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Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 1386–1394

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Absorption process of a falling film on a tubular absorber:

An experimental and numerical study
Md. Raisul Islam *

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University of Technology, Sarawak Campus Malaysia, CDT 250, 98009 Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia

Received 7 April 2007; accepted 9 October 2007

Available online 12 October 2007

Abstract

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 inves-
tigated. 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.
Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Absorber; Falling film; Lithium bromide–water; Mass transfer; Heat transfer

1. Introduction
The absorber is usually the largest and the most expen-
sive component of the absorption cooling system. In steady
operation, the rate of absorption of vapor in the absorber
is equal to the refrigerant flow rate, which in turn is pro-
portional to the cooling capacity of the machine. There-
fore, the effectiveness of the absorber has a significant
influence on the coefficient of performance (COP) of the
system. A review of the published literature on absorber
performance revealed that considerable amount of work
has been done on the theoretical analysis, numerical mod-
eling, experimental investigation and the development of
novel absorbers. Killion and Garimella [1] presented a crit-
ical review of models of coupled heat and mass transfer in
falling-film absorption. Islam et al. [2] developed a linear-
*
Tel.: +60 85 44 3831; fax: +60 85 44 3837.
E-mail address: raisul.islam@curtin.edu.my
ized model to extract the heat and mass transfer coefficients
from the experimental data for a horizontal tubular absor-
ber and a vertical tube absorber. Romero et al. [3] pre-
dicted the theoretical performance of a heat pump system
with water/lithium bromide and an alternative aqueous ter-
nary hydroxide mixture. Tsai and Perez-Blanco [4] deter-
mined the theoretical limits of mass transfer enhancement
in a falling film absorber. Yoon et al. [5] developed a theo-
retical model to analyze the simultaneous heat and mass
transfer processes involved in a flat plate absorber. Patnaik
et al. [6] modeled numerically the absorption of water
vapor in an aqueous solution of lithium bromide for a fall-
ing film over a vertical tube absorber. Grossman [7] analyt-
ically solved the energy and diffusion equations with an
equilibrium boundary condition at the vapor–liquid inter-
face. Sabir et al. [8] analyzed the detrimental effects of
the presence of non-condensable gases on the performance
of the absorber.
Most of the experimental works reported were done
with vertical plates and round pipes to determine the

