from which the inerts are separated in a trap, whereas the vapour is returned to the machine. In a typical absorber of commercial absorption water chillers, the concentrated solution in LiBr enters the top of the absorber and is distributed over the outer surface of horizontal tube bundles, which are internally cooled by cooling water. The solution keeps absorbing the steam while it moves down over the tubes as a falling

lm. To make this technology feasible in the low capacity residential and commercial sector, the absorber and condenser should be air-cooled. The prototypes of aircooled absorber that have been developed so far [1,2] consist of various rows of vertical nned tubes at which the falling lm absorption process takes place inside the tubes. This study presents a simple model for the falling lm absorption process inside a vertical tube like those of typical air-cooled absorbers. This model considers the eect of non-absorbable air in vapour phase, outlet purge velocity, system pressure and cooling water temperature on the absorber performance. 1.1. Summary of previous work There are relatively few experimental and theoretical studies about the presence of non-absorbable gases in the simultaneous heat and mass transfer phenomena that occur in the absorption process. Burdukov et al. [3] experimentally investigated the eect of inert gases on the absorption process of a LiBr aqueous solution falling

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lm over horizontal tubes. They claimed that an air concentration of 0.5% in the vapour phase reduced the mass transfer coecient by almost 50%. Yang and Wood [4] studied also experimentally the inuence of non-absorbable gases on the vertical tube absorption process of an aqueous LiCl solution falling lm in the wavy-lm regime. Results showed that the mass absorption ow rate at a Reynolds number of 58 decreased by 50% when the air concentration was changed from 5 to 15%. Cosenza and Vliet [5] and Vliet and Cosenza [6] presented more experimental data of waterLiBr falling lms over horizontal tubes. They found that the inert gas concentration should be kept below 0.1% so that the eect of inert gases is negligible. An absorption reduction of about 300% was reported at a non-absorbable gas concentration of 5%. Grossman et al. [7,8] presented several 2-D models to predict the eect of non-absorbable gases in the entry region of a laminar falling lm. They found that when the diusion resistance in the gas phase is large compared to that of the liquid, even minute quantities of non-absorbable gases can cause a considerable deterioration in absorption. Chen and Vliet [9] investigated by means of a 2-D model the inuence of inert gases on the absorption process of a falling lm, which was assumed to be hidrodynamically developed. The predicted results compared favourably with available experimental data. Yang and Jou [10] presented another 2-D model for simulating the eect of non-absorbable gases on the falling lm absorption in the wavy lm regime. 2-D models have proven their worth, and detailed ow modelling (perhaps including 3-D) could yield valuable insights in the future. 1-D modelling such as the one used in this work is reliable in that the empirical heat/mass transfer coecients should yield at least a rst order approximation to actual values. However, the simplifying assumptions are much more restrictive than in the 2-D approach. Patnaik et al. [11] presented a simple 1-D model based on assumed heat and mass transfer coecients in the wavy lm regime, but they did not consider the additional mass transfer resistance in the vapour phase due to the presence of non-absorbable gases. Sabir and Eames [12] have recently developed another 1-D model that took into account the presence of non-absorbable gases in a laminar falling lm. They concluded that an air concentration of only 2% caused a 6-fold reduction in the coecient of performance of the entire absorption machine. However, they clarify neither the geometry of the modelled absorber nor the way in which they calculate the vapour phase mass transfer coecient. Vliet and Chen [13] completed a simple 1-D model in many ways analogous to the one presented here. The idea was to simulate a vertical channel with vapour inlets at top and bottom, in order to gain insights into vapour ows in actual shell and tube absorbers. The analysis includes

heat and momentum transfer considerations, leading to a crisp solution that can be used to estimate readily the vapour velocity and solution concentration along the channel. The inclusion of momentum transfer considerations allows estimation of the eect of restrictions on purge locations, a most useful and original feature. Mass transfer considerations show that the vapour pressure at interfaces will dier from the bulk pressure. Consequently, we analyse here a channel of circular cross section, lending consideration to mass transfer aspects between the vapour and solution ows employing existing empirical correlations.

