Heat and mass transfer through spiral tubes in absorber of absorption heat pump system for waste heat recovery

Heat and mass transfer of a LiBr/water absorption heat pump system (AHP) was experimentally studied during working a heating-up mode. The examination was performed for a single spiral tube, which was simulated for heat transfer tubes in an absorber. The inside and outside of the tube were subjected to a film flow of the absorption liquid and exposed to the atmosphere, respectively. The maximum temperature of the absorption liquid was observed not at the entrance but in the region a little downward from the entrance in the tube. The steam absorption rate and/or heat generation rate in the liquid film are not constant along the tube. Hence the average convective heat transfer coefficient between the liquid film flowing down and the inside wall of the tube was determined based on a logarithmic mean temperature difference between the tube surface temperature and the film temperature at the maximum temperature location and the bottom. The film heat and mass transfer coefficients rose with increasing Reynolds number of the liquid film stream. The coefficients showed opposite trend to the empirical correlation reported for laminar film flow on a straight smooth tube in a refrigeration mode in the past work. The fact can be caused due to a turbulent promotion effect of the liquid in a spiral tube.