1359-4311/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2007.10.004
 M.R. Islam / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 1386–1394
Nomenclature
a constant used in equilibrium temperature and
water-concentration relationship
A absorber plate area (m2)
b coefficient used in equilibrium temperature and
water-concentration relationship
Cpw specific heat of water (J/kg K)
Cps specific heat of solution (J/kg K)
dQi heat flow rate from solution through wall (W)
dQo heat flow rate from solution interface to bulk
(W)
Do outer diameter of tube (m)
Di Inner diameter of tube (m)
hi convective heat transfer coefficient between bulk
solution and wall (W/m2 K)
ho convective heat transfer coefficient between
interface and bulk solution (W/m2 K)
hpar,w partial enthalpy of water in solution (J/kg)
hw convective heat transfer coefficient of cooling
water (W/m2 K)
Hv heat of absorption (J/kg)
is enthalpy of solution (J/kg)
ist enthalpy of water vapor at film interface (J/kg)
kef effective mass transfer coefficient form film inter-
face to solution bulk (kg/m2 s)
km mass transfer coefficient of solution (m/s)
kwall thermal conductivity of tube wall (W/m K)
kw thermal conductivity of cooling water (W/m K)
m_ w;s water flow rate in the solution (kg/s)
Ml mass flow rate of LiBr (kg/s)
Ms solution mass flow rate (kg/s)
Ms average mass flow rate of solution (kg/s)
transfer coefficients and the absorption rates. Miller and
Keyhani [9] conducted an experimental investigation and
presented correlations for the coupled heat and mass
transfer processes. Deng and Ma [10] conducted experi-
mental studies on the characteristics for a falling film
absorber. Chen and Sun [11] and Hoffmann et al. [12]
experimentally investigated the dependence of the overall
heat and mass transfer rates in absorbers on various
operating parameters. Yoon et al. [13] experimentally
studied the heat and mass transfer performance of a heli-
cal absorber. Kim and Kim [14], Kiyota et al. [15] and
Miller and Perez-Blanco [16] conducted tests on a
smooth tube and on several other tube geometries to
determine the possible enhancements achievable through
film mixing.
The present study is undertaken to study, both experi-
mentally and analytically, the heat and mass transfer mech-
anisms involve in the absorption processes of horizontal
tube absorbers. Attempts are made to linearize the govern-
ing equations of the theoretical model and solve them
analytically.
1387
Mw cooling water mass flow rate (kg/s)
Pr Prandtl number
Re Reynolds number
T temperature (K)
U b-wall overall heat transfer coefficient from solution
bulk to inner wall (W/m2 K)
Greek symbols
h temperature difference between bulk solution
and coolant (K)
w difference between mass fraction of water in
bulk solution and equilibrium mass fraction of
water in bulk solution corresponding to local
solution temperature (mass fraction of water)
dwall wall thickness of absorber plate or tube (m)
q density (kg/m3)
xw mass concentration of water in solution (mass
fraction of water)
 w;b
x average mass concentration of water in bulk
solution (mass fraction of water)
Subscripts
b bulk
if solution vapor interface
i inner wall
out outlet of absorber
s solution
o entrance of absorber, outer wall
w water
wall absorber wall
2. Experimental program
A schematic diagram of the experimental set-up is
shown in Fig. 1. The absorber is designed and constructed
followed closely those of real absorbers in commercial
cooling systems. It consists of a series of 24 horizontal cop-
per tubes of nominal outer diameter 19 mm, wall thickness
1 mm and effective length 160 mm. These are mounted in a
vertical plane with the ends of the tubes connected in such a
manner that the cooling water flowing through them fol-
lows a serpentine flow path. The solution of LiBr and water
in the refrigerant evaporator is heated with an electric hea-
ter to boil off the refrigerant, which in this case is water
vapor. The vapor travels up a tube connecting the evapora-
tor to the absorber unit located vertically above it. The
strong solution is pumped on to the top of the absorber
tubes through two heat exchangers and sprayed using a
solution distributor. The solution absorbs water vapor as
it flows as a falling film over the absorber tubes. The weak
solution collecting at the bottom of the absorber vessel is
returned to the refrigerant evaporator by gravity.
1388 M.R. Islam / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 1386–1394

Pressure at the inlet and exit of the absorber. These are calibrated
transducer
over a range of mass concentrations and temperatures
Absorber using samples of lithium bromide of known concentrations
(Thermocouple: T2 to T9)
before they are installed in the experimental set-up. The
output of the thermocouples and the conductivity meters
are recorded continuously in a data acquisition system.
Water bath Additional details on the experimental set-up are available
Hot Cold in Islam et al. [17].
water water

3. Mathematical model for tubular absorber

T11 T12
T10 3.1. Physical model
Solution

Vapor

Conductivity T1 Heat exchanger

Heat exchanger probe Water bath The detailed analysis of the heat and mass transfer in the
Strong solution

Magnetic Refrigerant falling film of a serpentine tube absorber is indeed complex.

volume Heater T15 evaporator
flow Several assumptions are therefore made to obtain the phys-
meter Coolant Coolant ical model. The tubes are divided into several segments
pump T13 over which the same film of solution is assumed to flow
as shown in Fig. 2a. Due to the relatively small thickness
Rotameter

T14 Solution
pump
Heat exchanger
Cold water Hot water
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of experimental set-up.
The solution flow rate is measured with a magnetic flow
meter whose accuracy is 1.6%. The warm water returning
from the absorber is first cooled in a heat exchanger and
then passed through a temperature-controlled water bath.
The flow rate of water is measured with two rotameters
whose accuracy is 3.3%. A series of copper-constantan
thermocouples are installed in the solution and cooling
water flow circuits to measure temperature. All thermocou-
ples are calibrated using a master thermometer whose
uncertainly is 0.05 °C. Two conductivity probes are used
to measure the concentration of lithium bromide solution
Vacuum of the film compared to the tube diameter, each tube seg-
pump
ment is approximated by a vertical wall section whose
length is equal to half the perimeter of the tube. Moreover,
the wall temperature of this equivalent vertical section is
assumed constant. However, the wall temperature varia-
tion along the horizontal direction of the tube is included
in the analysis. A typical vertical wall segment is shown
schematically in Fig. 2b. The variation of the properties
of the falling film over a vertical segment is obtained by
applying the conservation equations of heat and mass.
These equations follow closely the work by Islam et al.
[2,17] and the main equations are outlined below.
3.2. Analysis of a single vertical segment
Consider a small control element to analyze the heat
and mass transfer processes. In the steady-state, the heat