2. Mathematical model 2.1. Model assumptions Fig. 1 shows a schematic of the modelled falling lm absorber. Steam in the presence of air and an aqueous lithium bromide solution enter at the top of the absorber. The solution ows down as a falling lm on the inner wall of the internal tube and absorbs water vapour, which dilutes the solution. The unabsorbed vapour, rich in inerts, exits at the bottom of the absorber, towards the purge. The solution is cooled down by means of a water stream, which ows up counter-currently

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the falling lm on the inner wall of a vertical tube absorber.

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through the annular space. The model is based on the following assumptions:  Steady state.  1-D problem, with variables change only in the axial direction.  Complete mixing in the radial direction.  Equilibrium conditions at the interface.  Constant temperature and pressure of the vapour space along the tube.  Laminar or wavy-laminar regime.  Average mean lm thickness assumed to be constant (because the absorbed mass ow rate is considerably smaller than the solution mass ow rate).  Negligible absorption of air by the falling lm.

rate mv (see the Appendix). Among the important algebraic equations which, together with Eqs. (1), (2), and (3) allow us to track this problem, is the following Eq. (4). mv kv Di 2zyv yint v MWH2 O 4

This equation is important in that it describes the transfer of vapour from the non-condensable laden phase to the interface. Consequently, it has a strong bearing on our description of the problem. 2.3. Solution method The three-coupled ordinary dierential equations that describe the system are solved using the RungeKutta Verner fth order solver of the International Mathematical and Statistical Library (IMSL). Since these routines can only handle initial value-problems, the exit cooling water temperature (at the absorber top) is assumed. The problem is then solved marching downwards. The value of the cooling water inlet temperature thus obtained is compared to the actual value, and the guess at the exit modied accordingly. Iterations continue until the calculated cooling water temperature is equal to the specied inlet temperature. A similar iteration method is applied for the inlet vapour velocity until the set outlet purge velocity at the bottom is obtained. Solution thermophysical properties such as specic heat capacity and density are not taken constant along the absorber, but they are evaluated at each integration step. The calculation sequence is presented below:  Step 1: Input parameters and initialisation.  Step 2: Calculation of inlet mass and heat transfer coecients as a function of inlet conditions.  Step 3: Guess of inlet total velocity of vapour stream at the top of the absorber.  Step 4: Guess of outlet cooling water temperature at the top of the absorber.  Step 5: Integration of the initial value problem of ODEs using RungeKuttaVerner fth order method. The mass transfer coecient of the vapour phase is recalculated in each integration step, taking into account the concentration changes of non-absorbable air.  Step 6: Calculation of residual of the rst iterative variable, i.e. cooling water inlet temperature. If this residual is greater than the specied tolerance, go to Step 4.  Step 7: Calculation of residual of the second iterative variable, i.e. outlet purge vapour velocity at the bottom of the absorber. If this residual is greater than the specied tolerance, go to Step 3.

2.2. Governing equations The mathematical modelling is based on mass and energy balances in cylindrical control volumes of innitesimal height dz, and on the mass and heat transfer equations for the absorption process (see the Appendix). The thermodynamic and transport properties of the aqueous lithium bromide solutions are taken from an updated property database, which we developed [14]. After a mathematical arrangement of the governing equations, the absorber performance can be modelled by three ordinary dierential equations with three dependent variables (solution bulk temperature Ts, cooling water temperature Tae and solution mass ow rate ms) and one independent variable (longitudinal distance from the top of the absorber z). The three ODEs that describe the absorption process follow: dTs Hv cp;s Ts dms hs  Di Ts Tp;i dz ms cp;s dz ms cp;s dTae hs  Di Tp;:i Ts mae cp;ae dz   d ms ks  Di Cint H 2 O CH 2 O dz

