Heat and mass transfer characteristics of a small helical absorber

This paper presents experimental results of heat and mass transfer investigation of the falling film absorber (with strong lithium bromide solution) for a small household absorption chiller/heater. Various components (e.g. low temperature generator, absorber and evaporator) were arranged concentrically in cylindrical form such that the helical-arrangement of the heat exchangers allowed the system to be more compact than the conventional system. Measurements from the helical absorber were compared with data from the literature. The comparison revealed that the heat and mass transfer performance of the helical absorber tube is similar to the existing tube bundle absorber. As a result, the proposed helical absorber shows a good potential due its reduced size and weight for the future designs of small capacity absorption chillers/heaters.