Z ωw,o Ms,o Ts,o

Solution
Cooling
Y
water
δ Solution
Twall,i (Solution) vapor
Twall,o Ms interface
Tube
L
dQi Ts,b dQo ωw,if
dX dm w,s
Solution hi ωw,b ho Ts,if
Film

Ms+dM s Water
vapor

Cooling X
water ω w,out Ms,out Ts,out
Fig. 2. Physical model of the horizontal tube absorber: (a) vertical segments of horizontal tubes, (b) equivalent vertical plate segment.
 M.R. Islam / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 1386–1394 1389

transfer from the bulk solution at Ts,b to the inner wall at Over the narrow range of solution temperatures and
Twall,i can be written as mass fractions encountered in the absorber, the coefficients
cs and cx are assumed constant which can be determined
dQi ¼ dAU b-wall ðT s;b  T wall;i Þ ð1Þ using the average temperature and mass fraction of the
The overall heat transfer coefficient from the solution to solution. The solution mass flow rate Ms, which changes
the inner wall of absorber plate can be expressed as by about 1–2%, is assumed constant at the average value
M s given by
1 1 dwall
¼ þ ð2Þ M s;o þ M s;out
U b-wall hi k wall Ms ¼ ð13Þ
2
The rate of mass transfer of steam across the film interface
to the bulk solution is Combining Eqs. (3), (9), (11)–(13) gives
dm_ w;s ¼ dM s ¼ dAk m qs ðxw;if  xw;b Þ ð3Þ dT s;b dxw;b
M s cs þ M s cx ¼ k m qs ðist  is Þðxw;if  xs;b Þ
dA dA
In order to linearize Eq. (3), the following condition for the
LiBr-flow rate is invoked:  U b-wall ðT s;b  T wall;i Þ ð14Þ

M l ¼ M s ð1  xw;b Þ ¼ constant ð4Þ The first term on the RHS of Eq. (14) is the net energy
transfer due to absorption of vapor and the second term
Differentiating Eq. (4) and substituting in Eq. (3) gives
  is the heat transfer from the bulk solution to the wall. It
Ml dxw;b is assumed that the heat and mass transfer coefficients are
2
¼ k m qs ðxw;if  xw;b Þ ð5Þ
ð1  xw;b Þ dA suitably scaled to have a common heat transfer area dA.
Over the relatively small temperature range experienced
For the relatively narrow range of the change of solution by the solution, the equilibrium relation between the inter-
concentration in the absorber, the term xw,b of the coeffi- face temperature and mass fraction of water at constant
cient on LHS of Eq. (5) is approximated with the average pressure is expressed in the linear form [6]
value as
xw;if ¼ a  bT s;if ð15Þ
xw;o þ xw;out
 w;b ¼
x ð6Þ
2 Using Eqs. (3), (7) and (15), the interface mass fraction can
Computed results showed that the difference between the be expressed in the form
exact solution and the approximate linearized solution of kða  bT s;b Þ þ bxw;b
Eq. (5) is less than 2%. The heat transfer rate from the li- xw;if ¼ ð16Þ
bþk
quid/vapor interface to the bulk solution due to absorption
of vapor of mass dm_ w;s is where k ¼ km qhos H v and Hv = (ist  hpar,w), is the enthalpy of
absorption in the liquid.
dQo ¼ ist dm_ w;s  hpar;w dm_ w;s ¼ dAho ðT s;if  T s;b Þ ð7Þ
Substituting from Eq. (16) for xw,if in Eqs. (14), (3) and
Following the detailed derivation of Tsai and Perez-Blanco (5), the following equations are obtained:
[4], the energy equation for the control volume of the solu-
dT s;b cx dxw;b k m qs kðist  is Þ½ða  bT s;b Þ  xs;b 
tion film can be written as þ ¼
dA cs dA M s cs ðk þ bÞ
M s is þ ist dm_ w;s ¼ ðM s þ dM s Þðis þ dis Þ þ dQi ð8Þ
U b-wall ðT s;b  T wall;i Þ
Combining Eqs. (1) and (8) gives  ð17Þ
M s cs
dis dM s dxw;b k m qs k½ða  bT s;b Þ  xs;b 
Ms ¼ ðist  is Þ  U b-wall ðT s;b  T wall;i Þ ð9Þ and ¼ ð18Þ
dA dA dA f M s ðk þ bÞ
The enthalpy of the solution is can be expressed in the lin- Ml
where f M s ¼ ð19Þ
earized form  w;b Þ2
ð1  x
is ¼ co þ cs T s;b þ cx xw;b ð10Þ A scrutiny of the governing Eqs. (1), (17) and (18) reveals
dis X5
i1
that by defining two new variables for the temperature dif-
where cs ¼ ¼ ðBi þ 2T s;b C i Þð1  xw;b Þ ð11Þ ference and the mass fraction difference, the above equa-
dT s;b i¼1
tions could be reduced to two coupled linear differential
dis X5
equations. These new variables are defined as:
cx ¼ ¼ ði  1ÞðAi þ T s;b Bi þ T 2s;b C i Þð1  xw;b Þi2
dxw;b i¼1 h ¼ T s;b  T wall;i and w ¼ a  bT s;b  xw;b ð20Þ
ð12Þ
The temperature difference, h, between the bulk solution
The coefficients Ai, Bi and Ci of Eqs. (11) and (12) are ob- and the absorber wall is proportional to the heat flux. w
tained from ASHRAE Handbook [18] in the expression of is the difference between the bulk solution mass fraction
the enthalpy of LiBr solution. and the equilibrium mass fraction corresponding to local
1390 M.R. Islam / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 1386–1394