The inlet conditions of the vapour and solution streams at the top of the absorber, and the inlet conditions of the cooling water at the bottom of the absorber must be furnished for solving this problem. Some additional algebraic equations are necessary to calculate the variable values at the right side of Eqs. (1)(3) and another process variables that do not appear explicitly such as vapour concentration yv and vapour mass ow

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 Step 8: Treatment of the results: concentration and temperature proles, outlet conditions, absorber load and mass absorption ux.

 ms;in j

 Xs;in 1 Xs;out AM

2.4. Heat and mass transfer coecients The heat transfer correlation for fully developed cooling water ow and the heat and mass transfer correlations for the thermal entrance region of the falling lm and for the fully developed wavy-laminar regime were taken from Patnaik [11]. To calculate the mass transfer coecient in the vapour phase, we applied the heat and mass transfer analogy, obtaining the following equation for mass transfer in laminar regime [15]:  1=3 " air Di kv p =3 1 =3 Di 1:62 Re1 v Scv DAB pAbs Cv L 5

2.5.2. Outlet air concentration For comparison with other studies, we considered the bulk outlet air concentration, which is calculated based on an air mass balance from the entrance to the exit of the absorber. Mathematically, it is given by: mair;out =air;out yair;out mglobal;out =global;out

The mass ow rate of the vapour leaving the absorber can be written as: mv;out mv;in ms;out ms;in 9

3. Results The value of the diusion coecient DAB of water vapour into air at the relatively low working pressures of the absorber is 0.0021 m2 s1, three orders of magnitude higher than the diusion coecient at atmospheric pressure. A typical value of the mass transfer coecient in the vapour phase at an inlet air concentration of 1% is 15 mol of H2O m2 s1 (33 m s1). In the limit case of an inlet air concentration tending to 0, the condition of null mass transfer resistance in the vapour phase is fullled. The diusion coecient of water into air was taken from Welty [16], using the equation proposed by Hirschfelder [17] to predict the diusivity at other pressure and temperature conditions:  DAB;T2 ;P2 DAB;T1 ;P1 P1 P2  T1 T2 3=2 DjT1 DjT2 In this section, we present the eect of outlet purge velocity, inlet non-absorbable air concentration, absorber pressure and cooling water temperature on the performance the vertical tube absorber. The geometry parameters selected correspond to a vertical absorber with the falling lm absorption process taking place inside a tube of 1500 mm length and 22.1 mm inner diameter [14]. In the parametric studies below, the following working variables were kept constant: a Reynolds number of 100, an inlet salt concentration of 62% w. and a inlet solution subcooling of 5  C. 3.1. Eect of purge velocity 6 Fig. 2 shows the inuence of purge gas velocity on mass absorption ux at various inlet air concentrations. The deleterious eect of air is conrmed in this gure, because a 61% decrease in mass absorption ux is

where T1 and P1 are the initial conditions at which the diusion coecient is known, T2 and P2 are the new conditions at which the diusion coecient is needed and D is the integral collision for molecular diusion, a non-dimensional function of temperature and intermolecular potential eld [15]. 2.5. Performance parameters The selected parameters to assess the performance of the vertical tube absorber are the vapour absorption ux and the outlet air concentration. 2.5.1. Mass absorption ux The mass absorption ux is dened as the absorbed mass ow rate per unit of mass transfer surface and can be written as:

Fig. 2. Eect of outlet purge velocity on steam mass absorption ux at various inlet air concentrations (% by mole).

