Enhanced heat and mass transfer in alternating structure of tubes and longitudinal trough mesh packing in lithium bromide solution absorber

•A tube/packing alternating structure is designed for LiBr absorption enhancement.•Stainless steel longitudinal trough mesh packing inserted to horizontal tube gaps.•Built and calibrated a single pressure absorption test rig for experimental study.•Heat and mass transfer of the new and conventional absorption bodies are compared.•The average increments of mass transfer rate and thermal load are 17.2% and 6.2%.

For enhancing the vapour absorption in LiBr solution systems, a novel absorber with tube and mesh packing alternating structure is designed and investigated. Stainless steel mesh screens are folded as the longitudinal trough mesh packing, and inserted to the gaps of horizontal tubes to make the absorbent flow through the tube and mesh packing regimes successively, thus forming an alternating heat and mass transfer absorption process. Experimental investigation is conducted to characterize the absorption performance of the absorption bodies of this alternating structure and conventional horizontal coils. The results show that the average mass transfer rate and cooling load are increased by 17.2% and 6.23% respectively, which confirms that the alternating structures can promote the absorption. The mesh packing provides extended absorption area, slows down the flow and well mingles the solution, which are all beneficial for vapour absorption.