solution temperature,Ts,b. It is seen from Eq. (18) that w is 3.3. Analysis of horizontal tubes
proportional to the mass flux.
Expressing Eqs. (1), (17) and (18) in terms of the h and w The above analysis gives the variation of the properties
the following equations are obtained: of the falling film if the wall segment temperature is speci-
fied. The wall temperature for the various segments of the
dh
¼ g2 h þ g1 w ð21Þ tubes of absorber can be obtained by applying the energy
dA equation to a tube segment as shown in Fig. 3.
dw
and ¼ bg2 h  g1 bw ð22Þ 2M s;ðkÞ
dA T w;ðkÞ ¼ ½C ps ðT s;b;ðiþ1;jÞ  T s;b;ði;jÞ Þ  ist ðxs;b;ði;jÞ
M w C pw
where the coefficients are given by
   xs;b;ðiþ1;jÞ Þ þ T w;ðkþ1Þ ð34Þ
k ef cx
g1 ¼ ðist  is Þ  ð23Þ
M s cs f where Ms,(k) is the solution flow rate on one side of the out-
1 1 bH v er perimeter of kth segment of the tube.
¼ þ ð24Þ Heat transfer through wall of the absorber tube to the
k ef k m qs ho
U b-wall coolant, shown in Fig. 4, can be expressed as
g2 ¼ ð25Þ
M s cs 2pk wall dZ
dQ ¼ ðT wall;o  T wall;i Þ
b þ f ðistci
s
 f ðibc x lnðDo =Di Þ
sÞ st is Þ
and b ¼ cx ð26Þ ¼ hw pDi dZðT wall;i  T w Þ ¼ M w C pw dT w ð35Þ
1  f ðist is Þ
where hw is the convective heat transfer coefficient which
Variable g2 occur in traditional exchanger analysis while g1
can be obtained from the correlation [19]
is a similar variable that includes an effective mass transfer
coefficient kef representing the combined mass and heat kw
hw ¼ ½0:023Re0:8 1=3
w Pr w  for Rew > 4000 and ð36Þ
transfer process from the interface to the bulk solution. It Di
is seen from Eqs. (21) and (22), that g1 = 0 gives the solu- kw
tion for a counter-flow heat exchanger while g2 = 0 corre- hw ¼ 4:36 for Rew < 2300 ð37Þ
Di
sponds to an adiabatic mass absorber.
The linear-coupled differential equations (21) and (22) Rearranging of Eq. (35) gives
 