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observed when inlet air concentration is increased from 0 to 20% (by mole) at a purge velocity of 15 m s1. This value is in good agreement with the experimental results of Yang and Wood (1988), who found a 50% reduction, increasing the non-absorbable gases concentration from 5 to 15%. The purge gas velocity has no eect on the mass absorption ux when no air is present in the vapour stream entering the top of the absorber. At relatively low air inlet concentrations (1 and 5%), the mass absorption ux remains almost constant as the purge velocity is decreased, until it reaches an inexion point, at which the mass absorption ux falls steeply. These purge velocities are about 2 and 6 m s1, respectively. As the inlet air concentration increases, the change in curvature gets smoother and the decrease in mass absorption ux shows a more linear trend. Fig. 3 shows the axial variation of the mass absorption ux at an inlet air concentration of 5% and at various outlet purge velocities. For all the selected purge velocities, the absorption ow rate increases steeply at the beginning, reaching a maximum value in the range 0.00230.0025 kg m2 s1 at about 10 cm from the entrance and then, it keeps falling down until the absorber exit. This decrease is higher when the outlet purge velocity is reduced because, in this case, the mean non-absorbable air concentration along the absorber is increased. Consequently, the mass transfer resistance increases. Reducing the purge velocity from 15 to 2 m s1 results in about a 60% decrease in the mass absorption ux at the absorber exit, which corresponds to 1.5 m from the entrance. For the following sensitivity studies, an outlet purge velocity of 15 m s1 was selected, which warrants a relatively at region of mass absorption ux. The ratio between inlet and outlet velocities for the selected purge velocity and for the range of studied inlet air concentrations is in the range 1733%. 3.2. Eect of non-absorbable air inlet concentration Fig. 4 shows the eect of inlet non-absorbable air concentration on mass absorption ux at three absorber

pressures. At an absorber pressure of 1.3 kPa, when the concentration of air increases from 0 to 10% the absorption ux is reduced by about 32%. This reduction is about 76% when the inlet air concentration is increased to 30%. As expected, increasing the absorber pressure results in an increase of the mass absorption ux, due to the higher driving force for the absorption process. Changing the absorber pressure from 1.0 to 1.6 kPa at an inlet air concentration of 10% produces about a 72% increase in the absorption ux. This increase gets smaller as the concentration of non-absorbable air increases. 3.3. Eect of cooling water temperature For the sensitivity study of cooling water temperature we selected a temperature range (2537.5  C) that covers both typical water cooling thermal conditions (2530  C) and air cooling thermal conditions (3537  C) in absorption chillers. Fig. 5 shows the inuence of cooling water temperature on mass absorption ux at various inlet air concentrations. As expected, when cooling water temperature and air concentration are decreased, the absorption uxes increase. At a cooling water temperature of 25  C and when no air is present in the vapour phase, a maximum absorption value is achieved of about 0.0032 kg m2 s1. A decrease of about 38% is

Fig. 4. Eect of inlet non-absorbable air concentration (% by mole) on mass absorption ux at various absorber pressures.

Fig. 3. Variation of the mass absorption ux in the axial direction at various outlet purge velocities.

Fig. 5. Eect of cooling water temperature on mass absorption ux at various inlet non-absorbable air concentrations (% by mole).

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observed when cooling water temperature is increased to 37.5  C while about a 30% reduction occurs when the inlet air concentration is changed to 10%. 3.4. Comparison with other works Chen and Vliet [9] presented a 2-D model to simulate the absorption process of steam into a waterLiBr falling lm over two semi-innite parallel plates. The model was based on mass and energy balances with variations along two dimensions being adopted . As they assumed fully developed velocity proles for the vapour stream and the falling lm, they did not consider the momentum equation in the model. To be able to compare their theoretical results with our results in the vertical tube absorber, we have taken an inner diameter at which the outlet velocity is equal to that set in their model, at the same inlet conditions for the rest of independent variables and the same height. Figs. 6 and 7 show the theoretical values predicted by the model of Chen and Vliet and by our model for outlet air concentration (wt.%) and mass absorption ux as a function of inlet air concentration, respectively. Good

agreement between the predictions of the two models exists (a maximum deviation below 12% for the outlet air concentration and below 20% for the mass absorption ux), despite the dierent nature of each model. Predictions of the model of Chen and Vliet were in good agreement with the experimental data of Yang and Wood [4] for the absorption process of a vertical tube falling lm of an aqueous solution of lithium chloride in the presence of non-absorbable air.