are solved analytically using the Laplace Transformation 1 lnðDo =Di Þ dT w
technique. The final forms of the solution are as follows: T wall;o  T w ¼ M w C pw þ ð38Þ
hw pDi 2pk wall dZ
hðAÞ ¼ a1 ea1 A þ a2 ea2 A ð27Þ Integrating Eq. (38) over the length DL of the tube seg-
a1 A a2 A ment, as shown in Fig. 4, gives
and wðAÞ ¼ b1 e þ b2 e ð28Þ
h .n  oi
o =Di Þ
where the roots of the characteristic equation are T w;ðkÞ  T w;ðkþ1Þ exp DL M w C pw lnðD 2pk wall
þ hw1pDi
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi T wall;o ¼ h .n  oi
o =Di Þ
ðg2 þ bg1 Þ  ðg2 þ bg1 Þ2  4g1 g2 ðb  bÞ 1  exp DL M w C pw lnðD
2pk wall
þ hw1pDi
a1 ; a2 ¼ ð29Þ
2 ð39Þ
The coefficients are given by
2Ms,(k), Ts,b,(i,j)
ho ða1 þ g1 bÞ þ wo g1
a1 ¼ ð30Þ 2Ms,(k)[ωw,b(i+1,j)- ωw,b(i,j)], ist
a1  a2
ho ða2 þ g1 bÞ þ wo g1 Mw, Tw,(k) Mw, Tw,(k+1)
a2 ¼ ð31Þ
a2  a1
wo ða1 þ g2 Þ þ ho g2 b
b1 ¼ ð32Þ 2Ms,(k), Ts,b,(i+1,j)
a1  a2
wo ða2 þ g2 Þ þ ho g2 b Fig. 3. Energy balance on the kth segment of the tube.
b2 ¼ ð33Þ
a2  a1
where ho and wo are the values at A = 0. ΔL
If the inner wall temperature of a specific element of Z
absorber tube Twall,i is a known quantity, the variation Tw+
of the temperature and concentration of solution in the Mw, Tw,(k) Tw Mw, Tw,(k+1)
dT w
film can be determined using Eqs. (27) and (28). The
computation, however, requires as input the heat and dZ
mass transfer coefficients which are obtained from Islam Fig. 4. Variation of coolant temperature in the absorber tube of kth
et al. [17]. segment.
 M.R. Islam / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 1386–1394 1391

3.4. Solution procedure
The calculation starts with a guessed value of cooling
water outlet temperature Tw,(k=n+1) of the nth segment of
the upper tube. Inner wall temperature Twall,i,(k=n) of the
nth segment of the tube is then guessed. Properties of solu-
tion after flowing over this segment are calculated based on
the guessed wall temperature using Eqs. (27) and (28).
Coolant temperature Tw,(k=n) at the inlet of the nth segment
of the tube is then determined using Eq. (34). Finally, the
wall temperature Twall,o of this segment is calculated using
Eq. (39). Coolant and tube wall temperatures are then
substituted in Eq. (35) and determined the error in heat
flow rate to the coolant. If the error is greater than
104 W, the computations is repeated with a new value of
guessed wall temperature Twall,i,(k=n). When the conver-
gence for a particular segment is reached, the entire
sequence of computation is applied to the next segment.
In this way properties of solution after flowing over the
segments of the top tube is determined which are used as
the inlet properties of the solution for corresponding seg-
ments of the next tube. Calculation is repeated for each seg-
ment of the tubes and the final properties of the solution
are determined. If the difference between the calculated
and the actual inlet temperature of the coolant is greater
than 0.05 °C then the entire calculation is repeated with a
new guessed coolant outlet temperature, Tw,(k=n+1).
absorber. The vapor pressure is changed by varying the
evaporator temperature from 55 to 75 °C. It is seen that
the vapor mass flux increases almost linearly with the
absorber pressure. Higher vapor pressure increases the
equilibrium concentration at the film interface which in
tern leads to a higher vapor absorption rate.
The effect of the coolant inlet temperature and coolant
flow rate on the vapor absorption rate is shown in Fig. 6.
It is seen that vapor mass flux decreases both with the
increase in inlet temperature and the decrease in the flow
rate of the coolant because these variations cause the
absorber surface temperature and the bulk solution tem-
perature to rise. Consequently the vapor absorption rate
decreases.
The variation of the vapor absorption rate with solution
inlet temperature and mass flow rate are shown in Figs. 7
and 8, respectively. Lower inlet temperature of the solution
and coolant helps to maintain low temperature of the film.
Consequently, film interface absorbs more water vapor to
reach equilibrium. As expected the absorption rate is
higher for larger solution mass flow rates. For small solu-
tion flow rates, the concentration of the bulk solution
decreases rapidly following the absorption of a small
amount of water vapor in the entrance region of the absor-
ber. As a result, the difference between film interface con-
centration and solution bulk concentration decreases thus
Mass flux of water vapor, kg/m 2 s

0.0023
4. Results and discussion
0.00225
4.1. Experimental results on the effect of operating
0.0022
parameters
0.00215
The effect of absorber vapor pressure, coolant inlet tem-
0.0021
perature, coolant flow rate, solution inlet temperature and Mw = 0.08876 kg/s
solution flow rate on the performance of absorber is exper- 0.00205
Mw = 0.06318 kg/s
imentally investigated. Fig. 5 shows the effect of the absor-
0.002
ber pressure on the vapor mass flux. In the present 25 27.5 30 32.5 35 37.5
experiments, the absorber is operated at a slightly lower Cooling water inlet temperature, oC
pressure than the equilibrium vapor pressure in the refrig-
erant evaporator to provide the necessary pressure differ- Fig. 6. Effect of coolant inlet temperature and coolant flow rate on the
mass flux of water vapor.
ence for the vapor to flow from the evaporator to the
Mass flux of water vapor, kg/m s

0.0035 0.00235
Mass flux of water vapor, kg/m 2 s

0.003
0.0023
0.0025
0.00225
0.002

0.0015 0.0022

0.001
0.00215
0.0005
0.0021
0
37.5 40 42.5 45 47.5 50
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 o
Inlet temperature of strong solution, C
Absorber pressure, kPa
Fig. 7. Variation of the mass flux of water vapor at different inlet
Fig. 5. Effect of absorber vapor pressure on the mass flux of water vapor. temperature of strong solution.
1392
Mass flux of water vapor, kg/m2 s M.R. Islam / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 1386–1394

0.0023
Tw,in = 26.5 C
0.00225
Tw,in = 32.2 C
0.0022 Tw,in = 35.2 C

Bulk concentration, %LiBr

0.00215 61

0.0021 60
0.00205
59
0.002
0.025 0.03 0.035 0.04 0.045 0.05 0.055 0.06 0.065 0
58 5
Spray density of solution, kg/m s 0
10
0.05
Fig. 8. Variation of mass flux of water vapor with the variation of spray 15
0.1 20
density of strong solution at different coolant inlet temperatures.
Tube length, m 0.15 Number of tubes
25

hindering subsequent vapor diffusion into the film. More- Fig. 9. Distribution of predicted solution bulk concentration of the falling
film.
over, higher solution flow rates result in a more uniform
film covering a large surface area of the absorber which
enhances vapor absorption.