4. Conclusions A simple model of assumed transport coecient was presented to analyse the eect of non-absorbable air concentration and other absorber variables on the falling lm absorption process inside a smooth vertical tube. The nominal working conditions in this study were: a solution Reynolds number of 100, an absorber pressure of 1.3 kPa, a cooling water temperature of 35  C and a solution concentration of 62% LiBr by weight. The eects of non-absorbable air concentration and of outlet purge velocity were studied in the ranges 030% (by mole) and 035 m s1, respectively. The results show that the outlet purge velocity has a strong inuence on the mass absorption ux, especially at high non-absorbable concentrations. Therefore, a purge velocity of 15 m s1 was selected for further study. This purge velocity of 15 m s1, recommended in [9], must be interpreted correctly. The value must not be taken as a yardstick that must be adopted everywhere in the absorber, but as an order of magnitude necessary to avoid capacity losses during operational periods when hydrogen generation and migration to the absorber are at a peak. The broad range of concentrations employed here should be useful for closed absorbers, and perhaps for some designs involving open ones. The mass absorption ux increases as absorber pressure increases and cooling water temperature decreases. At a cooling water temperature of 35  C, a 61% decrease in mass absorption ux was observed when inlet air concentration was increased from 0 to 20%. An important aspect of our results relies on the relatively large purge velocities required to minimise the eects of non-absorbables. The non-absorbable concentrations assumed for our study are within the order assumed by other researchers. To avoid large purge velocities, the non-absorbables generated by corrosion and passivation must be removed continually, or by periodic purging. This would avoid build-ups requiring high velocities and increased absorber pressure (i.e. increased evaporator temperature) to maintain capacity. Our study shows the order of magnitude of the velocities required to sweep the inerts. These values could be helpful as a starting point for design of eective purge systems.

Fig. 6. Eect of inlet air concentration (% by weight) on outlet air concentration.

Fig. 7. Eect of inlet air concentration (% by weight) on absorption ux.

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Acknowledgements M. Medrano would like to thank CIRIT for a fellowship. This work was co-nanced by the Spanish Science and Technology Ministry within the Programme PROFIT.

The heat conduction through the wall can be written as: Q 2lp z Tp;i Tp;e lnDe =Di A5

and the heat transfer from the wall to the cooling water is given by Appendix. Mathematical formulation of the model The mathematical model is based on mass and heat balances and transfer equations over an innitesimal section of the absorber. Fig. A1 shows an absorber thin slide, which is taken as the control volume. Let us consider the control volume of the falling lm (1234) of length dz. The energy balance can be written as follows: Q ms cp;s Ts ms ms cp;s Ts Ts mv Hv 0 and the mass balance as ms mv A2 Q hae  De z Tp;e Tae A6

The governing equation for the transport of water from the interface to the solution bulk is given by:   ms ks  Di z Cint H 2 O CH 2 O A7

A1

The internal and external wall temperatures Tp,i and Tp,e are calculated combining the three heat transfer equations [(A4, A5) and (A6)] presented above. The concentration of LiBr in solution is evaluated performing a mass balance between the top of the absorber, where z=0, and z: Cs s ms;in Cs;in s;in ms A8

For the control volume of the cooling water stream (5678), the energy balance is given by Q mae cp;ae Tae mae cp;ae Tae Tae 0 A3

The solution density is a known function of the solution temperature and concentration: s f Ts ; Cs A9

The equation that describes the heat transport process from the bulk of the falling lm solution to the wall is A4 Q hs  Di z Ts Tp;i

and the concentration of water is expressed as follows: CH 2 O s Cs A10

The water compositions of the vapour and liquid phases at the interface region are calculated equating the mass transfer equations of both phases for each innitesimal control volume:
int ks Cint H2 O CH2 O kv yv yv MWH2 O

A11

taking into account that the vapour and liquid compositions at the interphase are linked by the equilibrium condition:
int int yint v fC H 2 O ; T

A12

The overall mass balance of water vapour between the entrance of the absorber and a distance z is given by: mv mv;in ms ms;in A13

Fig. A1. Schematic of the control volumes.