4.2. Predicted concentration and temperature profiles 60

Int. concentration, %LiBr

58
The operating variables and the experimental data that
are used as the parameters of the model are presented in 56
Table 1. The predicted variation of the bulk solution con- 54
centration across the tubes of the absorber is depicted in
Fig. 9. The numerical result for bulk solution concentra- 52
tion shows good agreement with the experimental result. 50
The predicted bulk solution concentration at the outlet 0
(Fig. 9) is 58.22, which was 58.38 during experimental 0.05 0
investigation as shown in Table 1. The distribution of con- 5
0.1 10
15
centration is almost linear suggesting that the vapor Tube length, m 0.15
25
20 Number of tubes
absorption rate that is given by the slope of the curve is
nearly constant. Miller and Keyhani [9] obtained a concen- Fig. 10. Distribution of predicted interface concentration of the falling
tration variation that was also almost linear in their exper- film.
imental study.
The variation of the interface concentration across the and it decreases in the direction of solution flow. The var-
tubes is shown in Fig. 10. Due to the large difference in iation of the interface concentration and the solution bulk
the vapor pressure between the incoming equilibrium solu- concentration, known as the driving force of mass diffu-
tion and absorber chamber, there is rapid absorption of sion, is shown in Fig. 11, where the difference between them
vapor in the entrance region of the absorber. The film inter- is nearly constant. If the number of absorber tube is
face, thereafter, is in a saturated equilibrium state corre- increased, the solution will gradually reach the equilibrium
sponding to its temperature and the absorber pressure concentration. Consequently, driving potential of mass
transfer between interface and bulk solution and the vapor
Table 1 mass flux will decrease. This will eventually result in the
Operating variables and the results of experimental investigation used in solution bulk concentration approaching a nearly equilib-
the theoretical model
rium level asymptotically.
Parameters Values Moreover, if the length of each horizontal tube of the
Coolant flow rate, kg/s 0.063177 absorber is increased, difference of coolant temperature
Coolant inlet temperature, °C 29.4 between the inlet and exit of each tube will become larger
Coolant outlet temperature, °C 34.9
due to the increase in the absorption heat. However, due
Strong solution flow rate, kg/s 0.014292
Solution inlet temperature, °C 39.8 to the serpentine arrangement of the coolant flow, the
Solution outlet temperature, °C 37.1 above trend is reversed in the next tube. This pattern of
Solution inlet concentration, wt% of LiBr 60.4 alternative reversal in coolant flow direction will result in
Solution outlet concentration, wt% of LiBr 58.38 a temperature and concentration variation mainly along
Absorber vapor pressure, kPa 2.62
the height of the absorber.
 M.R. Islam / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 1386–1394 1393

0.62
Ave. bulk
0.6 Ave. interface
Concentration of LiBr

0.58

0.56 Driving force for 46

Int. temperature, C
mass diffusion
0.54 44

0.52 42

0.5 40
0.48 38
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 0
Tube number of absorber 5
0.05
10
Fig. 11. Distribution of average bulk concentration and average interface 0.1 15
concentration of falling film. Tube length, m 20
0.15 Number of tubes
25

Fig. 13. Distribution of predicted interface temperature of the falling film.

The variation of the bulk solution temperature and the
interface temperature across the tubes of the absorber are
shown in Figs. 12 and 13, respectively. Both tempera-
47
tures rise rapidly in the entrance region of the absorber
Interface
due to relatively large vapor absorption. Thereafter, the Bulk solution
42
temperatures vary almost in a linear fashion, as seen in
the figures. TemperatureoC Tube wall
The relative magnitude of the bulk solution, the inter- 37
face, the tube wall and the coolant temperature are Coolant predicted
shown in Fig. 14. The predicted coolant temperatures agree 32
well with the measured values over the height of the Coolant measured
absorber. 27
In general, it is evident from the three-dimensional plots 0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of tubes
such as Figs. 9–13, that the variation of the operating vari-
ables along the length of the tube is negligibly small. This is Fig. 14. Temperature distribution of the falling film, tube wall and cooling
partly due to the fact that coolant temperature variation is water.
in opposite directions in the alternative tubes which are
arranged in a serpentine configuration. This can be thought
of as a justification for the use of an equivalent vertical
plate configuration with variations considered only along 5. Conclusions
the height of the plate.
An experimental program was undertaken to evaluate
the absorption performances of horizontal tube absorbers.
Experimental results show that the mass flux of vapor
increases with the increase of absorber pressure, coolant
flow rate, spray density of solution and decrease of coolant
and solution inlet temperature. To obtain additional infor-
mation on the performance of the absorber, a mathemati-
42
cal model that takes account of the geometrical details of
Bulk temperature, C

41 the solution and coolant flow was developed following

40 the traditional heat exchanger analysis. The predictions
of the simulation model were found to be in good agree-
39 ment with the experimental results.
38 The distributions of the interface and bulk solution con-
0 0 centration and temperature across the tubes of the absor-
5
0.05
10
ber were analyzed. The serpentine arrangement of the
0.1 15 coolant flow results in a temperature and concentration
Tube length, m
20
Number of tubes
variation of the film mainly along the height of the absor-
0.15 25 ber. The variation of the bulk solution concentration indi-
Fig. 12. Distribution of predicted solution bulk temperature of the falling cates that the vapor absorption rate is nearly constant
film. across the tubes of the absorber.
1394 M.R. Islam / Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008) 1386–1394
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