Finally, the water vapour composition in the bulk vapour phase is determined from a partial mass balance

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M. Medrano et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 26 (2003) 108116 wavy-lm absorption with the presence of non-absorbable gases. In: National Heat Transfer Conference, Houston, 1988. p. 1418. Cosenza F, Vliet GC. Absorption in falling water/LiBr lms on horizontal tubes. ASHRAE Transactions 1990; 96(1):693701. Vliet GC, Cosenza F. Absorption phenomena in waterlithium bromide falling lms. In: International Absorption Heat Pump Conference, Tokyo, Japan, 1991. p. 5361. Grossman G. Film absorption heat and mass transfer in the presence of non-condensables. In: 9th International Heat Transfer Conference, Jerusalem, Israel, 1990. p. 24752. Grossman G, Gommed K. Heat and mass transfer in lm absorption in the presence of non-absorbable gases. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 1997;40(15):3595606. Chen W, Vliet GC. Eect of an inert gas on the heat and mass transfer in a vertical channel with falling lms. Solar Engineering 1995;2:124957. Yang R, Jou T-M. Non-absorbable gas eect on the wavy lm absorption process. Int J Heat and Mass Transfer 1998;41:365768. Patnaik V, Perez-Blanco H, Ryan WA. A simple analytical model for the design of vertical tube absorbers. ASHRAE Transactions 1993:6980. Sabir HM, Eames IW. Performance of lm absorbers under the eect of a contaminant non-absorbable gas. Applied Energy 1999;63:25567. Vliet GC, Chen W. Location of non-absorbable gases in a simplied absorber geometry. In: AES vol 31. International Absorption Heat Pump Conference ASME, New Orleans, 1994. p. 1717. Medrano, M. Development of an air-cooled vertical tube absorber for an absorption air conditioner using waterlithium bromide. PhD thesis, University of Tarragona, Spain, 2001. Bennet CO, Myers JE. Momentum, heat and mass transfer. 3rd ed.,1982. Welty JR, Wicks CE, Wilson RE. Fundamentals of Momentum, Heat and Mass Transfer. 3rd ed. New York: Wiley Corp; 1984. Hirschfelder JO, Curtis CF, Bird RB. Molecular theory of gases and liquids. New York: John Wiley and Sons; 1954.

on air from the absorber inlet to the length z. The mathematical equation can be written as: yv 1 yair 1 mair =air mtotal =total A14
[5]

Combining Eqs. (A1), (A2) and (A4) for Eq. (1), (A3) and (A4) for Eq. (2) and taking Eq. (A7) and making the limit when z tends to 0 for Eq. (3), we obtain the three governing coupled ODEs (A15), (A16) and (A17) (see Section 2.2 Governing equations in the main text), which are written below: dTs Hv cp;s Ts dms hs  Di Ts Tp;i ms cp;s dz ms cp;s dz dTae hs  Di Tp;i Ts mae cp;ae dz   d ms ks  Di Cint H2 O CH2 O dz

[6]

[7]

[8]

A15

[9]

[10]

A16
[11]

A17
[12]

References
[1] Tongu S, Makino Y. Practical operating of small-sized air-cooled double-eect absorption chiller-heater by using lithium bromide and aqueous. In: AES, vol. 31. International Absorption Heat Pump Conference ASME, New Orleans, 1994. p. 25132. [2] Yoshida Y, Kawakami R, Kawaguchi H, Ooka K, Ooishi O. Development of an air-cooled absorption packaged air conditioning unit. In: International Gas Research Conference, Cannes, France, 1995. p. 10615. [3] Burdukov AP, Bufetov NS. Experimental study of the absorption of water vapour by thin lms of aqueous lithium bromide. Heat Transfer-Soviet Research 1980;12:11823. [4] Yang R, Wood BD. Heat and Mass transfer in laminar

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[17]